I recently have had friends ask me all kinds of question about the RD-SX34, so I decided to run a few qick fixes if any one has other ideas or solutions it would be appreciated........

1. I cannot record my old DVD-R's to the hard drive. It says something like.. 'function not available with recorded media' I will have to check

ANS- found on the TOSH if you try to dub from disk to hard disk it would only work if disk is not finalized otherwise it comes up as you say(something to do with the video mode) if you have another DVD player, it will quite happy copying the disk content to the hard disk as long as it is not protected

2. The edits i have tried cause the playback to hesitate for 1/2 second on playback. I expected them to be instant and/or smooth... Are all recorders like this?IIRC on Pioneer units there is a setting to prevent the pauses at edit points. Otherwise AFAICS many recorders exhibit this behaviour.

If there's nothing in the manual about it, then the only alternative is to edit the recordings on a PC.

ANS-if you're converting 2.5 hours then it's going to be a bitch, though as I say the performance of all the machines in LP wasn't anything that I'd be happy watching for any length of time.

3. Have got X34, again very minimal noise, and no problem with editing pauses or skips, are you deleting sections such as adverts from the original and then copying? If so try going via the playlist editing route (page 95 of manual) this will also have benefits in terms of continuous disc space.
With regard to LP options, the fact is that the system is deliberatly not recording in full detail, the better your DVD playback facility and display is the worse it will look. It's the same with a real high end HiFi, it makes some poor recordings unlistenable. Best forgotten, although probably OK for older TV programmes etc


ANS-With LP you are correct though having looked at all the competitor's LP modes I quickly decided that none provide an acceptable option. IIRC the EH50 was noticeably better but it was still not useable in any real sensel. I don't know anyone who used LP on VHS and for the life of me I can't see why anyone would use it on one of these recorders, especially when you see the quality of SP. With 160gb HD you aren't exactly pushed for space so I'd leave it on SP.

4. I have decided to swap my XS34 for a Panasonic EH50. I just cannot live with the noise created by the XS34; I have had 2 of these machines thinking the first one had a problem. The second one is if anything a little more noisy.
The fan noise from these machines is spoiling what is otherwise a fantastic machine.
I would like to swap for an alternative machine, the obvious choice would be the EH50 but I would like to know if anyone knows if this machine is just as noisy?
If it were not so noisy what functionality would I be sacrificing?
I understand the editing is not as good and it does not have a fire wire connection.

ANS-There is no seemless playback option on the Toshiba - it is just the equivalent to being set at OFF. Seemless playback would be no good for camcorder users anyway so isn't a big priority for ABP.

The differences they are noting between the Toshiba machines is probably a combination of recording mode, method of editing and what they are editing. Obviously some material is alot more sensitive to 'pauses' than others.