Recently, my father who is 83 years old, got AT&T U-Verse. He also has a Panasonic LCD HDTV. Now, he would like to purchase a DVD player for rentals (even though U-Verse has VOD). In trying to help him make an informed decision, I ended up here. I have heard the terms HD-DVD and Blue Ray, but do not know much about either. He would like to stay in the $200 range and have the capability in one unit to play rented DVDs AND VHS video cassettes from his older collection. Sounds like a plan to me, but I could use some help in what brands you would recommend. What would you buy with the above information? Thanks.

I've only read about one Blu-Ray/VHS combo player and I don't even know if it's on the market yet. I also doubt it would be under $200 to start.

If VHS is a must, I would just try and find a good quality DVD/VCR combo.

Not to mention, many Blu-Ray players require firmware updates to play the latest titles, which is something I doubt you want your father to be burdened with.

You probably don't know that Blu-ray (and HD DVD) is two totally different formats from DVD. If he has yet to buy a DVD player (which has been mainstream for the past six years) I'd ignore Blu-ray and just pick him up a dual VHS/DVD player machine at Best Buy for about $120 or so. That way he can enjoy his older VHS tapes and DVDs from Netflix.