Basically I'm looking for a stand-alone DVD recorder at reasonable cost with a VCR so I can put my VHS tapes on DVD and toss 'em. The other consideration is if I move to HDTV will the DVD recorder handle input from one of those cable HD tuners etc..
As for prices, check this link: http://www.pricegrabber.com/search.php?form_keyword=dvd+recorder&topcat_id= As for handling HDTV signals: I have an HDTV satellite receiver. I record just fine with Panasonic and Sony using the analog signal inputs.
Thanks for the reply. The other thing I didn't think of at the time concerns copy protection. I'm guessing a lot of these combo units won't let you record "store bought" VHS movies? Video capture seems like a pain so I was hoping for a relatively cheap way to say goodbye to VHS forever.
I'm thinking you would have to be more of an engineer to work around a combo with linked inputs/outputs, rather than with separate DVD and VHS recorders. If you have separate units (heck, you can borrow your cousin's VHS recorder), the task is not that difficutlt. Check out http://www.simacorp.com/ (just one example) or Best Buy or even Wally's World. Yes, capture cards are a pain in the asterisk, and the forums are littered with people having problems with the cards. The standalone dvd recorder is the best solution, in my opinion, and in some cases, is a cheaper one than filtering signals through capture cards, PVRs and TiVo, not to mention the wear and tear on a PC's hard drive.
