I had an old TV hooked to a digital converter box. I used a VCR/DVR (with no internal tunr) successfully for a year. I just purchased a new digital TV and not the VCR/DVD will not record, though it will play. Why is that?

If there is no internal receiver then you have to make sure it is hooked up correctly.

The cable comes in and it gets hooked to the input side of the receiver.

The output of the receiver gets hooked to the vcr/dvr input.

The output of the vcr/dvr gets hooked to the input on the TV.

That way whatever your watching or whatever the vcr/dvr is tuned to gets recorded.

What are you referring to as the "receiver"? Also (and this will probably come as no surprise) I live in a very rural area do not have cable but use an antenna. Please keep in mind, I had this same set up with the old TV and I was able to record. Of course I had to use a digital converter box with the old TV.

What model vcr/dvr do you have? Does your new TV have video out?