Those TV / VCR combo units were terrible. The TV was fine - for a low / mid range CRT, anyway - but the VCR was complete bunk. Damned things either never worked right or they broke at the slightest provocation. With the way they were made it was virtually impossible to fix them once they inevitably busted.

DVD combo units weren't quite as bad, what with having fewer moving parts to bust, but they often had shit disc compatibility. That's something a lot of people forget about the early years of DVDs; they didn't all work so well - sometime not at all - in every player. Early PS2's had similar problems as well.

Point is it's usually better to buy standalone media devices. Combo units typically use cheaper parts and manufacturing shortcuts to lower costs and produce inferior products. The 90's were full of'em.

TouToTheHouYo said:

Those TV / VCR combo units were terrible. The TV was fine - for a low / mid range CRT, anyway - but the VCR was complete bunk. Damned things either never worked right or they broke at the slightest provocation. With the way they were made it was virtually impossible to fix them once they inevitably busted.

DVD combo units weren't quite as bad, what with having fewer moving parts to bust, but they often had shit disc compatibility. That's something a lot of people forget about the early years of DVDs; they didn't all work so well - sometime not at all - in every player. Early PS2's had similar problems as well.

Point is it's usually better to buy standalone media devices. Combo units typically use cheaper parts and manufacturing shortcuts to lower costs and produce inferior products. The 90's were full of'em.

tfw we had TV/DVD and VCR combo unit, we barely watched much on it but it was useful