Combo DVD/VHS Recorder/Player

[gymeni]

I saw one of these things on QVC the other day as their "today's special value" for around $200 and wondered if it was worth getting. I'd not heard of any such units prior to seeing this, and I've been waiting on one to be introduced. Anyone have a unit like this or have any experiences with one? I'm especially interested in hearing about the quality of the reproductions from VHS to DVD.

[jay]

A DVD burner in the combo player for $200? Wow. VHS to DVD would probably be better than VHS to VHS, but the quality on DVD will be no better than the original.

And both technologies, VHS and DVD, have seen their better days, and are on there way out.

[gymeni]

Uh-oh, now I'm thinking I should have jumped on it (after seeing your "wow"). I would really love to move some of the stuff I have on VHS to a more permanent medium and figured this would be the way to go. What's in the works to replace the DVD (as you can see I don't keep up with these kind of things much)?

[sjlee]

Originally posted by gymeni
Uh-oh, now I'm thinking I should have jumped on it (after seeing your "wow"). I would really love to move some of the stuff I have on VHS to a more permanent medium and figured this would be the way to go. What's in the works to replace the DVD (as you can see I don't keep up with these kind of things much)?

DVD isn't going away, but rather high-definition DVDs and DVD players will be coming out soon. There's a big fight going on, however, on what the high-def format will be. There are two... Blu-Ray and HD DVD. Unfortunately, new DVD players can only play one format or the other (but both will be able to play current DVDs).

Blu-Ray was developed by Sony and is supported by Hitachi, LG, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung and Sharp. HD DVD, on the other hand, is supported by Toshiba, NEC and Sanyo.

This is reminiscent of the Beta vs. VHS battle of the 80s.

I'm not a big fan of "all-in-one" units, because if you have to send the unit in for repairs, you won't be able to play either VHS tapes or DVDs.

Also, are you sure it's a DVD burner? Or is it simply a VCR with a DVD player?

By the way, what brand was it? Stay away from Apex.

[jl_ss]

Originally posted by gymeni
Uh-oh, now I'm thinking I should have jumped on it (after seeing your "wow"). I would really love to move some of the stuff I have on VHS to a more permanent medium and figured this would be the way to go. What's in the works to replace the DVD (as you can see I don't keep up with these kind of things much)?

Can get one at CC for about the same price:

CC Link

[gymeni]

Originally posted by sjlee
Also, are you sure it's a DVD burner? Or is it simply a VCR with a DVD player?

Thanks for the info.

It's a DVD burner that will also play DVDs and VHS tapes. I am now looking into one by Toshiba on the Crutchfield site that has gotten rave reviews.

[gymeni]

Originally posted by jl_ss


Can get one at CC for about the same price:

CC Link

Thanks, jl, but I'm pretty put out with Sylvania right about now. I bought a DVD/VHS player (not recorder) from them a little over a year ago that quit working in like 3 months! My brother, who lives in another state, also purchased one and his didn't last, either.