|
|
Toshiba DR560 1080p Upconverting DVD Recorder with Built In Tuner |
 |
|
 |
|
|
| Editorial Reviews: | | |  | | Record your favorite home movies directly to DVD with the D-R560. 1080p upconversion via HDMI will get the most out of your DVD collection, and the built-in tuner completes this convenient home theater addition. The built-in ATSC/NTSC/QAM digital/analog tuner allows you to tune analog or digital channels from over the air, or cable, including "cable-in-the-clear" digital channels. It can also be used to dub recordings from other components onto various DVD recordable disc formats. An HDMI output enables the D-R560 to play DVDs to your widescreen HDTV delivering sharp imagery on screens optimized for 1080 resolutions, in an upconversion mode. Video Upconversion to 720p/1080i/1080p DivX Home Theater Certified Digital Photo Viewer (JPEG) One Touch Recording makes recording your favorite show simple. Just connect your DVD recorder to your cable or satellite box and you are set to record with the push of one button Auto Finalize with Undo simplifies the recording process by automatically finalizing your recording for playback on standard DVD players 24bit Audio DAC with 192kHz Processing Plays MP3 and WMA formats (2-Ch) Dolby Digital Recording L-PCM Recording (XP mode only) 3D (Virtual Surround Sound) Features - Instant Skip, Zoom, Editing (Playlist/Rename Title/Chapter Creation), Commercial Skip Connections - Component Out, HDMI Out with REGZA LINK, Front S-Video Input, Rear S-Video Input/Output, Rear RCA-Video Input/Output, Front Audio Input, Rear Analog Audio Input/Output, Coax Output, Front DV Input Approximate Unit Dimensions - 16.54 (W) x 2.32 (H) x 9.72 (D) | |
| Custom Reviews: | |
|
| Pretty good, but far from perfect | |
| | My digital set-top has a hard disk as well (to use as a PVR). However, I still use a DVD recorder when I want to get stuff off the PVR hard disk (to keep for a long time on a DVD, or if I want to lend copies of movies and TV shows to friends & family on a DVD). When doing this, I noticed 2 frustrating things about this Toshiba DVD recorder.
1) The highest quality input is S-Video. This is a bummer. My PVR has S-Video out, but it also has the higher quality outputs. So, I can never record in a higher quality than S-Video provides....which feels like I am never using a DVD to its best potential.
2) I often want to record films & documentaries that are just over 2 hours long. With the Toshiba DVD recorder, you get 5 recording modes to choose from:
XP = 1hr (very good quality)
SP = 2hrs (good quality)
LP = 4hrs (fair quality)
EP = 6hrs (poor quality)
SLP = 8hrs (absolute garbage)
As you can see, in order to record something that exceeds 2hrs, even by 5 minutes (like most movies), you have to jump quite a bit from one quality mode to the next (or use a second DVD). They should have just made 4hrs the maximum, and spread out 5 or 6 modes between 1hr and 4hrs. This would have given a more realistic amount of flexibility. Or even better than that, have an option to have you tell the recorder how long your show(s) or movie is, and it uses the best quality possible for the exact length of your show(s) or movie.
I haven't tested all the other features enough to comment on them yet.
|
|
| Weak Over The Air Digital Tuner | |
| | This Recorder would have been 5 stars, Everything works great with the exception of the Digital Tuner. On set up you do a scan, which searches for Analog and Digital stations. You can add or delete Analog stations but only delete Digital ones! You can't add digital stations! I have an Indoor Antenna (Terk HDTVa) It works fine pulling in stations some with weak signals which may be a problem for this recorder. The weaker stations did not scan in during the auto search. I tried adjusting the antenna position over and over resulting in gaining some and losing others. Digital channels 2,4,5,11,20 would come and go.
I boxed up the unit to send back and purchased a Phillips DVR3506. When I took the Phillips out of the box, I noticed the back panel looked identical. It was the same as the Toshiba! So was the display, set up... (Same DVD Recorder rebranded) Sure enough the Digital Tuner was just as weak if not, worse. So it was one last try with the Toshiba and it finally worked! Happy Dance! It would be nice if you could manually add digital stations. There is an antenna strength indicator on the menu to help you adjust the antenna for best reception but it does no good if it won't even scan in the channel to begin with. Now I know it's not the antenna that isn't up to the task, My Vizio TV digital tuner pulls them all in clearly, So does my RCA Digital Converter box which is hooked up to a VCR.
So only if you have a set of rabbit ears or a low gain outdoor antenna, you may run into this problem. If you have cable or any other pay service your signal strength will be more than enough.
|
|
|
| Recorder great, but design flaws | |
| | I bought this unit to upconvert my standard dvds, have a good dvd recorder with a digital / QAM tuner, and play divx disks. The only thing that I was satisfied with was the recording capability. It formats disk quickly and records great. I have an older tv that still has a great picture but in not digital complaint. The tv only has the RF coaxial connection. So, I'd planned to connect this unit to the coaxial connection on my tv to use the d4560's digital / qam tuner - Boy, was I wrong. Evidently, Toshiba is designing most of their RF Out connects to not give you the output from it's internal tuner or dvd player. So, the unit does not function like traditional players. You MUST connect to the line out (composite, component, s-videso, or hdmi) to get a picture and audio from the internal dvd player and tuner. Otherwise, you have to buy an RF modulator (or go through another devive) to get an output for the DR560 that is an RF output. What a waste of time and money. That's fine for newer tv's but inconvenient and an additional expense for older televsions. I was hoping to purchase this unit and transition to an newer tv in the near future. The other problem is that the dr560 is supposed to be Divx certified. But, it would not play any of my avi file dvd data disk that were burned via Windows Media Player. In contrast, my Pioneer 410vK and the Philips 5990 had no problem playing the same disks. I am returning the unit because playing avi files is very important to me. And, if I have to by an RF modulator, I'd rather just find another unit that meets all of my needs.
|
|
|
| | I did a lot of research before buying this DVD recorder. It was tough because they all have some + & -'s. However, I decided to try this Toshiba and I was not disappointed. The unit works very well and does the job. The DVD's recorded come out with great clear images.
I am using DVD+R & DVD+RW disks and they work fine in my other DVD players after they are burned. No problems so far. Also, you can't beat the price I paid!
|
|
|
| Picture quanlity not good enought...(1080p) | |
| | Have HDTV Turnner, DVD player, DVX player, DVD recorder ...Yes. But picture quanlity is not good enought ( 1080p )
|
|
|
|
|
|
