Although I have a Dish DVR, I also continue to use my VCR with converter box when necessary. I have three ATSC tuners in my setup: TV, Dish 722 DVR, and Zenith DTT900 converter box. There are times I watch a program using my TV's tuner, record a program on my Dish DVR, and record a third program with my converter/VCR. I can see Raphael's dilemma, not having enough ATSC tuners/recorders to meet his needs.
My Zenith converter, like many converters, does not have the option of programming it to change channels at a certain time to record on to the VCR. Fortunately, there is hope. When Dish Network's DTVPal (also known as the Echostar TR-40) comes out, that apparently will have a VCR timer. According to Wikipedia's comparison of DTV converters (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_CECB_units ), that is the only one known to have that ability. To other members of this forum - if there are others, please list them.