Toshiba D-R2 DVD Recorder

You may recognize how I referred to this DVD Recorder from Toshiba in the "Title" as I also own the D-R1 and have given a review on that one as well.

As a matter of fact, due to the fact that there are so many similarities between the D-R1 and the D-R2 please go here: http://www.epinions.com/content_123228425860 and look at my review of the D-R1 first, then come back and I will talk about the differences with the D-R2.

They are so similar that if you have an un-finalized DVD-R that one unit recorded, you can actually eject it and put it in the other unit to finalize it there, or if you have a DVD-Ram (which is only supposed to be able to be played in the exact unit that recorded it) you can swap the DVD-Ram to the other unit (D-R1 to D-R2, or vice versa) and it will play with no problems.

They both have 3 sets of RCA Inputs, but only the D-R1 has 2 sets of RCA Outputs (D-R2 only has 1 Output). On each unit, one of the RCA Inputs is in the front of the unit, with the D-R1 it is exposed and with the D-R2 it is hidden behind a little flap panel (very nice to keep dust out).

The D-R1 has a 24 hour Military Clock (which can be difficult to get used to), the D-R2 has a 12 hour "AM/PM" Clock and is easier to use for setting timer recordings.

The D-R1 has VCR Plus , while the D-R2 has VCR Plus C3. The "C3" part is a little "mouse" type device that plugs into the back of the D-R2 and you can attach the other end to your Cable Box face. This way if you have your DVD-Recorder set so it always stays on Channel 3 or 4, and you have to change the Cable Box channel to record something, you will be able to record more than one program and with different channels while you are away. The D-R2 will change the channel of your Cable Box for you, the D-R1 won't.

The D-R2 will play JPEG images, MP3's, & WMA's (Windows Media Audio files) on CD-R, the D-R1 won't, but they will both playback store bought music CD's or home made Audio CD's.

About the only difference in the remote controls is the D-R2 has an "Easy-Navi" button. This button takes you to popular functions quickly instead of searching for them through the various menus of the recorder. A nice "shortcut" button if I say so myself.

While I am talking about the remote controls, I give Toshiba a 10 out of 10 for designing a certain function into the D-R1 and D-R2 units. When I first set up my D-R2 I used the remote to turn it on and it ALSO turned on the D-R1. Now I am thinking to myself: "This is going to be a problem!"...but I was wrong. You can switch between three different settings "1, 2, & 3" of how the remote will work to it's respective unit. The factory setting for the recorders is "1", so due to the fact that both recorders were set to "1", that is why one remote would work both recorders. All I had to do was set one unit...and its remote...to setting number "2" and now the remote will only work the recorder it is assigned to. I can't explain in words how nice it is to be able to do that.

One thing that I would have liked to have been different about the D-R2 (but it's not) is the color patterns you can select when you finalize a DVD for playback in other units. You can set different colors in the background of the menus that you make and the color choices are: "Deep Blue", "Olive", "Sepia", "Light Blue", "Orange", "Cyber Green", "Lavender", & "Cyber Red". These were the same as with the D-R1, so I expected the D-R2 to maybe have different color selections, but it doesn't.

Now for those of you who didn't want to go read my D-R1 review first here are some things that they both do (Some I mentioned earlier):

1. Play DVD-Ram, DVD-R, DVD-RW, VideoCD (VCD), CD-R, CD-RW, Store Bought or Rented DVD's, Store Bought or Home Made Music CD's (MP3 or WMA files for D-R2 only).
2. Three Sets of RCA Inputs (One in Front)
3. One Set of RCA Outputs (Two sets for D-R1 only)
4. Q-Sound
5. Dolby Digital Noise Reduction
6. Auto Clock and Channel Set (D-R1 = 24 Hour Military Time, D-R2 = 12 Hour AM/PM)
7. Timeslip Feature (Pause Live TV with a DVD-Ram inserted)
8. Thirty-Eight (38) Different Speed Settings (from One Hour to Five Hours & Twenty-Eight Minutes using MPEG 2 Quality [384 kbps], or One Hour & One Minute to Six Hours & Seven Minutes using MPEG 1 Quality [192 kbps] with 36 different time allotments in between to match just about any recording "time" need).

As a test I just had to try recording a DVD-R using the "6 Hour & 7 Minute" setting and I have to be honest when I tell you it was not all that bad. I don't like using this word when talking about quality of a DVD recording, but it was very "watchable" in the 6 hour mode. The image was solid (meaning no flickering or picture jumping) and you just tell it was a little faded and slightly pixilized in the background, but nothing that would give you a headache to watch. I recorded 6 hours of programming on a DVD-RW figuring I would erase it if it was lousy and I actually wound up using my computer to copy it to a DVD-R because I was that satisfied with it. You won't get the same quality as with any mode that gives you 3 hours or less, but again it is not very bad at all and I would compare it to a VHS tape that was recorded with a VCR using the 6-hour speed.

That is about all I can think of at the moment, I will add to this review if anything comes up later on.