DVD-VCR Combo

As the world of video entertainment continues its transition to disk-based media, many of us still have extensive collections of VHS tapes in addition to movies and other entertainment we have purchased on DVD. This used to mean that we needed two machines; a VCR to play and/or record VHS tapes, and a DVD player to play DVDs.

Fortunately, someone invented the DVD-VCR combo that does both! Now, we can play our old VHS tapes and our more recent DVDs on the same machine, saving a bunch of space and reducing the rat’s nest of cables and wires behind the home entertainment system.

The beauty of the DVD-VCR combo is that we don’t have to repurchase movies, concerts, etc. on DVD that we already own on VHS unless we choose to. Often, DVDs come with many bonus features that the VHS versions don’t have, so in some cases purchasing the DVD is worth the price.

Some older or rarer VHS programs are not available on DVD, so the DVD-VCR combo makes it possible to continue to enjoy them. As an added benefit, if the DVD-VCR combo has the capability to record DVDs, and many do these days, it is possible in some cases to copy VHS tapes to DVD format. This is ideal for old VHS tapes that we recorded ourselves and want to preserve in DVD format. It doesn’t work quite so well with commercial VHS tapes, however. Aside from the fact that copying copyrighted material is illegal, most commercial VHS tapes are copy protected making copying them to DVD either very difficult or impossible.

Finally, a DVD-VCR combo allows recording of VHS tapes when necessary, such as when friends still only have a VCR. This is becoming rarer by the day, but still occurs sometimes.