Costco is Selling New Toshiba DVD Recorder w/DIVX for $130

[peggypwr1]

FYI: I saw Toshiba DKR-10 DVD Recorder Units at Costco. It plays all formats, not sure about DVD-RAM and it plays DIVX. I checked the Toshiba website, but I could not find this model. I think it is specially made for Costco. Its $130.

[pinetop]

I haven't seen this a Costco in the Chicagoland area. Wouldn't mind trying one, hopefully its not the LG/insignia Bestbuy unit.

[musr139]

I bought this at COSTCO on Sunday. It is not very friendly. There are several things I do not like. When you insert a DVD that you bought from stores (i.e. movies), it takes a long time
to "load". Same thing when you insert your own recorded/copied DVD +R/-R/+RW/-RW
I did try to play DVD+R DL, and DVD-R DL. All of them work after a very long "Loading".

You can not connect your cable input (RF signal ) directly in to this Unit.
That is a big Minus.
I tried about 6 TDK +RW discs. Only one I managed to record for 3 mins. Others
I keep getting Record Errors. Even when I insert a brand new (never been used) TDK dic
from the sampe spindle, I can not seem to make it record.

Timer Recording, I can not make it work. Manual is not well written.

When you play a DVD using this, some times AUdio is not good. (absent/distorted).

Picture quality of the 3 min recording I made, is good.

This is my first DVD Recorder. May be that is part of the problem with what I expect.

[handyguy]

"When you insert a DVD that you bought from stores (i.e. movies), it takes a long time
to "load"."

Its trying to figure out what kind of disk there is. That takes time.



"Timer Recording, I can not make it work. Manual is not well written."


Some only timer record when the machine is off.

[musr139]

Thanks. I understand that the Player is trying to figure out what disc got inserted.
My old SONY DVD player that I bought in 1999, does not take this long like this Machine.

When I insert a brand new DVD+RW (TDK brand but the Disc ID: PHILIPS-041-00),
I expect the DVD Recorder to begin Format operation.

IT just sits there and try to load for ever. When it gets out of the loading,
it says this disk Playback operation is not possible.
Then I go to the setup menu, try to go to FORMAT option to force
the FORMATing, it does not give me the choice of "Start" formatting.

I am fed up with this.

When I set the timer, then turned off the Recorder, I see that the Machine wakes
up when the clock is same as the timer start. Only once, I saw that it started
recording. (i.e. first I see the formatting is going on for a while ).
Even though my Timer recording is set to last for say 30 min, it shuts off afte r2 or 3 min.
Then I take the disc and insert in my PC it would not play.

[zagortenej]

When I insert a brand new DVD+RW (TDK brand but the Disc ID: PHILIPS-041-00),
I expect the DVD Recorder to begin Format operation.

IT just sits there and try to load for ever. When it gets out of the loading,
it says this disk Playback operation is not possible.
Then I go to the setup menu, try to go to FORMAT option to force
the FORMATing, it does not give me the choice of "Start" formatting.

If I'm not mistaken, Toshiba is a known supporter of DVD-R(W) format and perhaps that is the reason their recorder would not accept the '+' media. Have you tried DVD-RW disc, and, if so, what is the outcome?

[samijubal]

Yep, if it's + compatible, I don't think it's made by Toshiba.

[peggypwr1]

Wo, thank the gods I asked, b/c I was looking into buying this player. Strangely, I bought a Liteon 5115 GHC+ DVD recorder form COstco two years ago for $90, and till this day it still records and plays fine. I guess I got lucky with this unit.

Have you tried contacting Toshiba and asking for a firmware upgrade?

When I got the above mentioned Liteon, it would not recognize or format any discs. I then downloaded the lastest firmware and now everyting works like a charm.

[musr139]

I tried a DVD-RW (RITEK ) Office Depot Brand. The recoreder does not let me format this or
did not even try to Auto-FOrmat it by itself.
I tried a SONY DVD+R, FUJI DVD-R (Taio Yuden disc), Verbatim DVD-R.
ALl these discs would not even let me FORMAT them.

I pulled th eplug for about 12 hours so. Then I connected the power.
Inserted a new TDK+RW blank disc. IT did go in to aigtomatic FORMATing after the
usual long "loading".
I pressed Reco (red button key) such that it will go to 1.00 hour recording mode.
It stopped after approx 3 mins. Then display error.

[NiteLite]

A long loading time is normal for all DVD recorders, with or without HDD.
As far as your unit I would simply take it back and replace it. It sounds defective to me.
Good luck,
NL

[deuce8pro]

Its normal for it take a while to load a dvd movie disc.
The Tosbia dr-4 does the same. No big deal.

[Bix]

Does this model have the good Half-D1 modes for longer recordings?

[musr139]

I returned the D-KR10 to costco, and picked up a new one from them.
I tried. This time it is working. i.e. IT recognised SONY DVD+R, SONY DVD-R,
HP DVD+RW, Maxell DVD-RW, Verbatim DVD+R, Riata min DVD-R.

Just insert the blank; after loadind is completed, it will automatically FORMAT if necessary.
(i.e. only in +RW and -RW cases).

In case of +R or +RW, you do not need to FINALIZE the disk.
'In case of -R or -RW you have to FINALIZE the disk before you can play
on a PC or another DVD Player.

Timer Recording worked also.

Now main problem is that it does NOT have a RF-Tuner.
The last Unit that I returned was a Bad one.


It has several resolution(?).
XP record mode is 1 hour on a 4.7 GB single Layer disk.
2 Hr, 3 Hr, 4 Hr, 6, 8 hours options are there.
I only tried XP and SP (2 Hours).

XP is very good.

[spiritgumm]

Do you know in Timer mode if there's a record setting called "AT" (as opposed to just HQ, SP, etc)? There was in the DR4 (2005 basic recorder). It functioned like Flex Mode in a Panny, but they omitted it in the 2006 basic recorder.

[musr139]

There is a mode called "Auto" in the timer programming settings.
I never used it. I think that is what you are referring as "AT".

I guess it will decide what resolution to pick based on how much free space is
left on the disc.

[spiritgumm]

Thanks for checking. AUTO will pick from the existing modes (HQ, SP, etc) - same as last years model. It's not the Flex mode-type of recording the DR4 Timer has. In that model, you could set it to record for 75 minutes in AT mode, and it would fill a dvd completely with 75 min of video. AUTO would pick SP mode, thus leaving part of the dvd unused.

[samijubal]

If it records + discs, I doubt it's manufactered by Toshiba. Toshiba has never supported + discs on anything I've seen that they made. Their recorders won't even play + discs.

[spiritgumm]

If it records + discs, I doubt it's manufactered by Toshiba. Toshiba has never supported + discs on anything I've seen that they made. Their recorders won't even play + discs.

Then check out this year's basic recorder:
"Playable Disc Types: DVD-Video, CD-DA, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-RAM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD+R, VCD"
http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/dvd/product.asp?model=d-r400

[samijubal]

Just because it says Toshiba on it doesn't mean they manufactered it.

[amati5]

I just finished hooking up this unit to my system too and can't get the "Line through output" to work, meaning I can't get any signal from my cable box to my tv without having to turn on the recorder. I have tried having the Svideo out, RCA (composite) video out and ofcourse the audio outs to the "INs" of the recorder and from the recorder, I have the audio outs and components out to the TV. The only way to get the signal to the TV is to turn on the recorder or have they cable box's Svideo out/components out straight to the TV. But then I can't record from the cable box.

I talked to some Toshiba reps and they say different things:

One said I have to use RF Coaxial from the cable box to the TV and turn channel 3. I am sure that will work but with all the advance equipments, it sort of defeats the purpose of watching a high quality signal.

One said I have to have either Svideo out ,components or RCA Video OUT of the cable box directly hooked up to the tv and depends on which one I use, connect the other one to the recorder for recording. What about audio for recording? there is only one set of audio out from the cable box.

The last one said in order to get the signal passed through without having to turn on the unit, I have to hook up my cable box RCA OUT to the RCA IN (line 1 as mentioned on page 8 of the manual) of the recorder. I tried that too and didn't get the signal either.

How did you guys do it? or something is wrong with my unit.

Thanks in advance.

[Bron]

I don't have a cable box, so I can't help you with that, but I can confirm for you that pass-thru does work. In my case, I have everything hooked up with composite (currently) using multiple inputs and I can get a signal on my TV when the KR10 is off. If I turn it on, I can select the input, when off, it seems to default to passing thru the higher input to the TV. This works great and lets me use it as a simple switch, i.e. off=device1, on=device2 or the internal DVD drive if a disc is present, or any selectable input.

This is a nice unit once you figure out its quirks. Very nice PQ [picture quality] even via S-Video and composite, superb (of course) in component or HDMI. Mine works great and I am very happy with it.

Good luck!

Bron

[jagabo]

I just finished hooking up this unit to my system too and can't get the "Line through output" to work, meaning I can't get any signal from my cable box to my tv without having to turn on the recorder. I have tried having the Svideo out, RCA (composite) video out and ofcourse the audio outs to the "INs" of the recorder and from the recorder, I have the audio outs and components out to the TV. The only way to get the signal to the TV is to turn on the recorder or have they cable box's Svideo out/components out straight to the TV. But then I can't record from the cable box.

That's the norm. Few devices will pass composite or s-video when powered off.

Try this: Route s-video from the cable box to the TV. Route composite from the cable box to the recorder (the recorder probably has a decent comb filter so composite probably won't look bad). Use Y adaptors to split the audio to both (this may reduce the audio level by about 3 dB but that probably won't be a problem). Then hook the outputs of the recorder to a different input on the TV. You'll have to switch inputs on the TV but at least you'll be able to watch TV with the recorder turned off, record from the cable box with the TV turned off, and watch TV while recording the same channel.

[Bron]

That's the norm. Few devices will pass composite or s-video when powered off.

But this one will and does. I agree, a fairly unique feature.

Good suggestions, though, if he can't get his to work. I suspect, though, that he's making a simple mistake and it will work if he takes it one step at a time and walks through it. I would suggest running *just* composite video and audio from the cable box to the KR10 and then from the KR10 to the TV. Making sure the cable box is putting a signal out on the composite. He should definitely get a signal at the TV even with the KR10 turned off. Mine does this perfectly.

[amati5]

Thanks all for your replies.

I didn't want to use the composite video out but out of my curiosity I tried and it didn't work.
Anyway, I 'd done what Jagabo suggessted. Components from cable box to TV and S video out from cable box to recorder's S video in. Audio out from cable box splitted with Y connectors to both TV and recorder.
I tested and the db loss seems minimal.

While on this subject, is there a way to auto finalize when I do instant recording for 2 hrs. The feature "auto finalize when disk is full" doesn't work I guess because the disk wan't full after 2 hrs ??. The other choice "auto finalize when recording stopz" seems to work only with timer though I haven't tried yet.

thanks.

[vdotmatrix]

Can I use this D-kr-10 to record programs I have recorded on directtv DVR?
We have all this programming that I would like to watch else where in the house, but it is all locked up inthe DVR upstairs.

[Bron]

Can I use this D-kR-10 to record programs I have recorded on directtv DVR?
We have all this programming that I would like to watch else where in the house, but it is all locked up inthe DVR upstairs.

Sure. It will record anything you give it on it's inputs, so your DVR should work fine. Use S-Video (best) or composite video (yellow) from your DVR to the KR-10 (and the RCA audio (red and white)) and you should be good. You may want to start out with a rewritable DVD-RW and play around a bit until you get it how you like it. There are several settings you can tweak, though it looks pretty good right out of the box.

You can also use the "Satellite" mode which activates recording when it sees a signal on the input, a rare and pretty cool feature. Otherwise you can record manually (i.e. press record then play on your DVR) or via timer. This model has the usual VCR-like manual record mode where you press the button for 1/2 hr, 1 hr, 1.5, 2, 2.5, etc. up to 6 (or 8?) hours, I think.

Like I said, buy a few DVD-RW's to play with or just to use for temporary recordings and then burn to DVD-R once you are comfortable. The picture quality is very good - equal to the source usually.

Have fun and good luck!

Bron

[vdotmatrix]

wow. I read so many lack luster reviews of this model and had written it off and you write this very encouraging review....It is $99 bucks at Costco so this could be a really cool thing to get!!!! Thank you very much!

Vincent

[Bron]

Well, I'm happy with mine. What have you got to lose? Costco has a very friendly return policy if you don't like it. At $99, I think it's a steal.

Bron

[vdotmatrix]

Well, I'm happy with mine. What have you got to lose? Costco has a very friendly return policy if you don't like it. At $99, I think it's a steal.

Bron

A related question: is there a way to play a string of programming from the directtv-plus DVR recorded programming onto the DKR-10 or must we play everything individually-in ad nauseum? Thank you so much for your replies!! >V<

[Bron]

I don't have a DirectTV DVR but I suspect you have to play them one by one. I have several ReplayTV DVRs and that is the case with them. They have a "Save to VCR" feature but it's only one program at a time. I, too, have wished you could queue them up and burn several at once.