| Combos |
I recently walked into a supermarket where you could buy a new 19" color TV with a built-in VCR for $200. This is an example of what is called a TV-VCR combo. Historically, most consumers have bought a TV and a VCR as two separate pieces of equipment and used external cables to connect them together. But TV-VCR combos, which combine a TV and a VCR and the connections between them in a single unit, are becoming increasingly popular. There are also TV-DVD combos, TV-VCR-DVD combos, and VCR-DVD combos, but so far these are not nearly as popular as TV-VCR combos.
Combos usually take up less space than individual components, and they reduce clutter as well. But when you buy a combo, you’ve put all your eggs in one basket. If the VCR component of a TV-VCR combo needs repair, you’ll probably have to give up the TV component also. And if you buy a TV-DVD combo and later decide to buy a bigger TV screen, you’ll probably need to buy a new DVD player, too. Because of the repair and upgrade issues, many people think combos are best suited for some kind of secondary usage, say in a bedroom or den in a household that has multiple TV sets. Still, a combo might be a sensible choice for someone who basically lives in one room, say in a college dorm or a bachelor apartment.
You might think you could save money by buying a combo instead of buying the individual components separately, but it appears to me that the combos usually cost a little more. For example, I saw a major brand 20-inch TV-VCR combo with stereo TV and 4-head VCR for $330, yet the equivalent TV alone costs $190 and the equivalent VCR alone costs $90. In other words, buying the combo costs $50 more than buying the individual components separately. This comparison might not quite tell the whole story, though, because you’re still going to want to put whatever equipment you buy on some kind of furniture or shelf. You might be able to simply set the combo on a table or shelf you already own, while for the separate TV and VCR, you might need to buy a special stand that provides a shelf for the VCR.
TV-VCR combos currently come in screen sizes from 9 to 27 inches, and they are made by more than 16 different companies. For watching movies at home, I recommend the biggest screen size you can afford and have room for. A 4-head VCR gives a better picture than a 2-head VCR, and a stereo TV has better sound than a monaural TV. But bigger and better costs more, of course. For example, one major brand 20-inch TV-VCR combo costs only $250 for a monaural TV and a 2-head VCR, but it costs $330 for a stereo TV and a 4-head VCR. Also, you might want to think twice about buying a TV-VCR combo that doesn’t provide an easy way to connect a DVD player to it. And finally, you should be warned that most TV-VCR combos won’t allow you to record on one channel while watching another.
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