Front-panel audio/video inputs accommodate camcorder and gaming hookups, while JPEG picture CD playback lets you watch slideshows of your digital photos. The unit's compatibility with recordable DVDs (DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW) makes it a cinch to copy your homemade discs to tape. The combo unit even lets you watch a DVD or listen to a CD while recording a TV show, and you can always take advantage of EZ Play, which bypasses DVD menus to take you right to the start of your movies.

Whether your living room is currently home to an HDTV or you're merely thinking of "someday," the DV2140's DVD section stands ready to deliver the full potential of your commercial DVDs. Progressive scanning, referred to as 480p for the number of horizontal lines that compose the video image, creates a picture using twice the scan lines of a conventional DVD picture, giving you higher resolution and sharper images while eliminating nearly all motion artifacts. Even without an HD-ready set, the component-video outputs can be set to output interlaced video, in which they help minimize line scan and digital artifacts on compatible televisions.

Composite- and S-video outputs bring DVD compatibility with nearly any television, and this unit makes hookup with older sets even easier by passing both DVD and VHS video and audio signals through its coaxial RF output--perfect for use with older TVs lacking separate audio and video inputs.

In the audio realm, 2 sets of left/right RCA analog-audio outputs (1 each for the DVD player and the VCR) channel audio to Dolby Pro Logic receivers and stereo televisions. For enveloping home-theater audio from DVDs, both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1