a friend has a techie question please help
 

hi, my friend has cable and a vcr/ dvd recorder. she wants to record one channel while watching another, but can't do it without a cable box which she doesn't want to pay the monthly fee for. is there any way around having to use a cable box. please let me know. any and all input is appreciated. thanks

Is this digital cable? Are any of them analog? Are any of them non-premiums? There may be a way sometimes, in some situations.

hi LS, yes to all 3 questions. lmk. thanks

Digital cable and premium channels require the cable box. No way around it.

The non-premium analog channels can be split from the main line to any cable-ready TV or VCR.

I imagine your friend would be juggling a lot of wires to switch around. This time he wants to record a digital channel, and watch something like TBS. But next time, have to swap wiring to record TBC and instead watch HBO.

hi LS, could this be done with a switcher box? at one time i had a box that i ran the cable line and the satellite line into, and when i wanted to watch either, i just switched to the one i wanted to view. lmk. thanks

Maybe. But that would be one at a time, not two at once.