Electronics : Toshiba RDXV48 - 160Gb Hard Drive DVD Recorder & VHS Combi With Freeview

Rating: - One Cable Connection?
Found that you require more than the HDMI lead to connect to the TV. If you require VHS playback you must also use a SCART lead. The blurb says that the device is REGZA compatible, well it's not.
I have spoken with Toshiba technical support and they have confirmed both these points and indicated that their Website is technically wrong.

The box has a big footprint, so beware of it hanging over the front of shelf.

The box Front Panel display is set way back. If you place the unit on the lowest shelf you may have to get on your knees to read the time:)
Toshiba RDXV48 - 160Gb Hard Drive DVD Recorder & VHS Combi With Freeview

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Rating: - Some basic shortcomings
I previously used only VHS and bought this unit with the intention that I could continue to play my large existing library of VHS whilst recording new material on HDD or DVD. Bad idea....

There are two RCA phono sockets on the back which I use, as intended, to feed my hifi amp and speakers. This is fine for live TV, DVD and HDD but when playing VHS, the HiFi sound isn't output from these sockets but only sent via the SCART lead to the TV ! (Toshiba confirm that this is correct and that I'm not doing anything wrong).

Secondly, when programming via the EPG it is only possible to input one event. To pre-programme more requires the kind of convoluted process that was the norm ten years ago but (I would have thought) had long been superseded.

Thirdly, according to the manual, if there is a mains power outage of more than 30 secs all pre-programmed information will be lost. Have Toshiba not heard of back-up batteries? Even the Mitsubishi VHS machine that I bought in 1983 would save everything for over an hour with no mains supply.

It's a shame that such a potentially good machine is spoiled for my applications by some basic and easily avoided flaws. I wouldn't have bought one had I known about the first two items above.

Another curious thing - the manual mentions naturally enough the need for adequate ventilation and yet the unit has no feet (just very thin rubbery pads)and so has virtually no clearance from the horizontal surface it sits on. There is a group of holes in the base and surely the flow of air through these would benefit from the unit being raised a little?

Plus points? The initial set-up was easy, the fan and hard drive are very quiet and the built in Freeview tuner seems to have a very sensitive front end, as reception of all channels is good.

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Rating: - Nice machine but there's a but...
As I say in the title, a nice machine and the service from Amazon was excellent as always but there's a but...

and that is that there is no code available (that's not available as in 'it can't be found anywhere' - at least not to my knowledge) to make this region free, so it only does half a job.

You also can't back-up your old films on VHS, so make that it only does one third of a job.

If like me, you have a stack of old prerecorded VHS tapes, one of the primary reasons for getting a VHS/DVD combo was to be able to back up these tapes. This machine doesn't let you do that.

If like me you buy most of your DVD's on-line and if like me you had a region free player beforehand you will probably have at least some films that you bought from perfectly legitimate sellers outside your own region (including Amazon). If you have, this machine won't let you play them.

Do I like this machine? Yes I do (even though the menu's are a bit clunky compared to the Sky menus I'm used to) but would I recommend it to anyone else?

No - Not without making it absolutely clear that, as far as prerecorded material is concerned, this machine's use is strictly limited to watching films from within your own region and that those tapes you wanted to back-up into a less perishable form will have to stay on the shelf.

That is a pity because otherwise it is a nice piece of kit.

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Rating: - Mediocre
Good points:

- It helped me convert all of my tapes eventually
- Good value for money

Bad points

- When you dub from HDD to DVD it always adds an "EMPTY TITLE" which you cannot delete
- Struggles to dub some VHS tapes. I think it is when you have removed the tab (as I did on my home videos so I did not record over them) AND stops dubbing if the quality is not good enough (not all of my VHS tapes were hence wanting to convert them to DVD)
- Quite a large unit

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Rating: - overall great value, but...
It does all that it promises.

I know nothing of Sky + or whatever, so can't compare its recording function for ease-of-use. I've found it all easy to use so far. It's very quick and simple to set it to record to HDD a program by just choosing it from the daily listings on the Freeview menu.

However, as I think someone has pointed out on a forum here, I'm very surprised there's no way to record (to any format, VHS, HDD or DVD) one channel and watch a different channel at the same time. Yes, while recording TV you can watch an already-recorded medium (on VHS, HDD or DVD), but nothing live. This is especially odd as this machine boasts two TV tuners, one digital, one analogue. So what's the point if you can't use both simultaneously? (Of course while the machine's recording from a TV channel you can primitively switch your TV onto it's own (non-video) channel, but in the case of our old TV that's not good quality... And why should I have to find this poor solution with such a nice new video machine?)

My 2nd slight disappointment is I'm sure not unique to this brand or model, but I guess it's a similar story with any modern DVD recorders. One reason we wanted a VCR player and DVD recorder combi was to transfer a few of our much-loved well-played old video tapes onto DVD. Is this "pirating"?? Perhaps, but so be it; purely for our own personal use, before the (irreplaceable) video tapes finally snap. But even trying to dub from some VHS tapes the machine pipes up "copyright material - though shalt not copy". I dunno, these new-fangled machines are too smart for their own good sometimes...

These gripes aside, this is a super video recorder for a great price, and no qualms at all about choosing it.