Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)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.
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