I previously had a cable company and their receiver box was connected to my dvd/vcr recorder. I could record only what was showing on the TV at the time and that was OK with me.
With the current Direct setup I cannot record anything. I can play dvds and vcr tapes as I did before. I simply cannot record. The installation tech did not reconnect Direct's box to my recorder. I connected the two myself. At no time were any of the wires disconnected from the recorder. Only the receiver connection was missing. I connected the three wires (red white and yellow) to the output connections on the receiver but it doesn't work.
Note: The receiver is connected to the TV (HDMI1) via a HDMI cable and the recorder is also connected to the TV (HDM2) via a second HDMI cable.
Any solution to this problem?

To me it sounds like the cable box was connected to the DVD/VCR and then the DVD/VCR fed to your TV. My guess is that it was not HDMI.

Because Hollywood is afraid you might copy a movie, there is probably no HDMI input on your DVD/VCR. So you need to see if there is an additional output on the DirectTV receiver that you can use to hook into your DVD/VCR. This might be a coax connection (http://media2.comcast.net/anon.comcastonline2/support/help/faqs/video-connections/image001.png), a composite video connection (https://sep.yimg.com/ty/cdn/videoware/compositeaudio1.jpg), or component video connection (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Component_video_jack.jpg). See what inputs your DVD/VCR has and try to find a matching output on your DirectTV receiver. Hopefully the receiver will output to both the HDMI and whatever additional output you choose.

You'll still have to set your DirectTV receiver to the channel you want to record, and you'll need to set your VCR to record from whatever input you've chosen to go between your DVD/VCR and the DirectTV receiver.

It will probably look something like the diagram below:
46870

Hope this helps,
WallyH