if i can watch a dvd or vcr movie shouldn't I be able to record from the tv

Intellectual you can record a tv show from the tv, like your soaps

That's DVR'ing. It's not a permanent recording. Your question suggested you wanted to burn a DVD, your answer suggested your question wasn't serious at all. Max of MENSA

I simply want to use the vcr to tape my soap or dr. phil, nothing more, it just happens to be a vcr/dvd combination, I am very serious and frustrated by the answers I am getting people thinking a simple answer is not sufficient

So you can record from TV. What are you asking?

Those things include programs to prevent this exact thing because they learned from people such as yours truly that folks like to make a copy of what they buy and share with those who don't buy.

I simply want to tape my soap and dr phil because I am not at home

If you've any kind of DVR (digital video recorder) service (Verizon FiOS, TiVo, etc.), then you find the program on your menu and highlight it for recording. If you don't have a DVR service, then you must manually connect a recording system to your channel input, which in the old days was hooking a VCR between antenna and TV. Now that no one uses VCR's anymore, it could be anything. What do you have?

No.