DVD Recorder & Time Warner Cable Box

sounds like the ES15 RF input is from the cable box thus only ch 3. If the box has Y/R/W outputs connect this to the ES15 rear input (ch select will be with box remote). When you schedule select IN1 as the source. Get a 3 way splitter connect cable from the wall to splitter input, connect one splitter output to ES15 RF input one splitter output to the cable box input and one to the AB switch. Now do an auto scan for channels, and schedule as tuner. If your TV only has one RF input get an AB switch one position from the splitter other position from the ES15 (RF Modulator)

Options now are:
A view or record Cable box or ES15 tuner channels on TV
B view Basic cable on TV (ch selection with tv tuner)

You can help us if you tell us what kinds of inputs and outputs each of your DVD recorder, TV and cable box have:

screw-on connectors for cable
composite video (yellow jack)
component video (set of three red, green, and blue jacks)
stereo audio (set of two red and white jacks)
S-video (different-looking round jack)

Also, is your cable service digital or analog?

what connections on the TV?

then the TV Ant A/B selector will function as your A/B switch; Ant A < RF Modulator < ES15 output. Ant B < ES15 RF output. Use a 2 way splitter input from the wall output to cable box and RF input of the ES15.

select Ant A to record your show
select Ant B to watch another

No composite, S-Video or component inputs? Just the antenna inputs? That must be a rather old TV then. That would explain why you're using an RF modulator.

Anyway, with digital cable, you cannot record one show while watching another one, unless you get a second cable box to feed the DVD recorder. The recorder's tuner cannot deal with digital cable coaxial input, only analog cable and over-the-air (OTA) antenna.

As of right now, there are no DVD recorders that can handle digital-cable signals directly. You can record only the output from a digital cable box that tunes the channels and un-encrypts the premium channels.

Beginning in March, the FCC requires that all recorders that can receive OTA signals must be able to handle OTA digital signals (ATSC). Many of them will probably also be able to handle digital cable (QAM), but only unencrypted signals, just the local HD channels and maybe a few others. Encrypted channels will require a CableCard that you rent from the cable company, basically a miniature cable box that slips into a slot on the recorder, if it has one.

Yes

The yellow jack is composite video. The S-video is a separate (alternative) connection. The red and white are stereo audio (left and right channels). If the TV has only a single set of red/white jacks, then you can probably use either the composite video or the S-video, but not both at the same time. In that case you can connect either the cable box or the DVD recorder to the TV using these inputs, but not both simultaneously. You have to connect one of them via the coaxial input.

S-video usually produces a better picture than composite video, so you should use S-video (and the two audio connections of course) if possible.

So, it looks like one possible connection setup for your situation, without additional equipment, is as follows:

1. Coaxial cable from wall to cable box.

2. Coaxial cable from cable box to TV.

3. S-video (or composite in a pinch) and audio from cable box to DVD recorder inputs.

4. S-video (or composite in a pinch) and audio from DVD recorder outputs to TV inputs.

In this case you set the DVD recorder to its line input, and always record from that. You select the channel to record on the cable box. To monitor what you're recording, set the TV to its line input. You can watch the same program "normally" on the TV, by tuning the TV to channel 3 (or whatever "output channel" the cable box is set to, either 3 or 4). It doesn't seem like you would need the RF modulator at all.