Customer Reviews

Toshiba RD-XS52 DVD Player/Recorder with HDMI

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

While this unit does everything it claims to do, and does it well, it has two problems for the potential buyer.

The editing program that assembles file units for transfer to DVD-R or DVD-RAM is not particularly intuitive and will require a major learning curve.

And the major problem for me: you will NOT be able to transfer your recordings of premium channel programs (HBO, etc.) to DVD-R/RAM. The built-in copyright protection means that if you want to keep the programs, they will have to remain on the hard drive!

it was extremely easy to connect to the dish and tv and also very easy to use. For the basic recording, timer recording, and transferring to dvd you don't even need to read the manual. The only drawback to this machine is the dvd only records on -r and -ram and you can not re record on -r dvd's and ram dvd's are too expensive. It would have been 5 stars if it recorded on rw-dvd's. There is no reason to buy a tivo machine and pay for their service

Hello Folks,

I purchased this DVD recorder from another internet provider, BuyDig.com, who I do not recommend. I also don't recommend this DVD recorder itself for several reasons. I have a Sony 30 inch widescreen HDTV ready TV and I thought the HDMI connection would keep the picture clearer. Well, the Toshiba RD-XS52 has a tuning problem of some kind that results in a halo effect around high contrast video. This effectively reduces a high quality signal to one that is similar to a non-HDTV or worse. It is a subtle problem that gets more annoying every time you watch TV.

The second problem is that I too am having difficulty getting the recorder to operate my set top box, a Cox San Diego area box built by Scientific Atlanta. I called the Toshiba tech support and told a helpful woman technician about the difficulty and that I suspected the IR blaster wasn't working at all. She described a method whereby I could inspect the IR blaster using a camcorder or digital camera to verify that it was at least transmitting something. I did this and determined that nothing was coming out of the IR blaster at all! (I could clearly see signals from all the remote controls I owned, but nothing from their IR blaster) So she offered to send a replacement IR blaster. This came and the same result. I felt a little brave and annoyed, so I actually removed the DVD recorder sheet metal cover just to have a look and see if I could reconnect something that might have broken loose inside the unit. What I found is that mechanically, the IR blaster connecter is soldered onto the circuit board with what appears to be a broken connection. Hence, the unit is defective. I then called Toshiba to schedule a repair and had to argue with their technician, a man this time. He practically refused to service the unit! After I threatened to sue in small claims court, he allowed the unit, which was purchased only three weeks ago to be shipped back to the repair facility in Alabama.

I'll keep you posted on the progress of this repair.

The only good thing that I have to say about this unit is that I did record a DVD from my camcorder to the unit and that worked fine. I also used the time slip function, and that worked fine too, although with the aforementioned halo problem always present.

Good luck finding a decent DVD recorder, and buy it from a store where you can drive right back and return it if you don't like it. Don't follow my footsteps, it isn't worth the $150 savings to be stuck with a unit you don't like.

Update: Oct 6, 2005:
In the above review (September 17), I described problems with communicating with a set top box and halo effects. I sent the unit in for repair and the repair technician reported back by phone that he didn't find anything wrong with the unit. The unit was shipped back to me and after reinstalling it, I was able to get it to properly control the set top box. Also, the Halo problems have mysteriously dissappeared. I would now rate this 4 stars except for the poor phone call experience I had earlier with a support person before I sent the unit in for repair.

One important note: The IR blaster used to control the set top box has to be positioned exactly in the right spot, 1 inch in front of the IR reciever, to function properly. I used a flashlight to look carefully at the front face of the set top box to find the IR reciever. I did this after the unit came back from repair, and I realized that I originally had the wrong location of the IR reciever, so I may have had a properly working unit all along. A strong flashlight works great to see through the magenta tinted plastic in front of most IR recievers.

When the unit came back from repair, it was returned with a different type of IR blaster, which also could explain why it started working.

Got mine a couple days ago. I bought a Fuji 10 pack of DVD-R disks to test with. The first one recorded. The second one started to copy but never left 0 % and gave an error asking for another disk. The next 7 disks I tried gave errors they weren't recognized or process can't be completed. I went out and bought a spindle of 25 Memorex DVD-R disks. Made 4 disks so far with no trouble at all. I'm not sure what the difference is but the Memorex disks I bought cost almost twice what TDK do. They just say DVD-R on the package (8x) same as the TDK. I'm not sure why but it was still under $1 per disk so I shrugged it of - at least it works.
The only rerecordable media this can write to is DVD-RAM. These disks seem to be about $5-6 dollars a piece. This is about 5x the cost of a DVD-RW disk. I went to a few local stores and found the selection almost non-existant. I didn't find a single DVD-RAM disk for sale that was in cartridge format - only loose disks in a jewel case. I'm not real keen on DVD recorder technology but this is starting to smell like VHS and Beta all over. There were dozens of DVD-RW disks for sale.
The manual has some grammar problems and made it difficult to understand. This is a very high end recorder with many fantastic features but has been time consuming to learn. When I burned my first disk I was pleased to see they had 8 or so different menu/title screens you could choose from. They had their own color schemes and were easy to choose from since a preview was available before committing to the copy.
The remote is a pain. The bottom half flips open to reveal about 20 more buttons. It's awkward to hold while open I might add. My biggest complaint is regarding the onscreen menu's. They put a legend at the bottom of many screens telling you what button to push to do something however in many cases it would be a LOT easier if you could simply use the arrow keys to select an operation like delete, rather than flipping open the remote and press the bottom right button - the most awkward button to press for us right handers.....
I realize most of my review is negative however I did give it 4 stars. Although there is a significant learning curve - this unit has a ton of features. Personally I am spooked by the limitation to DVD-RAM media and not DVD-RW which seems to have better availability (this isn't a disk cost issue, I simply didn't see hardly any space on store shelves for the few disks they had hanging). I plan to return my RD-XS52 and purchase the Toshiba RD-XS32 which can write to DVD-R, DVD-RAM, AND DVD-RW disks. As far as I can tell the only difference between them is the XS32 has an 80GB hard drive and this one has a 160GB. I can live without the extra storage space if it means I won't find myself hard pressed to buy rerecordable disks it can use in a year. I might be over reacting but then again I bought a Betamax back when you could still rent movies it would run.

The is my first product review I have posted on a website. Since this is an expensive a/v unit, I wanted share my thoughts. Overall, I'm very happy with this purchase. The video quality of the lowest "LP" settings is good enough for replaying of TV shows. I can understand why some are frustrated with the menus. However, this is a very sophisticated piece of a/v equipment. With that, you should expect it to be more complicated than a VCR. The important thing is that it does what it is supposed to do.

The one major thing I learned after purchase is that the coaxial connection is pass thru only. You can only view content from the unit by the other video outputs.

If you are looking for a DVR without the whole Tivo thing or a something to help manage and copy home movies, I think this is a great product.

I haven't had any problems with this recorder. As far as I know there isn't any DVD recorder that will let you record to DVD-R if the movie is copy protected. I purchured a SIMA GoDVD Model CT-2 from Amazon.com for $75.00, in Circuit it listed for $125.00. I don't have any problems recording copy protected movies using the SIMA GoDVD, be it HBO or coping from another dvd player to my Toshiba RD-XS52. As far as being complicated, it does take a little time to get use to, I've had mine a week now and can use it now without the manual. This is a great machine and I have no problem recommending it.
I hope this helps.

Actually I do not have a Toshiba RD-XS52 DVD Recorder, but I do have a Toshiba RD-XS32 DVD Recorder. I am writing this review to point out some of the reasons I will NOT be buying the new, bigger, better (?) Toshiba RD-XS52, but will continue to use my trusty (although I guess some others have had problems with) RD-XS32. The RD-XS32 model supports recording to DVD-RW as well as to DVD-Video and DVD-RAM. I really like this feature and the RD-XS52 doesn't support it. The problem as I see it is that there are very few DVD players out there that support the DVD-RAM format, for instance, my Sony 5-disk DVD Changer/Player. However, my Sony does play DVD-RWs recorded from my RD-XS32 and that's all right with me.

It would be nice to be able to upgrade to the RD-XS52 since I would like the larger HD (160mb in RD-XS52 vs 80mb in RD-XS32). And the HDMI (and HDef resolution) resolutions are very appealing to me, but why oh why did they leave out the DVD-RW support??!!?

Anyway, I just wanted to point out the reasons I won't be upgrading and I hope this helps someone else when trying to make their decision on purchasing a RD-XS52 or not.

This is a good player, good DVD recorder and a good hard disk recorder. My only gripe is with the menu structure.

Since this DVD Recorder does so many things, the menus are complex. Although the you eventually figure out the menus, there are about three or four different menu buttons that send you in different directions, and sometimes intersect. This is a very confusing layout. It works - but it should be more consistent in the menu structure. (Examples - sometimes the blue button saves, sometimes the orange button saves. Other times the Orange button returns to the prior menu. Setting thumbnail is sometimes done from the quick menu button, but not other times...) One button that gets you everywhere would be better.

The folding remote is a nuissance. Most of the editing and setup funcions require you to unfold it. This is minor, but I thought I'd mention it.

I ran into an HDMI incompatibility. On a JVC 52 inch TV the HDMI reported an error and would not transmit sound or video. I I was never able to resolve the problem on the JVC 52 inch. Note that it worked fine on the JVC 61 inch. I exchanged TV for a 55 inch Sony TV. By setting the sound to PCM, the HDMI worked fine on the Sony.

I bought this device to record tv shows and to transfer my super 8 home movies to DVD. The problem with storing TV shows is labeling what you saved. If you want to store something long term, it is very laborious to label what the show is. If I could plug a keyboard into the unit, labeling would be much faster.

I love pausing live TV and recording shows ad-hoc. Skipping commercials on what I recorded is a breeze with a button that defaults to 30-second skip forward.

I have a lot more to learn on it, but so far I like it. If you want to store lots of TV shows and label them, you'll want a TIVO.

After less than 4 months of light usage got hard disk error message. Initially, error was clearable by unpligging unit. But, after 10 more recordings error mon't clear. So, it's off to the repair shop after very light usage. My initial impressions after one month of useage follows: Recorder gives excellent results and is very easy to use. I haven't needed to use the manual once. Remote is a little complex. Great to record initially on HDD than transfer "keepers" to DVDs. DVD compatible with other manufacturers players.