DVD & VCR Combi Players

Digital technology is great, and most of us have really started to embrace it over the past few years. However, most of us also have a lot of non-digital formats in our collection, and if you spent years building up a good stock of VHS videos you’ll certainly want to have the option of still getting use out of them. Thankfully, you do not need to abandon your video tapes, and can actually combine use of them with your growing digital video library with ease.

Combination DVD and Video players are available in many different forms at the moment, and most of them are extremely straightforward to use. Combined DVD and video is typically carried out through a single compact unit, into which is built the capacity to accommodate both DVD discs and VHS tapes, connecting to your television so that you can enjoy playback any time.

There are a number of considerations if you are thinking about purchasing a combined DVD and video machine, and it’s definitely worth comparing the different models available to get the best out of your budget.

Playback and Recording
Many of today’s DVD and VHS players also have the ability to record, and not just on VHS, for many models can now record onto DVD, which gives you the option of choosing between if you’re looking to record a television programme for example. In some cases, a recordable player will also have the ability to store digital recordings on an internal Hard Drive, which means that you can keep video files even if you do not want to commit them to video or disc.

Formats
One of the main things to check out when you’re buying a DVD and Video combination is what formats it is capable of playing and recording onto. On the DVD side, you will want to check whether it can play HD video if your television is an HD one, and what DVD disc formats it can record onto, for example DVD+R. From the point of view of videos, you may want to check that you will be able to play both purchased or recorded videos, and personally recorded home movies if you require this functionality.

Connections
One thing that will always affect the usefulness of a DVD and video combination is how it connects to other devices such as your television. In many cases the DVD and video functions are accessible through the same interface and menus, in which case you do not need to physically switch between them, so this is certainly worth checking in advance. Some current machines can also connect to the Internet for browsing through your television set.

Considerations
Many people assume that through a DVD and video combination they will be able to transfer their videos to DVD or digital format stored on a Hard Disk, but this is in fact not normally the case. Most of the machines on the market actually prevent you from re-recording or transferring the recordings from one format to another due to copyright legislation.