At a time when many consumers want both a VCR and a DVD player, these combo units may appeal. Their main advantage is that they fit in about the same space as a VCR, can involve less wiring than two separate devices, and can be operated with just one remote. VCR/DVD combos can play either form of media; a few models let you record non-copy-protected DVDs onto videotapes. The combos may simplify cabling; if you’re not fussy about picture or sound quality, you can connect one to your TV through a single cable. Such convenience and simplicity exact a price: a combo can cost as much as or more than a stand-alone VCR and DVD player together.

WHAT'S AVAILABLE

The top manufacturers of VCR/DVD combos are also major players among makers of stand-alone units; they include Panasonic, Samsung, and Toshiba. As with stand-alone units, combos are rapidly evolving as manufacturers seek to differentiate their products and come up with a winning combination of features. The key differences relate to their DVD-playback capability:

Standard DVD models. These perform with typically excellent DVD quality when connected to any TV made within the past few years. VHS picture quality is comparable to that of a stand-alone VCR.

Price range: $120 to $300.

Progressive-scan DVD models. This newer generation of combos, when connected to a regular TV, delivers the same high-quality picture as a standard player. But, when paired with an HDTV, a progressive-scan player delivers a cleaner image--the next best thing to true HD. VHS picture quality is the same as for models with standard DVD.

Price range: $150 to $350.

IMPORTANT FEATURES

What you’ll find in a combo VCR/DVD player is mostly a subset of what you get with stand-alone VCRs and DVD players, plus a few features that play off the integration of the two functions.

The DVD-player side of these units lets you take advantage of multichannel surround sound by routing the movie’s digitally encoded soundtrack to a receiver through the coaxial or optical digital-audio output. (The receiver must have built-in decoding capability--Dolby Digital, DTS, or better--that lets it decode the multichannel audio encoded into DVD discs.) Should you want to connect the DVD’s digital-audio output to a receiver, make sure its output (coaxial or optical) matches the receiver’s input.

One capability affecting both primary functions of the combos is that aside from their digital-audio features they also let you take advantage of Dolby Pro Logic analog multichannel surround sound. This may be encoded onto DVDs, VHS tapes, and even some TV programming. Again, you’ll need a receiver with Dolby Pro Logic decoding; you connect it to the combo unit’s stereo audio outputs.

If you don’t have the full multispeaker setup, virtual surround sound mimics the effects of a full surround-sound system. It sounds pleasing to some people but artificial to others. Dynamic audio-range control helps keep a movie’s explosions and other noisy sound effects from seeming too loud.

Besides playing standard DVDs, combos (as with stand-alone DVD players) can often play discs of numerous other formats. These include CD-Recordable (CD-R) and CD-Rewritable (CD-RW), along with--depending on the model--discs in the recordable DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW, and DVD-RW formats. Many models can play MP3 music files burned onto a CD, and all can play commercial audio CDs. With some new combos, a memory-card slot lets you insert removable media on which you’ve stored MP3 music files or photos shot with a digital camera.

Some models can record a non-copy-protected DVD onto videotape. But since most movies on DVD are copy-protected, you probably won’t be able to use this feature often.

The VCR side of the combo player usually offers index search, which fast-forwards or rewinds the tape to a specific index point set by the machine at the start of a recorded segment. Some models can automatically switch tapes from SP to EP speed, a feature called auto speed-switching, to extend recording time and help ensure that you don’t miss a climactic scene because you ran out of tape. Also helpful on some is the ability to play S-VHS tapes at VHS quality.

What’s typically missing is any form of VCR Plus, which eases the process of programming time-shift recording (taping a program for later viewing) by letting you enter numerical codes from TV listings instead of the program’s date, time, duration, and channel.

Among other features, a screen saver is a moving image that kicks in after a set duration of inactivity to prevent still images from burning into your TV screen. It won’t, however, prevent long-term burn-in of the dark bands displayed while you’re watching letterbox-format programming. With a lighted remote, buttons are illuminated so you can see them more easily in a darkened room.

HOW TO CHOOSE

Performance differences. Picture quality from a VCR/DVD combo is comparable to what you’d get from stand-alone devices--excellent for DVD and so-so for VHS, depending on tape speed. Owing to the number of features, both the VCR and DVD functions of combo players make them slightly more complicated to use than stand-alone units.

Recommendations. If convenience and saving space are paramount, choose from among the models that require the fewest compromises. And if space is especially cramped, consider a newer combination product that marries a TV, VCR, and DVD player to offer portability and capabilities similar to those of a TV/VCR combo. Also worth weighing into your decision: If one combo function breaks, you’ll be without both until the player comes back from the repair shop.