Toshiba RD-XS34 DVD Recorder with 160-GB Hard Drive
RD-XS34 Is A Very Good Product
I think this product is unfairly rated very low by some frustrated users.  Actually I could have been one of those who gave only one star, because in the begining, it did not seem to work at all. Now I have owned this machine for over a month now, and I really love it.  <br /> <br />I did a fairly complete research before purchase, and among the comparable products from SONY, TOSHIBA, PIONEER and PANASONIC, I chose this one, and I believe I made the right choice. The negative reviews are mostly targeted on the EPG systems. But if you have problems with EPG on XS34, then possibly you will have more headaches with all other manufactures with EPG.  Contradictary to what people said, it is quite easy to just use the Time Recording (like you do on VCR) with this unit.  It is true that it is not an easy job to manually re-set the clock (and I think Toshiba should consider improve on this), but you do not have to manually re-set.  Leave it there for 24 hours and it can pick up the right time through over-the-air broadcast (which is exactly the case I had).  I guess it could only be a problem if you live in an area where you do no have any over-the-air broadcasting, in that case, you need to contact the Toshiba support for firmware upgrade.   <br /> <br />The DVD recorder is fairly new thing in our life, and fairly complicated compared with VCRs.  Most users who complain are the ones who just purchased the product and before they adapted to the new way of operating the machine.  Once you become familiar with the unit, you will feel a lot happier and the more you use it, the more you like it.  Each product has its strength and weekness, but comparing with the cost and overall quality (picture quality, ease of use, edit function etc), XS34 is a very solid product in my opinion.