Hi Melody,
You are definitely MacGyver material. I would think that the universal remote you use could be programmed to recognize 2 different VCRs even though the VCRs are identical that is if it’s not too old. We have Dish Network setup in our house in the living room and the bedroom with identical DVRs. I am a channel surfer; my wife likes to watch soap operas in the bedroom. I guess the cat got on my remote in the living room one time and reset it. The wife was enjoying her shows in the bedroom and all of a sudden she comes storming into the living room where I was channel surfing and said that her DVR was possessed. It just keeps changing channels without her even touching the remote. We called tech support and they helped me reprogram my remote so it only worked on my TV in the living room. So that proves that the signal from a remote will go through walls and everything.