Recording without using EPG freezes the picture

I guess you mean a Set Top Box to convert digital TV transmission to old analog TV. Choose the correct video format for your screen.
Ah... Perhaps Your recording at an old standard & passing it to a modern TV or HD TV with the digital output from 1080 HD to 720 or lower still.
OR
Get a Digital Hard Drive recorder.....

The modern way to Record video is to use a Hard Disk Drive Recorder rather than a VCR. They have a built in tuner and can record 2 stations at once and have a built in Electronic Program Guide. The EPG info is transmitted with the Digital TV transmission from the broadcaster.
I bought one 2 weeks ago for an old 85yo friend so he could record late night stuff and play back later. He still uses the VCR but only for old VHS Tape playback. It was a TEAC HDR9650TS Digital Video Recorder and I picked it up new for Aus$188.
Here are the unit features
Main Features:
DVB-T Twin Digital Turners
DVR Recording: Record three channels while watching a 4th from same network Smart Series Record feature to record a whole series at a touch of a button
2.5" Sata Hard disk: 500GB
Time Shift Function (Pause live TV)
HDMI Digital Output
Digital Audio Output
CVBS/YPbPr/SPDIF connectors
Supports TV formats 4:3 and 16:9
Electronic Program Guide (EPG) up to 7 days in advance
EPG searching and auto download
Recorded program edit
Parental Control
Copy files from internal HDD to external HDD
Built-in WiFi
Network Playback
USB 2.0 Interface

These are the formats your DVR will or will not play.

• Blu Ray Playback: No
• Blu Ray Recording: No
• Compact Flash Card: No
• DTS Decoder: No
• DVB-C: No
• DVB-S: No
• DVB-T: No
• DVD Audio Playback: No
• DVD Player / Recorder: DVD Recorder
• DVD+R Playback: Yes
• DVD+R Recording: Yes
• DVD+RW Playback: Yes
• DVD+RW Recording: Yes
• DVD-R Playback: Yes
• DVD-R Recording: Yes
• DVD-RAM Playback: No
• DVD-RAM Recording: No
• DVD-RW Playback: Yes
• DVD-RW Recording: Yes
• DVI Interface: No
• DivX Playback: No
• Double Layer Recording: No
• Electronic Program Guide (EPG): No
• Ethernet: No
• Firewire IEEE-1394 Interface: No
• HD-DVD Playback: No
• HD-DVD Recording: No
• HDMI Interface: No
• HDTV: No
• IPTV (Internet Protocol Television): No
• Integrated VCR: No
• MP3 Recording: No
• MPEG4 Recording: No
• Memory Stick: No
• Multimedia Card: No
• Number of Scart Interfaces: 1
• PCMCIA Interface: No
• Progressive Scan: No
• Real Dolby: AC3
• Secure Digital Card: No
• Show View: No
• Smart Media Card: No
• Super Audio CD Playback: No
• Super Video CD / Video CD Playback: No
• Table / Portable: Table
• USB Interface: No
• W-LAN Connection: No
• xD-Picture Card: N

The dvd disks you're playing.... are they homemade or factory made recordings?

take it back to the shop as a faulty unit.

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2211037


Quoting from above:

Bauhn 1TB PVR
model APVR-9650T
a REVIEW
Spent a couple of hours with this PVR, comparing it with an earlier model Bauhn 1TB PVR (AS-PVR1000R, 2011).
Bought on sale Wednesday, $199.
[Only commented on differences between models. Have previously reviewed the older model - which still is a reasonably good PVR.]
Summary: not bad, some good features in a budget PVR, and a couple of annoying issues that weren't in older models (which should be easy to fix in firmware). Works well, responsive remote, although I prefer the button press of earlier model.
But product quality control is worryingly patchy. Bought 2 units, 1 was dead out of box!! Confirms my advice to buy 2 to get 1 that works well. (On power up with good broadcast signal, TV displayed Bauhn logo for few seconds, then blank screen, sound of HDD, and never advanced past "----" on PVR. Tried many times on different video outputs & TVs.)
I'll probably be returning this PVR within 60 days as the few annoying aspects outweigh the added features for my needs, over my older BAUHN PVR.
Features:
Series Record:
Records all programs with that title on that network. (Still assessing if SERIES RECORDs program on more than 1 network - e.g. records Simpsons on 10 & 11, but does it SERIES RECORD Mythbusters on SBS, as well as 7Mate?)
Good if you are away from PVR as it changes recording times to latest EPG (as long as broadcast sticks to EPG times), if program schedule frequently changes, and does not record if program is dropped from schedule.
(I have returned from overseas to find what I had set to record was not what was recorded as the program line-up had changed. SERIES RECORD should solve that.)
But... takes up many available recording schedules including ones you may not want recorded (PVR has maximum of 50 TIMER schedules, so for example SERIES RECORD "QI" on ABC1 - with 13 episodes/wk, would occupy over ¼ of available schedules!).
Also you cannot pad these recordings - adding a few minutes before/ after in case program starts early/ ends late. Changed recording time may conflict with other recording schedules meaning program may not record (check by EPG Search). Takes some getting used to to ensure consistent recordings.
Setting up standard weekly etc TIMERS may be preferable & more predictable.
EPG Search:
Searches for all programs by title within 7 day EPG, on all channels. Shows & allows setup of recording schedule, and if there are conflicts between SERIES RECORD & recordings, to set Priority.
Scheduled Recordings from EPG:
Settings for recording Once, Daily, Weekly, Weekday/ Weekend.
You can pad scheduled EPG recording times by up to only 10 minutes, in case program airs early/late.
(The older 1000 model can pad up to many hours - e.g. to record multiple consecutive shows on 1 recording, and the recording date can be changed to skip that particular recording. You can manually set up recordings to achieve this on this PVR, but then lacks program name, which you can rename. An advantage if you are running out of schedule recording slots.)
Time Shift:
Up to 2 hours, which is adequate. Can set to always be on, so can pause/rewind live programs when you wish. (1000 model can be set to almost limitless Time Shift. Mine is set to 4 hours.)
Editing Recordings:
Editing would suggest removing unwanted sections, but this PVR simply marks sections of the recording for viewing, skipping the unwanted. The file remains the same size, and copying the file to another device leaves the original unedited recording.
Settings:
MENU-PVR Settings: (handy when setting up)
Set Time Shift length (30-120 min) + Time Shift Function (Disable / Enable)
Playback Start Position (Beginning of program / Continuing from where you were watching) Continuing is handy.
Auto Play Next Program (Disable - stops playing at end at end of recording / Enable to watch recording then next recording )
MENU-Settings:
Audio&Video Output Settings (set to suit your TV etc)
Time (by State & Daylight Saving - otherwise EPG & recording time will be incorrect)
Channel List (press OK during live TV):
Can delete unwanted channels (which the 1000 model annoying could not).
Can set up 1 set of Favourite channels
External USB Storage:
2 USB (1 front, 1 rear) capable of accessing larger HDD (tried with 3TB) formatted as NTFS or FAT32. So quite useful, as I found on 1000 model.
Copying is painfully slow. On 1000 model, crashes occurred when storage for recordings was set to a USB device (MENU-PVR-PVR Setting-Recording Storage) - don't do it!
USB drives less than 16GB can't be formatted on PVR.
WARNING: If PVR freezes (too high load on processor like copying too much or Copying + Recording) while writing to external HDD, HDD may be corrupted when you are forced to unplug PVR from power! (Have had Seagate HDD totally corrupted twice with 1000 model - files cannot be recovered due to storage method). Best not to copy too much at time to HDD!
Networking: (Not assessed yet)
Via Ethernet cable. Can access recordings, photos, music on PC, and transfer to PC from PVR. Access is typically MUCH faster than to USB storage. But requires files to be in set folder, which may be unsuitable.
Media Player (Not assessed yet)
Photo & Music Players have been added . Playing MP4 files is not great.
Annoying aspects...
OSD can't be hidden when using Pause
Pausing live program, or recording leaves an information box on screen - there is no way to remove it. Pausing a recording is something I regularly do, to view details. The PAUSE bar includes the EDITING tools, making it larger than normal. As the on-screen-display covers nearly 20% of the screen, at the bottom, subtitles and information bars broadcast with the program can't be seen! You can only increase the Transparency, meaning you can see through the OSD (MENU-Settings-PVR Setting 1-60%). However, setting a high level of Transparency makes using any OSD difficult.
Slow boot time
It takes about 35 seconds to.power up from Standby to fully operational. While that is marginally faster than the older 1000 model, it is slow.
Slow navigation within EPG, Timer & Media Browser etc
There are no P+/P- (Page up/down) buttons as on 1000 model. Moving up/down a list to select between possibly hundreds of programs (recordings) is SO slow - moving 1 at a time instead of a page at a time. (Strangely the P+/P- can still be found in the onscreen keyboard when you Rename recordings or do an EPG Search. There it performs a keyboard shift function.)
Slow navigation within Recordings & Time Shift TV
FF/REW speed is a maximum of 32X, against 64X on 1000 model.
There is a very handy undocumented feature of FF/REW by holding down the right/left arrows - located around the circular OK button (while watching your time position on the progress bar). Handy for moving quickly to position in program or skipping ads. (I found this on the earlier 500 & 1000 models.) However it is SO much slower to FF/REW on this model.
Bright Standby light
As in the older model, the very bright blue light can be annoying, but easily fixed with a small piece of black electrical tape or similar.
PVRs take time to discover their flaws & features, so I'll keep exploring ;-)

The disc requires some space for the finalizing process. Two half-hour tapes take up all the room on the disc and leave nothing for the process. You'll need to record at a lower speed.

The part re the other channels having no signal....I had the same problem with mine and that was because the small loop cable in the back wasnt right. I could watch all channels, press record and still watch that channel but try to watch a diff channel while its recording and they were gone. As soon as I had the loop cable in properly it solved the problem. Hope this helps....

I had to modify the resolution and framerate settings to a lower level to make mine work reliably using 4 cameras. Otherwise mine would do the same thing as you have described. Once I lowered these it has worked but still locks up recording on occasion. I check it as least once a week to make sure it's still recording. When it locks up, the video remains, but the time freezes and the recording stops even though the recording light remains on.

Use pressurized air to clean the phone and where the microphone is. I assume you leave the phone in your pocket and it accumulates dust particles.

Is this problem happening when playing back from DVD, VCR or internal disk?