Toshiba RS-TX60 DVD Recorder with 160 GB TiVo Series2 Digital Video Recorder
Almost the perfect Tivo
I've had a TX-60 for a while now (It replaced an aging series 1 box) and I have to say that, while I was impressed with the Tivo service to start with, the DVD-RW addition of the Toshiba box almost makes this a perfect product! <br /> <br />First off the good stuff. If you've already used a Tivo you will know the benifits of the service (all the usual feature you expect with pause/rewind of live TV, season passes, Tivo Suggestions, remote scheduling, playing MP3s from your PC etc.). However the two areas where it really comes into its own over the normal Tivo Series 2 and a DVD-RW as separate boxes is in the way it handles DVDs. One of the nice things about playing a DVD on this box is that it treats it as a normal program. That is you can do all the usual jump to chapters you can on a DVD, but... when fast forwarding, pausing or rewinding, the familiar Tivo status bar is displayed. You actually can tell how far into the movie you are rather than how far into a chapter (what a novel concept!).  <br /> <br />The box also figures a small 7 segment LCD display. Normally this display the Time or, if you are recording or playing a DVD a short status message as to what is going on. Recording to disk is indicated by a red \\"bar LED\\" on the left side. <br /> <br />Of course the main feature is the ability to save recorded programs to DVD. This works as advertised. Its easy enough to use. In addition, recorded DVDs have a the Tivo interface added to them. This may sound like a small thing, but imagine this. You pop the DVD into a DVD player, and not only do you get an on-screen listing of what is on the DVD, but it also gives program information relating to the program taken from the TV Guild. This creates a DVD that looks and feels like the Tivo \\"Now Playing\\" list. (A side effect is that you can also Tivo-ize your friends by showing them some of the user interface in their own home). <br /> <br />And yes you can record to DVD, record a program and watch something you have recorded already all at the same time! <br /> <br />There are a couple of negatives. Firstly the VCD and SVCD support is adequate at best. We had no end of trouble fast forwarding/rewinding home created VCDs. So if you want to play your own movies on the TX-60 you should invest in a DVD creation tool such as Nero. Secondly, althought the 7 segment display is a status window for the DVD operation, you get so used to it displaying the time, that when its a counter for DVD playback, sometimes you wish it displayed the time instead. A minor niggle but it would have been nice to have an option to change it. <br /> <br />Support for wireless USB devices is also in the adequate phase. The main problem is that although its possible to find these devices (and they work very well when they are setup), the initial setup has to be done by phone. Once that is done, you can switch to ethernet. If you have a wireless network in your home you should do this as soon as possible. If you don't and you have broadband you will probably want to invest in one anyway since it will remove the need to have a phone connection to the Tivo and remote scheduling will work better (not that you will need this feature much). <br /> <br />If you don't already have a Tivo and are considering one, stop right now and push the buy button (or at least get a normal series 2 box). You won't regret it.