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well, so much for that
So much for being able to watch one show and record another at the same time. Ever. Unless I want to triple my cable bill every month, which isn't going to happen.
First, it turns out that the new converter box that the lady at the Comcast store gave me? Wouldn't have solved my problem in the first place.
Comcast guy just left after two hours spent unsuccessfully trying to jerryrig my ancient equipment (VCR is twenty years old, TV about eighteen) into allowing me to do what I could do easily before all broadcast transmissions went digital a couple of years ago and I had to start using a converter box to translate the signal for my TV.
He finally did manage to hook all sorts of workarounds up, which would have included me unplugging something every time I wanted to simultaneously record/watch, and physically blocking the signal to one of two converter boxes to change the channel during the times I want to simultaneously record/watch. Only to discover, when he finally got everything hooked up, that my VCR went belly-up sometime in the last six months since the last time I used it, anyway.
I guess I should have tested it before I even started this quest, but it didn't even occur to me to do so.
I don't want to buy a used VCR because gods only know how long it would last, probably days, and the only other option is to buy a combo DVD/VCR unit, since no one seems to be making new VCRs anymore (Amazon certainly doesn't carry any, neither do Best Buy nor Video Only). Which I suppose I could do, but let's just say I'm less than enthusiastic about the idea. I have a perfectly decently functioning DVD player, and at this point it's the principle of the thing.
I want the five hours (at least three yesterday and two today) I wasted trying to get this to work back, please.
And I guess I'll just have to choose which show I want to watch more at 8 pm on Mondays and 8 pm on Tuesdays from now on (and Netflix the DVDs on the other when they come out next year).
Anyone have a brighter idea? No, buying a separate (non-Comcast) DVR is not in the budget, and anyway, he says I'd still have to have the whole jerry-rigged setup with two identical converter boxes again even with a DVR.
Oh, and now I've got two full shelves of videotapes of movies that I love that I can no longer watch, too.
First, it turns out that the new converter box that the lady at the Comcast store gave me? Wouldn't have solved my problem in the first place.
Comcast guy just left after two hours spent unsuccessfully trying to jerryrig my ancient equipment (VCR is twenty years old, TV about eighteen) into allowing me to do what I could do easily before all broadcast transmissions went digital a couple of years ago and I had to start using a converter box to translate the signal for my TV.
He finally did manage to hook all sorts of workarounds up, which would have included me unplugging something every time I wanted to simultaneously record/watch, and physically blocking the signal to one of two converter boxes to change the channel during the times I want to simultaneously record/watch. Only to discover, when he finally got everything hooked up, that my VCR went belly-up sometime in the last six months since the last time I used it, anyway.
I guess I should have tested it before I even started this quest, but it didn't even occur to me to do so.
I don't want to buy a used VCR because gods only know how long it would last, probably days, and the only other option is to buy a combo DVD/VCR unit, since no one seems to be making new VCRs anymore (Amazon certainly doesn't carry any, neither do Best Buy nor Video Only). Which I suppose I could do, but let's just say I'm less than enthusiastic about the idea. I have a perfectly decently functioning DVD player, and at this point it's the principle of the thing.
I want the five hours (at least three yesterday and two today) I wasted trying to get this to work back, please.
And I guess I'll just have to choose which show I want to watch more at 8 pm on Mondays and 8 pm on Tuesdays from now on (and Netflix the DVDs on the other when they come out next year).
Anyone have a brighter idea? No, buying a separate (non-Comcast) DVR is not in the budget, and anyway, he says I'd still have to have the whole jerry-rigged setup with two identical converter boxes again even with a DVR.
Oh, and now I've got two full shelves of videotapes of movies that I love that I can no longer watch, too.