I researched these a bit. I'm trying to remember what I discovered exactly, so I haven't posted yet.

I know I was down to wanting either the expensive Go Video (49xx vs 39xx model) which was barely starting to ship earlier this year or a Zenith from Best Buy. The Zenith had better quality in playback, and perhaps in recording DVDs. (who cares about VHS) The Go Video had a couple features I knew my wife would like. Autoplay/autoskip for trailers on DVDs and VHS upconversion to SVideo output, I believe. The LG/Zenith is the basis for somebody else's machine, too. Maybe a Samsung or something like that, can't remember.

I ended up skipping the DVDR combo idea and just bought a Go Video VCR/DVDp for $80. I'll get the DVDR I really want some other time.

I don't think DVD recorders can record CDs. Computer drives usually can, though.