Home > Consumer Reviews > Toshiba D-R1 Progressive-Scan DVD Recorder/Player

This DVD-Recorder happens to work very well. I know a few people have reviewed it and said that if they can get it to work, it works for a few minutes and then stops, but there is something they are not doing right...waiting.

You simply can not use this DVD-Recorder just like you would a VCR, where you can turn it on, and then immediately start recording something. I'll tell you how I figured that out. One time I set it to record a show that started at 9:00pm, so I put in a DVD-R and turned the power off. Well at exactly 8:50pm the unit turned on (at first I thought I did something wrong, but I didn't) and you could see the Zeros for the counter on the front of the unit (00:00.00). Then at exactly 9:00pm they started to count up to indicate that it was recording. Bottom line is that the Toshiba DR-1 needs about 10 minutes to warm up before it records something, otherwise...if you record right away...then you will get the problems that people have talked about. Once I learned to be patient and turn the unit on in advance (like if I am going to copy a VHS tape to DVD) I never had a problem with it again.

Oh and by the way, I have used VERY cheap DVD-R's like "Princo", "Ritek", "Optodisc", & "Dup-EZ" (mostly Princo) and they all work fine. Only thing is you should really go with what the manufacturer recommends for DVD-Ram, that being: Panasonic LM-AB120U (for 4.7gb single sided), and Panasonic LM-AD240U (for 9.4gb double sided).

There is one thing I am not crazy about, but I think that it happens to be this way with any DVD-Recorder. You can't do any editing (like cutting out commercials) if you use DVD-R, or DVD-RW (DVD-Ram only). You also can't edit if you are dubbing, like if you are recording from a VHS tape that has commercials in it and you want to pause them out while you make the DVD. It just doesn't work for some reason. But if you are recording a show on TV through the DVD-Recorders tuner, then "pause" will work just fine. I wish you could edit a little better, but I have learned to deal with it.

Lastly the "Timeslip" feature is just amazing (this too only works with DVD-Ram Discs). Let's just put it this way, if you are recording a show that is on from 3:00pm to 4:00pm and you get home early at 3:30pm, you can watch the very DVD-Ram disc that is currently recording from its 3:00pm start time and it will still finish the recording until 4:00pm. If that was a VCR you would either have to watch from 3:30 to 4:00, then at 4:00 rewind and watch the first half hour, or you would just have to wait and watch it all at 4:00. With DVD-Ram technology, you can watch the same disc that is currently recording.

That is amazing, and if you just leave a DVD-Ram disc in the unit while you are watching TV, you can pause live TV and rewind it and even fast forward it up to the point where you initially paused it. Then you can finish watching the program whenever you want.

So just have a little patience and you will love this DVD-Recorder from Toshiba. I think it's the greatest.

1. RF out does not work. Had to connect TV to S-video.
2. It would record for a while, then fail and render the blank DVD unusable.
3. If you leave the machine recording on a blank, when it reaches the end, instead of stopping, it renders the DVD unusable.
4. Machine crashed numerous times, necessitating pulling the plug out and putting it back in to get it back.
5. Finally got a short show recorded and finalized. It would not play on a Pioneer Elite DVD player, although DVD-R's created with a panasonic DVD recorder worked fine on the Pioneer.
6. I wish these DVD makers would add a PS/2 keyboard jack on the front, as their remotes are painfully impractical at inputting text.

I'm very disappointed. Box is headed back to the vendor tomorrow.

Bought this unit with great expectations, but..
1. Bought expensive Memorex DVD-R's. First insertion recorder refused to recognize the disk.
2. Bought more expensive Fujifilm DVD-R's. Discs recognized by player but.. after <1min recording time the recorder shuts down and says recording failed, DVD might be dirty. Created three expensive coasters.
3. Tried another Memorex. It worked but picture stutters badly.
4. Supplied DVD-RAM. Works, but again picture stutters.
Unit was returned within 5 days.

Searched all around looking for a DVR and was lucky I came across this one! I am impressed with all its features and since I have many home mini-dv tapes, with clips of school made commercials, and videotapes of memorable events from TV, it was great to organize all of these moments (1-5 minutes long) on DVD. The best thing is the MENU feature at the beginning of each DVD. You can watch this clip, and then another clip, in any order you want. You can even change the color of the backgrounds to suit your tastes. At the last Christmas party, guests would choose what clip they wanted to see by perusing the menu. I had 21 clips (4-5 minutes each), and it was neat how people would look through the menu and then decide what they wanted to see. Besides, the thumbnails (depending on which frame you want to use) entice the viewer to the clip. This is far better than fast forwarding on videotape, and not really knowing what is next, or how far on the videotape the clip is. Not only that, I can label these titles or chapters, so reference is very easy. As a teacher, it is easy to showcase (educational) clips that only last 2 or 3 minutes long and have it all logged on one DVD. I tried it in the classroom and it was so easy...just to click the menu and there your clip showed. Of course, you have to organize it at first, but after that, it is a cinch. A DVD to last for YEARS!
What I really did not like that much was the manual. I found it a bit confusing (maybe it was me and my learning this new DVD format), but after a couple of hours of toying with the DVR...I found myself very comfortable with it. You also have to program all your labeling through the remote, which is ok. It is almost like text messaging, but once you get used to it, it isn't that bad. Love this product and recommend it to anyone who wants to organize all their homevideos on DVD.
I am still learning new features as I go along, but as of right now, I am very happy!

It takes for ever to start up and recognize the discs. Sometimes it just `hangs' - it just seems to be doing something but doesn't respond to any of the controls, after about 5 minutes it returns to life... very annoying to say the least.

Sometimes the D-R1s `finalization' process makes discs unreadable. This just kills me. I spend hours copying my home video to DVD-R, think I'm all done, I can watch it fine before the finalization process, but after I add a title and finalize it toasts the disc (supposedly high quality - Memorex). Nothing will read these discs, not even the unit itself. I've lost hours of my time this way.

One of the main reasons I bought this unit is because it has an IEEE1394DV input. Sadly, like many other features on this thing, this sucks. The quality of recordings made via the IEEE1394 is WORSE than those using the standard video input. It seems to pause, or hesitate, every now and again, which makes the audio sound terrible. My DV camera is a high quality Sony. I don't see this problem when I copy DV to my PC using an IEEE1394DV cable. So I guess this is the fault of D-R1.