Home > Consumer Reviews > Toshiba W522 4-Head Hi-Fi VCR

Well my old Toshiba ate a tape and its tracking was beyond repair so it was time to replace it. I love Toshiba for their customer support they've given me in the past regarding lost remotes, tech advice, and repair. This VCR felt very light compared to my old Toshiba, however it played back tapes both commercial and self-recorded flawlessly. This unit is also pretty silent to my standards. There is no squeek in the playback nor in the rewind or fastforward modes which seemed to happen a lot with my old Toshiba. The super fast rewind is true to the advertisement, and I clocked a 4 hour tape completely at the end of the tape, back to the beginning at 56 seconds. WOW!

The setup was so completely painless on this system I'd think a 5 year old could integrate this.

My only problem with this deck is that the display only shows hours and minutes, not seconds. So sometimes when you're recording something, you dont know that you are until you see the minute change over. Took a little getting used to.

All in all this is a great VCR at a great price

I brought this home last night and I can't say I'm real impressed. The feature that was the most important to me -- OTR that started immediately and whose length could be defined -- works fine, if a bit clumsily, considering you have to push two buttons simultaneously. But other features have made me seriously think about returning it to the store. The picture is horrible -- full of sparklies and snow. I believe the problem is in the connectors, since not only the recorded tape is sparkly, but so is the live TV picture when viewed through the VCR. When I turn the VCR off, my TV picture returns to its normal sharp quality. I've checked my connections and they're tight, so the problem must be inside the VCR. Also, the timed recording feature is awkward. Granted, I'm used to a 12-year old Panasonic which was the easiest to use and best VCR in the world, IMHO. In the old VCR, to set timed recording I just had to program the event and turn off the VCR. With this Toshiba, you program the event, then push two buttons simultaneously to set the timer function. But after you've done that, the only way to turn the power back on is to use the power switch on the VCR itself, or hit the two timer buttons again, then hit the VCR/TV button to return it to VCR mode. Awkward, to say the least. Another problem I've found is that there's no way you can tell from the cabinet display whether your tape is recording or not. When it goes into record it displays a big REC for about 10 seconds, then returns to the clock display. There's no other indicator that shows the tape is rolling or recording. So if you miss that first REC display, you have no idea if it's really working. The remote doesn't feel like it's working half the time. I have to push and repush buttons to get them to finally work. One feature I do like is a "show title" display. For instance, as you click through the channels it will display the title of the program that's airing. Of course, this must be generated by the stations themselves, so it's not available on every channel. Still, it's a nice idea.

This VCR is a good entry-level VCR for someone who wants to watch Dolby Pro Logic videos and otherwise use a VCR in their home theater setup. For experienced electronics users and entertainment technology buffs, this VCR will leave the impression that there is not much to the deck. The digital display is suspiciously similar to the Sony SLV-N77, even though the two decks are different in features. The digital display is a point of issue, simply because there are four indicators and a four-digit multipurpose clock. The counter is displayed in hours and minutes; for seconds you must turn on the on-screen counter. The deck's operation noise is reasonable, although it is not amazingly quiet it does not bother you if you have your volume at a moderate level. The Auto Set Up works well, but it takes a long time (over ten minutes). The deck allows for unattended search (e.g. ff/rew) and if you press play more than once when coming out of this mode you will inadvertently activate double-speed playback. The Hi-Fi sound also takes a bit too long to return after a special effect is performed (e.g. pause, ff/rew, slow). The deck's main problem lies simply in the lack of things it can do. It gives the impression of a budget deck. As a final note, its tape transport mechanism is maddeningly slow to respond to remote commands and front-panel buttons, making it easy to miss the end of the commericals. Of course, the commerical skip does not work at all, often starting play again in less than thirty seconds after activation.

Unless you plan on putting this vcr into a soundproof chamber, do not buy it. There is a constant clicking caused by internal gears that drive the mechanism within the machine. Trust me, once you hear it either while playing or recording a tape, it will drive you nuts, much like chinese water torture (for you youngsters, that is the sound of one drop of water hitting your forehead, than another, and another and another. I can't believe that toshiba would allow such a product to come with their name on it

Excellent Image. Can read S-VHS tapes created with JVC vcr's.
Rewinds faster than common VCRs