fox: technical difficulties: please stand by. (technical difficulties)
fox ([personal profile] fox) wrote2009-03-31 07:30 pm

oh, and a technical question

Do cables exist that are USB-A at both ends?

The reason I ask is this. At my old place, the DVR took the coaxial cable from the wall, right; it also had another coaxial port, from which it connected to the television. The television has three sets of A/V inputs; it connected to the DVD player through video 1, to the VHS through video 2, and to nothing through video 3. The DVR also had at least one set of A/V input and output jacks, so that when I wanted to tape something on a VHS tape from the DVR, I could do this by connecting red/white/yellow plugs between the DVR and the VHS and then choosing the right option from the menu.

My present DVR takes the coaxial cable from the wall, and has no more coaxial ports. It is connected to the television's first video input by component cable. The TV is connected to the VCR by coaxial cable, to the DVD at video 2, and to the Wii at video 3.

I have this year's Oscars in the DVR, and my father has asked me to tape the show for him before I delete it. I can't work out how to do this. I'm out of output jacks on the DVR, and in any case the menu doesn't give me an option to save a program on VHS the way the old one did. The DVR does, however, have many other sockets on the back -- HDMI, SATA, USB, and some others I can't remember right now and don't feel like looking again to see what they are.

So what occurred to me was, if I could hook the DVR to my computer, I could burn the damn thing onto a DVD. But I haven't been able to locate a cable with the right ends. And then I thought, how big is a three-hour television broadcast? What size flash drive would I need to move it that way? (But how would I do this, since the DVR doesn't give me choices other than play, delete, and lock?)

Although now I'm thinking, suppose I run red/white/yellow cables from the DVR to the VHS, and additional red/white/yellow cables from the VHS to the television. The program would then have to go through the VHS to get to the TV, wouldn't it? And I could tape it while it was playing? Somehow that seems like it shouldn't work, but I can't quite think why not.

Some time when I've got a free Saturday, I'm going to take the box to the cable company office and swap it for one like I had at my old place. But even if I could do that now, it wouldn't help me get the program off this one; so in the meantime, anyone have any suggestions? I'm running into the limits of my logical capabilities here.
pocketmouse: pocketmouse default icon: abstract blue (Default)

[personal profile] pocketmouse 2009-04-01 12:10 am (UTC)(link)
Hmm. Am not awake enough to visualize all of this. I know you don't have to pass it through a TV to get the R/Y/W to work, if that's what you're asking. I can possibly come over some evening this week and take a peek, if you'd like.

[identity profile] darthfox.livejournal.com 2009-04-01 12:23 am (UTC)(link)
I don't have a good night this week, but some evening sometime, you're on.

(I'm not trying to pass anything through the TV - I just need to be able to see what's happening on the DVR [although not on the VHS] in order to make selections like "play this from the beginning". I need it to be playing on the DVR, visible on the television, and recording on the VHS, all at the same time. The DVR has a coaxial in and some component ports out. The VHS has r/w/y in and out and coax out. The TV has coax and three r/w/y in. Seems like it should work, no?)
pocketmouse: pocketmouse default icon: abstract blue (Default)

[personal profile] pocketmouse 2009-04-01 12:31 am (UTC)(link)
Hooking it up to the TV at all is what I meant by pass through. Sleepy. It sounds like there should be a way, I will try and poke it when there's time.