Toshiba RD-XS52 DVD Player/Recorder with HDMI
Halo Effects and Bad Image Quality, No Control of Set top box + poor customer service
Hello Folks,    I purchased this DVD recorder from another internet provider, BuyDig.com, who I do not recommend.  I also don't recommend this DVD recorder itself for several reasons.  I have a Sony 30 inch widescreen HDTV ready TV and I thought the HDMI connection would keep the picture clearer.  Well, the Toshiba RD-XS52 has a tuning problem of some kind that results in a halo effect around high contrast video.  This effectively reduces a high quality signal to one that is similar to a non-HDTV or worse.  It is a subtle problem that gets more annoying every time you watch TV.    The second problem is that I too am having difficulty getting the recorder to operate my set top box, a Cox San Diego area box built by Scientific Atlanta.  I called the Toshiba tech support and told a helpful woman technician about the difficulty and that I suspected the IR blaster wasn't working at all.  She described a method whereby I could inspect the IR blaster using a camcorder or digital camera to verify that it was at least transmitting something.  I did this and determined that nothing was coming out of the IR blaster at all!  (I could clearly see signals from all the remote controls I owned, but nothing from their IR blaster) So she offered to send a replacement IR blaster.  This came and the same result.  I felt a little brave and annoyed, so I actually removed the DVD recorder sheet metal cover just to have a look and see if I could reconnect something that might have broken loose inside the unit.  What I found is that mechanically, the IR blaster connecter is soldered onto the circuit board with what appears to be a broken connection.  Hence, the unit is defective.  I then called Toshiba to schedule a repair and had to argue with their technician, a man this time.  He practically refused to service the unit!  After I threatened to sue in small claims court, he allowed the unit, which was purchased only three weeks ago to be shipped back to the repair facility in Alabama.I'll keep you posted on the progress of this repair.      The only good thing that I have to say about this unit is that I did record a DVD from my camcorder to the unit and that worked fine.  I also used the time slip function, and that worked fine too, although with the aforementioned halo problem always present.    Good luck finding a decent DVD recorder, and buy it from a store where you can drive right back and return it if you don't like it.  Don't follow my footsteps, it isn't worth the $150 savings to be stuck with a unit you don't like.    Update:  Oct 6, 2005:  In the above review (September 17), I described problems with communicating with a set top box and halo effects.  I sent the unit in for repair and the repair technician reported back by phone that he didn't find anything wrong with the unit.  The unit was shipped back to me and after reinstalling it, I was able to get it to properly control the set top box.  Also, the Halo problems have mysteriously dissappeared.  I would now rate this 4 stars except for the poor phone call experience I had earlier with a support person before I sent the unit in for repair.      One important note:  The IR blaster used to control the set top box has to be positioned exactly in the right spot, 1 inch in front of the IR reciever, to function properly.  I used a flashlight to look carefully at the front face of the set top box to find the IR reciever.  I did this after the unit came back from repair, and I realized that I originally had the wrong location of the IR reciever, so I may have had a properly working unit all along.  A strong flashlight works great to see through the magenta tinted plastic in front of most IR recievers.      When the unit came back from repair, it was returned with a different type of IR blaster, which also could explain why it started working.