Does anyone have one of those DVD/VCR players?

[terrya]

Are they worth the money? Can you record on VHS from a DVD using one of those?

I'm considering getting one of them. Will I be wasting my money?

TIA,
T

[catzies]

1. I got it last week. VHS deck plays, DVD deck plays and burns!

I've already burned 2 of my old VHS store-bought movies today. :bounce:

Most of my collection has that damn copy-protection on it, and I'm finding out which ones are by going through them one at a time.

I've waited a few years for the prices to come down; I got this one online from Best Buy. Mine's RCA and super-easy to use.

[Deja Q]

7. That's why I hate those all-in-one devices.

copy protected. The fuckers won't let you back up what you already legally own.

I digitize everything into my PC and make my own DVD discs. I also take the liberty of removing noise, enhancing the audio, and improving image quality before doing the disc burn.

Once the DVD comes out, assuming it does but this way I don't need to wait for them to see if what I like will profit them or not - though it did originally, so what the fuck?

[catzies]

10. You're far more advanced than I.

I can't do anything like that on my computer. And yeah, I'm mostly pissed because I can't back up what I already own, just like you said, and the reason I did this in the first place was to not have to re-buy what I already own!

[Deja Q]

11. Well, it takes a LOT of CPU power... and even then, it's often

slow to do. :-(

Though for one 2hr tape, I'm getting down to a 20hr process of heavy cleanup, hand-tuned optimized per-program settings, and mpeg encoding. (that's also the high-end of high-end MPEG encoding. I hate MPEG artifacting and I will squeeze every bit of performance out of my computer.)

Most people probably don't care. (in which case, one would still wonder why the corporate would want to eradicate the need to prevent backing up VHS to DVDs. Unless they just want people to buy a new disc, which is preferable ONLY if you're big on quality. But if most people don't care, why not let them make the own archives? But I forget, we're not a rational country. We're the U$A.)

[LoZoccolo]

2. I've got this Sony one...

...and you can't tape the DVDs. And it sucks as a CD player because it puts gaps between the songs as it switches tracks. If you're gonna use it as your CD player, make sure it doesn't do this before you buy one.

[Deja Q]

8. Can't tape DVDs because it would encourage piracy.

I can't blame them on that; though I'm angry that they won't let the devices copy a store bought tape to DVD. It'd still be crap quality, but at least it'd be comparatively preserved.

[bigwillq]

3. My sister had one

A tape got stuck, she could never get it out and then threw it away.


But my man has one and loves it!

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. I gave one to the hubby last year for Christmas

He loves it. We make tapes from DVDs all the time. When F9/11 came out on DVD, we made several copies for friends who had not yet seen it.

[proud patriot]

5. My mother in law is converting all her old movies to DVD

She has the entire Shirley Temple collection
on VHS and many many old classic musicals
and rare stuff .

[Texasgal]

6. I have one....works great!

It really help with all the stacking clutter in my entertainment cabinet!

I think it's worth it!

[yellowdogintexas]

9. replaced my old VCR in my space challenged bedroom with

the combo unit. Mine is a cheapie so won't burn DVD from the VHS side. I just like it because I can watch either type of movie in the bedroom, and it actually takes up less space than the old vcr did.

No cable on that TV, as well, so the DVD capability is a nice plus.