Toshiba DVR610 1080p Upconverting Tunerless VHS DVD Recorder

• DVD Recorder/VCR Combo
• Progressive Scan
• 1080p Upconversion
• ColorStream Pro
• JPEG Photo Viewer

After half a decade of waiting for a machine that'll do merely what I want it to do--transferring my old VHS library to the more permanent DVDs--I jumped at the opportunity to get the DVR-610, at a great price (I purchased it at BestBuy, which allowed me to return it within 30 days for full refund if it wasn't up to scratch).

I must say: it passed the "probationary" period smashingly, though with a few small reservations I will mention later. Supposedly this deck is Toshiba's new improved version of its DVR-600 from last year. That deck brought forth quite a few frustrated reviews from buyers, and with this buyer-beware in mind, I assumed we were still in the Dark Ages as far as preservation on home DVD's was concerned. I initially thought a deck with merely a DVD recorder would do the trick (i.e., wiring my old VCR to its inputs to do duping), but I received conflicting and discouraging reports on these machines, too.

And so, the present model does a very, very nice job concerning the purpose for which I bought it: it will transfer my old (blank recorded) videos I made myself with almost no occurences of the "RECORDING ERROR" message; I had just one instance of this so far, which made me relegate that blank DVD to the "toss-out" pile. Actually, I'm using the discs with abortive recording projects for "test discs": that is, using them to see if a particular VHS video will transfer OK or not. I'm finding most '81-'85 rental tapes (pre-copyguard-era) will transfer OK, but you're up the creak without a paddle as far as dubbing your old prerecorded videos from '86 onward: specifically from the majors (Columbia, Warner, MGM, etc.). If your friends with similar movie tastes still have off-the-air broadcast tapes, by all means tell them to dig them out of storage!

While preserving taped-off-the-air movies has been a top priority, my FIRST DVD project was duping the one-hour tape full of films my old college animation class did. I made it a point to dub it at the high-quality speed (XP), and the transfer came off quite well, though there was a bit of picture jitter here and there. But after finalizing it, I found it played back well not only on the DVR-610 itself, but on my OTHER two DVD decks: my old Samsung player, and my 11-year-old Compaq computer. I used a Fuji blank disc for this one. The playback was smooth, and in time I learned how to make menus for later discs I recorded.

You would do well to reserve, as I did, a small pile of blanks for practice & test purposes; you will want to do comparisons of the sound quality of the highest speed compared to that of the slowest (for music videos--even those taped off a small 14" screen mono TV--the differences in sound reproduction are revealing). For feature films taped from mono television, the picture reproduction isn't that significantly different: not only in comparing your final DVD copy with the original tape, but also at the different DVD recording speeds. (I may think differently, of course,when I finally get a widescreen TV, but newer programs aren't of concern to me).

One thing I'm glad I learned quickly is how you can make individual cue-ups for separate films: unfortunately, you have to stop the DVD recorder at the end of each film. (For a cartoon collector like myself, this becomes VERY complex & involved....patience is mandatory!) At least I didn't find an alternative to this method in the owner's manual; and with my budget, I can only go with the cheapie DVD-R's that can be recorded only once. You CAN separate scenes for cue-up in a feature-length film, but THAT process is complicated by the machine's own automatic insertions of its OWN chapters in anything running over ten minutes. As for myself, I don't even bother separating scenes--only one movie from an entirely different one.

I was apprehensive during my first one or two tries at the "one-touch dubbing" feature, but this proved groundless (I used home-recorded tapes, of course). But I hasten to suggest: PLEASE DON'T throw out your old VCR, for a small number of tapes (yes--even your prize blanks) won't record on the new machine's all-in-one, two-decks-in-one feature.....you will have to wire patch-cords from your old videotape player to the front input jacks on the DVR-610. It is the only way around on these tapes.

One or two things I have to concur with on the other reviews of this machine: the manual CAN stand a bit better organization (it's categorized well, though not necessarily in the order you'd anticipate); two weeks back, when trying to find a mistake I made accidentally (I pushed the input button to "camcorder," or "DV," making it impossible to do tape-to-tape dubbing), the manual didn't list this problem which had me panicking for a few hours till I corrected it on my own. I have little quibble, though, with the English translation, which makes perfect & grammatic sense. AND: YES, the remote IS a pretty feisty critter! I've had about a dozen-and-a-half endings on some recordings where the "STOP" button goes to sleep, and I must rush to the machine itself to use the stop-button on IT. And the remote's own RECORD button is also as aggravating as a toilet handle. They work, alright (and you DO have to wait close to half a minute for the information from a just-finished recording to write itself onto the disc--as well as when you first turn on the deck with a blank disc still in it).

As for recordable discs, I've stuck with NAME BRAND blanks--those from Fuji, Maxell & TDK; and as yet, I've only recorded on DVD PLUS R (DVD+R) discs. All three brands play flawlessly when they're finally ready, and of course you must acquaint yourself with the "DVD MENU" feature which shows the option of finalizing the disc (necessary, of course, to have it play on other decks).

FINE deck, overall: there's still small room for more improvement, but this one gets an "A" for the job I want it to do: it's my main RECORDER now, and I'll be saving the playing for "play-only" decks (which I'll feel confident of buying in the future). It'll at least give me the security of knowing that the only film/TV fare that matters to me will be preserved to the time I kick off.

Buy Toshiba DVR610 1080p Upconverting Tunerless VHS DVD Recorder Now

This is the 3rd attempt I've made at purchasing something to transfer my old videos to DVD and I think I finally have a winner! The user's manual leaves a little (ok, a lot!) to be desired, but after deciphering the badly translated English, I was able to transfer my videos to DVD with no problem. It literally takes about 3 button pushes and off it goes.

The quality so far seems excellent in both video and DVD playback too. And everyone I've given a DVD to has been able to play them so far!

Read Best Reviews of Toshiba DVR610 1080p Upconverting Tunerless VHS DVD Recorder Here

This Toshiba D-VR610KU took away my headache and fustration from other DVR/VHS recorders that I own. Other DVR's did not copy to certain brand DVD blanks or if it did copy the quality was poor at all settings.

Pro(s):

I use Verbatim Archival Grade and Taiyo Yuden blanks from Japan in this Toshiba DVR and it copies with NO problem.

Playback quality after recording at all settings. VHS-DVD dubbing is EXCELLENT and picture is very close to Blu-Ray.

Con(s):

Another remote control you do not want to lose. 48 BUTTONS!!!

Owner's Manual is poor.

VHS Rewind is very slow.

Want Toshiba DVR610 1080p Upconverting Tunerless VHS DVD Recorder Discount?

After a month of frustration with a similarly priced unit that was a major name brand, we returned that unit and bought this Toshiba model instead. The other unit was constantly making DVD's from old home VHS movies and the audio would be out of sync. We tried seven different movies and five different DVD recordable disc types. No matter what, when the DVDs came out, the people's mouths would move and the audio would come across two to three seconds later!

As stated, this unit is a huge improvement over the other previous unit we owned/returned. If you're looking to copy VHS to DVD on a budget, this is the model for you. The unit features a full set of outputs (HDMI/Component/S-Video/RCA) and has 1080p upconversion when watching DVDs.

The only downsides to this unit are the somewhat funky remote and the overall layout/complexity to the user manual, I feel that the manual could have been much easier to understand with a bit better organization and not so much crammed on every page.

Like many others, I was searching for a simple way to convert VHS tapes of family home movies to DVD, considering that VCRs are almost completely unavailable, and soon these family tapes would be unplayable forever. I first purchase the Samsung model, and discovered that much to my dismay, the audio and video did not synchronise! Turns out that it was a Samsung problem, and they could do nothing about it. Returned it.

Then I thought I'd try this Toshiba model. Well, first off, THERE ARE NO AUDIO/VIDEO SYNCHRONIZATION PROBLEMS WITH THIS MODEL!!!! If you follow the steps listed in the manual (and it's not hard to understand, don't know what everyone's complaining about), and if you record in "SP" mode for two hours, the end result will look and sound exactly like the source VHS.Terrific, Toshiba strikes again!

In regards to editing menus, if you've owned a Magnavox dvd recorder before this one, it will be like deja vu. They use the exact same program!

Really, this is the vhs/dvd recorder to buy. It will not disappoint you!