Newbie - need DVDR/VCR combo w/Dig Tuner

[pamelajaye]

Occasional visitor/always recommend site to friends/first time poster.

My roommate recently decided that he needs a new vcr (we have 4 old ones - one won't turn on, one eats tape, and one is mono) and wanted a combo unit. (we have a truckload of unconverted VHS and he often plays then for a small group - he needs a machine that won't eat them, and wants to convert them.)

*I* want something with a digital tuner (don't care if it will only record digital to DVD).

I've heard that there are few of these combo units left. (and a lot seem crappy)

I don't care if the instructions are difficult as long as it can consistently create DVDs that will play.
I want to be able to record digital basic cable without a box, which we can, here, without a box, but our recorders only have analog tuners.

Are there any units of this type that are any good at all? or are they all crappy, and if so, in what way? Some things we can live with, some things we cannot. "records 20 DVDs and then dies" is a NOT

I have a DVD recorder from 2005 that will only record on 8X, the last working VCR, from 1999, and a DVR made with mythTV that won't archive to DVD. And moving those machines back and forth between rooms is fairly impossible, so he wants to buy something.

Thanks for any help - you guys know it backwards and forwards.

[redwudz]

I assume you are aware that combo units will not copy commercial videos that have copy protection? It they are home made video tapes, not a problem. However, the problems you describe about cheap VCRs are the same with combo units. When one part dies, usually the VCR section, the unit is mostly useless.

If you just have a few tapes to copy, a standalone VCR, even a good used one, might be a better value. Then you can try to find a decent DVR, though they are getting rare in the US, especially ones with built in hard drives. New VCRs aren't so easy to find, either.