Toshiba Rd-Xs24 Harddrive Multi-region Capable DVD Recorder 160Gb -Silver
Toshiba Rd-Xs24 Harddrive Multi-region Capable DVD Recorder 160Gb -Silver
Customer Review: MULTI-REGIONAL?
Ordered this recorder because we needed a multi-regional recorder. The advertisement states it is multi-regional capable, but we had to return it as
could not get the hack to work. Am aware that it should be possable, but didn’t work for us.
Customer Review: Buy one, without doubt!
I have had one of these for about 6 months now, and I’m hard-pushed to fault it. The picture quality of the recordings to both DVD and the Hard Disk are excellent, I really can’t tell the difference between the recorded and the original. The timeslip function is excellent; if you’re watching something you just don’t want to miss and say for instance the phone goes, simply press the timeslip button and it starts recording from the moment you press the button. You can effectively pause the TV, and resume it as you wish, or you can rewind back to the start, as it will continue to record until you press the timeslip button again.
I have yet to fill the hard drive, and so far there are hours upon hours of video on it, with more than enough room left. It only takes a few minutes to burn a title to DVD. When I bought this unit, it was a lot more expensive than it is now, but even at the old price (well over ?300) it is, in my mind worth every penny.
It’s dead easy to use with virtually everything being menu driven, and if you have an external Dolby Digital Amp, invest in a digital lead, you’ll notice a big difference with the sound. If you haven’t got one of these and want to save space, upgrade your DVD player, dump the old VHS, you must have one. I wouldn’t be without one, not now.
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Recording -160GB HDD max 477 Hr Recording. -Advanced Time-shift. -Simultaneous Record & Play. -Multi DVD Recording DVD+RW/-RW/+R/-R, 4.7GB DVD Max 11 Hr Recording. -Easy Recording ? Graphical Navigation Viewing -Progressive Scan. -Maximum Playback C - Sig
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Access all your digital TV channels and record up to 425 hours of programmes with the DVD-SH855 DVD player/recorder.Samsung has equipped this device with a Freeview tuner and a 250 GB hard drive, so you?ll never run out of memory to record. You can programme this player to record your favourite programmes, which you can watch later without having to rewind or fast forward through adverts!The DVD-SH855 has an HDMi connection to preserve sound and image quality during transmission, so your DVD and DivX films appear perfectly restored on your TV screen.The DVD-SH855 player from Samsung is also equipped with 2 SCART sockets and a DV input to connect to and transfer data from your camcorder.
Used Price: ?131.99
Customer Review: Possibly the most frustrating device yet invented.
This machine appears to have been designed to be counter-intuitive. I have yet to find a single redeeming factor. It is expensive, difficult, frustrating and useless.
Customer Review: Sometimes so slow it stops
I’ve had this machine for about 9 months and it really is the pits when it comes to user friendliness. This is a shame because the picture quality is very good and the features are comprehensive. A list of woes: Complicated remote control Programme guide takes forever to load the information it requires. Defaults to analogue TV (not digital) PCM and bitstream must be manually selected every time you switch from TV to 5.1 DVDs - unless you like listening to a buzzing noise. Keep it on pcm if you don’t mind missing out on 5.1 surround sound. Frequently freezes requiring the machine to be switched off at the mains. Response time is so slow you occasionally push the remote buttons more than once. This results in two or more responses from the machine (it’s easy to jump from BBC1 straight to Channel 5 having missed out BBC2 ITV and Channel 4 if you see what I mean). Recording TV onto HDD should be straight forward but it’s definitely not. I’m the only person in the house who can do this reliably which means the kids can only record what they’re watching when I’m around. No, they’re not retarded, they just sometimes miss out one of the 7 steps required. Boot up time is extremely slow. I wondered what happened to all the ZX81 processors when the Sinclair Spectrum came out - I guess Samsung are using them in this machine….. If you are very patient (and lets face it, we blokes are not) then you might like this machine. Such a shame Samsung are selling this - it’s put me off them for life.
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The DVDR5500 is the only DVD player/recorder in its manufacturer?s current range to include a built-in Freeview tuner. It’s easy to record your favourite films and TV programmes to DVD with the DVDR5500. It?s compatible with dual-layer supports and has a USB port and a DV input for transferring photos and MP3 music or connecting a digital camcorder, and comes with an HDMI 1080i connection with high-definition video oversampling, as well as a progressive scan feature that renders exceptional images on your LCD or plasma TV. The DVDR5500 is even equipped with a ShowView mode, so you can programme recordings, and it?s “DivX Ultra”-certified, which improves the quality of DivX videos. The DVDR5500 is the ideal choice for those of you looking to complete your Home Cinema system.
Amazon Price: ?135.21
Used Price: ?69.99
Customer Review: Agree with the others - poor
I bought one of these today in spite of reading the reviews, thought I would at least give it a chance however I have to agree with the others here. It’s frozen twice needing a plug power reset, first time I pressed TV Guide and it froze, second time after finishing a timed recording it froze in standby and failed to respond to remote or front panel buttons. The USB port is good and does support hard drives however the current provided isn’t enough for my 2.5″ SATA one so I had to use an external supply. It will also not play DVD images on the mass storage which is a shame. The EPG is truly awful - you only see now/next and a handful of channels. There’s no auto-pad option and you can’t edit the record data before storing it in the program list (once it’s there you can manually edit the item to add padding). I also found a DVD+RW burnt with a DVD image on my PC would not erase at all, it just bitched about the disc being “finalised” so I had to erase on the PC before I would use it. Even my old LiteON would erase anything! Remote handset is pretty huge and plasticy too. A real shame but it’s going back. Two freezes in a couple of hours is unacceptable. Shame on you Philips. I even flashed it up to the latest firmware before all this so it’s not that.
Customer Review: Nice picture - terrible everything else!
This machine give a great picture through the HDMI, and plays Divx very well. That’s about it for the good stuff….. I’ve had the dvdr5500 about a month now, and I’m less than impressed. It freezes very easily, doing the simplest things such as turning the machine on or off or going to the Home menu, and the only way out is to cut the power at the plug, which means you lose all your settings (e.g. HDMI output level). That is the biggest problem. The interface is also VERY slow to respond, taking seconds to respond to even one button push, which frustrates you in to pushing more buttons which - you guessed it - causes it to freeze up! Apparently the machine keeps the disc spinning when left in the tray, even when turned off, which means the motor burns out quickly. This is just what I’ve heard, but the `Eco’ mode you can turn on presumably stops/reduces this, but means the machine takes a full minute to load up (its not exactly snappy when the Eco mode is off either though). Recording is sporadic - not a single recording I have made using the TV guide has worked properly, always missing either the beginning or the end of the programme. The aspect ratio is always messed up as well. A final thing is the standby light, which is so incredibly bright that I have to have it covered when watching TV in a darkened room or else it is very distracting! In all, this is going back to Richer Sounds. It’s the only machine I have found which does everything I want, but unfortunately it is a typical Philips in that it is very poorly made. The remote is so cluttered and ill-though out that you are always pushing the wrong button or thinking you’ve pushed something when you haven’t. DON’T BUY THIS!!!! Update: I repeatedly tried to update the firmware on the machine in the hope that it would solve the MANY problems. However, after trying with several disks (including TWO that Philips themselves sent me!) I gave up, as the recorder simply wouldn’t accept the update. I sent it to Richer Sounds for a repair, but it was returned ‘non-repairable’. So that was that. After a brief stop gap at an equally-shoddy Samsung, I am now awaiting the delivery of a more expensive Sony DVDR & HDD combo unit, the RDR-HXD870. This has had much better reviews and fingers crossed it won’t drive me up the wall!
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