Toshiba D-R400 DVD Recorder

I did my homework and decided on the D-R400 due to it's low price, clean appearance, and full features. I was disappointed at the first box store when told they were out of stock and not due to be replenished. The saleperson told me that the Toshiba D-R410 has replaced the 400, but is not as full featured an will not record DivX programming. A little more research showed that he was right; the D-R400 is really a loaded machine for not alot of money. I managed to find one of the last ones online at P.C. Richard. I paid just under $140 delivered.

The unit presents well and has all the needed outputs (digital coax audio, S-video, component video, HDMI, stereo audio), but curiously lacks component video inputs; I would have connected my old DVD player this way for dubbing. Nonetheless, I was up and running in a few minutes.

The manual is a bit difficult to digest. The quick-start leaflet does not go in to enough detail to record properly, so it took me a few minutes of frustration, flipping between menus, before I was ready to burn my first disc.

The Memorex DVD-R read immediately and was ready for recording in less than one minute. I was very impressed with how quickly the unit begins recording once the REC button is pressed; there is virtually no delay.

Title editing is limited to text only. You can't make fancy graphics or title pages like with most PC software. If you don't finalize automatically you will get a blank chapter along with your titles, a nuisance, but it doesn't affect anything.

I set up four discs for two hour playtime and recorded four 90-minute programs in a row. Finalizing each disc took about 75 seconds with a jumpy progress bar on the screen. Once done, the unit was barely warm. I recorded each HD program through S-video outputs from an HD-DVR. Playback looked great being upconverted to 1080i (only possible with an HDMI cable). Even though I lost definition through the S-video, it was really a great picture on playback. Audio was fine, connected with digital coax to my receiver.

Once done playing with the recorder I checked out an old favorite; Apocalypse Now. I played the PBR Streetgang chapter through my old Sharp DVD player, then through the Tobi. Wow. I've got to admit that I would have sworn I was watching HD. The Tobi's upconversion is the smoothest I've seen. Some of the colors got a little muddy, but a few adjustments on my TV fixed that in no time.

For what I paid I cannot imagine a better deal. The recording quaility is good, and the upconversion on playback is superior. I would recommend this unit to anyone.