Toshiba SD-H400 Combination Progressive-Scan DVD Player and TiVo Digital Media Server
A good VCR replacement and progressive-scan DVD player
A few weeks ago, my VCR decided to retire itself. Although machines don't have personalities, I think it knew it's days were numbered as all of my movies were replaced with DVDs and its only use was to tape the television shows I'd miss.<br />With it's demise, I was left with a dilemma: go without, buy a new VCR, or do something different. I couldn't see spending another $50 on a new VCR, and then I remembered that the New York Times reported a few months ago that Toshiba was developing a Tivo/DVD combination machine and thought that might fit the bill.<br />After a bit of investigation online, I went to my local Best Buy to check it out. I was lucky enough to find it on sale for $399 and found an open box unit for $349 (all before a $50 rebate). Since I was in the market for a progressive scan DVD player (my old DVD player wasn't progressive scan, which I sold) as well anyway, I decided to buy the unit.<br />Setting up the unit was fairly simple, but time consuming. Most of the time is spent waiting for Tivo to dial in and get its program information. Total setup time was about two hours. The unit can use a regular phone line, as well as a cable modem, if available.<br />The unit uses the standard Tivo menu, which is extremely user-friendly. Users get a free trial of the Tivo Plus service, which includes things like the season pass option, two-week program guide, and so on. After the trial is over, users have the opportunity to either pay to upgrade to Tivo Plus or go with Tivo Basic. Tivo Basic makes the unit act like a VCR, meaning that you can pick your dates and times to program, but you can't tell it to, say, record the new episode of &quot;West Wing.&quot; The Tivo Plus service is certainly addicting, and I think many will be tempted to pay to retain the service.<br />On regular TVs, the Tivo output is very good, though on HDTVs, the picture tends to be grainer when recording from cable and watched on our 55&quot; Mitsubishi HDTV. The recordings are on par orbetter than what you'd see from a VCR. Again, I think it's just that our TV makes the picture look bad versus a problem on Tivo's end. Fast-forwarding through commercials is quite nice with the Tivo unit. Unlike VCRs where you must rewind in order to see the first few seconds after blowing through commercials, the Tivo automatically backs you up to the previous minute, so you almost always start right after the commercial ends.<br />Maximum recording capacity is advertised to be 80 hours, but in reality, when Tivo records at the highest quality, it should be noted that capacity drops to approximately 23 hours. And because there is no DVD-R or DVD-RW in the unit, users cannot burn programming onto a DVD (though transferring to a VCR is an available option on this unit).<br />The DVD player function of the machine is quite competent. Tests of &quot;Star Wars: Episode II-Attack of the Clones&quot; and &quot;Finding Nemo&quot; were on par with that of our current Panasonic progressive scan DVD player. The machine is fully capable of playing back DTS and Dolby Digital soundtracks. The only complaint about the DVD player function is that the eject tends to be a bit on the slow side, compared to other machines.<br />The machine is equipped with all outputs, ranging from the standard coaxial cable connections all the way up to component and digital outputs.<br />My only beef with the unit is its remote control. Although it does an OK job of operating the unit itself, buttons are in rather weird places. The menu button for the DVD player is at the very top, which isn't natural for a DVD remote. And although it can be programmed to operate your TV and receiver, there are no seperate buttons to turn each of those components on and off. Instead, it turns both on and both off. The remote doesn't allow toggling between units, so turning the volume up on your receiver may not be possible with this remote. The remote isn't capable of allowing users to change their TV modes as well, so going from normal TV to, say, input 1 or component 1, isn't possible using the Toshiba remote. The remote also does not feature a backlight, which makes it harder to see in the dark.<br />The unit is considered a &quot;media server,&quot; though I did not get an opportunity to test out other advertised functions, such as picture viewing and so on.<br />For those who are tight on space, need a way to record programs, and need a progressive scan DVD player, I'd highly recommend this unit. Those who want to burn programs onto DVDs might better be served with some other Tivo-equipped units coming onto the market, which are more expensive than this Toshiba.