Where can I buy an external digital tuner for my analog VCR?

In article , lid wrote:
Al 2048 wrote:

So, can someone please tell me where I can buy an external tuner?

Walmart, Target, amazon.com...

On amazon, search for DTV converter box.

I don't know of any that will change channels at your VCR's command, so you'll
have to set it to the channel you want to record, manually.
No, he wants one that can do cable.

In article , T. Keating wrote:
On Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:22:04 +0000 (UTC), Bruce Esquibel
wrote:

In alt.tv.tech.hdtv Al 2048 wrote:

If I use the Digital Transport Adapter (DTA) supplied by Comcast, then
I can still use the VCR to record. However, I can not record one
channel while watching a different channel.

So, I want to get rid of the DTA and to have a VCR that can record
digital channels. That means that I have to buy a VCR with a digital
tuner or an external digital tuner for my current analog VCR.

I don't think anyone ever made a VCR with digital tuners, they were just
about dead and buried when OTA digital took over.

Their are a number of DVD/VCR combo recorders with a DTV tuner still
on the market. You just have to google for them..

But the digital tuner in them are for OTA digital only

On 4/30/2012 3:14 AM, Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:

May I suggest Tivo? Appliance, two tuners so it can watch/record two
things at once.

The new TiVo Premier Elite has SIX tuners. That's right - record five
programs at the same time, and watch a sixth, or record all six.

[Note: TiVo Premier Elite soon to be renamed.]

In article , UCLAN
wrote:

[Note: TiVo Premier Elite soon to be renamed.]

Good -- too many superlatives.

--
Barry Margolin
Arlington, MA

"whosbest54" wrote in message
...


snip

Comcast went digital. Apparently, they no longer carry analog cable
channels your VCR can tune directly. That means you'll need a cable box
tuner that can. There are none that allow you to record one channel
while watching another on the VCR without having 2 boxes.

The DTA is exactly that. You must use it to record on the VCR. One
option is to split the cable and hook each leg up to 2 DTA boxes with
one hooked up to the VCR and the other to the TV. Then you could record
from one box while watching another.

A number of posters referred you to getting a converter box that works
only for over the air (OTA) TV. Unfortunately, those won't work with
cable. You do have the option of getting one of those boxes and hooking
up an antenna and getting only over the air channels. But these work
like a cable box and won't allow you to record one channel while
watching another unless you have 2 boxes. You could hook up an OTA
coverter box tuner to your TV and watch that while recording from the
DTA. If your set is HD digital, you could hook up an antenna directly
to it and watch the local OTA stations while recording from the DTA
without the need for a converter box.

snip

Thank goodness somebody got it right! The OTA converters, the coupon boxes
that helped transition old TVs into the digital age, demodulate a digital
modulation called 8-VSB. Cable boxes almost always use something called
QAM. They are totally incompatible. This means one box will rarely do
both.

However, I found one he
http://www.amazon.com/Mygica-LDA-900...ref=pd_sim_e_2
that might do it for you, depending on whether it puts out something that
you can pump into your VCR. It says coaxial (RF) near the bottom of the
page, so it should work.

I also found this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815260027 which says
it does composite output, which would be marginally better that RF.
Investigate to make sure it really does composite. "Component" is NOT the
same and there's some confusion in the description.

I own neither of these but there were some favorable user reviews.

"Sal"

"GMAN" wrote in message
...
In article , T. Keating
wrote:

Their are a number of DVD/VCR combo recorders with a DTV tuner still
on the market. You just have to google for them..

But the digital tuner in them are for OTA digital only

The Hauppauge 950 USB tuner on my DTV recording PC accepts OTA and QAM
(FIOS), not cable, but they list this:
http://store.hauppauge.com/hardware2...wintv-dcr-2650

On 4/30/12 PDT 11:19 AM, Barry Margolin wrote:
In ,
wrote:

[Note: TiVo Premier Elite soon to be renamed.]

Good -- too many superlatives.


But the new name will be "TiVo Titanic Super-Elite Primo Select DVR".....

On 4/30/12 PDT 9:41 AM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per whosbest54:
Finally, you can get rid of the VCR and get a digital video recorder.
It's likely you'll have to get Comcast's DVR or a model that takes their
cablecard...

Or just get rid of Comcast.

We seem tb the only people for miles around that have only OTA,
yet I've got more programs on disc than I could possibly watch.

Seems to me like everything I'd want to watch is available OTA
given that it's automagically recorded for me and I can watch any
time I want.

Two exceptions are sports and CSPAN - but I'm not a sports fan
and can live without CSPAN.

Two? You'd be missing several dozens of movie channels, hundreds of
specialty channels, ESPN, and, of course, the Oprah channel.

Al 2048 wrote:

I live in a Chicago suburb. My cable company, Comcast, has migrated to
an all-digital signal. Before this migration, I had channels 2, 2.1
(CBS), 5, 5.1 (NBC), 7, 7.1 (ABC), etc. After the migration, the
analog channels (2, 5, 7) disappeared.

I'm confused. Were you able to tune in digital subchannels because your tv
has a digital tuner? Yes, Comcast is eliminating analog channels head end
by head end throughout the country.

The .1 subchannels were the HD subchannels, although WTTW-HD is 11.3
on Comcast.

Why is this a problem? Well, my VCR is an analog VCR, and my VCR's
tuner can detect only the analog channels (2, 5, 7). The tuner can not
detect the digital channels (2.1, 5.1, 7.1).

If I use the Digital Transport Adapter (DTA) supplied by Comcast, then
I can still use the VCR to record. However, I can not record one
channel while watching a different channel.

I have no idea why not, given that you have a digital tuner. Are you using
composite video and stereo connections via the RCA jacks? Just change the
input selector between the tv tuner and VCR and you'll have no trouble.

So, I want to get rid of the DTA and to have a VCR that can record
digital channels.

That doesn't make sense. Keep the DTA. Just correct the connection between
VCR and tv and use the tv's tuner when you want to watch a different
channel than what's being recorded on VCR.

On 04/30/2012 07:06 PM, John McWilliams wrote:
On 4/30/12 PDT 11:19 AM, Barry Margolin wrote:
In ,
wrote:

[Note: TiVo Premier Elite soon to be renamed.]

Good -- too many superlatives.


But the new name will be "TiVo Titanic Super-Elite Primo Select DVR".....

", Supreme Enhanced version."

TJ