Thanks for that information and response. What I was trying to say but not being clear was I will use the machine that I bought on the cheap to convert the tapes on to disk. That will wear out the machine I am sure but it only cost me £70 so will not mind.

However I am moving with technology and will try and record boxing fights on dvd's and I wanted to know what is the best in terms of value for money dvd recorder with hard drive out there?