I regularly record from Freeview (digital) onto my elderly Funai VCR. I have to select AV via the VCR handset then tune the signal from my set top box to AV. Select the channel you wish to record from and set up the timer manually. Obviously I can only then watch TV in analogue until I cancel the timer. Obviously this is only a stop-gap method until the analogue signal is switched off next year in my area.
Norman Price
November 2011
If it isnt obsolete already, it soon will be, as all transmitter signals change from analogue to digital. Your VCR has an analogue tuner which won't work from a digital signal, so you can't tune it in to any channel to record a program. I'm afraid you have wasted your money. You can still use it for playing Videos though, simples!