Affordable DVR's: Review of Toshiba's Recent VHS/DVD Combo Recorders

DVR's have been a true blessing for those who want to record a TV show in the same digital quality of its original airing without the washout of a VHS tape. Even thoughDVR's have been around a while now, the battle over finding a DVR that's affordable is still an issue with many consumers already wary of unnecessary electronics price hikes. Just owning a TiVo system alone is enough of an expense along with its monthly subscription service. And then there's the built-in DVR cable systems Comcast offers for a monthly fee, sometimes up to $15 a month extra on your bill for one that records in hi-def. You also have the proponents of using a flash drive for recording TV shows over anything else.

Then there's those who prefer to have a tangible and storable DVD made on a real DVR player if even wanting it both ways by transferring their old VHS tapes to the DVD format.

While a lot of companies have dual VHS/DVD recording/transferring combos on the market, most of them are still fairly expensive due to the VCR half of the unit being ironically more expensive to produce than the DVD half. You've probably noticed that if you attempt to buy a new VCR today, it'll cost you more than a DVD player and perhaps more than even what you paid for your first VCR 25 years ago. All of that, of course, is because the VCR is a quasi relic now, outside of finding some individuals who still find it more reliable than digital. Merging that world with the DVD/DVR, though, has been a bit of a challenge.

Most people who've bought combo VHS/DVD recorders/players over the years have had problems dealing with unreliable technical issues as the inevitable result of two different technologies blending into one. Color it metaphorically as two conflicting personalities merging into one body if you want. It seems the biggest problem was the VCR side of the unit either developing tracking issues, or just generally eating the tape.

Just about all the major brands that produced VHS/DVR combos in the last decade have had these issues and not so much with the DVR side. But Toshiba seems to have had better fortune on their products and perhaps why their VHS/DVR units usually sell a little better in recent years. They've also produced ones that are generally well-made, yet highly affordable if purchased through online retailers in the last year. When Toshiba put out their VHS/DVR 620 series under a cheaper price within the last year at Amazon.com, the sales of these units went up tenfold when other DVR combos became rarer and developed headache-inducing technical burdens.

This isn't to say that Toshiba produces the greatest DVR combo that could be made. The manuals, as usual, seem to be translated from Japanese to Swahili, back to Japanese and then back to English. Nevertheless, what you'll find is a unit that allows you to easily transfer your old VHS tapes to DVD and record TV shows onto DVD with a simple hookup--and a few rudimentary things to remember before doing both.

The Toshiba 620 VHS/DVR recorder--both with tuner and no tuner...

Toshiba joins right with most electronic brands in revamping a particularly popular item just for the sake of supposedly bettering the design. It was no different with their 620 series in the last year. The first model came out in 2008 as a unit retailing over the $200 mark as most of these still do in all major electronics stores. However, this series didn't have a tuner, meaning you'll have to hook up the recorder directly to your cable box in order to record shows on DVD or VHS. The newer-released 620 model in 2009 is virtually the same except in a slight redesign and a cheaper price.

Hookup on both was and is simple enough, though with a reminder you'll have to buy HDMI cables at your local electronics store (or, preferably, for cheaper at Amazon.com) because the recorder doesn't come with the cables in the box as might be assumed. With one simple connection from your cable box to the HDMI port in the back of the recorder, you're ready to record anything you want on a DVD. The same goes for VHS since this unit also acts as a recordable VCR if you're so inclined.

Direct recording from TV is the easier part for most users, except you have to keep in mind that if you want the best quality hi-def playback on your recording, it's better to record at two hours on the disc rather than six. It's no different than on VHS where recording at standard play (two hours) gave you a better playback picture. All of this applies, also, to transferring an old VHS tape to DVD. Decisions in wanting to transfer a longer tape to a DVD will depend on what you want the video quality to look like and how many blank DVD's you have on hand.

Unfortunate it is then when some Amazon customers complained of the recorder not being able to play their old VHS tapes very well during normal playback or during a transfer. This flaw might make this unit seem suspect in buying, until you see half as many people saying it works fine with their old tapes, including my own. When dealing with customer comments online, the frustration to buy gets heightened once you see wild extremes and a virtual split in "Utter Crapola!" to "This unit is Manna from Heaven!"

As I insinuated earlier, the biggest frustration you'll find with Toshiba's VHS/DVR recorders is in the manual being a bit hard to understand at first. Say, for instance, the Japanese strangely placing the VHS eject button under a hidden control panel rather than outwardly where it can be seen. That's typical of all Japanese-made electronics. Once you understand the recorder isn't gobbling up your old tape, you should be able to easily transfer your mountain-high collection of VHS tapes to the digital format without complication.

And, if you're like me, recording a rare standout show, historical event or a video transfer onto a DVD to grab in a hurry when you need to is what makes these VHS/DVR recorders worth owning without paying a lot or dealing with anything more technical.

Link to Amazon for the Toshiba VHS/DVR combo marked down to the $150 range...

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-DVR620-DVD-Recorder-Black/dp/B001T6K7G6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1245578981&sr=1-1