Toshiba D-R4 Multi-Drive DVD Recorder
From Toshiba
Toshiba's Multi Drive D-R4 DVD Recorder offers recording and playback of DVD-RAM, DVD-RW or DVD-R media. The unit features the EASY NAVI portal, ColorStream Pro Component Video outputs and five different recording modes.Multi Drive D-R4 DVD recorder features Digital Cinema Progressive Scan output, Multimedia playback for JPEGs and MP3 titles, and a Zoom mode.
Amazon Sales Rank: #49159 in Consumer Electronics Brand: Toshiba Model: D-R4 Dimensions: 6.22" h x 17.72" w x 20.55" l, 8.00 pounds
A happy meeting of high quality and high value, Toshiba's Multi-Write D-R4 is not just a full-featured progressive-scan DVD player that handles your DVDs, CDs, MP3/WMA music discs, and JPEG-filled recordable discs. It's also a DVD recorder capable of storing up to 6 hours of audio/video on a single-sided 4.7 GB recordable DVD--whether broadcast programming or copies of your home movies to share with loved ones. The D-R4 offers the flexibility of recording on both DVD-RAM--perfect for instant chapter access and for multiple re-recordings--as well as DVD-R, the most widely compatible of the many DVD formats (great for sharing camcorder footage with loved ones). DVD-RW compatibility lets you erase and rewrite, though relatively few players and computer drives will play back DVD-RWs. DVD-RAM discs can be read, written, and erased more than 100,000 times. When recording, the D-R4 captures the first video frame and displays it as the chapter mark. You can then designate chapter marks with custom screen captures or thumbnail images of your choice. The D-R4 also lets you generate and save custom playlists using any title and chapter. Each list of desired footage can be separately titled and edited (for removal of, say, commercials) and then seamlessly played back. Time Slip lets you use your DVD recorder like a personal video recorder, or PVR. Because of DVD-RAM's fast transfer rate, you can view the recorded portion of an ongoing program from the beginning, while still recording the show in progress. The D-R4 features a 181-channel cable-compatible tuner and 2-month, 36-event programming. And, in addition to recording new video content, the D-R4 lets you transfer and even enhance your favorite video recordings to durable, space-saving discs--a terrific way to archive, preserve, and access your movies and family videos. The unit's EASY NAVI menu simplifies operation by giving you direct access to key operations such as locating and playing back of recorded content. For top-of-the-line playback, the D-R4 is equipped with a 10-bit/54 MHz video digital-to-analog converter capable of great color purity and detail. When connected to a high-definition or HD-ready television through its ColorStream Pro component-video outputs, the D-R4 delivers Toshiba's Digital Cinema Progressive picture. Progressive scanning, referred to as 480p for the number of horizontal lines that compose the video image, creates a picture using twice the scan lines of a conventional DVD picture, giving you higher resolution and sharper images while eliminating nearly all motion artifacts. The D-R4 also has Toshiba's Digital Cinema Progressive feature, which performs 3:2 pulldown detection and reversal. DVD mastering introduces a common distortion when adjusting 24 frames-per-second movies to 30 fps video; 3:2 pulldown digitally corrects this distortion, removing the redundant information to display a film-frame-accurate picture. The deck's abundant connections include multiple composite- and S-video inputs and outputs, stereo analog (left/right) inputs and outputs, and an optical digital-audio output for use with a compatible digital surround receiver. What's in the Box DVD player/recorder, a remote control, remote batteries, a user's manual, a stereo analog audio/composite-video cable, and an RF coaxial video cable.
Can't use just any DVD in this recorder. I just purchased the Toshiba D-R4, it is my first foray into DVD recording. I like the Toshiba brand and I liked the price, I purchased Sony DVD-RW media with it so I could start recording, this is going to replace my VCR. Well first you have to format the RW media in the recorder, reminded of 1984 when we had to format 1.44 diskettes. Well once I got the box opened and read the manual they, Toshiba, recommend you use JVC DVD-RW 2X version 1.2. Well I had my Sony DVDs so I started formating, it was a no go three DVDs later every one of them failed could not format. The next day I called support and they recommended I try JVC or Memorex brand. So I had to run around to 4 stores before I found Memorex DVD-RW, I never saw JVC brand. The Memorex worked fine and I am recording now but why oh why don't they have a label on the box or include one of the DVD brands that work with the machine in the box, the store I bought the recorder at only carried Sony brand DVD-RW. So be aware if you want to use the machine after you buy it get JVC or Memorex brand DVD-RW discs, of course you can use DVD-R or DVD-RAM I have not tryed those yet. Also watch the + and - signs, the Toshiba only uses DVD- not DVD+. It seems to work fine, it is more complicated than a VCR, way more options. Hope this helps. Update: This was a lovely recorder however it was unreliable, there were often times I would find it had not recorded a timed recording I had setup, it got very frustrating and I ended up replacing it with a Panasonic. The new one was not as easy to use as the Toshiba but was way more reliable. Also, I setup the Toshiba as a spare and got the firmware update DVD from Toshiba, BAD IDEA, ruined the unit. It never worked after the update. Now have Philips DVD recorder with hard drive it is the only way to go, I don't need DVD copies so this works perfect for me. Still miss that Toshiba D-R4 though. Excellent Unit Excellent Unit! It does most everything I wanted, and a few things I had not even thought of. If you use DVD-RAM discs, you can do great stuff on this unit, like marking the commercials as chapters and them removing them after recording the show, and playing the currently recording program from the beginning even though it is recording farther along. (You can also watch a different program on the disc instead.) Of course, these discs don't play on most other DVD players, so you need to use DVD-Rs instead and give up these features if you want a disc that can play anywhere, but it is great to have these features for discs which will only be played on this and compatible units, and for everyday recording. I had purchased a Panasonic DMR-ES10K originally, and had problems with it playing the second half of my DVDs and with bad support. (See the Panasonic DMR-ES10K for more details.) I exchanged it for this, and am very happy with the Toshiba unit. In comparison to the Panasonic, it is the same price (slightly less in fact), and has almost exactly the same features as the Panasonic. As a double-check before buying it, I called Toshiba support to ask them about disk editing, and a technical support agent answered within about 30 seconds and answered my question. So the support is there too. Most importantly, it plays all my DVDs fine. But also, after trying it, I found several features in the Toshiba that had not been on the Panasonic, to my pleasant surprise. They include: - A "zoom" feature, which lets you magnify part of the screen to see something you are interested in - A "replay" button, which backs up an amount you can set to hear again what someone on the show said, see something cool again, etc. This is a feature I had missed in my previous DVD player from my TiVo. Replay is much more useful than rewind, wait, play, try to get the timing right. - Shows how long a program is, and what % you are through it. The Panasonic showed how far you are into the program, but not how much time is remaining or what % you are through it. In deciding whether to finish a movie now or hold the rest for later, this is pretty helpful information. - Will record timer programs even if you forget and leave the DVD recorder turned on, so long as there is a disc loaded with space on it. - It even has free shipping, which the Panasonic does not. In the end, I was quite glad the Panasonic had problems, so I would find the Toshiba D-R4 instead and get these additional features for free. The only issue I found on the Toshiba is that it is only available in silver (which doesn't match all my black Audio Video components well), but that is a pretty small issue. Clear and simple. This is not a simple DVD recorder to operate, and by no means does it have a manual easy to understand. I think it could have been written much more effectively. The recorder itself has menus that often require you to step through stages of the menu again after selecting a menu action. It does not always return you to the most convenient point in the menu. This can be frustrating. Each menu requires you to refer to sub menus. Again, it gets complicated. Three or four different buttons on the remote take you to particular menus. There is no consistent simplifed procedure. Sometimes you'll wonder what the heck is happening because the recorder does not always clearly tell you on screen. The only indicator you may get is an icon lighting up on the face of the unit. And those icons are not very large. So is it simple? No. Is it user friendly? No, can't say that either. It is more complicated than it needs to be. However even with these negatives, I am going to keep mine because it records an excellent picture and has features that are quite nice once you figure them out. * Even on the six hour mode, my VHS tape copy to DVD was as good or better than my original. * There is a zoom feature. This is not only just a two or three times magnification. You can get very close zooming into a point on your picture. You can then continue at any speed, including slow motion, and it will maintain that desired magnification. When you like, you can move your zoom point to a different part of the picture. It will lose resolution as you get closer and closer, but it is quite nice to have the feature. * There is an instant replay feature. You can set the number of seconds you would like it to back up. I have mine at 5 seconds. It backs up 5 seconds for every press of the button on the remote. If I want to back up 15 seconds, I simply press the button three times. Your one-press choice can be set for 5-10-30 seconds, or for 5 minutes. Combining the zoom, slow motion and this replay, you can see the possibilities. * Editing is easy. It can be done by using the pause button. Each time the pause is pressed, it creates a picture thumbnail of the image on the screen at the time the pause is pressed. All these points are then displayed for you showing each picture. Simply select those you don't want and delete them, or pick those you want and hook them together. You can even make a playlist of your favorite segments and create a DVD of only those segments. Obviously you can see how easy this also makes it to edit out commercials. DVD RAM is the type of disc you must use for this. * You can pause a live TV broadcast and resume from wherever you left off. The live picture can be frozen for 15 minutes. * You can select a desired segment of a disc and replay only that segment over and over. You can set the starting point and ending point of the segment. * A feature I particularly like is the ability to hear sound on fast forward playback. I use the recorder for daily recording of television programs. This recorder can play the picture at a rapid speed but still have sound. This is very handy for things I want to speed through. The voices will sound like chipmunks but you can very clearly make out what is being said. I really like this feature and use it a lot. * Lastly, this unit is very thin. Can squeeze in anywhere. The air vents are on the back, none on the top. NOTE: Copy protected programming or tapes are very likely not to record on this machine. I encountered it on tapes that I paid for and just wanted to transfer to disc. We should not be prevented from making recordings for our own use, we should have every right to make a DVD. There is a solution to this. A video enhancer. This eliminates the problem. Sima is a popular brand. Therefore since this problem can be circumvented, I haven't found it a reason to return this recorder. As for the discs you should use....very simple. (MAXELL)........ -RAM 2x .....required if you want to edit. Sold at Wal-Mart. (TAIYO YUDEN) -R 4x .... Sold online. High quality and very inexpensive. Many recorders now are priced at approximately what this one costs. However many of them will not have the features I described above. Toshiba is a top brand. If you can get through the initial difficulty of learning the operation, you will find the quality and features a very good value.
