I have a lot of VCR (Family movies, etc) that I want to transfer to DVD. I want a unit that is reliable yet affordable. I need it to have component video inputs and outputs as I will be hooking up in series between my Verizon Fios HD box and my TV. I use HDMI/digital coax from same box to 990 for full audio/video system use. However, for just watching TV without the 990/sound system operation I just use component video and L/R audio directly to TV and use TV's speakers. It is in this line of operation I will hook up the DVD/VCR combo. This will serve as my TV recording means on either format. I have a dedicated DVD (981HD) for high quality DVD playback and will most likely upgrade that whence Oppo comes out with BR and upscaling standard DVD's all in one unit.

What would you all recommend for a combo recorder? The TV is going to be purchased very soon at the same time as the combo thingy. Looking real hard at the Sony W52 LCD with 120Hz refresh. Thanks.

Let me preface this by saying that I haven't shopped seriously for a DVD recorder since I bought my Panasonic DMR-E80 five years ago. I bought it specifically for archiving home movies to DVD, as we had a collection that dated back to the early 80's and I was concerned about the tapes going bad on us. At the time, combo decks were a little rare, and none were S-VHS (which is what a lot of our tapes were shot on), so I went with a standalone recorder and used my existing S-VHS VCR as a playback source. Things have changed a lot in the last five years, particularly on the VCR side of things.

I still think that Panasonic and Toshiba are the two biggest names in the DVD-R market, so that's where I'd focus my attention. Both companies appear to offer at least two DVR-R/VCR combo units. Since you have a good DVD player, the real objective here is to get those old VHS tapes onto DVD. You might do some searching for reviews on both and see if there are any known problems or differences between the two companies' offerings. My suspicion is that for archiving VHS, either company would serve you fairly well.

The first problem is your need for component input - I don't think you're going to find this. Industry doesn't want you delivering component video sources to a recorder like this, and since you can't record higher than 480i anyway (limitation of the DVD format) they probably figure depriving you of component when you still have s-video isn't much of a compromise. You will need to hook this device up in parallel with your Fios box if you want to record TV shows to it. I do this with my E80 and my HD DVR box - HDMI/DVI and coaxial go from the cable box to the 990, s-video and stereo analog go from the cable box to the E80. (A second rear input on the E80 is connected to my old S-VHS VCR.) You could also use the 990's Video 1 record output, but I like running separately because it frees me up to change inputs on the 990 and record something.

Another observation to toss into the mix: Toshiba still offers a couple DVD recorders with internal hard drives. Neither has a built-in VCR, but the reason I got my DVD-R with a hard drive is that it allowed me to dump a few old VHS tapes onto the drive, edit and label them however I needed to, and then burn multiple copies of the same disc (one for me, one for my dad). With the cost of PC DVD-R drives so low now (pick one up for $40), you can easily burn multiple copies on the PC, but the convenience of being able to edit a bit on the hard drive and only burning the stuff I wanted to disc was nice.

Gonk, Thanks for your input. I was unaware of the component input issue and from what I see available you are right. I can S-video the input and either component or HDMI the output. Interesting about the DVD-R w/HD. I hadn't thought about that and it sure sounds interesting. I will investigate more on that.

My main concern is I've read consumer ratings about various brands and a big complaint seems to be disc compatibility. All the machines say thay "do it all" but it seems some have problems reading certain types. Thanks again.

For time shifting, that would work fine. For regular viewing, you will be loosing HD by doing this (s-video doesn't do HD), so I'd avoid that.
We used our DMR-E80 for time shifting for years, and it was very handy (even if it meant I couldn't record HD content). We swapped out or HD cable box for an HD DVR box in the spring of '07, and it's been pretty handy. The boxes that Comcast uses don't have the Tivo software, but they are still more sophisticated than my old E80 was when it comes to recording stuff regularly. The E80 is now used for archiving VHS and storing a few kid's shows for our daughter. I don't know what your Fios service may offer along these lines, though...
This can be an issue. First, there's the scattered remnants of yet another format war. On one side was the DVD Forum (the standards organization behind DVD), who supported the "-R" format. That includes DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD-RAM. On the other side was Philips, who supported the "+R" format (DVD+R and DVD+RW). PC drives have now evolved to the point where many drives support both formats. The "-R" format was originally supported by both Panasonic and Toshiba, although both have now started supporting "+R" too because the drives do it. Panasonic also supports dual-layer -R and +R discs - I'm not sure if Toshiba does.

The other side of the equation is disc manufacturers. This was a huge deal five years ago, both because of the sensitivity present in the drives and the quality variation among discs. The drives have gotten better, which helps. The blank media is also a bit better, but you still need to shop carefully. I did a ton of research on a forum that focused solely on Panasonic recorders back in 2003 and compiled a chart that appears in my E80 review. These days, I buy bulk blank discs from one of a number of decent manufacturers and have had great success - both with the drive in my PC and my E80.

I always found disk compatibility an issue with the Panasonic DVR. For some unknown reason, any white DVD-R ( Sony for instance ) would always seem to record okay and would play back immediately after dubbing was complete, but once you took it out of the machine, most discs couldn't be read either on other DVD players or on the HDR/DVDR itself. This lead to a lot of lost content, before The problem was noticed. I have no Idea if the same problem exists with the Toshiba.
Other than that , I have been very pleased with the Panasonic HDR/DVDR as a recording device. I can't imagine using a DVDR whitout the capability to preview and edit on the hard disc.