Toshiba RD XV45-S-TE
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. - Toshiba RD XV45-S-TE DVD Recorder

Product Type: Toshiba DVD recorders

Newest Review: ... 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 i... more

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.
Toshiba RD XV45-S-TE

MegaDan

Member Name: MegaDan

Product:

Toshiba RD XV45-S-TE

Date: 18/12/12

Rating:

Advantages: Convert Old VHS tapes and Camcorder Video's to DVD/HDD, Record Freeview

Disadvantages: Poor UI, lacking Twin Freeview Tuner.

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.

Summary: A reliable machine which is does it's job well, but is it worth the money? I'm not sure.

Processing/Quality:    Processing/Quality
Reliability:    Reliability
Ease of use:    Ease of use
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