Hi everyone - first post here. I don't use a combo machine to transfer my old video tapes as it would only be good for VHS anyway. I can transfer from just about every format since the Sony CV2000 in 1965. I play everything through my HVR-M25AE DV player which acts as a conduit straight into the firewire card in my PC. I then capture in Adobe Premiere as AVI uncompressed files. It works a treat as I can just leave a tape running and then drag the file onto the time line and edit out what isn't needed. I can then export as an MP4 or another uncompressed AVI to a hard drive. If I want to watch on the TV I can burn to a DVD and see it in glorious interlaced video or watch an MP4 via a USB stick. Definitely best to save precious family stuff onto numerous hard drives though and not CD's as other people above have also pointed out