Wonder if someone could help out a confused n00b ?

I'm having problems recording from a DirecTV TiVo series 2 (Philips DSR 704) to an Apex DRX-9200 DVD recorder.

I have two connections from the TiVo to the Apex. The first is a straight coax connection, the second takes the composite video and L and R audio from the TiVo to the appropriate inputs on the Apex.

The first thing I have noticed is that the coax picture (tuned on channel 3) is not very good. The image is stable, but it's almost as if I were receiving a picture from an antenna. It looks a little 'out of tune'.

When I record from the TiVo, this image quality is noticable on the DVD when it is played back.

Now for the interesting part. When I record from the composite video inputs (or if I use S-Video), there is a vertical opaque black 'bar' about 5 inches wide that can be seen scrolling from right to left. The picture also cycles light and dark. This happened when the DVD recorder is switched on but not recording and also during playback of a recorded program.

I have a Sima CT-2 that I use for video enhancement, so I tried running the composite video out from the TiVo through it, in case I was seeing the effects of Macrovision. It made absolutely no difference.

I can, just about, live with the recordings made using the coax input, that don't suffer from the line of the brightness cycles, but I can't help thinking that I shouldn't have to.

So I searched the FAQs but didn't see anything that exactly matched my circumstances. I'm hoping that the good folks here may be able to answer some of my questions:

1. Has anyone else had this problem and was able to fix it ?

2. Any suggestions as to the cause of the banding and brightness cycling (could it be Macrovision) ?

3. If it is Macrovision, does anyone know of a TBC that will work with the DRX-9200 and TiVo combo (seems as though the Sima doesn't) ?

4. If I can't fix the banding issue, any suggestions for enhancing the coax image (maybe an inline amp) ?

Thanks in advance.