Toshiba DR410 1080p Upconverting Tunerless DVD Recorder by Toshiba
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List Price: Our Price: $124.00 You Save: $5.99 (5%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Home Theater See more digital camera details and other models |
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Digital camera reviews of Toshiba DR410 1080p Upconverting Tunerless DVD Recorder
Digital camera Review: An excellent DVD recorder
Summary: 4 Stars
I have owned this model since mid-2008 when we switched from Dishnetwork to Verizon FIOS TV. We wanted to save some recorded material off of the PVR before returning it to Dish. A straight-forward recorder with one button recording feature. I use DVD-r discs with it (Maxell), and it has performed flawlessly so far. The lack of a tuner is not a disadvantage to us since it is between the receiver box and the TV. The only disadvantage going from Dish to FIOS is that the FIOS PVR has no timer feature, which means the PVR must be left on, tuned to the channel. Just an inconvenience you have to remember.
Update: national retail chains are selling this unit at very attractive prices now. $70 at some Avenue store....
Toshiba must be clearing the model out. Still worth having on your electronics shelf.
Digital camera Review: Another DVD in the house
Summary: 4 Stars
Meets expectations for video quality.
Buttons on handheld not very easy to find and use. Not intuative.
On-screen menu not very intuitive.
Many selections to get to finalize.
Digital camera Review: Be Forewarned - Read Before Buying
Summary: 2 Stars
Be warned, you cannot use this dvd player/recorder if you have a cable connection but DO NOT have a cable BOX. Nowhere does the product tell you this in advance so - what a hassle. After trying for an hour to figure out how to hook this up, I called the Toshiba 800 number and he said that this is one of their most frequent calls. Sales people do not tell customer this in advance and the box does not warn you. The problem is this dvd machine does not have a 'tuner' in it, so, if no cable box, you cannot hook up to this machine, period. I had to return it, so did not get to use it, but give it 2 stars based on all the hassle I went through and, although the Toshiba tech guy was helpful, this should be explained on the box or in the online information! We are not all techies out here.Digital camera Review: Be aware, there is no tuner & your set up will probably require one.
Summary: 1 Stars
This DVD Recorder requires seperate external tuner for cable via TV, cable via set top box, satellite / dish, etc. For me, I did not understand what that meant, so I wanted to make it more clear for others before you waste $20 on shipping and returning.Digital camera Review: Buy a different DVD Recorder
Summary: 2 Stars
Buy a different DVD recorder. This suffers from some basic design problems that even cheaper brands solved long ago:
(1) sluggish response - the video stops and stutters when advancing to the next DVD "chapter." It happens just often enough (1-2x/disc) to be annoying, but not consistently or frequently enough to be able to pinpoint a cause. My old player handles the same discs without issue.
(2) Incompatibility with universal remotes - I've tried to setup three different universal remotes with this unit and none of the three were able to provide both fast forward/reverse and skip ahead/back. (This despite having used all possible Toshiba DVD recorder codes on all three remotes.)
(3) Poorly designed menus. I'm generally able to make sense of awkward interfaces and get most electronic devices to do my bidding (everyone asks me to find special features on their cell phones), but even with the manual, I'm not able to get this machine to deliver on all its promises.
(4) Bad memory for play back. My Panasonic DVD player can memorize a position on the disc so you can go forward or back or even shut the machine off and be able to return to the bookmark. It can even remember positions for at least two different discs. The only way that the Toshiba remembers where you left off is if you "stop" the playback (pause won't do it). And it suffers amnesia if you accidentally eject the disc or do anything but go straight back to where you were before.
On the plus side, the picture quality is great and the machine has some nifty features, including 1080p for about $100. However, I would have been far happier spending another $50 for something else.