The Y2K problem--many computers can't tell the difference between the years 2000 and 1900--doesn't mean airplanes will fall out of the sky or your bank account will disappear. But the calamity could occur right in your living room: Come the millennium, your VCR may not work anymore.
You're in the clear if you just use your VCR to watch movie videos, and you'll still be able to record programs at the time they air. But if you use the timer so your machine will record later, your VCR may not be millennium-friendly. To find out if it is, try this check: Set the VCR's clock to Jan. 2, 2000. See if it accepts that date. If it asks for the day, enter Sunday and see if that's OK--it may already say Sunday. But if your VCR tells you Jan. 2 is a Tuesday, it thinks you're referring to 1900. And if it says Jan. 2 is a Wednesday, it's thinking of 1980, a common default date when the VCR doesn't know what year it is. In either case, you have a Y2K problem.
But if you're doing all right so far, set your VCR to record a program at any hour on Jan. 3, 2000. If it accepts the date and says it's Monday--and not Wednesday, as it would be in 1900, or Thursday as it would be in 1980--your VCR is ready for the new century. In the event your VCR flunks the above tests, see what the store where you bought it has to say. If you get nowhere, try the manufacturer. Still no luck? You have one more chance--fooling your VCR into thinking it's 1972. That year and 2000 have the same calendar.
Enter the date Jan. 2, 1972. If your VCR says that's a Sunday, good. Then set it to record anytime on Jan. 3, 1972, and if your machine says that's a Monday, you should be home free. Warning: this trick doesn't work if you use VCR Plus codes for fast programming. Accordingly, you can then fool your VCR into thinking 2001 is 1990, 2002 is 1991, 2003 is 1997, 2004 is 1976, 2005 is 1994, 2006 is 1995, 2007 is 1990, 2008 is 1980, 2009 is 1998 and 2010 is 1999.
Dave Bayliss, the Adler Planetarium spokesman who supplied these dates, says, "I have a time-travel question. If I set my VCR for 1980 in 2008, will I get the Carter-Reagan debates?''