Toshiba DR-2 DVD Recorder/Player with Simultaneous Play and Record
A Masterpiece -- Get Them Before They're Gone
I have had some regular experience with many DVD players, and rather unhappy experience with three DVD recorders. The two Philips DVD+R units I had were complete junk: more coasters than at your local Hawaiian pub. (Are there still Hawaiian pubs?) You could count on NOTHING from those machines(the 985 and the more recent 80). A recording would go along, seemingly fine. But then hit the \\"stop\\" button and during menu creation the disk would be ruined by the recorder. (For some goofy reason, I bought into the \\"DVD+R was the future\\" argument. A sad mistake.) Every Philips firmware upgrade seem to make the machine worse! Then I tried an Aspire machine, which shows how dumb I can really be.    Finally, I thought outside the box<g> and began looking at DVD-R units, and I found the Toshiba D-R2. RUN -- do not walk! -- to your nearest computer and buy this unit. Yes, the manual is long and requires study. (If this manual locks up your brain, then it's time for remedial reading courses.) Yes, the machine is sensitive to the type of media it's taking in. (Especially with DVD-RW media.) So what? You want to know what this Toshie likes, I'll tell you: it likes Taiyo-Yuden and Ritek -- both of which are cheap(less than 50 cents per disk) and very easy to find on the internet. With the right media, this machine never fails. It does exactly what you want a recorder to do. Records everything you want it to record. Stops and pauses on a dime. Gives you great packaging options. (Menus and such.) Gives you 50 different speeds, so if that movie is 2 hours and 33 minutes long, you set the recording speed to 2 hours and 33 minutes -- NOT 3 hours as you'd have to with all other machines, thereby sacrificing picture quality.    And you know what? It's also a great player. Right now, I'm also using the legendary Panasonic RP91 and the Denon 3800. The Toshiba is giving me a better picture(on my 61\\" Toshiba TV) than either of them. It also has a great zoom feature. Meaning -- Zoom Out. (Who uses Zoom In anyway? -- besides guys who wear trench coats in the house.) It is amazing how much more frame information you get when you zoom out. The sound is sterling, too.    And look at the damn price! Really, this should be a no-brainer. Buy this, and you will be very happy.    ADDENDUM: Just read the turncoat's comments on eventual failure by disks made with the D-R2. Horse hockey! Remember Tony Bennett(as Hymie Kelly) in \\"The Oscar\\"? (The greatest film ever made, not counting \\"Au Hasard Balthazar\\".) Tony would always say: \\"Lie down with pigs, come up smelling like garbage.\\" Using Memorex disks is like lying down with pigs: all you're gonna get is garbage! So, use the Riteks & Taiyos(no need to locate the hard-to-find Panasonics) and you're in the jack. (\\"That's what I call ballin' the jack!\\" Was that a dirty song?)