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Toshiba RD XV45-S-TE
by MegaDan
I have had this Toshiba HDD/DVD/VCR recorder for a few years now and it has served me very well, it has so many advantages, yet so many disadvantages, i both love it and hate it at the same time, it can perform tasks such as converting my old Camcorder footage to DVD, Converting my old VHS Cassetes to DVD, Recording Freeview in High ... Quality (Not HD) and also has features like Series Link which i find extremely useful, i recently watched Frasier from Start to finish, all 11 seasons, i recorded the episodes, 2 per day using the series link and it did not let me down once, so it is a very reliable machine.
It comes with a Huge Hard Drive, it varies by Model, mine has a 320GB Hard Drive, which allows me to record 60 Hours of Television in Standard Mode, and 30 Hours in High Quality, i generally use the Standard Mode as the difference isn't that big, and i like to have more hours available for recording, so a simple way to work out how many hours recording you will get is to remember, it is 20 Hours in Standard mode, and 10 hours in High Quality mode for every 100 GB of Hard drive space, this is the same scale used across all Toshiba Models.
It has an excellent remote control which is well catered for beginners and more advanced users, and a feature which i really like is the ability to play Video/Photo/MP3 via USB, this is a huge plus point.
However, it does have quite a few Bad points:
The Electronic programme guide is clunky, laggy, slow, and to put it simply... Ugly, the first thing i noticed when i turned it on was the ugliness of EPG, if you are the type of person who likes things to look good, then this probably isn't for you, Similarly, the actual design of the Machine is quite ugly, it resembles a Video Cassette Recorder so can look like a dated machine , but if you can look past the aesthetics of the machine, it won't let you down in terms of recording, Picture Quality or reliability,it just suffers from a poor design and even poorer UI, which really lets it down.
Finally, i will add, that this machine does not allow you to record one channel while watching another, if you wish to do that you will either need built in freeview, a Freeview box or any kind of Alternate picture, such as Sky or Virgin Media, this is my main problem with the machine, and the main reason, along with the others listed above, that i am awarding it a 7/10 rating, for the price of around 250 pounds, i would expect two freeview tuners.
If you are purchasing this Machine to convert your old VHS and Camcorder videos to DVD, then i couldn't recommend it highly enough, it is faultless, if you are looking for a machine which will record Television programmes for you with no fuss, then this Box is ideal, but, if you just want a simple HDD/DVD Recorder with Twin Freeview tuners, there are much better and cheaper options available.
Thank you for reading my review.
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Panasonic DMR-EX79
by MamaC
Prior to having our Virgin V plus box, we were in desperate need for a PVR (Personal video recorder) for our main TV in the lounge. We've always had Panasonic products and wanted to stick with this particular brand. The DMR-EX79 sounded like a great buy, albeit a tad over what we wanted to pay, but the one thing that we wanted was a ... recordable DVD player too, which this model had.
The unit looks good in black much or a much-ness when comparing to others of a similar standard. It has the usual inputs and outputs such as an HDMI output which allows the user to upscale video to the TV. But for people who still use the scart cables, it still retains this feature.
Not only did this PVR have the ability to watch and record to DVD, it also has a built in Free view tuner. The hard drive capacity was 250gb which was more than adequate for what we need. I believe that you can record up to 50 hours worth of programmes on this drive. When this model writes to a DVD it uses DVD-RAM that is similar to DVD-RW but apparently it's a better way of processing the data. One feature that did impress us was the fact that you can still watch a DVD when the machine is writing a DVD. Even if your original DVDs are in standard definition because of the 1080p up scaling it essentially means that you will be viewing a better quality picture on your TV.
THE EPG - electronic programme guide uses the Guide Plus System, which is ok, but it's really annoying at times when the adverts pop up on it. We used to use the guide to set up our recordings, it was so simple, chose your desired programme and hit "OK" it will ask you to confirm whether or not you want to set up a record option or set a reminder etc. It will also ask you whether or not you wish to record the chosen programme to either DVD or the hard disk. Needless to say the EPG lets you also search for your favourite programmes quite easily
I'd recommend this model to everyone, but as with most things it's a bit heavy on the wallet. I'd say it was more of a 3 in 1 gadget as it's a Free view tuner, DVD player/recorder. But gets the thumbs up from me. Wish we'd bought one years ago would have saved a lot of hassle.
Purchased from Amazon for £275 including delivery.
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