toshiba dr1 review

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Picture courtesy of Neil.

Average Ratings

Image Quality	9.3/10
Sound Quality	9/10
Features	8.7/10
Ease of Use	6.3/10
Value for Money	8.2/10
Overall rating	7.3/10

33% Recommended2 out of 6 Reviews

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  • talman's review
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By talman on 3rd Jan 2005

talman's Ratings

Time DVD Recorder Owned	Less than a Week
Image Quality	10/10
Sound Quality	10/10
Features	10/10
Ease of Use	7/10
Value for money	5/10
Overall value	3/10
talman's recommendation

Good Points

Specification
Outstanding playback picture quality
Looks

Bad Points

Takes ages to mount a disk
Complicated instructions and too many caveats on recording modes and compatible media types.

General Comments

Toshiba DR-1: This is a sophisticated machine. DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM. As many connections as you will probably need. Brilliant pre-recorded playback. So what's the problem. Well, the first disk I tried to play on Christmas morning (Prisonser of Azkaban) failed to play. I switched it off and back on again and it eventually worked. The TV recorded on supplied DVD-RAM with no problems other than the 45 sec to a minute it takes to mount the disk. The first blank DVD-R (Datawrite Yello) wasn't recognised. The second one was and successfully managed a 2 hour recording. Next was some Mr. DVD-RW from Tesco. Message said these could not be recognised although the DVD-RW inidicator led was illuminated!? but said they needed formatting. I followed the instructions but it gave a message on screen saying 'unformat' on the formatting screen (couldn't find any mention of this in the manual). Went ahead. Got between 39 and 99 % before it said that these disks couldn't be formatted. I decided to try to use them on my PC instead but after the attempted formatting they just crashed my PC. Next I tried to back up some VHS tapes using the composite connectors. A 5 minute sample worked so I went for a full 45min tape. I got to the end and tried to add a menu and finalise the session but then it said video create failed. I went back through the screens to see what had gone wrong but then it just said that there was no content on the disk although it acknowledged it a few seconds before. The same happened with Bulkpaq Orange DVD-R as well as the Datawrite Yellows. You get the same message saying check the disk as it may be damaged or needs cleaning.

Totally unrelaible for me and way way too fussy about media for somethinhg which claims to be a multi-format player.

This isn't all Toshiba's fault though. The entire DVD industry have complicated things so much with the format war that they have screwed up the media market place too. Yes my media choice was 'budget' however, other manufacturers manage it with these disks according to other reviews I have read. I had this unit less than a week and in no way would I recommend it to anybody. It feels to me like a machine that was rushed out with little time to test compatability issues (over-sensitivities with -R and -RW). My opinion now is that if you just want a DVD-RAM machine then go for Panasonic. Otherwise stick with Pioneer, Sony or JVC.

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Total Respect: +1