I believe the OP is asking about those combo units you can now buy at retail
stores (Walmart, Futureshop,etc) that have BOTH a DVD recorder + a VCR
built-in.
I have seen a few & my neighbors 'claim' that they had no problems copying
normal tapes over. I think that if the tape (rental for example) has any
macrovision, copyguard type of protection on it; you won't be able to copy it.
I never asked them either if the dvd recorder could 'play' a dvd such that you
could record to the vcr??? I wonder if it is only a one-way type deal???