Rating: 
Summary: Powerful combination of features
Review: I've had this unit for about a month now, and here are my observations:1) The manual needs to be re-written. It's not horrible, but it definitely needs work.
2) Note that the RF Out (to the TV) only passes on the original channels; you will not see any of this unit's output on it. In that regard, it differs from a typical VCR.
3) Note that the remote control has a hinged section at the bottom. I searched for over an hour to find the "setup" button. This was shown in the manual, but never caught my attention.
4) I've not noticed the problem with the black level that other reviewers have noted.
5) There are about three different ways to do anything. Sometimes it can get confusing, but you figure it out after a while.
6) The remote's not bad. Inputting names is tedious, but not overly so. You can get very good at skipping over commercials.
7) It doesn't replace a TIVO or ReplayTV, but does give you about 90% of what they do, and no subscription costs.
8) Recording, time-slipping, chapter definition and playlist editing all work very well. I've burned about 8 discs now, and they're all fine. I've only put one title per disc, so I haven't bothered with the menu stuff yet.
9) I really appreciate that when I turn it off, the hard disk stops spinning. I have this in my bedroom, and the noise difference is important. I sure wish my ReplayTV stopped the hard disk when it was turned off. All in all, I'm very pleased. I used to use my PC with a TV tuner card to record and playback programs, but have now almost completely moved over to using the Toshiba instead. The combination of a hard disk with a DVD burner is very powerful.
Rating: 
Summary: Toshiba RDXS32
Review: My children bought me this for christmas to replace a VCR and DVD. Still learning to set it up and use the wide range if facilities it offers. The one thing we want to do is to record camcorder tapes onto the DVD disk, however the Toshiba will not let us do this, insisting that the camcorder tapes are copyright protected. I have been back to toshiba and they insist it is a camcorder problem. Sony insisit it is a DVD recorder problem - stalemate!!!
If anyone has met this problem and sorted it I would be very grateful to hear. Otherwise a very impressive machine with excellent picture quality. Not the easiest manual or set up instructions though, and I agree wiuth all the comments about the very poorly designed remote.
Rating: 
Summary: Low Marks for Toshiba Customer Service
Review: My RD-XS32 arrived with a defect--it wouldn't record to the hard-disk drive. As per the instructions in the accompanying literature ("Do Not Return This to the Store!"), I got on the phone with Toshiba customer service. We ran through a checklist of symptoms. All well and good so far. Where it turns sour is they wanted the unit sent, on my nickel, to one of their service centers, and for me to wait 10 days to 2 weeks for it to be repaired or replaced and returned. I'm thinking: I've paid for a new unit--haven't even got to use it--and I might end up with a refurb? And why should I pay to ship it anywhere? My sense is that Toshiba's customer service policy is designed as a convenience to Toshiba, in which they perform as little customer service as possible.
I returned the unit to Amazon for a refund--arranged it over their web site. Repacked the unit, set it outside my door. I didn't pay for shipping or even have to address the package. Amazing. Thanks, Amazon. Take a tip, Toshiba.
Rating:
Summary: Best DVR/DVD-recorder in its price range.
Review: Not to be overly harsh with the reviewers who found this product too difficult to learn, but the RD-XS32 is not for the tame of mind. This is not a dumbed-down piece of consumer electronics. You will need to read the manual, which, truth to tell, could have been better written. You will also need a modicum of analytical intelligence. If you have yet to figure out all of the intricacies of your VCR, this product is not for you.
This unit has a hard drive, which realistically records about 35 to 40 hours at a decent-quality recording (say, 4.0 to 4.6 mbps for us folks with non-HD televisions). A hard drive is essential for a DVD recorder; aside from not having to worry if your disc has enough space, it allows much more freedom in the way of editing and re-dubbing. Hard drive units also allow time-slip capability (i.e. pausing live programming); although DVD-RAM can also serve in a time-slip capacity.
The RD-XS32 records to discs in three formats: DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD-RAM. To my knowledge, this is the only unit in its price range with that kind of versatility.
DVD-R and DVD-RW (not to be confused with DVD+R, DVD+RW) are fairly commonplace formats. DVD-R is for permanent, write-once recordings. DVD-RW is re-writable, recommended for temporary recordings. Both need to be "finalized" before they can be played in other DVD players. DVD-RW blank discs are about twice as expensive as DVD-R discs.
DVD-RAM disc format is more like a miniature hard drive, and provides similar functionality. If your hard drive is full, it's nice to have DVD-RAM. You have a choice as to whether to use cartridge-type DVD-RAM or cartridge-less. The cartridge is protect the disc from damage; however, decent-quality cartridge-less will have a protective coating on them to provide some measure of protection. I prefer the cartridge variety because I think they look cool.
DVD-RAM allows more re-writes than DVD-RW. For this reason, I typically use DVD-RAM for short-term temporary storage and DVD-RW for long-term temporary storage. DVD-RAM costs about twice as much or more as DVD-RW; shopping around is well worth it.
This unit will not record well on all brands of blank media. You shouldn't expect any DVD recorder to be able to do that. For DVD-R, Taiyo-Yuden (which Amazon does not sell, but should) is recommended; Panasonic and Maxell also work. DVD-RW: Victor/JVC is recommended; Maxell also works, and I suspect Panasonic would, too. DVD-RAM: Panasonic is recommended; Emtec (BASF) also works.
Results with Fuji are mixed. Stay away from Memorex. TDK may also be an unwise choice, although I can't say that with absolute certainty.
This unit is very good with timer recordings. Many other recorders in this price range have a paltry 8-event timer. This model features a 32-event timer. Timings can be set for a specific date up to 2 months out, for every day, for every [day of the week], for Mon - Sat, for Mon - Fri, or for Mon - Thu. The timed recording menu will list the events in chronological order, beginning with the events closest to the current day/time. Events may be deactivated without erasing them. You may provide a title to be assigned to each event recording.
Many DVD recorders in this price range limit the variability of the video bit-rate setting to a few pre-defined settings. The RD-SX32 has 2 pre-defined settings, and 3 manual settings which may be set anywhere from 1.4 to 9.2. The higher the bit-rate, the higher the quality (keeping in mind the quality can never surpass that of the source material) and the more disc-space used. I use 4.6 or higher for fast-paced shows and animations. I use 2.2 to 4.0 for slower-paced shows or lower-quality source material. When in doubt, and you have the space, use a higher bit-rate; you can always re-encode at a lower bit-rate later, but you can't do the reverse and expect the quality to improve. (A warning, though: rate-conversion dubbing is done at a speed of 1x; basically the program replays at normal speed and re-encodes it at the new bit-rate; chapter marks and thumbnail images will be lost.)
The black-level bug is a real phenomenon, but a minor one, in my opinion. To explain: American-compatible VCRs (and DVD players) add brightness in their output to TV sets. This unit fails to subtract that brightness when recording from a VCR; therefore, when played back on a DVD player (which adds its own brightness), the video will appear overly bright. Oddly, this will occur only when played on other DVD players, not the RD-XS32; so it appears that Toshiba knows about the problem and decided to work-around it rather than fix it. Points off for that. However, enabling the "enhanced black level" on your DVD player should compensate for the problem. As the technology matures and becomes more affordable, I would imagine future DVD recorders will be able to re-encode and adjust the brightness for any DVDs you create that are affected.
The remote control is somewhat poorly designed, as are practically all remote controls. Over a quarter of a century making remote controls, and they haven't figured out back-lighting is a requirement? And the flip-open panel-- very irritating. Fortunately, there are multiple ways to do things with this recorder, so you can learn to do things so that you don't have to open it very often.
The only other problem I have with this unit is the lack of precision in placing chapter marks. After placing chapter marks at the precise location desired and recording the title to DVD, the chapter marks may be off a few frames. You can learn to kind of compensate for it, but it is annoying. I suspect more precision is available on high-end recorders, but I'm not willing to pay the extra bucks.
I am still discovering all of the RD-XS32's capabilities. For instance, today I discovered that there is a variable bit-rate mode mode of recording, and that there appears to be a way to customize DVD menus with images from recorded programs.
All in all, the RD-XS32 is-- hands down-- the best DVR/DVD-recorder currently available in this price range.
Rating:
Summary: The Good, the Bad & the UGLY
Review: THE GOOD This unit does have some nice features like the menu creation and library functions. The BAD I couldn't believe it until I called Toshoba tech support myself. You have NO control over burn speed! THE UGLY Call it "Black Level" or whatever you want, but playblack on "most" other units will look washed out! This is a HUGE BLUNDER! My advice is if you are thinking about this unit, purchase from a retailer with a liberal return policy. I can't recommend this unit until these issues are resolved.
Rating:
Summary: Useless For Recording Cable
Review: The toshiba will not allow you to record any programs from HBO, Cinemax and others onto dvd-r or dvd-rw, because they are encoded with a "copy once" protection. Even though HBO/Cinemax allows you to record the program once, the Toshiba will not do it. Also, there is a major compatability issue with different brands of blank dvd-r and dvd-rw blank disks. You buy the blank disks, find out they are incomaptible and guess what? You can't return them to the store once they are opened.
Do yourself a favor and save your $$$$, it just aint worth it. I would recommend a cheap $139 noname dvd recorder from Walmart over this model.
Rating: 
Summary: Serious black level bug, plus 2 minor bugs
Review: This DVD recorder can be perfect if Toshiba fixes the following 3 items, especially the black level bug, which is very serious. 1. Black level bug:
Due to NTSC America's +7.5IRE issue, Toshiba should consider that almost all DVD players in the US add +7.5 IRE to output already. Currently, RD-XS32 does not consider this fact, so the recorded DVD looks "washed out" (too bright) in other DVD player. The best way to solve this problem is to have an option of recording level to adjust the input signal boost. For details, go to avsforum or ask Pioneer enginners about how they fix the black level bug from old DVD recorder to E50. 2. There should be an option of "forcing to output 3 digits" to IR blaster.
A lot of digital cable box needs the input to be 3 digits to correctly change channel. For example, to switch to channel 9, IR blaster should output 009 instead of just "9". Toshiba should add an option of forcing the output to 3 digits to work with most cable box or STB. 3. Record speed selection:
There should be an option of selecting speed of recording instead of just looking at the maximun speed that the media can handle. This could solve a lot of problem when the media is not "that good as it claims".
Rating:
Summary: The best of both worlds at the best price
Review: This machine is awesome! Previously I bought a cheep Cyberhome recorder that was disappointing. The Toshiba has many more features. It is a bit complicated at first but after studying the manual you can easly record high quality tv shows and edit out all of the commercials. The hard drive feature is the only way to go if you are going to record TV. The Toshiba is better than the Panasonic because it will record from the DVD drive back onto the hard drive to make copies and it will record to DVD-RW that the Panasonic will not. I highly recommend this machine.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing OSM and operation
Review: This unit is so easy to set up right out of the box. As complicated and chock full of abilities its still a snap to set up a record time and walk away. For the more techo types out there.. there are tons of options to fool with. Good Job Toshiba!
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