Should I buy a DVD/VCR combo or two of them separately? I can see size being one of the issues but price is pretty much the same. Though I am not always comfortable with buying things that can do a lot of things, cos mostly they can’t do nothing right. No?
DVD+VCR Combo will allow you to copy DVD's into VHS (if the DVD allows copies, which means most English movies are out and most Indian movies are in). ;)
Thats a neat feature. You get one remote less. And being one machine, it saves space on the Entertainment Center or TV top, whereever you decide to put it. The only downside is the price, and if you feel the price is the same, then go for it.
Don’t watch many movies, so that copy feature is out for sure. Can you burn a DVD with these things?
Greeb admi hooN bhai, price does matter! 
You "don't watch many movies" then why buy a DVD player?
Please note what i quoted ;). Firstly, you cant burn dvds with these 200/300 buck combo units. Secondly, if you wanted a dvd recorder, it will cost you 600USD minimum. And thats for a good one. A Panasonic DMR-E30K will run you about 650ish with a discount retailer. But ive seen it selling for about 1500 canadian at someplaces.
Also, a combo is only good if you are short on space, and are too lazy to use 1 remote for dvds’ one for vhs. also remeber you can also copy from dvd to vhs with standalone units. its actually easier than doing it on the combo units. you probably have a vcr lying around, so just buy a dvd player.look into panasonic, toshiba has an offer where they give you 2 dvds when u get their dvd player.
funguy, I said I don't watch much, I didn't say I never watch any. Secondly, looking at the future, even PBS will start shipping everything in DVD. :-)
Ahmadjee - i was recently looking into the option of purchasing either a dvd/vcr combo or separate. I decided to get a combo because of reasons Faisal mentioned, and I ended up getting a Sony SLV-D100 from BestBuy. The only drawback with getting a combo is that if one part of it fails, both features will become non-functional. But since it's a sony, hardware failure is quite unlikely. I've been really pleased with it so far and i would highly recommend it.
I recently bought a tv/vcr/dvd- player combo.
I think u should go for it.
Buying a VCR and a DVD separately is a good idea. DVD player starts somewhere from $65US and up. Where as Hi-Fi VCR is around $45US and up. Brand is only important when you are buying a VCR. For DVD player it doesn't matter, because they all render the same picture quality.
Even if you get these items individually, you can still record DVDs/VCDs onto VHS. To me combo only saves space and that's it, but it cost you 2 times more.
Last december at boxing day sale I bought
1 Toshiba VCR,
2 Samsung DVD/VCD Players and
1 Sanyo DVD+VCD+VCR combo
for just $525 CDN including taxes.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Pilot: *
Buying a VCR and a DVD separately is a good idea. DVD player starts somewhere from $65US and up. Where as Hi-Fi VCR is around $45US and up. Brand is only important when you are buying a VCR. For DVD player it doesn't matter, because they all render the same picture quality.
[/QUOTE]
Since ahmadjee said that he finds the price of buying separately compared to buying a combo as roughly the same, so its a safe assumption that he is not buying the base models. Secondly there are several features in DVD players which distinguish cheap from the expensive. Progressive scan is one of them. Those who want really crisp and seamless DVD experience always invest a bit more rather than to buy a simple no-name base model.
What’s wrong with buying Apex 1 Disc DVD Player? 
Nothing wrong with it. 100 bucks is about the max I would spend on a 1-disc DVD player maself. I got mine from Costco a while ago. Its a Daewoo with DVD/VCD/CD-R/CD-RW/ACD/MP3 playback. Works fine.
hey not bad. the only issue is the brand, if you dont care go for it. although i bet you can find a panasonic out there for a few dollars more, and ull get quality with them.
Panasonic is a lot more expensive. Nearly 50-60 bucks difference.
for zero bucks (according to MSRP) more you can get the Panasonic DVD S35S
or in retailing world, a max of 10 bucks more.
Malfunction of either DVD or VCR will render the other unusable.