Rating: 
Summary: Almost perfect
Review: Purchased Jan, 2004. Since we prefer to limit the amount of visible A/V equipment in our house, this TiVo/DVD combo unit seemed perfect. (One less ugly box to look at.)Setup was a piece of cake. A little time consuming due to the phone calls, but I was up and running with Basic within an hour. Another 20 minutes and I had Plus working. The first thing I noticed was the lack of noise about which others were complaining. While not accessing the hard drive the unit makes no audible noise from watching distance. In fact, to hear anything at all I had to put my ear within 6 inches of the unit. The fan is absolutely quite. I can only hear the hard drive when right next to it. And I can safely assume this is standard for all DVRs using hard drives. While this is my first TiVo, I could not imagine it being any more user friendly. The only reason I read the manual was for learning tricks or less needed functions. Normal recording/viewing was almost to easy. Picture quality (both live and recorded) was indistinguishable from the live cable feed. In fact, I almost never use best quality recording any more. Although, we only have a 30" TV. I think others have had more signal degredation with large screens. I've been told using S-video would make it better. During programs, pause, fast forward, reverse, pause, and play work instantly. No annoying time lags. I also don't mind the two different interfaces between the DVD and TiVo. The TiVo interface works as TiVo should and the DVD interface works as a DVD should. Pushing one button easily switches to the other mode. The few controls on the front of the unit help occasionally. My only complaint is the remote. For only TiVo/DVD/TV it is great. Everything makes sense and there are no problems at all. The number pad is a bit too low, but I don't seem to use it all that much. The main problem is that it is not a true universal remote. I cannot control my CD player and the bulk of my pre-amp. I was down to one remote previously, but am back to two for need of the new TiVo buttons and control of the other A/V equipment. A couple more buttons (I know, too many already) and a few learning commands would have been great. Hence, I take away one star for the limitations of the remote. (I have yet to find a suitable replacement.) Overall, I highly recommend this product.
Rating:
Summary: No more tapes, no more commercials
Review: The Toshiba SD-H400 has changed the way I watch TV, as I look back, I can't imagine watching broadcast TV with out it. As I evaluated my purchase, I read all of the review here, and found some to be very helpful, and others to be way off, here are my experiences; 1) Wireless / Wired Network support: It works, just not right out of the box. You have to connect via a phone line twice, once to subscribe to TIVO, the next to download the "b" version of the software with allows for connection via network. Once that's done, it's as simple as plugging in the adapter into the USB port and pressing a few buttons on the remote. Worked the first time. 2) Noise from fan: Yes, there is a fan, and it makes a slight noise, I have a Sony digital cable box that is alot louder so the low hum from the Toshiba is hardly a concern for me, if it was, I'd put all the components in a rack behind glass as others suggest. 3) Lack of tuner or cable box: This is a little kludgey, as the H400 expects you to set up IR connectors in front of your cable or satellite box. The other problem is the H400 only addesses two and three channel cable tuners, my Sony happens to use four digits for the channel number and the result is a delay in channel changing as the cable box waits for the timeout for the 4th digit before switching channels, minor annoyance when surfing. 4) Inability to record and watch different shows. I overcame this by splitting my cable signal and running one line into the H400 and the other into my TV. But it would have been nice if there way some way within the box to handle this. 5) TIVO: This is awesome, the ability to set up recordings and not worry about tapes, rewinding, and such is a dream come true. Just press a few buttons on the remote, and TIVO does the rest, can't ask for more. I may even upgrade to the plus service for the Season pass and other benefits. 6) No more commercials: Like to watch alot of shows but don't have the time, this device will cut your tv viewing in half, or allow you to watch twice as many shows. My wife and I start watching TV between 8:30 - 9:00, which is just enough time to get you to 11:00 and fast forward through all the commercials. That 2 hour American Idol really only lasts 55 minutes when you get rid of the intro's and commercials, its great. 7) Remote: Ergonomically, it's not perfect. The zero (0) is to the right of the numbers as opposed to the bottom, and the numbers are in two rows as opposed to the normal 3 or 4 on most remotes which can be annoying. The buttons are almost all the same size and feel except for the TIVO button, so until you get used to the button placement, keep a light on. This is probably my biggest gripe with the unit. 8) Progressive Scan DVD Player: Nice add-in would have been ok if it didn't have one or would have preferred a recordable DVD, but given the price, it's a nice freebie. Works great, though others have said they had problems with certain media. Overall, I highly recommend the product, if they improved the remote, or added a recordable dvd or extra tuner, I would have given it 5 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Combination unit is best of both worlds
Review: This combo unit combines a great DVD player with a full TiVo system, meaning only one box on top of the television. It's super easy to use. I've had it for a week and I love it. Two things to note: 1) If you have a Toshiba Colorstream television, you will need to purchase a cable for the connection. The unit has the ports, but no cable is provided. The cables run $60-$90 or so. 2) There is no 30-second skip button like on TiVo units, which is a drag for skipping commercials, however it has a nice jump-back feature that accounts for your reaction time when hitting the play button during a fast forward. In short, you rarely miss any of the show after the commercial. Also, be sure to go to Toshiba's web site and get the rebate!
Rating: 
Summary: Wireless and broadband not ready for primetime
Review: This device combines a DVD player and a VCR-replacing TiVo DVR. It is (I believe) the first product to include the free TiVo Basic service, a 3-day program guide. You can, of course, upgrade to standard TiVo service. For people who have a phone line near their television, this device is wonderful. However, the broadband support is too limited. I bought this device because it said it was broadband enabled, but you need a phone line to set it up. (Hackers seem to be able to get around this but not mortals.) Like many people I have ditched my landline and had to leave the box at a friend's house overnight. I also could not get wireless broadband to work. The adapter recommended in the manual (LinkSys WUSB11) does not work any more because LinkSys updated their device in an incompatible way. The unit doesn't have a connection for Ethernet so you have to purchase an extra adapter in any case. The TiVo features, such as pausing of live TV and all that are wonderful. If you don't have a phone line, this is a product for bleeding edge users only.
Rating:
Summary: Great combination
Review: This is a great device. For a very reasonable price you get a high quality DVD player and a Tivo player, with numerous outputs including S-video, RCA, and component video. I hooked mine to a Motorola digital cable box. The Toshiba is able to drive the channels via a cable that goes from from the Toshiba to a serial port on the Motorola box. I had to reboot the Motorola box after I first connected the cable to get the connection to work. The machine is networkable via a built-in USB port. I have a Linksys wireless network in my house that links into an always-on DSL connection. The Tivo program info downloads automatically at night over the wireless connection to the Internet. It worked like a charm, although I had to use a slightly older version of the Linksys USB wireless adapter (version 2.6) because the TIVO software doesn't work with the newest (version 2.8). Other than that little hiccup, everything worked great. The basic Tivo service, which comes free with this box, is pretty good -- you get a listing of all the programs (3 days worth) and you can select to record a show at a given time and day each week, each weekday, each weekend day, or all days. If the show time changes, you have to go in and rejigger the record time manually. The DVD player part works very well, and you can watch a DVD while the Tivo part is recording to the hard disk. To clear up something in these other reviews, you can watch a show while it is being recorded, and rewind, pause, etc.
Rating:
Summary: Good Tivo!
Review: This is a great model. I love the space saved with a Tivo and DVD player in one unit. The noise is not a problem for me- it is definitely audible, but no different the sound of a computer hard drive. If the tv is on, or there is other sound in the room I can't hear it at all. The set-up was pretty easy. The interface is so easy to use. I barely even needed the instructions to get started. I am going to love this thing! One more thing- I was under the impression that you can't watch something on live tv and record something else at the same time. Well you can't do both through the tivo, but with one click, the tivo goes on standby (keeps recording) and you are free to watch any show through your regular tv by changing channels with your tv remote. Also, you can watch previously recorded material on the tivo while it is recording new programs. In sum, everything I thought I would like about this machine turned out great, and everything else I have learned about it since using it has been great too.
Rating:
Summary: Great Product!
Review: This is my first TiVo product. It came highly recommended by co-workers and friends. It has greatly improved the viewing of both cable and DVD's. The install didn't go exactly smooth. It seems that you always have to go to Radio Shack to get connectors! The directions for set up were an 8 on a scale of 10. TiVo has been installed for two weeks, and now it is easy to use. Love the recording live tv feature, and the record ahead feature for shows. Over all both my wife and myself highly recommend it!
Rating:
Summary: Very, very nice unit with caveats
Review: This thing is very nice and Tivo basic is addictive...and "free". Conventional VCR-like recording is also trivial in its ease. (People joke about how hard it is to program their VCR. Anyone who can't program their SD-H400 stopped breathing some time ago. It's that easy.)
The fan IS noisey and it is annoying when the sound is off. You learn to accept it because the TIVO feature is so nice. The DVD player does not play JPEGs which in this day and age is ludicrous. How could Toshiba blow that one when outfits like Cyberhome selling $30 DVD players manage that trick? Dumb move, Toshiba.
Finally, it is a bit on the large size. Had to come up with a shelf to set it on my rear projector that easilly accomodated a Panasonic player with no shelf needed...and it is out of production. If you find one for $200 or less, BUY IT! I may get a second one.
Rating:
Summary: I LOVE THIS THING!
Review: This Tivo unit rocks. It is great. No problems with it yet, and we have had it for over 3 months. We thought TIVO was just glorified VCR recording, but we were wrong. It changed the way we watch TV.
The set-up is easy, and the phone support has been great.
A VERY good deal, INHO.
Rating:
Summary: Hooked on TiVo
Review: We've only had this unit for a few weeks, and already we're hooked on TiVo. Since we didn't have DVD player already, this machine made perfect sense for us. Set-up was easy, but a bit time consuming while TiVo dialed in to get programming information, etc. Believe it or not, this unit actually simplified our TV set-up. Before, we had to toggle through various modes of a universal remote to turn on the VCR, TV, and receiver. Then again to change channels and volume. The Toshiba remote has 2 on/off buttons. One controls the TiVo/DVD player, the other is programmed to turn on both the TV and the receiver. When programmed to work with a receiver, the remote's volume control drives the receiver, not the TV. The TV/video button does drive the TV's input, but unfortunately, when the input is set to TV, the channel changer still tries to change the TiVo's channel rather than the TVs channel. So when we're recording with the TiVo and watching a different channel, we have to use the TV remote. But that's not that big of a deal. The TiVo system is excellent. With a new baby around the house, we love being able to pause and rewind live TV. And the recording quality in the highest mode is just like watching live TV. We're currently trying the free trial of TiVo plus, but once it expires, I think we'll stick with the basic (free) service. We only record a handful of weekly programs, and setting it up to repeat record is easy enough without the Season Pass feature of the subscription service. In general, we are very pleased with this product. If I could change anything it would be the lay-out of the remote control. The number pad for selecting channels is located at the very bottom of the remote, making it awkward to hold the remote and change channels with only one hand. Not impossible, but it could be improved.
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