DVD players and recorders

DVD players and recorders had a shelf, and the combo units that also contained a VHS deck were listed beside them. A player only reads. A recorder writes a disc and then may not play that disc in the living-room player you already own.

Recorded discs come in minus and plus formats, and in RW versions that can be erased. The player has to list the format. Finalizing a disc is the step people skip. An unfinalized disc plays in the recorder that made it and shows up empty everywhere else. Region codes are the other lock: a Region 1 player will not play a Region 2 disc unless the player was built region-free. Combo decks can copy a tape to a disc or the other way, with a line that is often one generation of quality worse. The VHS half still needs a clean head. A snowy tape with a clear DVD picture means the tape path, not the disc laser.