The wife likes to record her soaps so we went the DVD recorder route to get rid of the tapes, we have not had much luck with this wonky technology.
Our first was a expensive Pioneer hard drive unit and that last a little over a year you know just after the warranty expired.We tried another brand and pretty much had the same result, we are now on our third unit a simple DVD recorder and so far it`s still working touch wood.
If this one craps out that is it it`s back to a VCR if I can find.
It sounds like you are just into basic TV so a simple VCR may be the best option.