Customer Reviews

Toshiba RS-TX60 DVD Recorder with 160 GB TiVo Series2 Digital Video Recorder

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have upgraded from Toshiba SD-H400 to RS-TX60 2 weeks ago. Aside from being able to continue using the Tivo basic service, which is completely free (except the cost of phone calls to a local number which provides program information), here are additional benefits:
1. Huge Tivo hard drive seems impossible to fill up. I know one day even 200 hours will seem too small, but for now it seems infinite.
2. Copying Tivo'd programs to a DVD-R or DVD-RW. As I fly a lot, I am able to bring my DVD-R's, and watch them on a plane with my portable DVD player or a laptop. I found no problems playing the DVD-Rs on other equipment. I was slightly concerned what happens when the recorded program is longer than 2 hours (limit what would fit on a single DVD-R in High quality mode), but the unit seamlessly fills up 1 DVD-R, and then continues on another with the rest of the recorded program.
Creating a 2-hour DVD-R takes about 45 minutes; creating 30-minute DVD-R takes about 20 minutes. The initial on-screen estimate is always 57 minutes for the DVD-R, but the number decreases somehow faster than the real time. At the same time, the front display of the unit shows how many percent of the DVD have been recorded.
3. The unit is much quieter than SD-H400.
4. Occasional audio sync and pixelization annoyances have not come up yet on the new unit.

I also found a few annoyances on the new unit:
1. The remote is not as logical as the SD-H400's seemed to be. The two jump forward/jump back buttons have been replaced with one "jump forward than jump back" button. Live TV/Guide buttons have also been combined into one. The Stop and pause buttons are at unexpected locations, but I guess this is just a matter of getting used to it. And the worst, there is no standby button on the remote for the unit, so I either have to navigate the menus to put it in standby, or stand up and press the button on the unit itself! If I didn't do it, I would have to turn off the audio system (which I keep always on), or I would have TV sound on at all times. (By the way, the unit does turn on just by pressing the Tivo button on the remote.)
2. The Tivo on-screen font is slightly smaller and toned, so it is somehow more difficult to read on a 27" TV.

Overall, I am very satisfied with the product, and would recommend it.

The RS-TX20 works like a charm. The instruction manual and quick start guide made cabling a fairly straightforward affair. The variety of cabling options includes cable box, satellite box, both, or straight from the cable. The unit came with enough cables to make all the connections needed and to then get going. You can also output to a variety of components including a VCR. We have ours going to a theatre amp and the improvement in the sound by selecting Dolby 5.1 from the Toshiba/TiVo set-up menu is noticeable.

The only caveat's:

1 - If you have VONAGE or other VOIP - I had a hard time getting the onboard modem to hook to TiVo Central. This is where all of the data about what is on your local channels comes from. I had to call Vonage and explain to them what I was doing. Kudos to Vonage - they were very helpful and with only 20-30 minutes, I was able to hook up to get the initial program load. If you are doing this, use dialing prefix ",#034" (comma-pound-zero-three-four)((don't forget the comma!!)

2 - The unit is enabled for wired/wireless networking once the initial program load is in. What they (Toshiba/TiVo) don't tell you is the wireless must be 802.11b. Not "a", not "g". "B"! A pair of USB ports facilitates the network connection, so you will need to troop down to your local electronics store and purchase a USB wireless dongle. [...] Make sure you get a "B"! The onscreen setup for network connections is a snap and works well. Only suggestion for future models is one USB, one RJ10 and one RJ45. By the way, wireless "B" anything is getting difficult to find as "G" has been the standard for a while now.

3 - The DVD's must be "-" that you are going to burn. Small thing and these are easy to find, but in terms of the "nits" about the unit that need to be covered in a review, if you are buying a complete setup, make certain you are buying DVD-R's or -RW's. The DVD burn itself appears to be 2X. You can continue to watch TV while it burns and the front of the unit provides nice progress indications (percent complete) while the burn progresses. The burned DVD has great quality and captures all of the TiVo data (précis) for each thing burned, which makes your DVD's appear to be professionally done.

Overall, this is a fantastic unit. Were it not for the VOIP and wireless issues, I would have given this unit 5 stars. Although they are little things, they are the kinds of things that Toshiba should have anticipated being an issue for someone buying a unit to do more than record and playback. My teenager has been able to figure out how to use it, so ease of use is apparent. You will thoroughly enjoy the Toshiba RS-TX20 once you have it up and running.

I was an early adopter of TiVo about 5 years back and still have one of the original 30 hour units. I kept holding off buying a Series 2 as the capacity grew.

When I saw the Toshiba RS-TX60 with 160 GB capacity and DVD burning functionality, I figured that was the one for me, especially at Amazon's great price (made even better by a TiVo and Amazon rebate).

I've had the unit for a few days now and wanted to set down some impressions and correct a few FALSE impressions I believe have been written about the unit.

1) Firstly and most importantly, when burning a DVD YOU CAN CONTINUE TO USE THE UNIT FOR RECORDING AND PLAYING SHOWS. There was one review that seemed to indicate that you had to "time" your DVD burning when nothing else was going to be recorded. NOT TRUE. Just as you can watch one show while recording another, you can also (a) watch a show while (b) recording another show while (c) archiving another group of shows to DVD.

2) DVD burning is actually quite fast. I just burned 12 half hour shows for my daughter onto a single disk. These were recorded at low resolution. They were a bit pixelated but my daughter didn't care. She now has 12 shows she can watch in her bedroom on her computer's DVD player.

3) The only time you can't record Live TV is when you're capturing digital camera footage you've filmed to the hard disk. This makes sense, you're already using the HD recording capability - naturally you can't use the player to record any TV shows.

4) I'm not sure how useful the Toshiba RS-TX60 DVD recorder is for people wanting to put their own home movies onto DVD. Sure, it gets the job done, but I guess I prefer a more long-winded approach; I like to capture onto a computer, edit with Premiere, then export and burn to DVD for a more professional home movie. The RS-TX60 doesn't allow any editing, just a straight capture along the lines of recording to video tape without the ability to edit.

5) The 160 GB hard drive is a dream come true after having lived with a 30 hour unit. I'm trying to fill her up to see what it looks like with a full 200 hours maxed out.

Overall, initial reflection on this product is that it's a great upgrade for current TiVo owners. Switching my account to the new machine was painless. I decided to stick with the paid plus TiVo functionality rather than downgrade with the new machine to a Basic version.

Adam

I've had a TX-60 for a while now (It replaced an aging series 1 box) and I have to say that, while I was impressed with the Tivo service to start with, the DVD-RW addition of the Toshiba box almost makes this a perfect product!

First off the good stuff. If you've already used a Tivo you will know the benifits of the service (all the usual feature you expect with pause/rewind of live TV, season passes, Tivo Suggestions, remote scheduling, playing MP3s from your PC etc.). However the two areas where it really comes into its own over the normal Tivo Series 2 and a DVD-RW as separate boxes is in the way it handles DVDs. One of the nice things about playing a DVD on this box is that it treats it as a normal program. That is you can do all the usual jump to chapters you can on a DVD, but... when fast forwarding, pausing or rewinding, the familiar Tivo status bar is displayed. You actually can tell how far into the movie you are rather than how far into a chapter (what a novel concept!).

The box also figures a small 7 segment LCD display. Normally this display the Time or, if you are recording or playing a DVD a short status message as to what is going on. Recording to disk is indicated by a red "bar LED" on the left side.

Of course the main feature is the ability to save recorded programs to DVD. This works as advertised. Its easy enough to use. In addition, recorded DVDs have a the Tivo interface added to them. This may sound like a small thing, but imagine this. You pop the DVD into a DVD player, and not only do you get an on-screen listing of what is on the DVD, but it also gives program information relating to the program taken from the TV Guild. This creates a DVD that looks and feels like the Tivo "Now Playing" list. (A side effect is that you can also Tivo-ize your friends by showing them some of the user interface in their own home).

And yes you can record to DVD, record a program and watch something you have recorded already all at the same time!

There are a couple of negatives. Firstly the VCD and SVCD support is adequate at best. We had no end of trouble fast forwarding/rewinding home created VCDs. So if you want to play your own movies on the TX-60 you should invest in a DVD creation tool such as Nero. Secondly, althought the 7 segment display is a status window for the DVD operation, you get so used to it displaying the time, that when its a counter for DVD playback, sometimes you wish it displayed the time instead. A minor niggle but it would have been nice to have an option to change it.

Support for wireless USB devices is also in the adequate phase. The main problem is that although its possible to find these devices (and they work very well when they are setup), the initial setup has to be done by phone. Once that is done, you can switch to ethernet. If you have a wireless network in your home you should do this as soon as possible. If you don't and you have broadband you will probably want to invest in one anyway since it will remove the need to have a phone connection to the Tivo and remote scheduling will work better (not that you will need this feature much).

If you don't already have a Tivo and are considering one, stop right now and push the buy button (or at least get a normal series 2 box). You won't regret it.

While I am quite sure this unit is a great TIVO box, the problem is a TIVO issue. I had done a lot of research and was very surprised (and disappointed) this point never came out in any reviews. If you want to record HDTV - forget TIVO and these high priced (soon to be obsolete) DVRs. You may want to check into a non-TIVO recorder like Toshiba RD XS52, or a less expensive TIVO box to hold you a year or so until they catch up to HDTV. That is the decision I face this weekend.

I have a new Sony KDF- 42WE655 HDTV with cablecard and high definition cable channels. I was looking forward to recording them on my new TIVO to watch at my leisure. - wrong!

The cable company came out and installed the cable and cablecard on Wednesday, great High definition pictures. Thursday the Toshiba DVR box came. I thought is was odd there were no HiDef video outputs. Friday I started the TIVO setup. When I got to the part where it is supposed to find my channels, it only found about half of them - so I called TIVO support.

The TIVO rep explained two things:

1) TIVO does not work with cablecard. I still have to get one on those cable boxes, even though my TV doesn't need it! This adds another piece to my full system (and of course more wires) that I was trying to avoid by buying a TV that used cablecards.
2) TIVO cannot record High Definition channels. Period. What a disappointment!

Both of these things should be working next year (2006) sometime (???), but you will need a new DVR, not just a firmware upgrade. So, it is worth the money for this box that I will probably give away next year? Or do I send it back and go for one of the options noted above?

Having used this unit for about 2 weeks, overall I'm very satisfied with it, and am glad I bought it.

Things I like:

1. The general concept of recording to hard disk. Pointing to the show I like on the TV guide and telling it to record, without going looking for tape, etc. is very convenient.
2. Screen-based programming is very easy to use. Much easier than your average old fashioned VHS recorder. Anybody can use it.
3. Ability to hit record button part way into a show, and if you have been watching it already, without channel changing, you can record retroactive to when you started watching the show.
4. Burning DVD's works well, and the DVD seems to be easily read on all other DVD players I've tried.

Things I wish it did differently or had difficulty with:

1. I wish it would display how much of the hard disk is in use. There is no way that I could find to tell how full it is.
2. The unit was supposed to come with a 45 day trial of Tivo Plus, the premium service for recommending what you might like, and that records all programs you like (even if times change). However, my unit counted down 6 days and cut me off. The person on technical support telephone said it would give me 6 days then an additional 45, but that didn't work. I've pretty much decided I can live just fine without the premium Tivo Plus service.
3. I have had trouble with it dialing in to update the basic guide service. Some days it works, and others not. I'm going to go to internet-based updating instead. (There are no local phone numbers for me in this area).
4. DVD's it creates have the Tivo logo and "look" to them (on the top menu of the burned DVD). Wish it had a more generic, plain look. (I'm using it to burn a lot of home videos on 8mm tapes to DVD's).

All in all, I recommend this unit, and I believe it will serve my needs very well.

I've had this machine for almost a month, and I'm hopelessly hooked!
I had the same problem with it telling me I had six days left of my free trial right out of the box, but they were very helpful when I called, so there's a plus for customer service. I also can't imagine living without some of the TiVo Plus options -- which is, of course, the purpose of the free trial...to suck me in!
The machine itself was incredibly easy to set up, and very simple to use. The setup manual didn't have any diagrams to do so, but I ran it through my stereo to get better sound, and it worked without a hitch. I encountered a couple glitches in programming the universal remote to work with both the TV and stereo, but those also work very well.
I, too, wish it would let me know how much space I have left before it starts randomly deleting programs to record others. This hasn't happened yet, but the threat that it might makes you stay on top of burning them to disk. Burning DVDs is a piece of cake, but it can't record anything while you're burning, so timing it between shows is key.
The only other feature on my Wish List would be that it would mark shows I've watched already. Otherwise, I'm very happy with this impulse purchase and would highly recommend it!

I loved the Toshiba RS-TX60, until it started to malfunction six months after I bought it. Support is essentially not available. TIVO phone support won't allow you to get past the start menu if you own a Toshiba product. Toshiba says that the issue is the TIVO software. This may, in fact, be true, since the problem is that the unit will not accept commands to navigate through the TIVO menus and will not burn programs saved in TIVO to DVD. However, a hefty TIVO fee is required to use the unit, and so clearly both of the companies should support the product.

I would not buy any TIVO unit not made, and supported, by TIVO.

I recently upgraded from the cable company DVR to the toshiba RS-TX60 and have been very happy with my purchase. The 160GB hard-drive is large enough to record episodes of many different shows each week, and plenty of full-length movies. Also, with the DVD recorder, you are able to transfer from the hard-drive straight to a DVD-R or -RW, freeing up even more room if needed. I love this feature because I can make DVDs of my toddler daughter's favorite shows (at least 8 30 min. episodes per DVD-R.)

It comes with a free version of TIVO basic, but I must admit that once you have tried the full version features, you wouldn't be happy sticking to the basic service. TIVO gives you a short trial period free to get a chance to try the full version at no risk to you.

All in all, this is an awesome product! Highly recommended!

I purchased the Toshiba RS-TX60 last October. That unit arrived with a malfunctioning DVD recorder. About 1 or 2 out of six DVDs would successfully burn. Of the others, some that could not be read by the TiVo unit could be read by my laptop DVD player.

I returned it for a replacement, which arrived in December. That unit worked like a charm. My only complaint was that I was used to zero lag from the remote on my previous TiVo unit (but its hard drive was too small, which is why I bought the RS-TX60).

However, in late January (after about 1 month), the NEW TiVo DVD recorder simply DIED. After zero out of six attempts (trying various combinations of shows and degrees of fullness of the DVD), I quit. On Amazon's "RETURNS" web page there was no way to get to "return a not-so-recent purchase", so I sent emails. I was instructed to print out a return label, but the instructions simply got me back to the "cannot get there from here" page.

At this point I am not sure what I am going to do. I may have a hardware hacker friend try to replace the DVD recorder. I may try to add an external DVD recorder and record DVDs when I am not watching TV (which is often) or I may try again to return it for credit.

Other than that, it is a GREAT unit! The hard drive is HUGE. The TiVo remote isn't as sluggish for me as others have reported, so that's OK with me. The TiVo Season Passes and other features are just as superb as before. I love everything about it, except the DVD recorder.

Good luck with yours!