Hitachi VT-M281A Owner's Manual page 31

Basic Operations (Recording)
Shows with Same Starting Time: By Program number
If the overlapping programs start at the same time, the VCR records in
order by program number (1 - 8). If the shows are all scheduled to start at
7 AM, the VCR starts with program 1 at 7 AM, and switches to what
remains of program 2 when program 1 is done recording, and so on.
Shows with Different Starting Times: By Earliest Program
If the programs start at different times, the VCR records the show
scheduled to start earliest, records the entire show, then moves on to the
show with the next earliest starting time.
To avoid recording only bits and pieces of different overlapping shows,
review your programming and delete those shows that are not essential.
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