Toshiba RD-XS35 DVD Player/Recorder with 160 GB Hard Drive
A Few Minor Issues, But a Great Unit
My wife and I purchased this unit as a co-anniversary present to each other. We wanted to replace a VCR that was used to occasionally tape TV shows, the news, etc., so we decided on a DVD recorder that had a hard drive for DVR recording. I read reviews on various models, and decided on this one. I haven't been disappointed.    While some reviewers mention the fan noise as a problem, I haven't seen it as such. The fan (apparently) is temp-controlled, because it seems to get louder when using the unit, and stays louder for a few minutes after the unit is shut off. It's not incredibly loud, but it is noticeable.    The one negative I have to agree with other reviewers on is the manual and on-screen guide. They are not user intuitive at all. I am a highly technical person, and spent quite a while the first night trying to figure out how to play a DVD, even after thumbing through the manual.    Now that I've figured out how to use the DVD player, I've watched a dozen or so DVDs, and have absolutely no complaints. The video and sound playback are excellent.    I've used the DVR a half dozen times, and love it. I don't know how I survived without it. You simply go to a show on the TV guide on-screen, and press the record button. That is, after you've set up the basic recorder settings when you first unpack the unit. Once the unit records, you go to the 'content menu' which shows the shows you've recorded, the title, channel, etc, and even shows a screenshot! To play it back, you navigate to the one you want to watch and press 'play'. The coolest thing about it, and the DVD player, is that when you stop a show or disk, turn the unit off, and come back later, the unit knows exactly where you were when you stopped, and resumes from there. Sweet!    I'm set up to record a show using the DVR, that I will burn to a DVD. I will update my review once that is done, so that I can give my impression of that part of the unit, which is the only thing I've yet to do with it.    12-4-06- Update    Now that I've had the unit for a couple of months, I wanted to update my review, especially having had time to play with the DVD authoring aspect of the unit, which for me was a secondary item. I wanted the unit mostly for the ability to DVR without having to pay TiVo a monthly fee. The DVR works flawlessly, and I couldn't be happier with it.    I've burned a handful of DVD disks using the unit and found it not particularly easy to do, although not overtly so. The manual, as previously noted, is not a lot of help.  Of the 5 disks that I've burned, three of them were 'fully authored', meaning that I went in and manually added chapter breaks, created thumbnails for each chapter and for the main menu for each episode. This is VERY time consuming, so I didn't do it on the last two disks. The fourth disk causes any DVD player I put it in to lockup after five minutes or so. I don't know if this is because the unit automatically puts in chapter breaks at 5 minute intervals or what. I'm going to edit the content of that fourth disk, and burn it again to see if that makes the difference.    As a side note, I found that the unit will not recognize DVD+R disks, so you have to make sure you use DVD-R or DVD-RW formatted ones.