This of course depends on your VCR, but the following are some general
tips.
The main trick in recording from one VCR to another is getting the
"play" VCR to send a signal as output to the "record" VCR, which
receives this signal as input. Normally when you play a tape in a
VCR, the output goes to a TV, and when you record on a VCR, the input
comes from antenna, cable, satellite, or some other source. Most VCRs
that I am familiar with have coaxial cable input and output, and some
have audio/video input and output as well. To use coaxial cable, find
the cable that goes from the "play" VCR to the TV, disconnect it from
the TV, and connect it to the input of the "record" VCR. Connect the
output of the record VCR to the input of the TV so that you can see
what you are recording.
The labels for coaxial cable input and output vary, but common ones
for input are "IN FROM ANT", "IN FROM ANTENNA", "ANTENNA IN", while
output ones might be "OUT TO TV" or just "OUT". If you can't tell
which is which, insert a tape into the VCR in question and connect the
cable to the TV using one of the ports. If you see the tape playing
on the TV, you know which port is for output. (Of course, the TV has
to be on the correct channel.)
It is important to make sure that the record VCR is set to the correct
channel. This can often be accomplished by making sure that the VCR
is in TUNER mode and the channel is set to the same channel as the
output channel of the play VCR (usually 3 or 4). Most VCRs have a
switch on the back to choose between these channels. So if your play
VCR is set to channel 3, set the record VCR to channel 3. You should
then set the TV to the output channel of the record VCR. To test
things, put a tape in the play VCR and press play. If it appears on
the TV screen, you're ready to begin recording.
I found some pictures with Google image search that may be useful.
For a clarification of what exactly coaxial cable is, do a search for
"coaxial cable" and look at the third result, antenna-coaxial.jpg.
The link is no longer working. There is also a good picture of the
back of a VCR at
http://dtv.oit.duke.edu/HookUpCable/VCRhookup-long%20cable.html.
Google image searches used:
coaxial cable
coaxial TV cable |
