Seeking answers on DTV with VCRs

(Angel, I apologize in advance to you specifically for much of the tone of the following. I certainly mean no disrespect to you personally, but right now unless I find out I'm overlooking something very obvious—and believe me, I'd love to find that out!—I am extremely aggravated, frustrated and disgusted with this whole DTV transition thing.)

It will take all the mental fortitude I can muster NOT to make this into a double-digit-pages-long rant, a diatribe, a screed railing against modern society/technology and how it's all just a racket to drag me kicking and screaming (not to mention spending gobs o' cash) into the future. I may officially be a Luddite. I'm seriously considering going Amish. Gonna go price some horse-and-buggy transportation options in the near future.

Also, let me state up front that it wasn't until a few years ago that cable TV was even available on my street, but in all the times I've visited other folks' homes and seen the selection of what's on cable, I've never once found any significant reason to want it. There are maybe a handful of programs I would really like, but other than that I don't need 800 channels. I can only watch one at a time (and record up to two others for staggered viewing). Satellite TV is essentially the same. For what little I would gain I can't justify the continued monthly added expense for all eternity. It's just not worth it for me for, say, Monk, Doctor Who, and Battlestar Galactica. Shows like The sopranos, Sex And The City, Deadwood, The Wire, and others that many folks have raved about over the last ten years? I just don't go for'em at all. I may be unusual in that, but I don't care. I enjoy what I enjoy. And I've never been all that big on movies. I like to go out to see a movie in the theater, but that's usually more about spending time with friends than it is about the movies.

If I am wrong or mis-stating anything herein, please feel free to leave a comment informing me otherwise.

For so long now I've been hearing about the gloriousness that is digital TV, or DTV. As of February of 2009 all over-the-air broadcasts of free TV will cease being transmitted in analog format, only the digital version will continue. Digital is supposedly a much clearer signal and some stations even broadcast multiple sub-channels, in effect doubling or tripling (or more) your viewing options.

OK, fine. I was actually beginning to look forward to trying it out. As I've mentioned in several prior posts, I applied for my two allowed government-issued coupons February 7th and they should be arriving somewhere around mid to late April. Each coupon is good for $40 off one CECB (i.e. coupon-eligible converter box).

Last night on one of my local PBS stations they ran a program called "The ABC's of HDTV." ("The February 2009 transition to digital television is discussed. Nick Clooney hosts.") The program features the casual reassuring calmness of a gray haired host essentially saying, "Don't worry, DTV is wonderful, you'll love it and there won't be a bit of a problem." In all my online research over the past couple months I encounter the same soothing tones as helpful folks calmly reassure everyone that DTV is leaps and bounds better than crappy old analog.

Well, let me get concern #1 out of the way fairly quickly. It's relatively minor and probably nothing to seriously worry about but... I wondered what would happen if I used one of my coupons to buy a CECB and then found out upon installation that I didn't like something about it. Ordinarily, this is simple, just take the device back to the store and exchange for a different model or get a refund. However, the coupons complicate this scenario because (as I suspected) I read a user comment somewhere last night (no idea where now or I'd link to it) that someone had tried one, wasn't happy with the unit, but was then stuck with it regardless. See, the government coupons apparently only allow for exchange of a unit, not a refund (which would have to then allow you to go to a different store and re-use the same coupon for a different model box). That would still be fine if in fact stores would carry more than one converter box brand/model. They don't. Wal-Mart carries one and only one model. Ditto for Best Buy and Circuit City. So if you find some quirkiness with whatever model you purchase, like the buttons on the remote are too small or it has some irregularities in how it operates which you didn't anticipate, well, it doesn't matter because the only thing you can exchange it for is the exact same model! (And coupons can only be used in an actual physical store, not at online sites which may carry more than one brand/model.)

Alright, now on to the much, much bigger issue—VCR recording in the wonderful digital era...

Another customer review (review #20 and you can only page through them four at a time) I read last night mentioned about needing a separate converter box for his VCR. It's from Radioguy in Detroit, a "Top 1000 Reviewer," which I'm assuming is supposed to be a good thing, but I don't know. Here's the text of the review and I've highlighted the troubling part in bold:

Pros: great picture quality, easy hookup, good menu system
Cons: None

I have this box hooked up to my analog bedroom tv, with a set of amplified rabbit ears. This thing works great. I am getting 20 digital channels. It has really breathed new life into my older gear. I actually have two converter boxes. One is a Magnavox, the other is this Insignia. The Magnavox is wired into my DVD recorder, while the Insignia is running to the TV. My DVD recorder was considered high end in it's day and to costly to just discard or replace after the digital change over. This way I can record one show while watching another. It is a good idea to use two different model converter boxes if you plan to do this, so the remote don't control both boxes. Both units are about equal in picture quality, but the Insignia is better overall because it has channel up/down buttons and an on/off button on the units face. The Magnavox is 100% reliant on the remote. Also, The TV guide and menu system are more nicely laid out on the Insignia. Both units work great but the Insignia is a little better unit. There are two ways to hook it up to your equipment. One way is with the F-type antenna output, the other is with a three way A/V output (audio Left and Right and video). This is a basic tuner. It does not have S-video or HDMI, but for 59.95, I would not expect it to have such hookups. HDMI would not make sense on this unit anyway since the reciever is SDTV. Besides, these boxes were designed to work with older TV's that may not have such hookups anyway. Overall these units are great and deliver a very nice picture on an older set."

And that's when the digital crap hit the analog fan for me. I began to look into this particular issue more and more and was getting extremely frustrated by my complete LACK of finding any real answers to the issue of VCR tuning to record programs. This page seems to attempt to address the question, but the two answers given are so oversimplified and incomplete as to be laughable.

Another page seemed more promising as I first read this particular Q&A...

What About My VCR, DVD Player, etc?
Your VCR, DVD player, camcorder, gaming systems and other equipment that interfaces with your television will continue to work, no matter what kind of TV you have.

But then I skipped down to the comments section to find Duncan in the UK listing some points, among them #4...

You can only use a VCR etc to record the station coming through the digibox—which is also the one you're watching. So unless you get a high-spec "dual-tuner" box, you have a problem and probably need to get a second box for the VCR. Oh and another for every TV in the house. Ooops!

I'm not really sure what he means by a "high-spec 'dual-tuner' box," but I'm assuming it means essentially "go buy a new unit with a digital tuner capable of pulling in one channel to record and passing another through as analog output to the old TV." I'm not even sure if such a device exists (will require more research/store browsing at another time).

Also, in all my reading, I've come across many descriptions of various converter boxes and their remotes. Most mention channel up/down buttons on the remote, if not also on the box itself. I began to realize that this must work similar to the way hooking up a VCR to your TV currently does. Typically on a TV without separate input jacks for other devices you have to tune your TV to some specific channel (3 or 4) and then set the device (usually a VCR) to output its signal on that particular channel to display on the TV.

So now that I will have to use a converter box to change the incoming digital signal to analog, I assume it will work in a similar manner, that the TV will have to be tuned to one particular channel and the converter box will output its analog signal on that channel for local display. At least, I'm assuming that based as I say on all the many descriptions and customer reviews I've read.

What I really, really need is a converter box that will somehow receive and convert ALL digital signals to analog SIMULTANEOUSLY without the need to change channels on the box itself. That way I could still use my analog TV or analog VCR tuners to choose which particular converted signal I want to watch. I don't think that's even possible.

There doesn't seem to be any way which I can figure to do something I frequently do and that's to program one VCR to record two different programs at two different times while I go out. The best I can determine is that in order to record something I may be able to set the VCR timer to record, but to select the channel to record I will have to manually change the channel on the converter box. But hell, if I could do that, then I'd already be home and would probably be watching the program in the first place.

I've read nothing about any timer features on the converter boxes that would let me program it to tune to channel A, say, at 8 PM and then to channel B at 9 PM. These so-called CECBs are simple bare-bones converter boxes without much in the way of extra features unless you consider channel up/down buttons to be "features."

So it's looking more and more like I will have to buy two converter boxes (one for each TV) and then also go buy two recording units with digital tuners built in just to regain simple functionality which I've freely enjoyed for years. I imagine each such unit will cost around $100 at least. The converter box I'm leaning toward is $60, so two will necessitate $40 out of my own pocket. Total cost will likely be around or at least $240 or so, I'm guessing. And that's, as I say, just to do what I currently do all the time.

Oh, and the coupons are ONLY good for the basic converter boxes, NOT for use to purchase other types of units such as recorders with digital tuners.

You know, I wouldn't even mind so much if at least this particular issue was addressed by all the numerous news media reports on TV or in the papers. Even the scads of online sites supposedly providing DTV answers do not seem anywhere near adequate. If they'd at least be clear and address the specific issue of analog VCRs and explicitly say how timer recording either will or won't work in the digital era, that would be one thing. But the whole issue just seems to be completely ignored except for a few minor customer reviews and/or complaints I've managed to stumble across.

This is why I'm always wary of folks promising wonderful benefits of changes being thrust upon me. Invariably, they're overlooking something which is vital to me, but which they don't even consider worth mentioning if they even consider it at all. Surely I can't be the only person in America who uses a VCR to do timer recordings. It's so aggravating when change gets thrust upon you and others just simply shrug and tell you the answer is you have to spend your own money just to get back the same functionality of what you've always done before.

I'll conclude with the classic cry of the Luddite: It's not the money, it's the principle!

Now, tell me again how wonderful DTV is...

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Update: I finally found one page indicating someone else out there has actually stumbled into the same issues that I dread regarding timer recording programs in the DTV era. Also, I found an email address at the bottom of this official dtv.gov page to send questions or requests for info. So I did that and now I just have to wait and see if I get a response and what kind of response.

I tried to be concise, yet fully and clearly explain my concerns and why I have them. I hope someone there will be able to provide some sort of concrete answers one way or another, either A) explaining how I may be mistaken, B) providing a reasonable solution/workaround, or C) confirming my fears about this being a serious and yet unavoidable drawback/issue for me. I only hope they don't just reply with some casual generic form-letter response directing me to some website which allegedly will address my concerns when it fact it doesn't.