Setting The Timer On AVCR

Earlier videocassette recorders had fairly 'complex' (as viewed by some) timers that required setting the date and time of recording. Channel selection on the earliest ones was not a function of the timer; you set the channel with a large knob. Many times you could not program an event more than 6 days, 23 hours, and 59 minutes distant.

Later units allowed agile channel selection, the actual date (which could be years distant), and even repetitive recording of a certain channel at a certain time.

So many people were troubled by these 'intricate' procedures that technology evolved to reduce a TV to a unique number, which was shown for a few years in channel guides. You entered the number, and your VCR calculated it out to a date, time, and channel.

Newer channel-menu driven TiVo? and DVR units simply require looking at the program guide, and punching a single button on your remote.