Customer Reviews

Toshiba D-R4 Multi-Drive DVD Recorder

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

I just purchased the Toshiba D-R4, it is my first foray into DVD recording. I like the Toshiba brand and I liked the price, I purchased Sony DVD-RW media with it so I could start recording, this is going to replace my VCR. Well first you have to format the RW media in the recorder, reminded of 1984 when we had to format 1.44 diskettes. Well once I got the box opened and read the manual they, Toshiba, recommend you use JVC DVD-RW 2X version 1.2. Well I had my Sony DVDs so I started formating, it was a no go three DVDs later every one of them failed could not format. The next day I called support and they recommended I try JVC or Memorex brand. So I had to run around to 4 stores before I found Memorex DVD-RW, I never saw JVC brand. The Memorex worked fine and I am recording now but why oh why don't they have a label on the box or include one of the DVD brands that work with the machine in the box, the store I bought the recorder at only carried Sony brand DVD-RW. So be aware if you want to use the machine after you buy it get JVC or Memorex brand DVD-RW discs, of course you can use DVD-R or DVD-RAM I have not tryed those yet. Also watch the + and - signs, the Toshiba only uses DVD- not DVD+. It seems to work fine, it is more complicated than a VCR, way more options. Hope this helps.

Update: This was a lovely recorder however it was unreliable, there were often times I would find it had not recorded a timed recording I had setup, it got very frustrating and I ended up replacing it with a Panasonic. The new one was not as easy to use as the Toshiba but was way more reliable. Also, I setup the Toshiba as a spare and got the firmware update DVD from Toshiba, BAD IDEA, ruined the unit. It never worked after the update.
Now have Philips DVD recorder with hard drive it is the only way to go, I don't need DVD copies so this works perfect for me. Still miss that Toshiba D-R4 though.

Excellent Unit! It does most everything I wanted, and a few things I had not even thought of.

If you use DVD-RAM discs, you can do great stuff on this unit, like marking the commercials as chapters and them removing them after recording the show, and playing the currently recording program from the beginning even though it is recording farther along. (You can also watch a different program on the disc instead.)

Of course, these discs don't play on most other DVD players, so you need to use DVD-Rs instead and give up these features if you want a disc that can play anywhere, but it is great to have these features for discs which will only be played on this and compatible units, and for everyday recording.

I had purchased a Panasonic DMR-ES10K originally, and had problems with it playing the second half of my DVDs and with bad support. (See the Panasonic DMR-ES10K for more details.) I exchanged it for this, and am very happy with the Toshiba unit. In comparison to the Panasonic, it is the same price (slightly less in fact), and has almost exactly the same features as the Panasonic. As a double-check before buying it, I called Toshiba support to ask them about disk editing, and a technical support agent answered within about 30 seconds and answered my question. So the support is there too.

Most importantly, it plays all my DVDs fine. But also, after trying it, I found several features in the Toshiba that had not been on the Panasonic, to my pleasant surprise. They include:
- A "zoom" feature, which lets you magnify part of the screen to see something you are interested in
- A "replay" button, which backs up an amount you can set to hear again what someone on the show said, see something cool again, etc. This is a feature I had missed in my previous DVD player from my TiVo. Replay is much more useful than rewind, wait, play, try to get the timing right.
- Shows how long a program is, and what % you are through it. The Panasonic showed how far you are into the program, but not how much time is remaining or what % you are through it. In deciding whether to finish a movie now or hold the rest for later, this is pretty helpful information.
- Will record timer programs even if you forget and leave the DVD recorder turned on, so long as there is a disc loaded with space on it.
- It even has free shipping, which the Panasonic does not.

In the end, I was quite glad the Panasonic had problems, so I would find the Toshiba D-R4 instead and get these additional features for free. The only issue I found on the Toshiba is that it is only available in silver (which doesn't match all my black Audio Video components well), but that is a pretty small issue.

This is not a simple DVD recorder to operate, and by no means does it have a manual easy to understand. I think it could have been written much more effectively.

The recorder itself has menus that often require you to step through stages of the menu again after selecting a menu action. It does not always return you to the most convenient point in the menu. This can be frustrating. Each menu requires you to refer to sub menus. Again, it gets complicated. Three or four different buttons on the remote take you to particular menus. There is no consistent simplifed procedure. Sometimes you'll wonder what the heck is happening because the recorder does not always clearly tell you on screen. The only indicator you may get is an icon lighting up on the face of the unit. And those icons are not very large.

So is it simple? No. Is it user friendly? No, can't say that either. It is more complicated than it needs to be. However even with these negatives, I am going to keep mine because it records an excellent picture and has features that are quite nice once you figure them out.



* Even on the six hour mode, my VHS tape copy to DVD was as good or better than my original.


* There is a zoom feature. This is not only just a two or three times magnification. You can get very close zooming into a point on your picture. You can then continue at any speed, including slow motion, and it will maintain that desired magnification. When you like, you can move your zoom point to a different part of the picture. It will lose resolution as you get closer and closer, but it is quite nice to have the feature.


* There is an instant replay feature. You can set the number of seconds you would like it to back up. I have mine at 5 seconds. It backs up 5 seconds for every press of the button on the remote. If I want to back up 15 seconds, I simply press the button three times. Your one-press choice can be set for 5-10-30 seconds, or for 5 minutes. Combining the zoom, slow motion and this replay, you can see the possibilities.


* Editing is easy. It can be done by using the pause button. Each time the pause is pressed, it creates a picture thumbnail of the image on the screen at the time the pause is pressed. All these points are then displayed for you showing each picture. Simply select those you don't want and delete them, or pick those you want and hook them together. You can even make a playlist of your favorite segments and create a DVD of only those segments. Obviously you can see how easy this also makes it to edit out commercials. DVD RAM is the type of disc you must use for this.


* You can pause a live TV broadcast and resume from wherever you left off. The live picture can be frozen for 15 minutes.


* You can select a desired segment of a disc and replay only that segment over and over. You can set the starting point and ending point of the segment.


* A feature I particularly like is the ability to hear sound on fast forward playback. I use the recorder for daily recording of television programs. This recorder can play the picture at a rapid speed but still have sound. This is very handy for things I want to speed through. The voices will sound like chipmunks but you can very clearly make out what is being said. I really like this feature and use it a lot.

* Lastly, this unit is very thin. Can squeeze in anywhere. The air vents are on the back, none on the top.



NOTE: Copy protected programming or tapes are very likely not to record on this machine. I encountered it on tapes that I paid for and just wanted to transfer to disc. We should not be prevented from making recordings for our own use, we should have every right to make a DVD. There is a solution to this. A video enhancer. This eliminates the problem. Sima is a popular brand. Therefore since this problem can be circumvented, I haven't found it a reason to return this recorder.



As for the discs you should use....very simple.

(MAXELL)........ -RAM 2x .....required if you want to edit. Sold at Wal-Mart.

(TAIYO YUDEN) -R 4x .... Sold online. High quality and very inexpensive.



Many recorders now are priced at approximately what this one costs. However many of them will not have the features I described above. Toshiba is a top brand. If you can get through the initial difficulty of learning the operation, you will find the quality and features a very good value.

I have owned and used this model for one month and I am extremely pleased. I have transferred over 35 hours of home videos from VHS to DVD (DVD-R) in the XP (one hour) mode and they are awesome! I have had no "coasters!" I have copied off a tv show or two using the (sp) two hour mode and the three hour mode and they were very good as well. I have had no trouble playing my DVD-R disks in other DVD players-- even one which did not list that compatibilty. My son has a Panasonic DVD player that plays RAM disks and ours our totally compatible.
I purchased this recorder without seeing any reviews of it. That was a gamble but I already owned two Toshiba DVD players and a Toshiba TV so I thought I'd give it a try. After a credit card promotion, I paid $137 for this unit and it has already paid for itself. Since I had purchased a DVD recorder that was supposed to write in both + and - formats a few months ago only to return it when I couldn't even get the disk tray to open (!)you can see why I am pleased.
I just read one of the other reviews (now available)and I have a word of advice-- don't buy blank DVDs until you read the manual. Only certain speeds will work. I followed the manuals advice (especially on speeds) and I have had no rejects. Use TDK 4X compatible and Maxell 1-8X compatible DVD-Rs and Maxell DVD-RW (up to 2X) and you can't go wrong. They work perfectly for me and I buy them at Walmart and Walgreens.
I love this machine-- it's doing something that I've wanted done for years! If it is durable, the package will be complete.

I purchased this unit to convert my VHS home videos. So far, it has been working well. And the price is good too! At a moment, I hesitate to buy this because it only works with -R/-RW, while many machines today use +R/+RW. However, I don't think it'll make a difference, as next year a new generation of DVD formats will come and another format war will make both - and + similarly 'obselete'. So, I decided to buy it now instead of waiting for another year.

I'm glad I did. It's easy to use (as long as you read the manual), and produces a good result. I tried the copy on my Sony DVD player, it looked great. When I tried on my Dell computer, however, it didn't look that good. Perhaps because Dell computers only have DVD players which are compatible with +R/+RW.
If you wish, you can go to Toshiba website and download the manual before you buy.

It is important, however, to use ONLY the recommended discs, and pay attention not only to the brand (Maxell, Taiyo Yuden) and format (DVD-R), but also to the speed (2X or 4X). So, make sure you buy them correctly (e.g., Maxell DVD-R 4x, JVC DVD-RW 2x). I got my Maxell from local Sears. Another brand that they recommended, Taiyo Yuden, can also be bought from the internet (they're cheap, sold in 100 or 200 packs, and reliable). Just google or yahoo.

Some reviewers complain that the machine is slow. Yes, when we insert a disc (any disc: DVD, CD, etc.), it needs several seconds to recognize the format. But I don't have problem with that. It's not like we're in a rush all the time.

I have heard horror stories about DVD recorders, this one is a pleasant suprise. I have only recorded a couple of disc but so far so good. The unit has a lot of neat options and while you have to do a little reading the directions are pretty easy to follow. I have used Panasonic DVD-Ram and Maxell DVD-R both have worked great. -Ram and -RW disc have to be formated before recording -R does not. Just remember to finalize your DVD-R/-RW disc when you ar done recording on them if you want to veiw them on another DVD unit. I have a Panasonic 5 disc player and have tested two -R recorded disk on it, both worked and looked great. I set this unit up to do a timer recording it was relatively easy. I have not yet gotten to veiw the recording. If you are looking for a unit at a reasonable price this is a great one to choose.

I usually stay away from reviewing items, but this one really has me frustrated. The good news is when the writer works, it works great, but ... trying to finalize a DVD-R disk has become a total nightmare.

This is the 2ND unit with the same problem, so I am convinced that it's a Toshiba design flaw. I will begin at the top.

I ordered this unit due to the excellent reviews I've read here and I was really looking forward to transferring our VHS movies to DVD's. As you know VHS tapes don't last too long without the picture quality going bad and the colors fading. On the other hand DVD picture quality basically remains the same indefinitely, so it's the best reason for making the transfers.

After receiving the initial unit, I read the manual and followed the step by step procedure on the setup. Being a little concerned about using the recommended disks based on the reviewers here, I called Toshiba to get their recommendations and also to find out if there are any other compatible disks in the market not stated in the manual.

With this information in hand, I went out and purchased the RECOMMENDED Maxell DVD-R (50 disks), 3 DVD-RW disks 3 RAM disks. My wife was so excited that she handed me a load of VHS tapes that she wanted transferred.

The first copy operation went smoothly using the standard setup and I was even able to finalize it. Beginners LUCK?

When we went to play it on another DVD player, we wondered why we couldn't pull up a menu as you could with a puchased DVD movie. I'm talking about the little thumbnails of chapters that you can jump forward to. This disk didn't have that feature!

Well it turns out that you need to go into the DVD writer setup procedure and change a setting so that the writer will create automatic chapters. You can set it up for every 10, 15 or 20 minutes.

That was a fairly easy process! However this is when all the problems began. After making a copy of another VHS tape, it WOULD NOT finalize. We got a "This Operation Terminated because of an error on the disk" screen message. And an error 14 message on the Toshiba DVD writer window. Had to refer to the manual to get rid of this error 14 message because you couldn't do anything else while this was flashing.

Having gotten rid of the error 14 message, I tried finalizing the disk a couple more times with NO luck, so I decided that the disk was bad. That disk went into the garbage can! A new blank DVD-R disk, another 2 hours of copying and @#x#@!

Again it wouldn't finalize and the same error, same message appeared. I couldn't have 2 BAD DISKS in a row could I? So ... I tried it a 3rd time but this time even took out the automatic Chapter setup (which could be causing the problem) BUT ... Same results! Now I had several COASTERS in hand, I was getting aggravated!

I emailed AMAZON regarding the problem, and received a nice friendly response suggesting that I contact Toshiba help line first to try and solve the problem. And if they're unable to help out to get back to Amazon.

The Toshiba TECH support agent didn't have a clue of how to solve the problem, so he contacted his TECH support TRAINER who suggested that I UNPLUG the machine for at least 1/2 hour. He concluded that some component had locked up inside the DVD writer and this will reset the system back to it's initial default settings.

After unplugging the DVD writer and waiting about an hour, I plugged it back in. Of course I had to reset the clock and some of the setting that got changed but ... HOORAY, I WAS ABLE TO FINALIZE the last disk. Unfortunately that enthusiasm was short lived because the very next dvd copy I made, I had the same problem.

But hey ... I know how to make it FINALIZE! Just unplug it again for another hour .. and again it worked. The problem is this shouldn't be the normal procedure everytime one wants to make copies of VHS tapes and finalize it so that it will play on other DVD players. Not only is it time consuming, but also NOT good for small electronic components due to the power surges that it creates.

So I called Toshiba back and they suggested two things: Send the unit to them and they will fix it or I could contact the original reseller. (Note that they didn't suggest a refund!).

The very next morning I called Amazon and talked to a very helpful agent who without any further questions, sent me a replacement unit which I received within two days. That's fast delivery considering that I live in Hawaii! IMHO, That's great service .. but guess what? (Aaargh!)

The replacement unit works EXACTLY like the first one. I am NOT able to finalize a DVD-R after copying a VHS tape without getting the SAME error messages, and having to unplug the machine for an hour and doing the same thing.

So I will be calling Amazon one more time to see about returning BOTH units and getting a refund OR purchasing a different DVD writer.

BTW: I have never had a bad experience with Amazon agents. They are all excellent and it's refreshing to know that one company focuses on EXCELLENT Customer Service. Kudos for you Amazon and your agents!

I bought this recorder to record some of my favorite tv shows on DVD that haven't come out on DVD yet, and this recorder has done the job. It is also very easy to hook up to the television and to a VCR and record from a VCR to a DVD. There are some officially released VHS tapes that will not work because of protection things though.
Another thing I want to mention is that the DVD-RAM are cool, but can only be played back on the same machine. I was planning on editing out all the commercials and burning them onto DVDs that would play on all DVD players, but you cannot do that with DVD-Ram which is a bummer because those are the only DVDs that allow you to edit out commercials. What you can do is use the DVD-R and watch the show and hit pause every time the commercials start and then pause again when the show comes back on. This is more time consuming, but will get rid of the commercials.
A problem I have had with this machine, is a thing constantly telling me it cannot read my disc and that it needs to be cleaned. Sometimes you keep cleaning your disc and it still says it cannot be read, and it really pisses you off. Eventually though, they end up playing again, so don't throw the disc away, but always have a blank one ready just incase. I missed an episode of Mama's Family because the stupid disc would not read no matter how many times I cleaned it.
I wrote this review to hopefully help out people who bought it with the same intentions I had of creating DVDs of all their favorite shows. It does the job, but as mentioned is not perfect. I still think it is great though, and record with about twice a day.

I bought this recorder to replace my VCR and to transfer 8 mm home movies to DVD. I bought a Toshiba certified refurbished unit. It did not work right out of the box. Sent in for repair, it was returned and different problem. Sent back a second time and this time they got it right. While frustrating the Toshiba service center worked hard in making it right. They paid postage both ways and even arrange for UPS pickup. And kept me inform by phone messages as to what was going on. Normally I don't buy the extend warranties by for this kind of unit that I expect to use a lot I did.

What I learned I would think will apply to any brand of DVD recorder. They are more complex then the typical VCR. More setup features and steps needed to do anything. But the more you work with it the better and easier it becomes.

First, I would recommend downloading the instruction manual and find out what brand of disk the devices will use. Next if you have a computer make sure you computer can read these disks. Transfer from 8 mm to DVD is time consuming. You have to do it in real time. If you plan to make copies to send to grandma etc. Then duplicating and editing on your computer is a lot faster.

Next I would suggest sacrificing a DVD R disk in experimenting with the features. I took one and tried recording in formats and times. Set up overnight recording to make sure the system would work. That was one of the problems I had. It did not remember the recording setups. But I kept it short. Set the timer to record 2 minutes on one channel, 2 on another etc. This helps me get familiar with the menus and what it could do. Plus help me adjust times on the clock. Nothing is worst then having the recorder stop a minute before the show is over. At least every disk has a two minute cushion on it. So it can record 2 hours and 2 minutes.

Did find the longer recording time per disk, did lower the picture quality. Not bad if you just want to catch that late movie later on, but not good if it is something you want to keep. But source signal also plays a part I am on an analog cable feed. Haven't gone digital yet.

As for the comments of no automatic finalization by other users, it is there to allow you to go back and edit menus, chapter titles and in some cases delete sections before closing.

For myself, DVD R is great for stuff you are going to keep and share. Copies of the home movies or your favorite TV show. Simple straight forward recording.

DVD RW gives you more capability. Record a show and gives you the option to keep it or erase and reuse.

DVD RAM same as DVD RW with more editing features to use. But found you have to use a DVD player or computer that can read the DVD RAM. Otherwise you are stuck with your machine only. And you won't be able to duplicate it easily. Other thing I found, it doesn't create the chapters automatically as the DVD R and DVD RW does.

The machine is slow at start up and each time you change the disk. It takes a moment to change channels. Have to keep in mind it is basically a dedicate computer to record TV signals and convert to digital formats. So it has to boot up. I do wish they had a provision for a keyboard so you could type in chapter titles instead of using the arrow keys and enter on the remote control. That can be time consuming when you are doing lots of chapters. Found that out when I did the kids' baby tapes. We shot a lot of stuff 5 minutes here 5 minutes there. So lots of different titles.

Oh yes, if you want separate chapters with titles you have to create them in real time. Play your source and monitor it. Stop the recorder where you want it. And restart at the next segment. Not bad for the school plays. Tough on little bits and pieces. I don't have the time for that. So generally I turn on both the source (my camcorder) and recorder let them go and come back after 2 hours. Then do my edits. What I found is the system creates one large file. The automatic chaptering does work, but only the DVD recorder will recognize and find the chapters. After I finalize the disk it will play on any other DVD player. You can skip to the next chapters but the chapter break downs don't appear in the menus.

I am disappointed that Toshiba's quality checks did not catch the problems with the unit. But they did work hard on making it right. Now that I learned the little things about the unit, I am quite satisfied with its performance and would recommend this unit to anyone.

I bought this to replace a Toshiba DVD player which broke after only 3 years. I usually have good luck with Toshiba so I bought another. So far I have only used this for basic things--playing movies and recording off the TV. It has worked great with everything. The recordings are clear and easy to find a few days later. My biggest gripe with the VCR and the reason I stopped taping things was that I would tape one or two things and not watch them for a week or two. Then I'd mix up tapes, record over something, etc and never find what I recorded. With the DVD recorder, it all comes up on a menu with a thumbnail and the date and time of the recording. It couldn't be easier! Setting a timer program is easy, and the timeslip feature (only with DVD RAM's) is excellent. It also has an instant replay feature (it goes back about 10 seconds with one touch of a button). I hope to learn to use some of the other features soon, such as editing and dubbing. This unit is well worth the price.