(Seriously, PoetryToMusic is a great deal.)
(Seriously, PoetryToMusic is a great deal.)
How To Set a VCR
If you plan to be present as the taping begins:
1. Put the tape
in the VCR. This really helps.
2. Set the tape speed. The speeds are SP, LP,
and SLP (aka EP). If you are taping something you wish to keep,
SP is the speed for you, but otherwise, SLP is best. LP is
pointless. Most tapes contain 2 hours worth of tape in SP mode, 4
hours in EP, and 6 hours in SLP.
3. Set the channel:
- If your VCR is a part of your TV, just have the TV on the
channel you wish to tape.
- Otherwise if you have cable, the you probably have a cable
running from your cable box to your VCR, in which case the VCR
needs to be set to channel 3 (usually) and the cable box needs to
be set to the correct channel.
- Otherwise if you don't have cable, then you need to
set the channel on the VCR to the channel you wish to tape. The
channel on the monitor doesn't matter.
4. If you have cable, set the volume on your
cable box to all the way up, or nearly. This affects the volume on your tape.
To ajust the volume of the program while you are watching, use
the knob on your monitor, but don't change the box's volume. You
may also turn the monitor (TV) off altogether, as long as the
cable box remains on.
5. A few minutes
before the program is scheduled to broadcast, press the button
"OTR" a certain number of times: Usually the first
press puts up 00:00 as the number of minutes to tape, and each
press after that adds half an hour to this ammount of time. It's
best for this set time to be longer than the program, so it won't
stop taping near the end. As the taping continues, the number
will represent the minutes left in its programed taping time. The
taping begins as soon as the OTR displays a number other than
00:00.
6. To stop taping, press the OTR button as many
times as it takes for the taping time to return to 00:00 (not
"End" if your VCR has such a display). Once this is the
case, the tape will stop after about 2 seconds.
If you plan on taping something important, TEST ALL THIS OUT beforehand.
If you plan to be somewhere
else when your program is taping:
(Some ability to find your own way through a "user
friendly" interface is assumed; these directions are here to
tell you what TV, cable box, and VCR directions won't tell you --
how they work together.)
1. Put the tape in the
VCR. If you think you might be putting the tape in upside down or
something, bail out. Just go outside and play hopscotch or
something.
2. Set the tape speed. The speeds are SP,
LP, and SLP (aka EP). If you are taping something you wish to
keep, SP is the speed for you, but otherwise, SLP is best. LP is
pointless. Most tapes contain 2 hours worth of tape in SP mode, 4
hours in EP, and 6 hours in SLP.
3. Set the VCR to tape. Things you will be asked
for: day; start time (don't mess up AM and PM!); end time OR
duration; and channel.
- If you have cable (but not a TV/VCR combo), this gets real
complicated. Set the VCR, with the channel set to 3. Now you have
to set the cable box to be on the right channel when the VCR is
taping. Find where to do this on your cable box, and you'll have
to answer the same kind of questions again, but this time, set
the channel to the one you wish to tape. Unless your VCR clock
and your cable tv clock are perfectly in synch, you'll need to
give some leeway so the box is the entire time the VCR is taping.
When the program is taping, the cable box must be on and set to
the right channel, with a good volume setting, but the monitor
("the TV") may be at whatever volume, or even off
altogether.
It's recomended that you give a 2-minute buffer on both sides of
the supposed program time. For example, if the show is supposed
to be on from 8:30 to 9:00, set to tape from 8:28 to 9:02.
If you plan on taping something important, TEST ALL THIS OUT beforehand.
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