Alrighty, thanks for the info! I'm not sure which DVD recorder you have. Is it
this one (link goes to Amazon.com)?
You mentioned that you can't get the DVR to work. I'm not sure that's a connection problem. Perhaps you meant the the DVD recorder won't record shows that you've saved on the DVR?
The "Getting Started" guide for the Explorer 8300 can be found at
this link here. Page 12 of that PDF file shows the connections for hooking up the 8300 to a VCR and how to record from the DVR to a VCR. Those same connection would work for your DVD recorder (if it has those inputs), but you can probably go with better connections on the DVD recorder - namely, use the S-Video out on the 8300 to the S-Video in on the DVD recorder. You may even be able to use the digital optical output on the 8300, but let's discuss that after you've taken a look at the linked set-up guide.