Toshiba RS-TX20 (120 GB) DVD Recorder

Pros: Free Tivo "Basic", burns DVDs easily
Cons: Extremely poor Progressive scan DVD player.

Ah Tivo. Very rarely does a new product enter the television viewing market, which literally revolutionizes the way people watch TV. The VCR was one of them, the DVD player another and now we have... Tivo. I admit having been skeptical of the ...

Pros: Tivo and DVD burner, large Hard Drive, Great DVD Picture
Cons: Only Toslink Digital audio out, need land line for first set up

I have had my DVD player for about six months now. It was a great purchase. I have included links within this review to my Epinions reviews of the AV equipment that this unit is hooked up to. (you may need to cut and paste in your browser to read them) ...

Pros: A few buttons and all your shows are recorded; Record onto DVD
Cons: Can't delete commercials, have to preplan the best quality to record each DVD at

Meet Ed (I'll get to that later)---he's a Toshiba DVD Recorder with built in TIVO. Ed came to live with me about 2 months ago, and I can hardly remember a time when he wasn't in my life. Description a bit much so far, maybe. Price a bit high, yeah. ...

Pros: Features galore! Quick DVD burning, very nice interface.
Cons: No audio CD burning. Leangthly guide updating and missing ability to manually change channel lineups.

I have put off getting a Tivo due to the monthly fees. If I buy something, I want to use with without paying each month to use it. When I saw this unit on clearence, the tag said "Tivo basic included". This caught my attention. The sales guy at Sears ...

Pros: Capabilities, Crisp Picture
Cons: Confusing Owners Manual.

Toshiba is a name you can trust in consumer electronics. They have been around for a long time, and have their headquarters based in Japan. Their products always receive high ratings from consumers groups, and their reputation is legendary. This fine ...

Pros: Easy TIVO interface. Burns DVDs great. Excellent picture
Cons: Channel lineup does not always match perfectly

I have had this machine for nearly 2 years, and it still functions great. The one thing I wanted to respond to was the user who returned his machine a couple times because of DVD burning errors. I had the same issue, when I bused a specific DVD (I believe Phillips was the brand). I bought them because they were very cheap, on major sale. A couple burned ok, then I started getting the failure error. It failed on about 10 attempts. Finally I decided to try different DVDs (I use Verbatim now) and have never had a problem since. The same thing happens with CDs on other machines (when I copy CDs, certain brands will play in my car while others are unreadable). Keep in mind that it is not always the hardware, but rather the media that could be the problem.

Pros: Easy to Use. Reliable Quality.
Cons: Hard drive may be a little small.

Tivo really is easy to use. And Toshiba is living up to its quality reputation.

It is also great that with this unit the Tivo Basic capability comes free of charge. No need to pay the monthly fee.

Only downside is it took me a couple days to find the on board TV schedule to scan through upcoming shows to record. For some reason all the major features are in the Tivo button menu except for the TV schedule. To make matters worse, there is a menu selection in the Tivo Button menu that looks like it should be the TV guide but is not.

Also note that once the drive gets full programs get deleted automatically unless you save them. I found out the hard way!

The other consideration is size of hard drive. It's amazing how quickly this gets full. Might have opted for the TX60 if had to do it over again.

Pros: Familiar TiVo interface is carried over onto burned DVDs
Cons: Discs can't be played on Mac. Unlike regular TiVo's, 'Medium' quality is terrible.

Not a bad unit but Mac owners beware: There is a flaw that will not allow the discs burned on the Toshiba RS-TX20 to be played on Mac's. Discussions with both TiVo and Toshiba technical support departments yields the same "tough luck" answer. The discs play for about 10 - 12 minutes then freeze. (By the way, the same problem afflicts the TiVo DVD burner from Humax...)

Pros: Compared to the Phillips - it has a larger hard drive and DVD recording option.
Cons: S-L-O-W. Poorer picture. Imprecise channel changing. Requires external satellite box. 'Fair weather' customer support.

My second TiVo machine and I am "D"isappointed! It took little time to acclimate to my Phillips TiVo and I got spoiled. It was clear, fast, and did what it was told - everytime. Not knowing, I thought I could only move up by buying into a machine with larger hard drive and DVD recording possibilities. ...wrong.

The Toshiba is terribly slow - does not change channels as commanded - has poorer picture quality (with digital???) - has relaxed customer support, at best - requires an external satellite box (not so w/Phillips)- owners manual is not organized or complete - and between Toshiba, TiVo, and DIRECTV, I still cannot access 'info' on PPV channels. I am tired of trying to fix it.

Pros: TIVO is easy to program, use, view.
Cons: DVD burn unreliable.

I purchased this DVD recorder with TIVO in October 2005. I chose this particular model for the ability to burn DVDs. The TIVO is fantastic, easy to use. I was able to burn DVD's easily for about 4 months, then I began getting an error message "saving failed - internal error". Tech support at Toshiba consisted of "unplug it and plug it in". The unit had to be sent in for repair. I received a reconditioned unit which worked for approximately 30 days before giving the same error. The second unit was returned - Toshiba paid the shipping costs. Again I received a reconditioned unit. This 3rd unit failed on the 1st day with the same error message "saving failed - internal error". I don't know what Toshiba plans to do now. I have lost approx 6 weeks of TIVO due to shipping and repair. The TIVO portion works fine, I have had no problems recording and viewing. My recommendation - if you are looking for the DVD burn option, look at another unit.

Pros: * Ease of use * Quick setup * Great quality
Cons: * Makes a little noise while recording * TV Guide (incl. w/ TiVo)

Not meaning to quote everyone else but, HOW IN THE WORLD DID I LIVE WITHOUT THIS???

I can talk all day about how much I love being able to leave for work, school, wherever, and come back to ALL my shows taped and ready to watch...but I won't.

I will say how EASY it was to set up. Just plugged it in, waited a few minutes for it to boot up, and then followed the on-screen directions (F.Y.I. - if your box didn't come with an IR blaster cable you'll need one to let the remote control your satellite box. I found the cable at Best Buy for $15.00). Took less than an hour and then, wahlah! I was up and running (and recording).

With full time work, full time school, full time life, the RS-TX20 has become indispensable!

Pros: It is a Series 2 Tivo with a DVD Burner, menus very intuitive, great product.
Cons: Some problems displaying darker images.

The Toshiba RS-TX20 and RS-TX60 series of Tivo Series 2 units are wonderful. Mine works flawlessly and even includes Tivo-like menus on the DVDs.

The only problem is that it does not handle darker images very well. But, in general, it is excellent!

Price shown is after $100. rebate from Tivo.