On Sun, 4 Apr 2004 13:37:53 EDT, Patricia wrote: >My video recorder is on its last legs and I'm thinking about a replacement. >Can anyone advise if a combined videao recorder and DVD player is a good idea? > I ask because a combined washer/drier doesn't last as long as separate >machines and I wondered if the same might apply to recorders. Whatever I buy will >be at the lower end of the price range, whether it be the combined machine or >two separate ones. Just the same as washing machines, even more so at the bottom end of the price range. Unless you really need minimum physical size, 2 machines will be better, and not necessarily more expensive. A DVD player and video don't have much in common. The mechanism to read a DVD is a laser, whereas a video recorder uses tape heads and a TV tuner. The output to the TV is the same, but this is only a small part of the whole thing so there isn't any great saving on parts by putting both in the same box. At least with a washer/dryer they share the same drum and rotation mechanism so there is a saving to be had.
>Another question. Are the DVD systems in Britain and the US compatable? i'd >like to be ablt to send British DVDs to America as presents. DVDs come in 'region' variants. There's a region for US, a region for Europe, a region for the Pacific (Australia, New Zealand, China etc) and I think a fourth one I can't remember. Disks are encoded to one of these regions and can only be played on a player that can handle that region. In UK many (maybe even most) DVD players sold are either already compatible with all regions, or can easily (and legally) be made so by a small change after purchase. However multi-region players are not universally available. I believe that they are not widely sold in US. I think that changing a player to multi-region after purchase might even be illegal under US copyright laws that forbid reverse engineering. Check with your intended recipients before sending. -- Always proof-read carefully to see if you any words out. Steph Peters [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tatting, lace & stitching page <http://www.sandbenders.demon.co.uk/index.htm> Scanned by WinProxy http://www.Ositis.com/ To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
