Very useful, very powerful, very satisfied
Written: Dec 16 '04 (Updated Dec 20 '04)
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Pros: Built in tuner, DVD creation, multiple bitlevels, multiple input formats
Cons: Awkward editing, no direct access to hard disk, copy protect issues, manual poorly translated
The Bottom Line: Recommended for anyone who records a lot from TV, wishes to create DVDs, archive their VHS collections etc
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| sidraw1's Full Review: Toshiba RD-XS32SU DVD Recorder / HDD Recorder |
First off, this is not a piece of equipment for the faint of heart, but if you are one who doesn't mind reading a manual and taking the time to experiment with the features of the recorder, I think you will be very pleased.
Currently, this is one of the better DVRs out there. Before I got mine, I spent quite some time reading reviews and vsiting websites and talking to people. I even downloaded a pdf of the manual from the Toshiba website to look at the specs and instructions in detail. I was wavering between this unit and a Panasonic and went with this one because of availability. (The Panasonic is apparently a darn fine unit, too)
There are a few negatives that I have encountered, but nothing that has been a show stopper. For one thing, the unit is picky about media types. It would not load any of the blank Memorex DVD-Rs that I had. It would also not load any Memorex DVD-Rs that I had that had already been created. Another reviewer gives this unit bad marks (1-star) seemingly for this sole purpose. I feel this is unwarranted. I had good luck with Sony DVD-R blank media which I was able to purchase in lots of 25 discs for the nice price of $14.99 Not a bad deal, and they work just fine in the Toshiba.
In the box:
RD-XS32 DVD Recorder
Manual
Blank DVD-RAM disc
Connectors
Remote and Batteries
Connections:
S-Video (in/out) (2 each)
Composite (in/out) (2 each)
Firewire (in) (1)
RF/Antenna/Cable (in/out) (1 each)
Component (out) (1)
Cons:
Let's get the Cons out of the way. Like all good products, the RD-XS32 has a few negative points or lacks a few features that I would like to see. None of these cons is really major in my opinion, but they do exist. Numbers 9, 4, and 8 below are probably my biggest disappointments. 6 could be an issue, but I was lucky, and besides, I don't really mind using two remotes.
(1) The manual was not written by someone who had a clear grasp of the english language. It appears some sort of translation software was used, and it makes following the instructions a bit difficult.
(2) Adding names/titles/descriptions. The remote would really have benefitted from a QWERTY keyboard. As it is, to enter letters, you must use an onscreen keyboard and use the arrow buttons and enter key to input letters. You say you want a capital letter? You have to hit the Pause button to shift the keyboard to uppercase first. Not the most efficient way of doing things, but after a while you get used to it, and it's not like you are writing full-paragraph reviews of the movie for a particular title.
(3) The unit is picky on media types, but there are loadable discs available at prices just as cheap (The Sony DVD-Rs I bought were the exact same price for a 25-disc spindle as the Memorex that won't load)
(4) There is no way that I can see to directly copy a file from the harddrive. A USB interface would be very nice so that you could browse the drive from your computer and copy recordings off that would not fit on a DVD without compromising the quality by lowering the bitrate. I suppose it would be possible to take the drive out and place it in device that allows you to connect a harddrive via a USB port and copy things that way, but I'm not about to start taking drives out yet!
(5) Changing channels has a delayed response if you manually input the channel number (less than 100) without a
leading '0' The key to getting around this is to enter 042 instead of 42, if you do, the change is instant.
(6) Controlling your TV with the Toshiba remote is only available by selecting a code. You cannot train the remote (sending signals from the equipment's original remote and recording them). This did not prove to be an issue in my case. I have a very new Panasonic HDTV (that may have come out at the same time as the Toshiba or even later) and the very first Panasonic code that I tried worked just fine.
(7) Besides DVD-RAM, it only supports the minus (-) media. One of my computers only supports plus (+) media, but life goes on.
(8) DVD authoring features are limited compared to software-based solutions. A fully functioning DVD complete with Menu and Chapter functions is created, but I would like the ability to add my own graphics and styles.
(9) Making fair use copies as back up (media migration) of your old PURCHASED VHS tapes often is blocked by copy protect. If a person is bootlegging or pirating, that's one thing, but you should be able to make a backup copy for your own use. Granted, this unit can't tell what your intentions are, but still.
Pros:
Where to begin?
This unit has a built in tuner so you can choose channels directly on the unit. It also has an 'IR blaster' which will change the channel on your cable box when necessary if that is how you are setup. In my case I plugged the cable into the back of the unit and sent a composite connection from the Toshiba to my TV. Then selected Input on the remote until I got a channel number (as opposed to Line 1-3 and Line-U) and I was set.
You can record programs from cable/antenna or any other source that will allow composite or S-Video output directly to DVD-R/RW, DVD-RAM, or the built-in 80 gigabyte harddrive.
You can manually set up timer recordings by entering the time, channel, date etc or you can use the VCR+ codes. Versatile programming allows you to record just once, record at a specific time and channel every day Mon-Fri OR Mon-Sat OR Mon-Thu OR every day OR just a specific day of the week every week.
With all the features and options at various menus, it is not intuitive what buttons you need to use. Fortunately, along the bottom of the screen is a guide that shows the button on the remote and what it's function is on any particular screen.
Variable bit rate recording and conversion. If you wish to record directly to DVD but the show is longer than will fit, you can change the bit rate to fit and record at that rate. If you are recording to the harddrive, you can record at a high bit rate so playback from the harddrive is at the same quality as the original program, and if you need to make a copy on DVD, convert that bit rate to a lower one just for the transfer. Your original on the harddrive is still the high quality.
No AV sync problems when recording from VHS. I had this problem occasionally with computer cards where if the VHS was poor quality the picture would be out of sync with the sound after about a half hour. I have made a DVD of one of the worst of my VHS tapes and at the end (about 75 minutes of recording) the sync was still perfect.
A library of recordings is automatically generated with a thumbnail for each show. The thumbnail often isn't appropriate (I think it grabs whatever frame is 15 seconds into the show) but you can create a new thumbnail by selecting whatever frame you wish from the movie.
Creating a DVD:
Read the manual. I'm one of these people that doesn't often break out a manual when I'm trying to figure out how to do
something. I managed to create a DVD successfully without going step by step in the manual, but it was with quite a bit of trial and considerable error. There are many options as you go through the steps of creation and without the manual you'll miss a lot of them so it's well worth reading that section once through before even starting. Because of the poor english, you may wish to read it twice through!
When creating a DVD-Video or Dubbing, you are given a menu of the titles available on the disk (or disc if you are going from the DVD) Choose what ones you wish to record. You can set chapters with the remote, and choose appropriate thumbnails and descriptions for each chapter. I use the term description rather than title to avoid confusion. With the a DVD in this case, a Title is the entire show that was recorded, and a Chapter is a segment of that show. A Title can have many Chapters. When authoring a DVD, you can select specific Chapters from various Titles, or you can select two or more entire Titles.
You are given a few templates for the menus. Here I prefer software like Ulead which allow you to set your own backgrounds and fonts etc. Also, the thumbnail also contains a box alongside it with information about when it was recorded, what the source was (Line 1, Line 2 etc) I have not found a way to remove this box, but wish I could as it does cheapen the appearance of the final output.
The authoring is not as good as I would like to see and lacks many of the features of software-based tools. For a hardware solution, I'd say it's pretty good, but I would prefer Movie Factory or similar software.
Playing Back Recorded Material:
Use either Content Menu or Library to view the titles available. Scroll through them using the arrow buttons, pick the one you want and sit back and enjoy the show.
Playing a DVD:
Insert the DVD, allow it to load (this may take a few seconds on non-commercial discs) and navigate the menus (if they exist on the DVD) and play.
A nice feature about this recorder is that if you stop a show in the middle you have two ways to do it. One is to just stop it, the next time you play it, it will pick up where you left off (like if you just press stop on a VHS player). If you hit Stop twice, it will reset it to the beginning.
Editing:
Removing commercials took a bit of time to figure out, but I do it by creating chapters. Once the title is divided into
chapters that are either keepable show or commercial, you then create a playlist of just the non-commercial parts and dub that.
It is best to do editing with playlists rather than deleting the original chapters. The reason for this is that over time your hard disk will become fragmented much more quickly. Since this is a hard drive, it will fragment in just the same way that your computer does. After a point, there will not be any usable space left and you will have to reinitialize the hard disk. Doing so will erase everything on it, so copy things off before reinitalizing!
Summary:
I'm pleased. It's almost everything that I was looking for (nothing is _everything_ that I'm looking for!) and its capabilities are substantial. I would recommend this to anyone who is into serious video recording and archiving all your old VHS tapes to digital. I also recommend it for the person who is on the road and likes to record a lot of programs. You get far more time on the hard disk than you would with just a DVD recorder or VCR.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 499
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Epinions.com ID:
sidraw1
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Reviews written: 20
Trusted by: 1 member
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