A typical TV/VCR combo.

A rare Japanese market Betamax TV/VCR combo - Model SL-MV1.

A TV/VCR combo (sometimes known as a televideo) is a television and VCR built into a single unit. These converged devices have the advantages (compared to a separate TV and VCR) of saving space and increasing portability. Such units entered the market during the mid-to-late 1980s when VCRs had become ubiquitous household devices. By this time, the VHS format had become standard; thus the vast majority of TV/VCR combos are VHS-based.

Though nearly all TV/VCR combination sets have monaural (mono) sound, there are a large number of TV/VCR combos with a stereo TV tuner, but a mono VCR (some may even include a mono sound input alongside a composite video input. Some models from Panasonic also included an FM tuner [1]. A major exception to this convention is TV/DVD combos, which can have a stereo VCR included in the unit (i.e. a TV/VCR/DVD combo). One of the major drawbacks of a TV/DVD/VCR combo is that the integrated VCR can sometimes activate the CSS programming on the DVD player portion, making it impossible to watch DVDs on the unit.

Modern televisions tend to be mostly solid state machines, while VCRs require mechanical manipulation of VHS tape and require occasional servicing. For this reason, it is not uncommon for the VCR component to cease functioning or to become unreliable years before a similar fate befalls the television component. This leaves users with only "half" of the set in operation and a more expensive repair or replacement.

At the turn of the 21st century, flat-panel TVs with integrated DVD players appeared on the market, and integrated TV/DVD sets started overtaking the TV/VCR market. This is due to both the low price and overwhelming availability of DVDs, as opposed to the increasingly rare video cassettes.

[edit] Special features

During the era of their popularity, many of these units displayed product videos in stores or for other commercial displays. Unlike most standalone VCRs, many could play back a tape over and over again. After each play, the tape would automatically rewind, usually showing just a blue screen during the process, and restart as soon as rewinding was finished.

[edit] See also

• VCR/DVD combo