# Send To VCR



## phatmatt (Mar 18, 2005)

Just for the heck of it, I checked to see if I was able to record to my VCR. I tried it, and VOILA!!! IT worked..... Not that I will ever need it,now that I have my lovely TiVO. Jst wanted to give it a whirl.


----------



## JimSpence (Sep 19, 2001)

If that makes you excited, you can also record to a DVD recorder.


----------



## henesy (Mar 8, 2005)

I was disappointed that I cannot watch something else while recording Tivo to my brand new Sony RDR GX300 DVD Recorder (a STEAL on e-bay.) . Overnight would be an ideal time, but unless Im not grabbing this concept, the DVD Recorder records exactly what is shown on TV, so if you turn off your TV you aint recordin nuttin, brother. Directv to DVD recorder is fine.. it's the same as VCR. You can use timer, leave, shut off TV or watch something else while you're recording.... but you can't do those things from Tivo to DVD recorder. 

And, my God, the guide scroll is so slooooow!


----------



## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

If it's a Directv receiver with TiVo, which this thread is in, you should be able to record one channel and watch another, or record 2 channels and watch a program previously recorded.


----------



## JimSpence (Sep 19, 2001)

henesy said:


> I was disappointed that I cannot watch something else while recording Tivo to my brand new Sony RDR GX300 DVD Recorder (a STEAL on e-bay.) . Overnight would be an ideal time, but unless Im not grabbing this concept, the DVD Recorder records exactly what is shown on TV, so if you turn off your TV you aint recordin nuttin, brother. Directv to DVD recorder is fine.. it's the same as VCR. You can use timer, leave, shut off TV or watch something else while you're recording.... but you can't do those things from Tivo to DVD recorder.
> 
> And, my God, the guide scroll is so slooooow!


You must have the TiVo connected incorrectly. The TV being on or off has no bearing on whether you can record to a DVD recorder. True that you record what the TV is displaying, but the TV can be turned off once you start the recording. You need to have the TiVo connected to the DVD recorder using the second set of outputs. I do it all of the time.


----------



## ttodd1 (Nov 6, 2003)

aaronwt said:


> If it's a Directv receiver with TiVo, which this thread is in, you should be able to record one channel and watch another, or record 2 channels and watch a program previously recorded.


This is true except for when you are recording to a VCR/DVD recorder. Then you are stuck watching what is being sent to the VCR/DVD recorder.


----------



## walshbj (Oct 6, 2004)

Some of the boxes TWC has out let you send a different signal to different outputs, so you can send one show to vcr/dvd and watch another at the same time. But I'd rather have the features of my hacked Tivo than that feature (it IS a nice feature) and just dub to dvd while sleeping soundly....


----------



## Hodaka (Mar 12, 2005)

it's the same way I used to have to record TV with my old RCA receiver. The nice thing about my old receiver that I wish my new one had was the IR VCR control. The timer would automatically turn on the receiver, change the channel, and start the VCR recording. When the show was over, it turned the VCR back off (and the receiver if it had been off to start with). 

I don't mind that I can't change channels, but I wish my R10 could auto start/stop the VCR when it archives. Although we won't be doing it daily, we will do some archiving and it's a pain to do manually. My wife archived a show the other night and came back to find that the show was completed, but that the VCR was still happily recording and would have until the end of the tape.. I'm sure it would be similar for DVD archiving since it works the same. 

It's like archiving was a bit of an afterthought... without the basic tools like the TIVO actually being able to control the VCR/DVD recorder with something like IR, the process is always going to end up being manually and cumbersome.. I know RCA had the technology to do it, because my old receiver did this process extremely well. You never know, maybe someday we really will have network ability and I can work my magic from my computer and all will be well in the world.  or not...


----------



## DFDureiko (Mar 17, 2005)

Question,
let's say I have 4 1/2hr programs to record on one DVD. Right now I have to moniter the recording to play each program. Is there a way to tell TiVo,,,,,play these four progams (or record these four programs to "vcr") so that they will simply play one after the other? such a simple thing that would make things so much easier.


----------



## JimSpence (Sep 19, 2001)

"Batch Play" is an often asked request. Sadly, it isn't possible. 
Well, you could hack it to allow batch play. Check the underground forum.


----------



## dwill104 (Dec 13, 2000)

aaronwt said:


> If it's a Directv receiver with TiVo, which this thread is in, you should be able to record one channel and watch another, or record 2 channels and watch a program previously recorded.


When he is talking about "recording Tivo", he means playing the program on the DTivo so the DVD recorder can record it, not recording something on the DTivo itself, which is what you are talking about.

All Dtivos outputs are the same, so you can't watch one recorded program on the TV while sending a different recorded program to a VCR or DVD recorder.


----------



## Hodaka (Mar 12, 2005)

JimSpence said:


> "Batch Play" is an often asked request. Sadly, it isn't possible.
> Well, you could hack it to allow batch play. Check the underground forum.


just another reason why I believe archiving was an afterthought or at least not very much time was put into it. The technology is there to do more complex tasks. Combine the existing scheduler functionality and the ability to RF control a VCR (which my *OLD* RCA receiver had) and you've got the ability to schedule multiple recordings straight to the VCR/DVD recorder and let the system control it while you walk away..who cares if you can't watch TV while doing it, as long as you're not having to hover over it. As Ron Popeil would say, "set it and forget it" is what I want..

Maybe it was simply cost cutting or maybe they just don't care if we can archive. I'd say it's a little of both combined with a sprinkle of copyright fears always being mixed into everything...


----------



## henesy (Mar 8, 2005)

aaronwt said:


> If it's a Directv receiver with TiVo, which this thread is in, you should be able to record one channel and watch another, or record 2 channels and watch a program previously recorded.


My apologies if Im missing something Aaron, but this seems to be true ONLY if you are recording *Live TV* to DVD. My problem is with shows previously recorded *to the Tivo drive* that I want to record to DVD. Is this not so?


----------



## goony (Nov 20, 2003)

henesy said:


> I was disappointed that I cannot watch something else while recording Tivo to my brand new Sony RDR GX300 DVD Recorder (a STEAL on e-bay.) . Overnight would be an ideal time, but unless Im not grabbing this concept, the DVD Recorder records exactly what is shown on TV, so if you turn off your TV you aint recordin nuttin, brother.


Yup, while the DirecTiVo has 2 tuners it has only one output at a time. The Dish Network 522 DVR has dual individual outputs would facilitate doing what you want, but it's... well... just a sub-par piece of equipment - burning to a DVD doesn't mean much if it missed the recording to begin with!!

As stated before, you must have something really cabled wrong if shutting off the TV goofs your ability to record.

For my setup, I have one output set from my DirecTiVo sent straight to my DVD recorder, the other DirecTiVo output goes to a 4-port switchbox. Thus, I can feed my TV from DirecTiVo TiVo, DVD player, DVD recorder or VCR at the push of a button.

I've become accustomed to making my DVDs from the DirecTiVo during "off peak" times; not bad once you are used to it.


----------



## goony (Nov 20, 2003)

aaronwt said:


> If it's a Directv receiver with TiVo, which this thread is in, you should be able to record one channel and watch another, or record 2 channels and watch a program previously recorded.





henesy said:


> My apologies if Im missing something Aaron, but this seems to be true ONLY if you are recording *Live TV* to DVD. My problem is with shows previously recorded *to the Tivo drive* that I want to record to DVD. Is this not so?


You're not missing anything... *aaronwt* has spake the truth, but didn't grasp (or forgot) that you need to "watch" (i.e. "play" or "save to VCR") a show to send to the DVD recorder which ties up the lone outputs of the box such that you cannot watch anything else while that is going on.

One option: A hacked DirecTiVo with a 'streaming server' added would enable you to watch recorded programs streamed from your box to your PC desktop while the DVD recording is being made.


----------



## David Platt (Dec 13, 2001)

goony said:


> One option: A hacked DirecTiVo with a 'streaming server' added would enable you to watch recorded programs streamed from your box to your PC desktop while the DVD recording is being made.


But odds are if you've hacked the box far enough to allow streaming, you probably haven't used the 'Save to VCR' function in a long, long time.


----------



## rjfrandle (Oct 22, 2003)

I never really understood why they even have the "save to VCR" function. When I dub something to my DVD recorder, I just play it back from the "Now Playing" list
and hit record on the DVD Recorder. Am I missing something, or is there some function the "save to VCR" performs other than doing it the way I do??


----------



## JimSpence (Sep 19, 2001)

The Save To VCR function, as others have stated, allows you to playback a program but disables some of the remote buttons so that you don't accidently mess up the recording. It also puts up a 10s description before the playback starts.


----------



## pete363 (Feb 22, 2006)

I have a HR10-250 connected to a Panasonic DVD recorder. with composite cables, and componet connection to the TV, the HR10 is connected to the TV with HDMI cable, my problem is that I cannot record to VCR from the now playing list, the only way it records is my manuslly pushing the DVD record button. Any idea of what I'm doing wrong? Thanks.


----------



## JimSpence (Sep 19, 2001)

The TiVo can't control the external recording device (VCR or DVD recorder), so you do need to start recording on that device manually after starting the playback. Also, with the HR10-250 you need to set its output to 480i in order to activate the composite or S-video outputs.


----------



## pete363 (Feb 22, 2006)

Can this be done with a non Tivo receiver? I have the output at 480i.


----------



## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

pete363 said:


> I have a HR10-250 connected to a Panasonic DVD recorder. with composite cables, and componet connection to the TV, the HR10 is connected to the TV with HDMI cable, my problem is that I cannot record to VCR from the now playing list, the only way it records is my manuslly pushing the DVD record button. Any idea of what I'm doing wrong? Thanks.


Isn't this a day late for an April Fools day joke?


----------



## dtremain (Jan 5, 2004)

JimSpence said:


> It also puts up a 10s description before the playback starts.


Which I have found impresses the heck out of people whom you lend tapes to.


----------

