Toshiba RD-XS34

My review is actually for the Toshiba RDXS30 which I have had now for nearly 2 years. The RDXS34 is just the more recent version (with a 160GB HDD), but is otherwise virtually the same. I thought people would be interested in how I have found the kit after a reasonably long period of use.

Apart from a problem early on (resolved by buying a better SCART lead than the one supplied), I have found this recorder to be absolutely great. The only downside is that it doesn't have a freeview tuner, and my freeview box is one of the original On-Digital boxes, so it doesn't have an EPG and is not very programmable.

The ability to cut and paste recordings to remove adverts and to save to DVD-R is great. It has worked perfectly now for nearly 2 years, and I wouldn't be without it.

The price of the RDSX34 is now £200 less than what I paid, and it has a bigger hard drive, so I would strongly recommend getting one.

The Toshiba RDXS34 is the first harddrive/dvd recorder that I have owned and compared to a video recorder it's superb. No more tapes watch a DVD while recording onto the hard drive then edit the programs cut out the adverts if you want or edit your camcorder shots. It will even turn your Sky or Free view box to the correct station and you can use the remote to operate the TV as well. In short there's not a lot this machine will not do.

My only complaints are the noisy fan which is quite noticeable however the machine need not be on all the time as it will turn it self on to record then it will go off afterwards. On most video players you can press record once to record then again for extra half hours of recording you can not set the extra time in this way on the Toshiba. If I was being really picky ideally I would like to use the Sky menu to set up recordings. However this is a great recorder that I would recommend to anyone.