Toshiba RD-XS54 DVD Recorder with 250 GB Hard Drive
I should have listened to Gregory...
I should have listened to Gregory C. Weber in his earlier review of this product, but I didn't. I have owned and used the original Toshiba HDD-DVD recorder (RD-SX32) for the last year or so and have been quite pleased with it, though once you have been spoiled with a \\"one click\\" recording capability (which the SX32 does not have), having to specify exact start and stop times and channels is a bit of a bother--at least for pampered Americans like me. So when I saw that Toshiba had come out with a new version with a huge (250 gb) hard drive and had the \\"one click\\" recording capability, I couldn't resist, even though I had read Gregory Weber's review. However, being cautious, I called the Toshiba customer hot line to ask whether the new model (SX54) was compatible with my DirecTV satellite system, and I was told that it was compatible (wrong!).     Not only did the SX54 turn out to be irrevocably incompatible with my DirecTV, but the manual bypass, which is really pretty slick on the older SX32, has been converted into a monster that takes about five times as long to program a single recording. What were the Toshiba engineers thinking when they made this change?!!!    And like Gregory said, the fan does run 24/7 regardless of whether the unit is turned on or not, and even behind the closed glass door of my entertainment equipment cabinet, it's still quite audible.     It's really too bad that Toshiba didn't do a better job with the above issues. If they had, the SX54 HDD-DVD recorder would be pretty much a dream machine-so much so that I might never feel the need to upgrade again (famous last words).