You recently acquired a dishnetwork dvr 625 in a car you bought at an abandon auction your question is can you record shows from regular cable tv channels?

No. You can only record satellite TV. You would also need the outdoor dish, lnbf and installation. When you can get a professional install and up to 4 TV's hooked up for $49.99...the receiver is almost worthless. If it's not new in the box you would also need to call Dishnetwork and provide the R00, and S00 #'s. If there is any money owed on the account that the receiver was last active on, they will not reactivate programming until the balance is paid.