The UK tape won't work on a standard US VHS unless you have a dual standard player. As urb said, US standard is NTSC, UK standard is PAL I. Also, you need to make sure your DVD player is region free to be able to watch DVD-R, and you need to check into the type of DVD you record onto, as some will only play on certain machines, regardless of what DVD player you have. Nochex, have a word with the triads who run around selling the hookey DVDs for a fiver each, their copies work on just about any DVD player
Don't forget the sound format as well, you may end up with a perfect picture but no sound.