Thanks so much for the offer, Bob. We do have Cox Cable, and it is connected to the TV monitor. Our VCR-DVD is a Toshiba DVR620KU, and the TV is a Samsung Led TV monitor, SyncMaster, series 3, TA350 and series 5, TA550, whatever that means. I don't know which letters and figures may be useful, so am repeating them all. I am sorry for not having gotten back to this problem for several months. There has been illness in the family, as well as computer problems, which are now solved, hopefully, with the aid of a friend, and what with personal problems and job demands, I just didn't feel like concentrating on the TV/recording problem. What I want most now, and can't do, is to record TV shows. Not HD or HBO or anything--just a few KPBS or sit-com things. Our TV cable service is basic. A visitor showed me that with an HDMI cable, I can watch tapes and DVDs from the Toshiba unit, a step in the right direction. However, I seem unable to bring up anything on the TV screen that will let me record to either the tape or the DVD. There is no place to plug in a coaxial cable to the Toshiba, so I figure that any recording would have to be from signals sent from the TV. (In fact, even if I could send signals directly from the cable connector in the wall to the Toshiba, there would still be no way to select channels to be recorded.) The problem is that all the ports and other places for hitching the TV to the Toshiba are labeled "IN" and, unlike our old TV, there are none for "OUT". Well, Bob, or any other kind person, does it seem that there may still be a way to record to the Toshiba device? Even to be able to record to VHS tapes would be great.

Some still use tape, some use mini-DVD, some new ones use mini-hard drives. Depending on if you need the new HD (HiDefinition) or standard TV... And depending on if you're going to use it outdoors or indoors (low light) some are better than others with low-light. Most camcorders don't want to mention their Lux (light) rating. I have a JVC 30gb Hard Drive GZ-MG series model that will do 7.5 hrs in the near DVD mode (not Hi Def) and up to 37 (thirty-seven) hours in the VCR quality mode. It's about the size of 3 packs of cigarettes (I don't smoke) The standard battery is 1 hour. 3hr & 5 hr batteries avail on ebay. Not very good in low-light (about 15 lux) Some other camcorders can do 1 lux Amazon link

Netlos, I checked the outputs and inputs as you suggested. I had them set up as you described. Before I had the HDTV cable installation, I chose the AV1 from the TV input select button. That would allow me to turn on the DVD recorder and either view programs, change channels or pre record. Now with the HDTV cable installed, I can get a picture (but only on the channel I was viewing on regular TV), but I can't change channels and I'm not getting audio. On the back of the cable box I have: on top row: red, white, then orange (labeled SPDIF), then video in/out (yellow, yellow). Below that I have these connections: red, white, green (labeled Y), blue (labeled Pb), red (labeled PR)--all five (HDTV) cables go out from here to the TV. Using the first row of connections: I connected the yellow connector (out) from the cable box to the DVD recorder. I connected the red and white cable to the first two connectors of red and white. (But this is labeled Audio In). There is no audio out on the first line of connectors that is available to go the the DVD recorder. The only audio out is used to connect the cable box to the TV with those five connections. On the output of the DVD recorder, I have the red, yellow and white connected directly to the TV. On the DVD remote, when I select input, it switches back and forth between Line 1, Line 2, channel 99. The only time I get a picture is when it is set on Line 1. Again I have no audio and can not change to a different channel. Do I have this setup wrong now? Do I possibly need a five cable connection like the HDTV cable box uses? Any other configurations I should try? Thanks for your help previously and thanks in advance for helping me with this.

Do not leave Canon,and Lumix(Panasonic) out of your search they both make great cameras,i have a Canon,it is getting old now but am still happy with it , never had a problem with it!