PROGRAMMING A VHS VIDEO RECORDER FOR TV LISTING

[sagleo]

CAN ANYONE OUT THERE HELP! My wife and I have messed up our video recorder somehow.
It has been working fine but now we are unable to record any tv programmes not even manually, we think we may have pressed a button without realizing it whereby E1 and E2 keep showing up on the screen on the block where you enter the info to record a programme.
It wont even work when trying to programme manually. We try to put in the channel number, for example channel 04, and E2 comes up and although the video is displaying that it is recording, the tape is blank.
We are unable to record by entering the Video Plus numbers which is the way in which we have always recorded.
Does anyone know how we can eliminate E1 and E2 from appearing on the timer block, or have any ideas on how to return to Video Plus recording or even manual recording.

 

[JohnD]

Make and model would be a start

Also unplug it from the mains overnight and see if it resets. Switching off will not do.

Numbers preceded by an "E" are often Error signals indicating that something is wrong with the device.

 

[tockworth]

You have accidently programmed your video to record off input E1 and E2 are indicating that the video is set to record timer or manually off the scart sockets at the rear of the machine as opposed to your channels 1 2 3 4 and possibly 5 if you recieve ch5 terrestially. Two things to try

1 On your remote there will be a button marked a/v or input press this until ch1 etc appears in the display once the ch numbers are restored select indivdual channels from the keypad.

2 If you record in timer you should be able to edit the timer programme and once again use the input or A/V to reselct the channel you want to record.

If you still have the instruction book this would be covered under the "recording off scart input "section

If you still cannot correct post the make and model number

 

[sagleo]

Thank you for your responses. The VCR is a Pye Video, although we have had it for 5 years we have not had any problems.

We have tried unplugging it and reconnecting it to the mains and doing it this way while also holding down the standby button as the instruction manual suggests. We find the instruction manual, very basic, and none too clear!

We have attempted your suggestion, "Tockworth", of pressing the AV button on the TV Remote (not the video remote control as it does not have an AV button).

We turned on the TV, and selected each channel by turn from the key pad on the tv remote control and when on each channel, 1, 2, 3, 4, we pressed the AV button, the tv screen showed black with the corresponding AV number in the upper left corner.

On the bottom of the screen were the colour coded bars representing the channels...red was AV1, green was Av 2/5, yellow was AV3, and the blue colour coded bar had no number in it! We can get all channels 1 2 3 4 on the tv, but are not able to do the AV procedure for channel 4.

In trying the video remote control again, both the video plus procedure and the manual procedure, E1 and E2 are still appearing under the Programme heading on the timer block for channel 1 and channel 4. Channel 2 and 3 show correct in the timer block and accept prgramming for recording a tv program but nothing gets recorded from any channel.

My wife and I are retired pensioners, none too swift with technological things, so we apologise if our summary of the situation is not too clear. Any further thoughts, ideas or suggestions would be most appreciated as we would like to try all possible solutions before having to make a decision that will result in a financial outlay. Thank you for your time.
Sagleo

 

[tockworth]

I think I can pick the bones out of that. If I am correct If you programme a videoplus on channel 2 or 3 it is ok. but if you proggramme a videoplus programme on 1 and 4 it shows E1 or E2. If this is correct it means you have lost the tuning setting on channel 1 and 4. When this happens your video will default on the timer table to E1orE2. The solution is to manually retune your video recorder on channel 1 and 4 to do this you will find this in the installation chapter of your video recorder,s instruction book.

 

[sagleo]

Hello again, Sir, Have just read your response, we are digesting this and are now going to return to the manual. Yes, I believe you have summed our situation up just right. We will have a think about this and see what help the manual will give us regarding what you mention and we will let you know. Thank you, will return later. Sagleo

 

[JohnD]

OOI, if the old vid won't go, there are a lot of very good Panasonic videos on ebay at the moment. I don't know where they came from, maybe someone is clearing stock. I got one for £20 inc P&P but they usually go for about £20 plus carriage. It is substantially better than any other VCR I have come across. It was advertised as used but looks like new and the vendor company has sold over a dozen already.

The best ones are model NV-HV60EB and Panasonic NV-HV61EB (came top in recent Which test* at a retail price of £90)

I believe that because people are moving to DVD the bottom is dropping out of the VCR market. If you have a stack of videos on tape it is worth buying a good video recorder before they become unobtainable.

* Quote:
This Best Buy from Panasonic is one of the easiest VCRs to use. Its picture quality is good and it has excellent sound, too.

It’s a good choice for use with a set-top box. Scart link recording lets you program recordings via the set-top box’s electronic programme guide. This eliminates the need to program the video directly, but is compatible only with certain digital set-top boxes, such as Sky and some of the latest Freeview boxes. It also has Scart loopthrough, which allows you to link your set-top box, via the VCR, to your TV — handy if you don't have two Scart outputs on your set-top box.

 

[sagleo]

Hello John D thank you for your two responses. That is very interesting information you have shared regarding the VCR's on ebay. We have taken note of the model numbers and I plan to have a little look at ebay later. My wife and I are at present re-reading the instruction manual. They don't write these things in very plain English! Thank you very much for your ideas and suggestions, they are well noted. Thank you for your time and interest, will keep you posted. Sagleo

 

[tockworth]

Once you are sure all your channels are tuned in bbc1 bbc2 itv channel4 and you can confirm this by selecting the tv to your video channel on the tv remote control usually channel 9 or channel 0 if not connected by a scart lead.Then select channel one thru to 4 on your video remote and each channel should appear as you press the appropriate channel number on the video remote control.After this has been done post back and I will tell you the next step as you may have to re-educate the memory in the videoplus table, not as difficult as it sounds.

 

[sagleo]

Hello again, Sir, well, we are feeling somewhat chuffed with ourselves at present, hope it continues.

Following your instructions we manually tuned all channels 1234 successfully!

Then, again following your instructions we selected 1 through 4 on the video remote and each channel appeared on the video machine display window, i.e, P01 then BBC1, P02 then BBC2, etc.,

Yes, we believe you are right re the videoplus method as we are still unable to record using the videoplus.

But we have successfully recorded manually by testing each channel by manually entering the information on the timer block and testing a few minutes of a programme for each channel.

E1 and E2 did not appear in the programme section on the timer block line and we were able to enter the programme (channel) numbers each time.

We are ready and feeling a bit more confident regarding the next step!
Thank you, Sir, for your time. Sagleo

 

[jj4091]

How refreshing to hear someone so grateful for the help they received.

 

[sagleo]

Hello jj4091, my wife joins me to say thank you for taking that moment to send the kind and positive message that you did. Sagleo

 

[sagleo]

Hello Tockworth,

As it stands now, channels 1 2 3 and 4 recorded successfully via the manual method of recording, i.e going into the timer block and entering each column, date, channel, times. E1 and E2 are not appearing

Still unable to record using the videoplus. Sagleo

 

[tockworth]

ok last step you now have to re-educate videoplus. Start with putting a videoplus code in for a channel 1 programe which I assume is bbc1. when you enter the the code the start time, end time, date, etc will show in the table. were it has programme number it will be blank. (or it may be E1 not to worry) Next go back to your menu and access timer programme list and were that shows it should give you the option to edit all data start stop date etc but you are interested in program number.( if this is not obvious how to edit refer to manual under edit timer programmes)when the cursor or the highlight is over the programme number enter ch1(you may have to do this with the up and down arrows on your video remote) then save or store or press ok they all mean the same. this will complete that videoplus timer programme.You will only have to do this once as the video recorder will recognise any future bbc1 videoplus codes you enter. repeat the same procedure for ch4.

 

[sagleo]

Hello, Tockworth. Thank you for your message, we are now going to follow the steps in your message, before we do, just one question, do we repeat the same procedure for each channel.....bbc1 bbc2 itv3 channel 4? Thank you. Sagleo