Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #243847 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Toshiba
• Model: RD-XS34
• Released on: 2005-04-26

Customer Reviews

Excellent editing deck, but noisy
First up, please note that the full height box and black remote pictured on Amazon's site at the time of writing is *Not* the RD-XS34. The latter is a half height model with a curved, cream coloured remote. Any correct picture you see won't do it justice anyway - I thought it was a case of 'nice features, shame about the box' until I saw it in the flesh. It isn't gorgeous, but looks better than it does online. The remote is both nice looking and ergonomically fairly well designed, although a few of the features under the fold up flap would be better placed on top.

This box has most things that the competition have, and a few more besides. 160GB of HD storage is unusual at this price point, and you get excellent, frame accurate editing thrown in. I've set up chapters in videocam footage I recorded to the hard disk (it will of course set chapters for you if you wish), created a playlist with unwanted footage excluded, and written the result to a DVD-R, complete with title and scene menus, in minutes, and without reading the (very large) manual.

It does all the trick play stuff - pause live recordings, record and play simultaneously, (both only while recording to HD or DVD-RAM), show live TV in a pip box while playing a recording, etc.

Don't underestimate the value of DVD-RAM recordings, btw - if you want to keep things for many years, or to record on one disk over and over again, it's far better than DVD-RW.

There are a couple of extras I found no mention of in specs and site and magazine reviews. Firstly, old VHS edits (by their nature, at least 2nd generation copies) seem slightly better after copying to disk, so I would guess there's a Time Base Corrector somewhere in there. Secondly, there's a wire that plugs into the rear which has an ir transmitter on the other end that should be placed in line of site to your digibox. You can then change digital channels from the 34's remote, and program the timer to do the same. It even does it automatically via VideoPlus. However it won't turn the digibox on or off. (Presumably because the codes for on and off are the same, so it doesn't know whether the box is already on; but I would have thought it could tell that via the scart lead...)

The downsides? (a) The cooling fan is too noisy. Maybe, because the unit is half height, Toshiba slung in a minute fan vertically, rather than mounting a large fan horizontally. You won't hear it while watching TV - but if you're recording and there's no other background noise, you will certainly be aware of it. Modern PCs can be quieter. So make sure you can store it behind a closable panel. (b) Like almost all of the competition, the build in tuner is analogue. Since the 34 controls an external digital box, and since VideoPlus defaults to selecting the digital version of terrestrial channels, this means that the analogue tuner doesn't get used; and since (I believe) PDC control doesn't operates over external boxes, the built-in PDC is in turn worthless. (c) The lead-in time for timer recordings is very long - the box turns itself on 8 or 9 minutes before recordings start. Once it's in that timeframe, you can't change timer settings or add new programs. (d) Getting picky here: if you delete a recording via the content menu, the display returns to the select input or channel rather than to the content menu. (e) You can set the end time of a recording you've just started, but there's no one button start time like my old Sharp SVHS deck had. Neither, if you've started a recording manually, can you tell it to power off when it finishes; tho' there are some power save options.

Overall, a superb machine, but the noise loses it a star.

At last, that's what I was looking for
I have been looking for a decent HDD+DVD recorder for more than a year now. We can now say that the products are reaching maturity, as well as decent price.
My list of potential drives came down to two finalists: Sony RDRHX510 and this Tosh XS34 (could have been the new awaited Philips DVDR3300H, but still no exact spec available).
As I simply wanted a)store my many Camcorder Hi8 tapes into DVD with chapters, b) control my freeview box, c)have good rec/play quality, I went for the Toshiba and don't regret it: it's really got all the bells and whistles you could need.
Picture quality is really impressive at normal quality (SP). My Hi8 tapes loose sharpness at LP, so I stick to SP (they were already recorded on LP on the tape). However, movies (freeview or analogue) are still very good on LP. I have not played with the many manual compression levels, but I am sure I could get even more compression.
The Sony 510 would be tempting if it had 160GB HDD, a FireWire for digital camcorders, variable compression rate, and a remote control for the freeview. The last thing I want is having to program the timer on both the HDD and the freeview!

Only drawbacks are a)the need for the freeview to stay turned on for recording, but the recorder has no means of knowing the box state b) no EPG, where I could easily select a TV program on the 7day list and press 'record'. It works with Video+ instead, so it's not the end of the world. c) no integrated freeview decoder, but it has a IR remote control. I BELIEVE the new Philips DVDR3300H and Sony 710 (UK version, not french) WILL have it, but I couldn't wait forever! d) no dual-layer DVD+/-R, nor DVD+ format. I don't think it's a big issue, as I expect DVD-R to be reasonably compatible.

Commenting on the previous review (which is a good representation of the drive), it's possible to remove a freeview channel from the list of channels, so that the Videoplus does not pick the freeview, but the internal analogue instead (and you can then use PDC)...
I also admit you can hear the fan, but it should not put people off, as it's really not annoying.
As reported on few reviews, it's easy to use, however few options or commands could be easier to access, and they may need a glance into the thick user manual.
The goodies: a)You can't find a better drive for chapter/playlist/menu editing for DVD mastering, unless you go for a PC. b) it remembers where you stopped watching each of the movies on the HDD and resumes where you stopped. c) the 'satellite monitor' function lets you watch what comes from you video input, regardless of what the recorder is doing (which is good when family member suddenly wants to watch a VHS tape or freeview, as VCR is connected to AV2, and freeview to the VCR input) d)the remote can be configured for a large number of televisions and freeview boxes e)I can now store the subtitles together with the movie if recording on freeview (but I can't hide it afterwards though); it's not specific to this drive, but good compared to VCR. f) can read MP3 & JPEG, picture in picture...

Overall, a superb machine indeed!

A fine piece of kit
I had wanted to replace my DMR-E50 with another Panasonic model however I was attracted to this by the positive reviews and the 160Gb hard drive.

I do not have SKY and no intention of buying it either, if I had then SKY Plus may have appealed.

There are basically two downsides to this model, the fan is very very noisy as others have pointed out and the instructions are poorly laid out and have no index which is incredibly frustrating when you are trying to learn how to do something or understand what you are doing wrong.

The player itself is a joy to operate and I would not let the small disadvantages outweigh the advantages. The picture quality of the recording is very very good, the dubbing superb and it makes it very easy to download your old videos onto the hard drive for editing. The editing facility is very good indeed.

I would certainly buy this model again if I had my time again.