What is the best DVD/VCR combo player on the market?

Question

Would like replacement of JVC combo player (VCR portion died after 3.5 yrs). Would also like to know if "Blue-Ray" is worth investing in right now AND can you play NON-Blue Ray DVD's on the Blue-Ray players?

Need something very simple to hook up and handle, and priced under $300.

Stores recommended? Prefer stores that are not internet-only.

Don't want to go the Ebay-Auction type route.

New, not used.

081408 4:35

Answer 1

Well right now they don't make Blu-ray/vcr combo players at the moment.

And if you want, you can go ahead. Or you can wait until Blu-ray players get cheaper and for now just buy movies in Blu-ray.

Answer 2

Blu-Ray is THE HD format now, so it is worth investing in in the sense that there is no other alternative HD format out there. It only makes sense if you have an HDTV, though, since an analog TV will not be able to take advantage of HD.

That said, Blu-Ray is still pretty expensive and will only drop in price in the coming year or two. Also, I don't know of any Blu-Ray/VCR combo. I would think there won't be any, since the two formats are multiple video generations apart. (DVD and VCR overlapped for a while, which is why you saw combo players.)

The good news is that Blu-Ray players are totally backward compatible with DVDs and CDs, so you can play any optical disc format on them.

You can go to a place like Best Buy or Circuit City if you're dead set on seeing the equipment in person, but you will save money at very reputable online stores like Newegg.com and Amazon.com