Q We read your recent column about attaching a digital conversion box and a VCR to your television. Were you talking about the generic box that people must now attach if they have used an antenna for their TV reception, or was it a box like we have been given from our cable company? No matter what we do, we cannot figure out how to record TV shows anymore. We record a lot of TV programs, and now it appears we will be forced to pay more each month for the cable company's DVR so that we can record anything. Is it true that the digital switch was designed to kill the VCR?

GERRY AND LOUANNE SASSONE, ANTIOCH, CALIF.

A I do not think the digital switch was designed to kill the VCR. If it has killed the VCR, it is in the same fashion that digital photography has wiped out film, a technological advance that leaves old tech behind.

That said, it is definitely harder to record things these days, and the powers that be in the entertainment and electronics industry have definitely acted to limit the ability of home watchers to record and archive content. While DVRs are more convenient to operate, saving high-definition recordings off the devices is difficult. Ultimately, all control lies in the hands of the cable or satellite company that sold you the DVR.

In that specific column, I was discussing converter boxes. You might have missed a column where I discussed VCR/DVD recorders that have digital cable tuners. Depending on your cable service, one of these devices might be all you need because they have timers and tuners that work together.

It might help to know that the red, yellow and white RCA connections found on electronics components work universally. For example, if you connect the red and white outputs from a cable box to the corresponding inputs on a cassette deck, you could record the audio portion of a program onto a cassette tape. If you connect the yellow, red and white outputs of a camcorder to a VCR, you can dub home videos to VHS tape.

In the same way, you can still use an old-fashioned VCR to record from your cable box. Your cable box should have a yellow video output along with red and white audio outputs. Connect them to the inputs on your VCR and set the VCR to record from the line input at the scheduled time. Set your cable box to the channel, and the VCR will record it when it comes on. Check your cable box to see if it has a "tuner timer." This will automatically tune to the desired channel when it is time to record.

But if you do a lot of recording, I'd give the DVR a try. You will probably find it to be money well spent. If you want to archive the programs for later viewing, you can copy them to VHS tape before deleting them from the DVR's hard drive. Just connect the yellow, red and white cables, press "play" on the DVR, and record on the VCR.

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