In article ,
John A. Weeks III wrote:
So, how do I set the VCR to record channel 4 from 7PM to 8PM, then
switch to channel 11 from 10:30 to Midnight? As far as I know, the
converter will not automatically change channels to match the
program in the VCR. That renders the VCR useless for time-shifting.

Not useless but greatly impaired. For anything beyond very basic
recording, the VCR needs to control the converter box. People
who record premium channels off their cable/satellite box have been
doing it for years so there are some options:
- if your VCR can drive an IR blaster it might be able to change
channels on the converter box. This will probably only work
for the .1 digital channels unless the box provides some way
of mapping .x channels to unused channel numbers.
- there are also the old VCR-Plus+ type devices which were
basically IR blasters with timers built in. At 7pm it would
tell your VCR to turn on, change to channel 16 and start
recording; at 8pm it tells it to turn off. With a converter
box you would need to send "on" to both the box and the VCR,
send "change channel" to the box and "record" to the VCR. I'm
not sure if an actual VCR-Plus+ is this flexible but clearly
someone could design one if there were a sufficient market.
This could also be done easily with a PC based IR blaster.
- if the VCR cannot tell the box to change channels then you are
stuck having to set the channel manually. You could get a
little more flexibility by hooking up two converter boxes to
the VCR (one on RF, one on video-in). You then tune each box
to a different channel and your VCR selects between the two
inputs when recording.

There is one coupon eligible converter box that seems to be designed
with VCRs in mind, the Dish Network DTVPal (formerly EchoStar TR-40),
though it apparently isn't going to be available til mid-June (which
sucks for those who already got their "expires in 90 days" coupons).
You can program it to turn on and change channels at specified times,
just like a VCR. I think it also has an IR blaster so it can tell a
VCR to record, but if not then you just have to program both the box
and the VCR to record at the same time.

None of this is as useful as what you have now (although if it works
as described the DTVPal box might come close) but it will at least
allow you do get some additional years out of your old equipment.

Eventually you will need to get a recording device with a digital tuner
(Walmart has a ~$130 DVDR). Or MythTV or some other disk based PVR.
--
Jim Prescott - Computing and Networking Group
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, University of Rochester, NY