Taping DVR playback on VHS

February 4, 2008 7:20 AM

I have a TV/VCR combo. If I get a DVR through the cable company, can I record to VHS tapes from the DVR playback?

I'm thinking of getting digital cable and DVR, through Time Warner. A lot of times I like to record shows onto VHS tapes to watch in the other room, where I have a TV and VCR sitting in front of my treadmill. Or I like to take tapes over to boyfriend's house to watch there. So, if I play back what the DVR has recorded, can I tape it using the built-in VCR?

The last time I had a digital cable box it was a pain to record to VHS because I had to make sure I left the box on the right channel, so it would be nice if the DVR could handle all that for me and I just put it on VHS at my leisure.

posted by JanetLand to technology (4 comments total)

I've done this using a Cox Cable DVR and it worked fine. I think the only catch would be if Time-Warner enables Macrovision on whichever channel you want to record on the VCR.
posted by aerotive at 7:34 AM on February 4, 2008

TiVo has a feature called "Send to VCR" specifically for this purpose.
posted by designbot at 8:18 AM on February 4, 2008

It depends on the VHS player (my Panasonic DVD-R/VHS combo can't record channels as high as the DVR replay channel, which is...unamusing).
posted by thomas j wise at 9:57 AM on February 4, 2008

It also depends on the DVR. My grandfather has one through Time Warner Cable. I am not sure of the brand. In order for him to get a show he's saved on the DVR (through an automatic system where he picked a show, say) to a recording device (in his case a DVD-R burner) he has to enter a specific menu on the DVR that begins playing the recording without MacroVision applied to the output. I believe he has a limited number of times to attempt this, as well. Inane, of course.

If your DVR doesn't apply macrovision to the output, you could just play the video back normally and record the output.
posted by odinsdream at 10:33 AM on February 4, 2008