Price Paid:  $159.00 from Value City

Summary:
I had this combo unit for about 6 months when the picture began began to darken while playing DVD's. At the time I chalked it up to cheap dvd's because the picture seemed OK when wathcing TV. Over time (a year and a half) it is completely unwatchable whether it is the tuner/tv, dvd or vcr. This is a worthless piece of crap. Of course, now the warranty is no longer in force either. I would not recommend this to anyone. However, unlike some of the other posts here, I have not had any problems with the dvd or vcr decks, just the contrast on the picture is black. Emerson should recall this model and fix them all for free!

Strengths:
Convenience of an all-in-one-unit.

Weaknesses:
Picture tube/contrast sucks! Didn't last a whole year.

Similar Products Used:
My daughter had a Samsung combo tv/vcr unit that I purchased back in 1997 that is still working. This Emerson didn't even make it to one year.

Price Paid:  $149.00 from Value City

Summary:
Picture quality is fair to good. DVD player sometimes freezes up. Lately it's had a tendancy to eat VCR tapes that have been used to record more than two or three times. I tried cleaning it out with compressed air, but it does not seem to help. I would not use it to play any video tapes that cannot be replaced or contain sentimental material as it may be lost.

Weaknesses:
Destroys tapes.

Price Paid:  $250.00 from walmart

Summary:
Not recommended. The first one I had lasted a couple months and just died - would not turn on either by remote or manually. Returned to Walmart who replaced it. This one still works, however it consistently eats tapes, especially after rewinding at high speed. Very aggravating

Strengths:
3 in 1 DVD is fine, picture is fine

Weaknesses:
VCR eats tapes and has a voracious appetite.