Totally off-topic VCR > DVD

So: I have been a fan of the British Masterpiece shows (aired in the US by PBS) ever since Jane Marsh and "Upstairs, Downstairs ". I suspect quite a few of us have been, but I have a collection of VCR recordings of the best of these.... quite a bloody few VCR tapes if truth be told.... some small but significant percentage of my earnings over twenty years is invested in these bleedin' tapes, d'ye ken?

MORE

 

You could always buy a DVD Recorder/VCR Combo - I bought a Toshiba last year to copy all our old VHS movies etc to DVD. I used to record lots of stuff to VHS - now I hardly ever use the DVD recorder.....

 

It's me mind you're all readin'.... Exactly what (well, almost, as the shepherd said to the Lady...) I wanted to do, but one more little fillip:

To go from VHS to DVD I know they have machinery, Mitch... I didn't get to finish the question last nite due to a branch taking out my neighbours car...distractin' it was!

I'm on cable, so I routinely set the program I want to watch later to record to my cable-box's "DVR" function. I'm wondering if:

(1) there is such an animal as will record the proggie off the telly and DIRECT to a DVD-RW (or DVD-R, although the -RW would be superb for series saving) and

(2) if there is such an animal, can it also (as could the VCRs of the day) record at different speeds?

(3) failing that, is there some way to "dump" the contents of the DVR function in the cable box to an external hard drive without actually "playing" the program onto a DVD-RW (as though it were a TV)... (I know that's as clear as mud, but I'm getting rushed to get outta here...)

Silly questions, I know, and probably easily answered elsewhere, but I'm out the door in ten minutes for a 6 hour drive to New England (If I'm lucky) and I doubt I'll even remember my name tonite when I hit Mystic, much less these questions!

Thank you PETEC (ALWAYS a treasuretrove of information, y'are!), I'll peruse the link upon my return in (hopefully) a fortnight... blowboats don't have schedules, only destination ports.

 

The instructions for recording from DVR to DVD are here