Digital TV recording?

Why does digital TV mean I can't watch one channel while recording another?

• My cable company has just told me that I cannot record one channel while watching another, I can record only the channel I'm watching and if I want to record multiple channels at different times, I have to manually change the channel at each new time. Furthermore, the only way to watch/record is to either shell out another $20 to get TiVo or $60 for an additional converter. Is this true?! Why has watching TV suddenly gotten so complicated? And expensive?

• Answer:

  What your cable company is telling you is true-ish ... The basic problem is this: Your cable television signal is scrambled. It is piped from the home office, to a cable box (which unscrambles it and tunes in to a station) and then to your TV. The cable box only has one tuner. So it can't output multiple stations at the same time. Now. Not all cable channels are scrambled. So if you were so inclined your could actually set yourself up to be able to watch some channels while recording. Insert a splitter between the wall jack and the cable box. Run one line to the box and the screw the second line directly to your television. Connect the cable box to your VCR or DVD recorder and to the TV. You are now able to record any one of your digital cable stations to your VCR/DVDR. In addition, because we ran a cable feed straight to your TV, you can also watch 50-120 channels (depending on your area and package) that are different from what is being recorded. These will be channels 2-75 (or so) plus whatever extras your TV might pick up. It's not a perfect solution, but it works. As for manually changing the channel to setup future recordings, many newer DVD recorders come with IR blasters to change the channel for you at the appropriate time.