Toshiba DR560 1080p Upconverting DVD Recorder with Built-in Tuner by Toshiba
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Our Price: $329.99 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 DR560 1080p Upconverting DVD Recorder with Built-in Tuner
Digital camera Review: Excellent
Summary: 5 Stars
This product is easy set up and easy to use, I did not even open the manual. Menus are easy to navigate. The reviews that said it was hard to figure out and set up, are simply false or posted by retards. I bought this for the tuner feature, the DVD is just a bonus. I have not yet used the record feature. I get a really nice picture in DVD mode, and for OTA Digital TV, over the HDMI cable. I made my own antenna, search you tube "Coat Hanger HDTV Antenna!" for information. It is much better than any store bought I used, and I am 40 miles from the closest broadcast location. I get a bunch of channels, even more than advertised. Great product for this application and great price. It seems that blue rays are driving these prices down a bit.Digital camera Review: Excellent Buy
Summary: 5 Stars
I always say actions speak louder than words, so buy this product and you'll be as happy as I am with it.Digital camera Review: Excellent DVD Recorder
Summary: 5 Stars
Toshiba DR560 1080p Upconverting DVD Recorder with Built-in Tuner
I highly recommend the DR560. I use it mainly to record and re-record my daily & weekly news programs, with the same DVD-RW that I use over & over again. The timer works flawlessly. The tuner found all my digital and analog stations automatically. Before the DR560, I had bought a Phillips 3506 at Walmarts and it was a disaster. The timer kept losing its settings, the picture froze, and it wouldn't shut off. Surprisingly, the two units had very similar instruction manuals & were probably built by the same company. I could not find the Toshiba in any local stores, so I was happy to find it online at Amazon.
Digital camera Review: Excellent DVD recorder with digital tuner that receives Comcast cable
Summary: 4 Stars
The Toshiba DR560 has both ATSC and QAM tuners so it can receive digital TV either over the air or via cable. In contrast, the Panasonic DMR-EZ28K 1080p Upconverting DVD Recorder with Built In Tuner appears to have an ATSC tuner but not a QAM tuners. Therefore, the Panasonic DVD recorder can receive digital TV over the air but not via cable. This greater flexibility of the Toshiba DR560 appears to be the important difference between it and the Panasonic DVD recorders.
TUNER:
Contrary to the reports of some reviewers, the Toshiba DR560's QAM tuner does indeed receive Comcast digital broadcasts that are "in the clear" and don't require a cable box for reception. I used the Toshiba's "extended scan" mode to find the analog and digital channels that are available on Comcast "limited basic" service that costs $18 per month. The Toshiba tuner found 43 analog stations with its NTSC tuner and 101 digital stations with its QAM tuner, including the following HDTV stations: FOX, ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS.
The quality of the Toshiba QAM digital tuner is excellent but inferior to the quality of the QAM tuner in my Sony XBR-1 LCD TV. It appears that when the Toshiba receives a high definition (HD) broadcast, it downconverts to standard definition (SD) then upconverts back to HD for viewing on the TV. This downcoversion to SD is probably required for recording but downconversion does result in lower quality images than the original HD broadcast. Even with this limitation, the quality of the Toshiba QAM digital tuner is superior to the quality of its NTSC analog tuner.
Another difference between the Toshiba QAM digital tuner and the Sony QAM digital tuner is that the station numbers can vary slightly. For example, 91.4 on the Sony corresponds to 91.3 on the Toshiba. This difference is not huge, but it does require that you tune to the TV station using the Toshiba tuner (and not the TV tuner) before you set up timer recording in order to verify that the Toshiba will record from the intended TV station.
RECORDED IMAGE QUALITY:
The Toshiba DR560 can record in 5 modes: XP, SP, LP, EP and SLP that permit recording of 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8 hours, respectively, per DVD. The image quality of XP and SP modes is superb. The image quality degrades somewhat with LP mode, and becomes more noticeable with EP and SLP modes.
Some reviewers have complained that the Toshiba doesn't record in HD format but instead in SD format. No DVD recorder that is currently available records in HD format because such a recorder would record in Blu-ray format. However, if you want to record in HD format and you own a Macintosh computer, consider the Elgato 10020780 EyeTV 250 Plus Digital/Analog TV Receiver and Video Converter that has NTSC, ATSC and QAM tuners and does record in HD format.
RECOMMENDATION:
For maximum flexibility, use DVD-RW disks instead of DVD+RW. Then if you format the DVD in VR mode you can erase any of the TV programs that you have previously recorded and reuse the freed space on the DVD to record other TV programs. Or format instead in Video mode to obtain maximum compatibility with DVD players and also to see a directory of your recorded TV programs on a DVD that has been "finalized" for use with DVD players.
NOISE:
Contrary to the reports of some reviewers, the Toshiba disk tray does not make a loud noise when it is opened or shut. It is no louder than the disk tray of my Panasonic DMR-ES25. And neither does the Toshiba make the continuous high-pitched whine that one reviewer reported.
REMOTE:
The remote is the principal reason for which I awarded the Toshiba 4 stars instead of 5. I agree with the many reviewers who find its small, gray letters against a black background to be hard to read in dim light. Fortunately, the major functions are marked in white so that they are reasonably easy to identify. But Toshiba should take a close look at the remote of the Panasonic DMR-ES25 that has large, high-contrast letters that are easy to read, even in dim light.
USER INTERFACE:
Toshiba can learn a few things from Panasonic in this area:
On the Toshiba, you must wait until after recording to provide a title to the recorded program. In contrast, on the Panasonic DMR-ES25 you provide the title when the timer recording is set up. So, for a TV program that is recorded multiple times such as once per week, the Panasonic requires that you specify the title once only. But the Toshiba requires that you specify the title after each time that the TV program is recorded. Also, the menu system that Panasonic provides for typing the title is easier to navigate than the menu system of the Toshiba.
In the timer recording menu, both the Toshiba and the Panasonic warn when recording a TV program will exceed the capacity of the DVD. The Panasonic warns when the sum of the TV programs that have already been recorded to DVD plus the TV programs that are scheduled to be recorded to DVD (including the TV program that you are currently setting up) will exceed the capacity of the DVD. The Toshiba provides a less useful warning because it warns when the sum of the TV programs that have already been recorded to DVD plus the one TV program that you are currently setting up will exceed the capacity of the DVD. The Toshiba does not take into account the other TV programs that are scheduled to be recorded to DVD.
The Toshiba must be turned off in order to activate timer recording. If you don't turn the Toshiba off, it will not record any TV programs. In contrast, the Panasonic will record TV programs whether it is turned on or off.
RELIABILITY and LONGEVITY:
It's too early to tell. I've had the Toshiba for one month only. I'll provide an update in a few months from now.
CONCLUSION:
Despite its flaws, the Toshiba DR560 is an excellent value. The Users Manual is very detailed and easy to read. If you want to upgrade to a DVD recorder that includes both ATSC and QAM digital tuners, you should definitely consider purchasing this unit.
Digital camera Review: Excellent Machine
Summary: 5 Stars
The Toshiba D-R560KU does everything it's supposted to. I record off air with an antenna, digitally, and works great. Plays back pre-recorded DVD'S in DTS sounds great through my inexpensive home theater. I would strongly recommend this DVD recorder.