VCR hookup?

[kmatsu]

Hooking up VCR with Tivo Series 3?

I've seen two different methods of hooking up your VCR to the Tivo:
(1) running composite cable (that's all I've got on the VCR) from the Tivo to the VCR, then from the VCR to the A/V receiver
OR
(2) running the cable from the VCR to the inputs & outputs of the A/V receiver only.

Is there a difference between the two methods? (Which one will allow me to both "save to VCR" and watch another channel at the same time? And which one will allow me to also "Save to VCR" when I'm playing an "On Demand" movie with the Comcast DCT700 digital cable box I also have connected to my receiver?)

[vman41]

(Which one will allow me to both "save to VCR" and watch another channel at the same time?

The S3 can only output one stream (to all outputs) at a time, "save to VCR while watching something else" is not an option.

I'd choose configuration 1 if all I was ever going to record was stuff from the Tivo and configuration 2 if I wanted to record from other sources plugged into the reciever.

[ckelly33]

not that I have one, but I've been curious. can you substitute a dvd recorder for a vcr and use the 'save to vcr' function? i'd think that the dvd writer might have trouble keeping up with the video stream...but I really don't know.

my local walmart has a dvd recorder clearing out at about half price ($50) that might be useful if it would work in this case.

[toolkit]

Yes, DVD recorders are generally able to record video "live" from a composite source. It isn't usually what you would call "DVD quality" - but they can do it. It's similar to what the TiiVo does with an analog source. Some DVD recorders even have different quality settings (like TiVo) so you can trade quality against recording time (length).

For all practicle purposes, you can think of these DVD recorders as VCR-like devices.

[SMB-IL]

I'm using a DVD recorder connected to the S3 via S-Video and it records fine. I don't bother using "Save to VCR" because some programs won't let you do that anyway. I just "Play" the program and it gets recorded. As far as I can tell, the quality seems to be pretty close to DVD quality and if recording from an HD recording, I also get an anamorphic picture. There's no copy protection issues because everything is going through S-Video anyway so it's not a digital source -- pretty good quality though.

[oldnacl]

I regularly record to DVD from my TiVo. The DVD input is connected to the S-Video output of the TiVo and thence s-video out from the recorder to the TV. The Tivo is also connected directly to the TV via component cables. Only drawback, as mentioned above, (unlike the SA8300HD replaced by the S3) is that you cannot watch anything but the show being recorded while copying from the TiVo. Had I realized that before buying the TiVo, I might have opted to stay with the crummy SA STB.

[AbMagFab]

What's a VCR?

And while we're at it, why would have a VCR when you have a Tivo? At least for recording.

[jrm01]

What's a VCR?
.

Venerable Crappy Recorder