VCR grumble

[cellio]

Last week, although the VCR made all the right noises and light-blinks, we did not get West Wing. It did its thing for an hour but the search backward for the beginning took seconds and produced only a brief bit of new material before cutting out. I borrowed a tape from a coworker and recorded the episode onto that tape, so the media itself did not seem to be at fault. Since then I recorded another show using that VCR (different tape), so the VCR is not exhibiting a general problem. The programming is just fine.

It happened again this week. WTF?

So I'll see if I can borrow a tape again (sigh), and I'll retire the current tape even though a VCR-to-VCR copy onto it worked fine. (Tape's cheap, but this spoils my sense of orderliness.) And I just had an idea and have programmed another VCR to also record the show, lest it happen a third time.

But I really don't understand the failure mode.

Comments

[jducoeur]

Following on from my other note: there is more to the DVR world than TiVo. I have no desire to have my devices tell me what to watch, and less than no interest in paying a monthly fee for the privilege. But there are some really nice non-service-based DVRs out there, if you look. In particular, Panasonic has several models of DVR/DVD-writer combo. We have the $700 model, and it's faboo. Expensive as hell, admittedly, but well worth it to us: it's much closer to our ideal for TV recording/watching than anything else we've come across...