JVC HRXVC26U Progressive-Scan DVD/VCR Combo , Black
Good functioning space-saver
We wanted to reduce the number of components in our \\"rack\\" since we built a new AV room and wanted to hide everything as much as possible (as opposed to the college days when you wanted to cram as many components into your rack as possible!).  Anyway, this unit is just a tad over $100 at retail shops, and performs well for its intended purpose.<br /><br />We use the DvD player for all our new stuff and Netflix arrivals, and then use the VCR to play all the kids' old VHS movies (which we have hundreds of!).  The unit performs well and the manual is very thorough.<br /><br />There are many features that you may never need, and have not found anything lacking for our needs.  I have the unit hooked up to a Philips 60\\" rear projection TV and an Onkyo TX-SR701 receiver.  I only have three complaints about this unit:<br /><br />1) The VHS motor is very weak for rewinding tapes; if there is the slightest drag on the casette mechanism (either from age or poor construction) this unit simply won't rewind the tapes!  Or, it will putter along so slowly that it is agonizing to watch.  I plan on buying a separate tape rewinder in order to deal with this problem, which really should be unnecessary.<br /><br />2) Noisy DVD operation.  This is my first DVD player, so I'm not sure if this is a common issue or not, but when playing DVDs you must have the sound volume up pretty high in order to not hear the high-pitched whine of the DVD spinning in the background.<br /><br />3) You must use two input channels on the TV or receiver with this unit if you want to use component video for the DVD player. The VHS player only outputs via S-Video or composite - no component video.  I looked around and could not find any other combo VCR/DVD players that output VHS to component, so this is something I just decided to live with.<br /><br />The setup can be a bit tricky, since you have to use cables for audio and video as if you were setting up two separate components. (Assuming you are interested in the high quality digital output of DVD),  For the VCR portion, you will need a pair of RCA cables for the audio and an S-Video or composite cable for video.  For the DVD player, you will need a \\"coaxial\\" cable for the digital sound output (just a fancy RCA cable) and then a component (or S-Video) cable for the video.<br /><br />This also means that if you are going directly from this unit to your TV you will need two separate input channels to be able to use this unit effectively.<br /><br />The TV tuner seems to work great, and the setup was a snap.  Overall, the thing that knocked this from a four or five down to a three for me was the annoying inability to rewind VHS tapes.in the high quality digital output of DVD),  For the VCR portion, you will need a pair of RCA cables for the audio and an S-Video or composite cable for video.  For the DVD player, you will need a \\"coaxial\\" cable for the digital sound output (just a fancy RCA cable) and then a component (or S-Video) cable for the video.<br /><br />This also means that if you are going directly from this unit to your TV you will need two separate input channels to be able to use this unit effectively.<br /><br />The TV tuner seems to work great, and the setup was a snap.  Overall, the thing that knocked this from a four or five down to a three for me was the annoying inability to rewind VHS tapes.