Sony SLV-D350P DVD/Video cassette Player

I have the manual. Are you trying to record something live? if so:

1) Turn on both the DVD/VCR and your TV.
2) Switch the input selector on your TV so that the signal from the player appears on the TV screen (this is usually something like 'input 1' or 'line 1' and so forth)
3) On your remote, set TV/DVD-VIDEO to DVD-Video, then press SELECT VIDEO to control the VCR. These buttons are at the upper left hand corner of the remote controller.
4) To record from a cable box, turn it on.
5) make sure the tape is longer than the total recording time.
6) insert a tape into the VCR.
7) press CH +/- on the remote to select the channel or line input video source to record.
8) select the tape speed SP/EP (SP provides better quality, EP provides three times the recording time as SP)
9) Press the record button to start recording. The VCR display will display the message REC.