Watching one program while recording another

I have a Philips DVDR 3390. The manual says you can watch one program while recording another by changing the channel with TV remote but when you do that all the channels are fuzzy. Now I know on a VCR you hit the TV/VCR button and your good to go. The DVD remote has a video source button but that won't work while it's recording. Here is how I have it hooked up. My tv only has one antenna hook up. My cable line goes to the DVD recorder antenna in from the out on the DVD goes to IN on RF modulator from there out to TV. The RED and White from the recorder to RF Modulator and the yellow to Video on RF modulator. I'm sure I'm just missing something. Could someone shine some light on my situation. Thanks [/u]

If I understand your description of your setup, your TV is completely dependent on the DVDR for tuning because the only thing feeding its RF input is the line-out from the DVDR.

Does your TV not have line inputs? If not, I would suggest getting a new TV. Or you could try something like this.

i'm having a hard time figuring out my setup also..but i actually have the lines plugged into my TV..

i have my cable box running through the DVDR with the (red, white and yellow lines) then another set running to the TV...I also have the screw in chords connected to each...

are those conflicting with each other for some reason? I can't seem to change any channels with the DVD player..Won't I need to be able to do that to record shows without watching them?

Lastly, am i able to record without a DVD in the set? If not, what's the point of the hard drive that I thought it had...maybe I'm mistaken

thanks, and sorry for my lack of technical terms

Quote:

Originally Posted by M-1

I can't seem to change any channels with the DVD player..Won't I need to be able to do that to record shows without watching them?

You won't be able to change channels "with the DVD player" while you're recording. You'll need to use a different tuner to watch something other than what you're recording.

I can't be sure from your description of your setup, but I suspect that you have things connected so that everything is dependent on the cable box for tuning. The cable coming out of the wall probably has all the analog cable channels (up to 100 or so) which your TV and DVDR can tune into by themselves. But after you run that through a cable box, the output on the box will usually only have a signal on channel 3 which will be whatever your cable box is tuned to.

What you may want to do is plug the cable from the wall directly into your DVDR, and then run the output of the DVDR into your cable box, and the output of the cable box into the TV. That way, you could use the DVDR's own tuner for recording analog cable channels, and you could then use the cable box's tuner to watch another channel on your TV. Depending on exactly what you want to be able to do, there are other connection options which may work better for you though.

Quote:

Lastly, am i able to record without a DVD in the set? If not, what's the point of the hard drive that I thought it had...maybe I'm mistaken

If it has a hard drive, then it shouldn't need to have a DVD in for recording.

If you haven't read the manual for your DVDR, then you should do so. A decent manual should give you the information you need.

that manual isn't the best in the world, I'll say that much...

the channel I'm trying to record from is ESPN 2...I just wanna be able to record while I'm at work because I dont want to miss the Champions League, but I wasn't able to change channels with the DVDR Remote, so I was sure when I program it to record at the right time tomorrow, that it will actually pick up the signal

I'll try your suggested set-up when I get home from work...thank you