DVD players have come down in price significantly, and they now provide quality of picture and sound which is superior to that of video recorders in most cases... and all for a very reasonable price... you can often find one for well under £50.

Even the cheapest provide good value for money, and real quality.

Your TV will need a scart plug or similar to be able to connect them to it... so very old TV sets won't be compatible. But it would need to very old to be without... our combined TV and Video must be nearly due its pension, but it does have a scart plug and we have connected a DVD player to it recently. The DVD itself is an older model [a roundabout gift] Panasonic... and works well. Very easy to use.

Of course, the only downside of a player is that you cannot record with it! But DVD's are readily available to play on them, with plenty of choice... and often they have extras on them compared to a video of the same subject. Also consider their superior quality and smaller size... giving a better use of storage space.

DVD recorders are an entirely different case.

The case against purchasing one as yet is still quite strong. Consider... • they are still relatively expensive, • use several different recording formats, • are more complicated to use than a video recorder... and, so far, • they are all analogue.

If you haven't travelled down the DVD road at all yet, why not just go down to road towards the cheap, reliable, and very good value DVD player... and leave the purchase of a recorder to a later date. As we all have to change over to digital in the not so distant future... sensible advice would be to hold off your purchase until the problems highlighted above are at least partially resolved.

If you are determined to go for a DVD recorder... and you want it NOW... please take on board these few notes...

• Buy one which can use several different recording formats.
• They are complicated to use... you will need clear instructions.
• Make sure it will be compatible with your set top box.

As far as good choices to consider... look for the Sony RDR-GX300, and try Littlewoods catalogue... there are over 35,000 Great Value items, for you, your family and your home at Littlewoods Direct, a great source of supply.

Now back to DVD players... they all work reasonably well, and you could choose on price alone, or buy one of your own favourite brands.

One DVD player did appear to be outstanding in tests, not the cheapest, but still well under the £100 mark... the player was the JVC XVN412... I did find it at 24-7 Electrical but things change rapidly in this market.

Other reputable online suppliers of YOUR favourite brands who came out well when we looked into 'Suppliers' were:-

• Littlewoods Home Shopping.
• Be-direct... quite a few Sony and JVC models available!
• Argos.co.uk
• Tesco
• Co-op Electrical Shop

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• Entertainment
• Switching your energy suppliers
• Finance and Credit

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