VIDEO RECORDER REMOTE CONTROL

A video recorder remote control uses a portable acoustic generator 7 which transmits instructions to the video recorder down a telephone link, an acoustic decoder 2 is associated with the video recorder to convert the acoustic signals into commands for the video recorder. A diverter 5 is included in the telephone link to allow it to be used for normal calls as well as programming the video recorder. The decoder may communicate with the VCR over an infrared link 8. Control data may be input into the transmitter 7 and sent at high speed over the telephone link, To accommodate an answering machine at the subscriber station 3, the diverter may activate both the decoder and the answering machine, subsequently disabling the answering machine if control tones are received. Information indicating whether the VCR is in the "timer set" mode may be reverted to the caller at 6.