Hi,can I record digital transmissions on my sony slv-se820g vcr barry

You may view/download the manual at Owners Manual User Guide for Sony SLV SE730 VHS VCR

The television has nothing to do with recording. It is only required for playback. There are a number of possibilities depending on what equipment you have. Do you have cable, satellite, antenna? Your signal source has to be connected to the VCR either through the cable connector, or RCA video jacks.
If you have straight cable, connect the cable to the "ant in" connector on the VCR. The VCRs tuner will select the channel you want to record. If you are on antenna, you will need a Digital set top box (STB) to receive any channels.
If you have a satellite, cable box or digital STB, you must go from the output of the box to the input of the VCR. You can use the standard coax cable,but I would recommend using the audio/video cables for better quality. If using coax, the VCR will have to be set to either channel 3 or 4, depending on the boxes output setting. Using A/V jacks, the VCR will be set to "Line" or "Video" input.

Your VCR most likely does not have a digital TV tuner. Therefore you must supply a digital TV input signal so you can record it. Unless your TV has a composite video output, you would need another box, namely a digital TV tuner/converter which would connect to the VCR's input. Select the channel to record on the tuner/converter and select on the VCR the input where the tuner is connected.

this is common for this unit use a cleaning tape

there must be a setup feature on the sony for channels that you get in your area?

Well here you go:

http://safemanuals.com/user-guide-instructions-owner-manual/SONY/SLV-SE820G-_S

everyone who bought a sony DVDplayer/video cassette recorder SLV-D370P should contact sony and complain. Then, we should all sue sony for everything they got!!! I'll never waste my money on sony again.

As long as your cable company converter box is feeding your VCR, you should be ok. The cable box should convert to analog which is what your VCR records.

Problem solved. I went online and found a pdf file for the Sony SLV-R1000 manual. This manual works just as well for the Sony SLV-2000. I'm a happy camper...