Toshiba D-R1 Progressive-Scan DVD Recorder/Player
Love this thing!
Searched all around looking for a DVR and was lucky I came across this one! I am impressed with all its features and since I have many home mini-dv tapes, with clips of school made commercials, and videotapes of memorable events from TV, it was great to organize all of these moments (1-5 minutes long) on DVD. The best thing is the MENU feature at the beginning of each DVD. You can watch this clip, and then another clip, in any order you want. You can even change the color of the backgrounds to suit your tastes. At the last Christmas party, guests would choose what clip they wanted to see by perusing the menu. I had 21 clips (4-5 minutes each), and it was neat how people would look through the menu and then decide what they wanted to see. Besides, the thumbnails (depending on which frame you want to use) entice the viewer to the clip. This is far better than fast forwarding on videotape, and not really knowing what is next, or how far on the videotape the clip is. Not only that, I can label these titles or chapters, so reference is very easy. As a teacher, it is easy to showcase (educational) clips that only last 2 or 3 minutes long and have it all logged on one DVD. I tried it in the classroom and it was so easy...just to click the menu and there your clip showed. Of course, you have to organize it at first, but after that, it is a cinch. A DVD to last for YEARS! <BR>What I really did not like that much was the manual. I found it a bit confusing (maybe it was me and my learning this new DVD format), but after a couple of hours of toying with the DVR...I found myself very comfortable with it. You also have to program all your labeling through the remote, which is ok. It is almost like text messaging, but once you get used to it, it isn't that bad. Love this product and recommend it to anyone who wants to organize all their homevideos on DVD.<BR>I am still learning new features as I go along, but as of right now, I am very happy!