Toshiba RD-XS54 DVD Recorder (Progressive Scan, 250GB Hard Drive)

Reviewed by: jpoon

Duration of ownership:

Strengths: *Relatively Inexpensive*Good Picture, better than through TV Alone*Large Hard Drive, plenty of space for content*Remote scheduling works, somewhat*Free TVGuide vs. Tivo/Replay Fees*Many Features-PIP,PC Link

Weaknesses: *User Interface, slow and difficult to use*No USB, only Ethernet*Old Players do not play burned DVDs*Audio/Video drops out on some recordings*Not able to multi-task (Timeslip+TVGuide simultaneously)

Overall Evaluation: GENERAL I bought the product and have thought about returning it several times, but have not because of the hassle associated with shipping the box back and having to pay shipping fees to/from. Plus, the 30 day return policy has passed. If I had not bought it online, I would have probably returned it. The unit is a good bang for the buck. Least expensive product out there (if you find the right deal) in terms of hard drives size and DVR/Programming guide functionality without fees. The picture is also very good - better than watching on the TV alone. This is probably due to the extra video processing features in the box. INTERFACE I bought this unit because I had a great experience with the SDH400 (Free Tivo Basic Service). I was initially disappointed in the Tivo interface because I used Replay before, which is much better. However, the Tivo interface grew on me and the SDH400 ended up being a good purchase. The XS54 uses a TVGUide interface which is also free. However, TVGuide is not user friendly. The menu is slow and hard to navigate. Also, when you download the listings initially, you have to manually go through the listings and arrange them in numerical order (2,3,4....). The default order is random. Takes about an hour. One area where TVGuide is good is that you can watch TV in the upper left corner while you scroll though listings. A Tivo guide takes up the whole screen. HARD DRIVE RECORDER/PLAYER The TimeSlip feature (pause/rewind live TV) is not always on. You have to manually turn it on which is a hassle. Also, when TimeSlip is on, you can't access the TVGUide. Software conflicts like this one occur quite often. When you are burning a DVD, you can't access the TVGuide...so on and so on...There has been some recordings where the video drops out or audio gets super loud. This may be another one of those conflicts/problems as I think this only happened when I was trying to watch a show from the beginning while I was still recording it. Nevertheless, very annoying. NETWORKING CAPABILITY Remote scheduling is the main reason I purchased the XS54. I got this feature to partially work after several days of effort. Basically, you have to send an email to a POP sever where the machine retrieves it and schedules the show. I use Yahoo mail as Gmail does not work for some reason. The unit is supposed to send back a reply email telling you if the recording request was accepted. This notification feature has not worked for me. Basically, you can schedule a recording remotely, but you can't confirm that it is actually going to record. Also, you are supposed to be able to check how much recording space is left, but that function has not worked for me either. If you are purely looking for Tivo-like functionality without remote scheduling, the TX-20 and TX-60 are better choices. Also, I would have preferred the unit have USB rather than Ethernet since a wireless USB Adapter is more compact and less expensive than a Wireless Ethernet Bridge. DVD PLAYER/RECORDER I tried burning a DVD-RW and playing it on my SDH400. Didn't work. Reads DISC ERROR. From what I read online, the SDH400 is DVD-R capable so it should be able to read a DVD-RW. If I am wrong about this, please let me know. OTHER FEATURES The unit has the ability for PIP which I rarely use, but is pretty cool. Also, you can watch what is playing on the unit through your PC. You can also control the unit through a PC with a virtual remote. Again, not that useful, but pretty cool.