Solved! How do I record what is showing on my TV to a VHS tape?

[jasoncollects3000]

I have a TCL Roku TV so I set the input to Comcast Cable Box, VCR, Amazon, Netflix, etc. to watch. If I am watching something on cable and press record on the VCR, I just get black static. If I set to VCR, I get no picture, or a picture for a few seconds, followed by an error RDK-03060. My connections are as follows:

TV
HDMI1 to/from cable box
HDMI2 to/from computer
HDMI3(ARC) to/from DVD

Cable Box
HDMI to/from TV
Coax In from wall
Coax Out to DVD

DVD/VCR
HDMI to/from TV
Coax In from Cable Box

How do I add to and/or reconfigure the inputs/outputs so i can record what i am seeing?
Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks so much.

 

[Corwin65]

You would need to connect your cable box to the VCR input. Then you can record what is coming from the cable box but not any streaming channels.

 

[jasoncollects3000]

Thank you for the quick response! Can I ask you to please give me a little more detail--i.e. from what input(s) to what output(s) and with what kind of wires? Thanks so much.

 

[triley]

I don't think it's going to be possible, quick search tells me RDK-03060 is a HDCP error. HDCP is hi-bandwith digital content protection; a DRM scheme designed to make it difficult to record protected content. Every device would need to be HDCP compliant, VCRs as an analog recording device are not compliant.

 

[jaslion]

I have a TCL Roku TV so I set the input to Comcast Cable Box, VCR, Amazon, Netflix, etc. to watch. If I am watching something on cable and press record on the VCR, I just get black static. If I set to VCR, I get no picture, or a picture for a few seconds, followed by an error RDK-03060. My connections are as follows:

TV
HDMI1 to/from cable box
HDMI2 to/from computer
HDMI3(ARC) to/from DVD

Cable Box
HDMI to/from TV
Coax In from wall
Coax Out to DVD

DVD/VCR
HDMI to/from TV
Coax In from Cable Box

How do I add to and/or reconfigure the inputs/outputs so i can record what i am seeing?
Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks so much.

You are getting a dhcp copy protection. This means that one of the devices (your vcr) is not hdcp compatible.

 

[Solandri]

I'm surprised you even got this to work to the extent you did. VHS uses the old analog NTSC broadcast standard. Nearly all content today is broadcast in digital. The two are fundamentally incompatible. To get digital broadcasts to display on an analog NTSC device like a VHS VCR, you need one of those converter boxes that were initially sold when we switched TV broadcasts to digital.

It's possible your cable box or DVD/VCR has one built in. However, since your playback device is a digital TV (connected via HDMI), I doubt recording will work. An HDMI signal isn't just a straight video signal. It also has something called HDCP - high-bandwidth digital content protection. It's basically Hollywood's method of making sure you aren't recording the digital TV signal. For HDMI to work, the video source and display device and everything in between must have HDCP. If something doesn't, then HDCP fails, and the video source will cut the picture. That's what your RDK-03060 message is saying.

https/www.xfinity.com/support/articles/x1-hdcp-devices

Basically, the DVD/VCR is somehow telling the cable box that you're trying to record. The cable box checks to see if you're allowed to record that show, determines you can't, and cuts out the picture. I wasn't aware HDCP signals could be sent over coax, but based on your description that's the only explanation that makes sense (you being able to view cable box -> DVD/VCR -> HDMI -> TV). I suspect even an old analog VCR wouldn't help, since it's the lack of HDCP which is causing the failure. Maybe if you connected the coax out to a splitter, stuck one coax in into your DVD/VCR (since you know it supports HDCP), and the other coax in into an old VCR, you might be able to record on the old VCR.

This is one of the real shames of the conversion to digital TV. For decades Hollywood has been trying to kill the VCR. And with the transition to digital TV and HDCP, they succeeded. Yes you can still use a DVR, but those prevent you from making copies of the shows you've recorded. Heck, if the box fails, you can't even transfer the HDD to the new box. All the recordings are encrypted with a key unique to each box, so the new box will just see garbage.

https/www.forbes.com/sites/joshbarro/2012/01/18/thirty-years-before-sopa-mpaa-feared-the-vcr/#1450e1b85c8d

 

[americanaudiophile]

You have a connection that should let you record. The coax RF output of the cable box to the antenna input on the DVD/VCR. The cable box is usually set to output on either channel 3 or 4 (might be a switch on the back) so you have to select that as your channel for recording.
When you play an already recorded tape do you see it on the TV? If not then you will need to make an analog av connection from the DVD/VCR to the TV to be able to watch tapes. Some combo units don't output VCR content over HDMI since the VCR is analog. The HDMI output is for DVD, which is digital, only.

 

[jasoncollects3000]

Thanks so much for your response. To clarify, playing an otherwise recorded VHS or DVD from the unit through the TV is not a problem; it is recording something new that doesn't work. Are you suggesting a different cabling?