Terrified Of Taping? Help Is On The Way

It’s a myth out of American folklore, right up there with 10-foot alligators in big-city sewer systems: It’s impossible to program a videocassette recorder.

If you’re intimidated by your VCR, you’re not alone. But taping is rapidly becoming easier with several readily available technologies, like on-screen prompts, or instructions, built into VCRs; VCR Plus codes found in newspapers and in magazines; and Starsight, the newest method of simplified recording.

Eleven major consumer-electronics manufacturers - Daewoo Electronics, Goldstar, Magnavox, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, RCA, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Toshiba and Zenith - have signed licensing agreements to incorporate the Starsight system into VCRs and televisions.

The first televisions featuring Starsight, developed by Starsight Telecast Inc. of Fremont, Calif., were introduced last year by Mitsubishi and Zenith. Now Starsightequipped VCRs including Samsung’s VR8905 (list price $549) and the Goldstar GVR-E449 ($449, available this month) - are hitting stores. More will follow this year.

Starsight not only lets you tape shows at the press of a key, but it’s a channel surfer’s dream fulfilled. In a grid format on the television screen, the system displays seven days of programming, which can be keyed to your local cable system. This information is automatically updated daily (the signal goes into your house piggybacked onto the signal for local PBS stations. Big Bird doesn’t have to be on in order for it to work; just keep the VCR plugged in and the cable box turned on, if you have one).

By using the arrow buttons on the remote control, you can scan the grid and highlight a show that you would like to record or learn more about. Pressing the “record” button on the remote control gives you the option of taping the program once, daily or weekly. Pressing “record” again sets the VCR to tape.

If you’ve forgotten to load a tape into the deck, the system flashes an error message. You can also customize your grazing range by themes (movies, miniseries, sports and so on) to see whether there is anything worth recording in the first place.

Once a Starsight VCR is connected, signing on to the service is done by telephone. The service costs about $4 a month (the first month is free).

Taping with the Goldstar GVR-E449 is simple. Press “guide” on the remote control, and the grid appears. The arrow keys let you highlight a show. Pressing “record” gives you the options of one-time, daily or weekly recording. Hitting “record” again sets the VCR to record. It is not one-touch recording but it is getting there. And inveterate channel surfers will be able to quickly check program information on other stations while watching a show; an inset box on the screen details what else is on while you’re watching, say, “E.R.” or a commercial.

For viewers who don’t want to buy a new VCR, Magnavox has a Starsight decoder, the CB1500, that costs around $150. It is simply connected to your existing VCR.

Besides Starsight, there are other onscreen guides with VCR programming capability in the works, including Guide Plus, from the creators of VCR Plus, and Videoguide.

Videoguide, from Videoguide Inc. of Bedford, Mass., operates through a set-top box and offers an on-screen programming grid similar to Starsight’s. Due out in September, the box will cost $99 and the service around $40 a year (the first month is free). There are other services, like news, stock-market updates and sports scores, for an extra 50 cents a week per service. Videoguide’s signal is sent by Bell South’s paging network rather than over PBS stations.

Guide Plus, from Gemstar Development Corp. of Pasadena, Calif., is expected to be available next spring and will send its signal over the ABC network. The price has not been set, but the listing information will be free.

Although Starsight is the latest cure for the VCR recording blues, there are other helpers available. Most new VCRs, even those for around $250, have on-screen displays that provide instructions, usually in a choice of English, Spanish or French. The directions tell you how to set the clock and how to tape shows.

For people easily intimidated, many newer VCRs from Sony, Panasonic, Sharp and others offer an automatic clock-setting feature that reads a signal carried over a local PBS station and adjusts the time.