Customer Reviews:
 Some good, some bad November 18, 2008
My first Toshiba DV/R 660 had problems. The memory was faulty and the unit had to be replaced. Amazon.com gets an A for good customer service and fast response. The second unit has performed very well and has not given me any trouble. Toshiba customer service in another issue, however,
Do not be fooled by the advertising. This unit will not record high definition broadcasts in 1080p. If you find a HD station that is broadcasting in 480p, then the Toshiba will perform as expected. Also, this unit will not copy commercially produced VHS tapes. They have the copyright settings so high that I had to use a time base collector to clean up the tape before I could make one only copy for my personal use.
As for most operations, be patient and learn all of the steps. It is a good idea to keep the owner's manual close-by until you have the procedures memorized.
 Toshiba DVR660 October 11, 2008
This is the most user UNFRIENDLY product that I have ever purchased.
I expected much better from Toshibi.
It is extremely annoying to tape using the VCR function and to watch the VCR tapes.
After taping it takes 5 or 6 steps to watch the VCR tape after it is completed.
There does not seem to have been any thought put into this product by the designers.
Timer Recording Unreliable September 30, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
We purchased the Toshiba D-VR660 5 days ago and it has failed to timer record on 3 occasions. We have followed all of the programming instructions including the "timer set" feature which we are familiar with from our old Pioneer DVD recorder. On the occasions when the timer recording failed, the recorder's channel was still set at the previously recorded channel. We are not sure if the tuner failed to change the channel or if the machine shut itself off before the next timer recording began. We have not yet been able to catch the machine at the moment the failed recordings were to begin and there has been no message to explain the failure. The rest of the Toshiba's functions appear to work as promised except that DVDs recorded on our old Pioneer appear washed out when played on the Toshiba. We have yet to try to dub VHS tapes to DVD. We are not sure if we are keeping this unit as we purchased it for the timer recording feature.
 Toshiba DVD/Recorder August 29, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
So far this has been a great product. Set-up is easy and I have not had any problems putting old VHS recordings onto DVD. I think this is a great product.
 For copying video tapes not for the family room July 20, 2008
38 out of 42 found this review helpful
If you read the specifications for this machine it appears to be a dream and it does appear to have all the features specified and some very cool features not well documented. One would expect the latest and greatest to be the most forward looking, with this expectation I was surprised at what I have come to expect as standard features to be missing or retro.
*Even though DVD+RW is the superior technology, all the "better" recording features are only supported by DVD-RW! For example, 16:9 aspect ratios, scene delete, combine titles, etc. To me this alone warrants the loss of a rating star.
*The recording of HDTV programs will become a mandatory ability in February of 2009. I recorded several HD programs on DVD+RW media and played them back, at the six hour speed, they were so badly pixilated as to be nearly unwatchable (probably too much up and down converting). When I recorded NTSC (normal until 2/2009) TV the recording were no better nor worse than on machines without ATSC/QAM receivers. This needed to be much better than it is.
*My last three recorders have all been Panasonic's not by conscious choice or loyalty, but rather more as coincidence and superior ratings, at the time. I expect that when I define a program to record I can name the recording (on the DVD side) so that I know what is on the disk. This is not available on this machine. After you record you can label what you have recorded, this is exactly backwards from my expectations.
*VCR output is analog ONLY on RCA pin-outs not even via s-video, let alone HDMI! The TV signal continues to play out of the HDMI while the video plays. This has additional ramifications for dubbing or cross-recording below.
Perhaps the single most confusing and frustrating thing about this machine is setting the timer (programmed recording). I have been programming VCRs/DVD recorders for 30+ years and I have been a computer programmer for the bulk of this time too, so I am not easily confused by setting up a recorder and scheduling a program for recording. Besides the retro programming features above you will very likely lose or fail in your initial scheduled recording efforts. You will see an E40 error reported for the failure, unhelpfully meaning overlapping recording or recording did not start on time. What has happened is you did not press the "timer set" button, unobviously located in the middle of the last row of the remote! If you press the "red on/off button", on the remote, no recordings will be made (thus making it nearly impossible to use a universal remote on this machine as the "timer set" will probably not be defined). The unit MUST be TURNED OFF using the "timer set" button or NOTHING will be RECORDED!!! This has been so confusing I redundantly record on another device to insure I get the program. This warrants at minimum the loss of at least one rating star perhaps two. A recorder should never let you miss a recording (when properly programmed) except for a very good reason, e.g. disk full or overlapping programs. This one lets you miss all of them for silly illogical reasons.
Suppose you record "The Soup" every Friday on E!, but in between you wish to watch an episode of HBO's Rome on a DVD. Well if you press the power button (red on/off button) you will not be able to access the DVD player. It is locked for recording on Friday. The only way to access it is to press the ... you guessed it, the "timer set" button. Of course doing that kills all the programmed recordings, so you better remember to press it again or you will lose the ability to record all future programmed recordings (i.e. miss The Soup until you press the "timer set" button)! Pressing the more obvious red on/off button is not going to fix it, but only yield an e40 error.
I expect that the latest machines would have superior image processing. Sadly it is no better than a $50 Sam's Club special, when I visually compare the two on the same "passage" of a program. Obviously without an S-video out for any video tapes, a player with S-video will look better.
My primary purpose in purchasing this machine was to cross copy/dub family videos. Recording at various speeds does seem to be clean and as good as can be expected. I was very concerned that there is no way adjust the tracking on video tapes however this seems to be pretty smart and appears to be constantly adjusting for the best setting. It has worked on all the videos I have tested so far. However if you have the DVD on an HDMI or S-video connection you will need to switch back and forth between two outputs on your TV to see and cue your video then switch to the other side to set up and start the dubbing process! There is, of course, the usual problem of playing DVD+/-RW on a PC the only reliable player I have found for this problem is VLC media player portable, a freeware player.
A cool feature is the ability to watch what you are recording with DVD-RW, and have it keep track of where you are.
In short this looks like it might be a pretty good dubbing/cross recording video machine but as a general purpose family room player I think there are cheaper and better choices on the market today.
|
