Hello all,
I am getting ready to move back out of my parents’ house, and since I don’t have a TV in my room here, I had no problem hooking up my DVD player and VCR in other rooms of the house. However, the fam has taken a real liking to them, and decided to keep them for themselves. I figure a DVD player/VCR combo would suit my needs best now that I’ll be leaving both machines behind, so I’d be curious if anyone recommends (or DOES NOT recommend) any particular brand or model.
I am not a technocrat or an audio/videophile. I couldn’t care less about owning the best of the best, and I’d rather get something cheap that works. The cheaper, the better, assuming I won’t have to replace it in a year. (Then again, I hear even the expensive models don’t last very long anymore. “Planned obsolescence,” they call it.) I see DVD players advertised for $30 at a lot of the major retailers (Best Buy, Circuit City, BrandsMart USA)–most of those are “off-brands,” but are they reliable? I rarely see VCRs go for less than $40. Would I be able to save money by just buying separates? I rarely even see the combo units for sale, so I thought I’d ask for advice here. Thank you in advance!
There was a GQ thread a few weeks ago about this. The general consensus was that combo units are generally not that good. If you don’t plan on using it a lot, you should okay, though. Any name brand is as good as any other name brand. The biggest plus is there’s a lot less wiring involved.
When you run a DVD player through a VCR, the copy protection (usually Macrovision) can cause the DVD’s picture to do that dark/light thing.
I, personally, would get separate units.
I’ve had 2 (one failed after I left it “on” for 3 days without noticing and got it replaced using my extended Futureshop warrenty).
I haven’t had any issues with the combo unit. Mine’s a JVC (combos are very rare so you should be able to find the JVC unit as it’s one of 2 or 3 sold in Futureshop/Best Buy).
You cannot record a DVD onto a VHS tape. Copy protection and all that but otherwise no other issues. Mine runs everything but SVCD. The dual unit was cheaper than getting a DVD drive and a VHS system so it can be a good choice.
You probably shouldn’t get the extended warrenty unless you’re as careless as I am. I put in a DVD and turned off the TV. The continuous animated menu ran for a few days and the drive stopped working!
We bought a Toshiba DVD/VCR combo through Costco (on sale) – I thik it’s about two years old now. We’ve had no trouble with it, and we watch a fair number of DVDs. Consumer Reports seems to regard Toshiba highly as a maker of reliable video equipment.