Best VHS - DVD Recorder machine ?

[Antoine]

Hello,

I am thinking of buying one of those all-in-one standalone machines that let you burn your VHS tapes to DVD in one go - those machines that include VHSplayer and DVD Recorder, like the LG RC198H for example.

I find it hard to get info on this, essentially I'm afraid because I don't know how you call these in english !

Can someone be kind enough to either give me their opinion on the best of them, or point me to a site / forum dealing with that, or tell me how you call these ?

Thanks a lot !
Antoine

[yoda313]

fyi those won't let you backup official movies on the same unit - you'd have to output the videotape feed and run it through a stripper to take out the protection and put it back into the dvd recorder.

Take a look at the dvd recorders list on the left of the page under LISTS. Then you can refine your search from there. Just remember those units are wider than a regular dvd recorder since it has the tape player as well - it might not fit in a tight space.

[Antoine]

Thanks yoda, this helps. No thread has been started on these forums discussing this topic ?

[mats.hogberg]

No thread has been started on these forums discussing this topic ?

Generally, "What's the best ..." threads are frowned upon - There was even a discussion around issuing a warning automatically if you wrote "best" in the subject!
The consensus is that there is no best anything, as "best" is very subjective. All you'll get in reply in such a thread is random subjective opinions
In the hardware/software listings, users can rate what they have - Ideally the average rating will give you an idea of what's "best".
I also try to find if there are any user reviews available at price comparison sites like Pricerunner.

/Mats

[normcar]

The JVC dual DVD/VHS unit is very good. For some reason all DVD Recorders are neither of good quality nor last very long. If you get 2 years out of a unit, you are doing good.

You will need a Sima unit called something like DVD Copy (see Best Buy site) to get rid of the Macro copy protection (if these tapes have it). You can use the video out of the VCR side and put the Sima unit in line to the DVD Recorder Video input.