Venting on a DVD recorder purchase

[Whirled One]

I have to say "nay" on the combo units too. Go with a good quality VCR and a separate stand-alone DVD recorder.

I will say that I find a stand-alone DVD recorder to be far more convenient for transferring tapes than using a computer/video digitizer card. I've had a Panasonic DVD recorder (a DMR-E30) for years now, and it's just been great, both for transferring old tapes and for standard TV tuner recording. As Geoff says, I agree that the 6-hour mode this thing has is just awful in terms of quality, but I think those "6-hour" and "8-hour" modes on DVD recorders are more of an advertising gimmick than anything else (and to make the recording modes seem more like the familiar VHS VCRs). At 2-hour mode it's quite decent (and the 1-hour mode is even better-- if what you're trying to record will fit in 1 hour) Plus, I would imagine that if anything, the quality of the encoding is better in current stand-alone DVD recorder models than my 3-to-4 year-old Panasonic.