Pros: 80GB hard drive; editing ability; Menu creation; Price at Amazon.com; loads cheaper Imation DVDs.
Cons: Using remote to enter words for titles can be cumbersome.
The Bottom Line: If you are looking getting the best DVD Recorder you can for the best price, THIS IS IT. 80GB hard drive, excellent editing features, adjustable recording rate.
gil8402's Full Review: Toshiba RD-XS32SU DVD Recorder / HDD Recorder
I did an incredible amount of research and price comparisons when I was looking to buy a DVD Recorder, and after about 3 solid weeks I narrowed my choices to either a Panasonic E85 (120GB Hard Drive) or Toshiba XS32 (80GB Hard Drive). I had looked at CNET, Epinions, Amazon, and other sites for reviews and broke it down to Panasonic or Toshiba (apparently avoid any and all Phillips recorders!)
My major priority was finding a recorder with a big enough hard drive, as I was planning on recording my favorite TV shows, by season, onto DVD (for my own use only). I am also a big football nut, and having many old games recorded on VCR, I wanted to transfer those over to DVD. And I also wanted to transfer some old VHS-C recordings over to DVD as well.
Of course, any research on this will bring you to the multiple DVD formats that are out there...honestly, I tried not to let that influence my purchase, I just wanted a trouble-free DVD recorder w/big hard drive.
So I went with the Toshiba...for 3 reasons:
1. Price - Panasonic was $470, Toshiba was $407 for virtually same features. Panasonic has 40 more GB, but I couldn't see paying $70 more just for the added 40GB. Also keep in mind that the cheapest I saw either of these anywhere was Amazon.com, especially with their free shipping!!
2. DVD-RW - The Toshiba gave me another recording option, to DVD-RW, and Panasonic didn't. Both record to DVD-R and DVD-RAM. I just liked having another option to record.
3. Menu after you finish your DVD - Toshiba has a menu you can add to each DVD you create, and you can name each "chapter" (each TV show/game/basically one recording) as well as make your own thumbnail. Panasonic doesn't have quite the snazzy menu that Toshiba offers, and after all that work of editing & transferring to DVD, it better have a nice menu!
One thing that I evaluated as well was Panasonic's "variable recording", which allows a person to tell the DVD Recorder to make a certain number of shows fit onto a DVD (the machine sets the recording speed automatically). I liked that feature alot, but went with the Toshiba because you can adjust your recording rate, you just have to do it manually. Not a big deal in the end, but if the Toshiba didn't allow me to adjust the record rate I probably wouldn't have bought it.
So did I like it? It has been 2 months, and I absolutely LOVE it...I have read all the reviews and don't really understand any negative feedback that the Toshiba got. I will tell you, the machine is finicky about which media it will record to (likes Panasonic/Toshiba/Imation, does not load Memorex - that is all I have found so far). Honestly, I started out buying Panasonic DVD-Rs but I am now buying Imation DVD-Rs and at $10 for a 15-pack of DVD_Rs, it is less than $1 per DVD-R.
And as far as the often referred to Toshiba "black level" bug I have read about, I was concerned about that & made up my mind to return the machine if I found that to be true. Well, I haven't found that to be true at all. That might have just been a random problem for some other users.
And the recording quality is EXCELLENT...it has several speeds to record on & you can also adjust the recording speed. It comes with preset defaults: highest quality (XP) will fit 1 hr on a DVD, next lowest (SP) fits 2 hrs, next lowest (LP) fits almost 6 hours. I found virtually no difference between XP and SP, so I will fit 2 hours of shows on DVD. You do notice a difference between XP and LP, I recorded cartoons at LP speed as the quality looks good but doesn't have to be great. If you record regular TV shows/sports at LP, it will look grainy at LP speed so be aware & burn at either SP or XP (or experiment).
And one last note...I have DirecTV and bought a DirecTV box with TIVO for $99 from DirecTV. Having never had TIVO before, I don't know how I ever lived without it! Can't say enough good things about TIVO...and I plan on putting in a review for that box too! But I recommend TIVO for all those videophiles out there..
Again, as a non-biased 37 year old male with many years of electronics shopping under his belt (I remember the BETA VCRs like they were yesterday!), I HIGHLY recommend this Toshiba DVD Recorder!
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
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