I have no clue which ones are good to get , any help would be greatly appreciated. I want to record our old vhs onto dvd. I do want to use this for other features like recording shows on tv and such. I guess maybe dubb a dvd if thats possible. I see they sell for 100-500ish and just want to get something nice. THis is for my mom for christmas and I would like to get something of nice quality. Any tips on what to get would be great!

If your computer (or your mom's) has a DVD burner there are two options - a plug-in PCI card that takes RCA inputs to translate the analog to digital, and a USB converter that does the same thing without having to open up the computer. You can get either of these for under $75.

I know you were asking about the combo machines, but I went the route noted above and have had no trouble.

I never managed to find a standalone DVR I liked.:D