Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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80 of 80 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent so far, 6 Jan 2008
This is a revised review after a few months' use.
The Toshiba (Region 2 only: don't know of a Region 1 hack) does everything it claims, with excellent picture and sound. Setting up and using is about average difficulty for the beginner, dead easy for anyone used to it. The handbook is detailed and not hard to follow. Unlike some, it is not written in appalling translator's English. There are set-up diagrams and instructions on how to link with other equipment, and the unit has the full range of output and input sockets.
The Toshiba will record on/reproduce VHS tape and all usual discs, including DVR+RW and DVD+R. You can dub non copyright-protected material from VCR to DVD and vice versa. It does not, however, support recording on double layer discs.
If you are new to DVD recording, take some time to study the differences between the various types of discs before you go out and buy media: there are lots of important variations in how to use them and what they can/can't do.
One thing I don't like is the illuminated display on the front panel: very hard to see, especially the little red "clock" for "timer set". A very tiny niggle: in VCR mode,the unit is also a bit noisy on fast wind and clunky as it performs operations.
A word of warning abut SCART leads: I had to buy two new ones - fully screened, more expensive type, with gold-plated sockets and full RGB wiring. My previous unit did not pick up interference through the thin, cheap type of leads but this one did, causing ghosting when unit switched to VCR mode.
At under £130 from some sources, this has to be a great bargain.
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35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantasic Piece Of Kit !, 21 Mar 2008
I bought this unit so that I could record from my Sky+ box as well as transfer some of my old videos across to DVD.
I got the box home and replaced my old video recorder with this unit.
I put in a DVD-r disk into the drive and recorded from sky without reading any of the instructions. I was impressed with how easy and intuitive it was to use - the whole process took no more than 15 minutes.
I then thought that I would try and record an old video to DVD. The process was as simple as putting in the Video, putting in a blank DVD and press the dubbing button. It just worked - no problems at all .....
The only things that I had to look up was how to finalise DVDs so that it could play in any other DVD player and how to increase the default recording time for a DVD (by default set to 2 hrs, but can record up to 8 hrs on a dvd - albeit with reduced quality). I found the appropriate parts in the manual in about 30 seconds. I subsequently found a setting that will auto-finalise all DVDs so that when you press stop, the DVD is automatically set so that it can be viewed in any DVD player.
I haven't used any of the more advanced features yet, but in terms of doing what I bought the unit for, it passes with flying colours...
If you don't need a hard disk in your DVD recorder, then this is the unit for you. All at a bargain price - superb!!!!
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dead good, unless....., 10 Jun 2008
...you have an old TV or want to back up your store-bought videos to DVD.
We were puzzled by the lack of picture on our old Mitsui telly that was to be used as a monitor, checked the SCART output - no probs. Then I read the Toshiba manual more carefully...
It says clearly there is no RF modulator on this model, so the old Mitsui was never going to work with it. Pity, but we had an old Sony with a SCART in the spare room and swapped that in, no probs.
Then we tried to dub a copy of a video taken at random from the pile by the main TV, no luck. Copy protection, apparently. Oh well.
Not a serious problem, most of our videos needing backup to DVD are home-brewed.
But if you _were_ planning to backup your store-bought videos on this, or maybe wanted to use an old telly as a monitor, beware! This otherwise excellent machine is not suitable for these purposes.
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