Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
First of all, I do not have the DVR service. It is too expensive, and I should not have to pay for something that has always been free.
Anyway, until recently, the Cablevision Scientific Atlanta cable boxes (not the Samsung cable boxes) had an option called "VCR Timer", which allowed you to program the box to turn on and switch to a particular station at a particular time. It was primarily intended to allow recording to a VCR. I used it to record to a DVD recorder.
Unfortunately, when Cablevision updated their program guide, they also removed the VCR timer option! This means that, as far as I can tell, there is now no way that I can program the cable box to switch to a specific station at a specific time, in order to record from the cable box to a DVD recorder.
My questions are:
1. Has the VCR timer option been hidden somewhere? If so, how can I find it?
2. Is there any workaround that I can use to record multiple programs from a cable box to a DVD recorder?
3. Is there any way that I can go back to the old software, so that I can continue using the VCR timer option?
4. Is there any way that I can negotiate a free DVR box from Cablevision, given that (through no fault of my own) they took away my ability to record to the equipment that I have?
My best advice(thinking long term) would be to either purchase a TIVO and use that as both your cablebox and DVR, or find out if your DVD recorder has an IR repeater built into it that can do scheduling from the recorder itself. If you're a bit of a DIYer, you can also repurpose an old pc or laptop and make it work as a DVR with some additional hardware.
1. Has the VCR timer option been hidden somewhere? If so, how can I find it?
2. Is there any workaround that I can use to record multiple programs from a cable box to a DVD recorder?
My cable company did the same thing and no longer has the timer feature. If one wants to record something they have to leave the cable box set to the channel they want to record. This is a problem if one wants to record one channel at 6 pm and another at 8 pm.
If you have a dvd recorder like the Toshiba DVR670 with a digital tuner you can set one show to record off the tuner and the other one to record off the cable box. If it is an old vcr or dvd recorder without a digital tuner you can hook a digital converter box up to it. The limits of this are if you want to record two cable only channels it won't work. It also won't work with a tunerless dvd recorder.
Another possible workaround is to split the cable input before it hits the converter box. Hook the direct input to the RF connector of the dvd recorder. Hook the cable box to the RCA inputs. This used to work for me but my cable company scrambled all the cable channels,even the basic cable ones. However the cable company may offer a free converter box for the lower level non digital scrambled channels that could be hooked up to the dvd recorder.
My best advice(thinking long term) would be to either purchase a TIVO and use that as both your cablebox and DVR,
It seems that TiVo charges a monthly fee. As I said, I am not willing to pay a monthly fee for what I used to be able to do for free.
Quote:
or find out if your DVD recorder has an IR repeater built into it that can do scheduling from the recorder itself.
It doesn't.
Quote:
If you're a bit of a DIYer, you can also repurpose an old pc or laptop and make it work as a DVR with some additional hardware.
How can I do that?
Quote:
Originally Posted by capoeira
My cable company did the same thing and no longer has the timer feature. If one wants to record something they have to leave the cable box set to the channel they want to record. This is a problem if one wants to record one channel at 6 pm and another at 8 pm.
If you have a dvd recorder like the Toshiba DVR670 with a digital tuner you can set one show to record off the tuner and the other one to record off the cable box. If it is an old vcr or dvd recorder without a digital tuner you can hook a digital converter box up to it. The limits of this are if you want to record two cable only channels it won't work. It also won't work with a tunerless dvd recorder.
That only works with the very basic channels.
Quote:
Another possible workaround is to split the cable input before it hits the converter box. Hook the direct input to the RF connector of the dvd recorder. Hook the cable box to the RCA inputs. This used to work for me but my cable company scrambled all the cable channels,even the basic cable ones. However the cable company may offer a free converter box for the lower level non digital scrambled channels that could be hooked up to the dvd recorder.
Again, that only works for the very basic channels.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MotherGoosey
Tell cablevision you're leaving them because they took away the feature you utilized most. You could end up with free DVR for a year.
I tried that, and they said no. They will not give me a free DVR, and they were extremely nasty to me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MotherGoosey
I didn't understand that either, he must mean that its always been free to hit record on your VCR.
So you're upset the cable company is no longer happy with people recording stuff with a VCR (Who has one of these in 2012??) and are trying to get people to get a company-provided DVR? Can you fault them?
Not what you want to hear, but the DVR is simply a great feature to have, and the cost of it is well worth the cost. Pause live TV, record 2 shows at one, time shift shows. So many people that I know that refused to get it, when they eventually caved, wondered how they every watched TV without one.
does your remote have a green DVR button?If not go to your optimum account on line and it will show you how to order a new remote and they will send it by mail to you.You should have received an email telling you this.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
