Description
About this item DVD and VHS Recorder with two way dubbing Records -R/-RW, +R/+RW Formats Playback: MP3, VCD, JPEG, Kodak Pic Has DV Input External tuner source is required to record television programming › See more product details
This model is capable of recording from DVD to VCR and from VCR to DVD.
To record from TV an external tuner is needed. External tuner not included with this product.
No built in tuner included.
“1) press the DVD button on the remote to ensure you’re in DVD mode.
2) Insert the disc.
3) Watch the bottom of the screen where it says “Loading” on the bottom left, and on the bottom right is a progress bar. Once that goes away, you should see a time amount on your display on the unit itself. This display should start with a minus sign, and it indicates how much time you have left. It must be greater than 0:00:00 to show there’s some recording time left.
4) Press the VCR button on the remote, press Play on the remote, get to the proper point of the tape, then press Pause on your remote.
5) Press Dubbing on the remote, and the dubbing to DVD should begin.”
WRT54G Power User –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just the Facts from a Videophile
Very happy with the DVD Recorder part so far. Have a Toshiba DR 430 DVD Recorder also, bought from Best Buy in late 2012. It has been great with 99% of my recordings. The DVR 620 and the DR 430 can interchange non finalized disc’s, like that. DVD recorders are getting hard to find and the cost’s are going nuts. Glad I got the DVR 620 just before Christmas for a great low price from Amazon on sale. The VCR plays okay, but my older Panasonic VCR units track my past recorded tapes better. (see update below)The picture quality stays excellent up to 2 hour mode SP. XP 1 hr is the best. If you go to 4 hr mode and beyond, digital artifacts show up quite a bit. Not recommended to record beyond 2 hr mode. If you want to copy your store bought VHS library.you can copy some copyguarded VHS tapes with the dub function, Others trigger a record error due to Macrovision. You will need additional means to copy those. Prerecorded tapes (TV) should dub fine with the dub function.UPDATE, Need to add to my review. I performed a tape path alignment on the VCR (being an old VCR tech) now all my prerecorded tapes play excellent on it as well as store bought. I’m changing my rating to 5 stars now that I got all the bugs worked out. DVD & VCR works great. Very satisfied.
B-dub –
5.0 out of 5 stars
exactly what i needed
i got this because my finance and i both have home movies on VHS. we both wanted to get them on DVD. we looked into someone doing it for us. they wanted between 10 and 20 bucks per tape depending on where we went. with 50 tapes between the two of us it made sense to get our own converter.the manual explains everything well. the process of converting from VHS to DVD (or if you want DVD to VHS…) was not very intuitive. doing the process a few times it became very easy.the converter automatically creates a basic menu for your DVD with text you choose to detail the different videos on the disk. you can create chapter marks so you can use the DVD skip function. i have the converter make those automatically for me.you can choose between 1 hour per disk, 2 hour, 4 hour or 8 hours. obviously the 1 hour per disk gives the best video quality. i usually use the 2 hour per disk setting.even when you are done converting, this still makes a great DVD VCR combo unit. it up-converts BOTH the DVD and VHS signals to 1080P over HDMI. this is slick since i no longer need to use a COAX cable for the VCR, now i have one HDMI cable for two devices.obviously the up converted VHS is still VHS quality, but it is nice that the TV runs in its native 1080P setting.overall does exactly what it should and does it well. no complaints.
2 people found this helpful
CCNA, MCSE Student –
1.0 out of 5 stars
Kris G
Unfortuneatly had a bad experience with this item I hope others can learn from. First, let me say I put a lot of stock in customer reviews here (have never purchased an item with few or poor reviews) and I see that this is a relatively highly rated device. This may very well be a quality product. It would appear that I simply got a dud. So here’s what happened: I went to copy a 25 year old vhs tape (home video) to dvd. Following step by step instructions from another reviewer (Packert) who had his own separate issues but found a workaround, I put the vhs tape in, I hear the tape transport system load, a second or two passes, and the machine turns off. I turn it back on and press the play button but nothing happens. I eject the tape and the cassette pops out. I pull the cassette out and a string of knurled and twisted tape remains caught in the machine. Very frustrating. However, I presumed this may have happened because the tape is old. After removing the raw tape from the vcr’s innards as carefully as I can and winding the slack back into the cassette, I try a brand new vhs tape and it does the same thing- doesn’t play, doesn’t dub and ejecting the cassette results in a tape spaghetti mess. I bought this DVR620 for the sole purpose of transfering about 25 to 30 old home video vhs tapes to dvd for the sake of their preservation and losing even a few seconds of memories, believe me, hits you right in the chest. As I mentioned before, it looks like I got a lemon and I’ll be returning this product for another one. (Two strikes Toshiba, and you’re definitely OUT.) The moral of this story? It may be worth the extra step of trying out a blank or otherwise worthless (Sweatin to the Oldies?) vhs tape before attempting to dub a priceless memory. Please do not repeat my mistake! FYI, calling the 800 number that came with the DVR620 for tech support led me to someone who said this item was no longer supported by them. They transferred me to another (department?) whose tech support suggested I return it to Amazon. Thanks Toshiba. And as usual, Amazon’s return process was easy and hassle free. I’ll be updating this review soon hopefully with good news…..
29 people found this helpful
Emilyku07 –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Toshiba DVD/VHS recorder
This is my first dvd recorder and I was a little skeptical based on the mixed reviews. I decided to give it a shot and I’m glad I did, it is just what I was looking for! Many people said the manual was hard to understand, so while I waited for it to be delivered, I downloaded the user manual to make sure I had the necessary cords and to give myself time to figure it out.The manual was pretty clear, the comments on here and google help too. Once it arrived, on time, I had it hooked up in about 15 minutes and was recording my first movie. I’m able to pause the recording during commercials so they don’t record onto the DVD and then rename different titles within the dvd, which is good when I want to record several tv episodes in a series. I used Memorex DVD + R and after finalizing, they worked in another DVD player and the Xbox. I’ve only had it since yesterday but I have successfully recorded 8 movies! There are still things I’m discovering how to do. I haven’t copied a tape to a DVD yet, but I am very happy with this recorder! I have already recommended this product and will continue to do so! Just be patient and take your time reading through the manual, I messed up at first but as long as you don’t finalize the DVD, at least mine, you can delete what has been recorded and try again.
ShoppingLady –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good Combo Unit!
It is hard to find a nice DVD VCR combo. This was my first DVD VCR combo that was able to record to both DVD and VHS. It works well and is easy to use. It comes with an instruction manual that is easy to understand. Everything you need to know is in there. It came with instructions to set it up with or without a cable box and was easy to set up. I use the DVD part the most and it works good. It is easy to set a timer recording. The remote is one of the easier ones to use. I also like that you can see the counter on the screen on the combo unit when you are watching or recording a DVD or VHS tape. This is a feature that not all DVD players have today. The screen on the unit can also display the time. It does not have a tuner built in to it, so it needs to be connected to a cable box to record TV programs. It can record to both DVD-R and DVD-RW, which is nice if your DVR on your cable box is full and you don’t want to miss a show. You can record on the DVD-RW, watch the show, then reformat the disc and use it again.
One person found this helpful
B. Newby –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent product for amateur use
My decision to buy the Toshiba DVR620 did not come lightly. I reviewed all of the major consumer reports for top models, weighed these opinions against those of customers who had purchased those units, and then again with my own expectations for a DVR. I must say that I am pleased with this purchase.I have had this product for 5 months. In that time, I have created over 30 dvds and 1 vhs. I have backed up old VHS movies, tv shows, and home movies. The directions provided with the unit are clear and easy to follow, though I would recommend keeping the book open in front of you for the first couple times you try something. The unit will up-convert what you are dubbing, which can be great if the source material is already high resolution, but if it isn’t then your dub will appear a little over-bright and grainy. You shouldn’t expect anything else, especially if you are dubbing old VHS to DVD. The formats are not particularly compatible.However, I find everything I dub to be perfectly watchable on my HD television. I can play any DVD I make on any player I own. The only problem I have found with playback on other players is that if I make my own chapter marks, these will not work on other players, just on the Toshiba. So save yourself a step and just pre-set the recorder to make automatic chapters. These are compatible.Finally, playing dvds and tapes in the Toshiba is fine. The only minor annoyance is a long load-time for dvds. Once it is loaded, though, it plays great.Overall, I would recommend this player to anyone who wishes to do some amateur dubbing in their own home.
40 people found this helpful
RYZEN –
5.0 out of 5 stars
A good quality and affordable combo unit from Toshiba
I purchased this as a gift so I wasn’t able to test out all of the features but I did get to test out the basic ones. First of all the recording quality is very good from the DVD recorder. In XP mode there is no difference in quality between the actual broadcast vs the recording. It looks identical.The image quality of DVD playback is also good. I did not test this unit with a HDTV so I don’t know what the upscaling is like but assume it is at least as good as competing models. The VCR could also record.The unit’s exterior design is elegant and simple and doesn’t look cheap. It’s not as tall as it looks in the pictures. The front bottom half is a door that flips down to reveal more buttons. The door has a shiny clear finish. This unit is very easy to operate out of the box, it doesn’t require much tweaking to do basic functions. The remote is nice too with lots of functions.The only thing that you should know before you buy this unit is the fact it DOES NOT have a built-in tuner so keep that in mind. You will need to connect a separate tuner, cable box, VCR etc. to record OTA broadcasts. Since it has no tuner, you cannot simply hook an antenna straight into this unit to record broadcasts.
678 people found this helpful
sg6jet6 –
4.0 out of 5 stars
thanks to the previous reviewers —
Purchased this DVD-Recorder only a few weeks ago. My purpose was to record some items on my cable DVR files before FIOS arrives on Tuesday and makes them lost foreverAfter a few tries and some assistance from Toshiba on the finalizing process, I managed to get the job accomplished. I only have one question which is that my recorded DVDs (DVD R+) seem to be in the wide screen format and not full screen. Probably something that I screwed up in the set up and they are watchable but if one of the experts knows what I can do (or should have done) it would be great to see it here before Tuesday.My next task is dubbing about 30 VHS tapes to DVR which I plan to start this week. I would like to thank the previous reviewers here for their step by step instructions which I have printed and will use as a guide to completing this task.Also thanks to the reviewer who was able to solve the mystery of the “NO BUTTONS ON THE FRONT” for methanks again to allI would recommend this product to anyone who wants to do the two things I wanted to doupdate 7/23/11dubbing is proceeding excellentlyno problems with the toshiba at allgood product
3 people found this helpful
PSK –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great little machine – exactly what I wanted!
I did a lot of research before I bought this product. I read several mixed reviews – the great and not so great. I decided to move forward with the purchase in spite of the less than good reviews. I am really glad I did! I am convinced that the people commenting negatively about this machine simply did not understand how to operate it. Granted, the instruction manual leaves a lot to be desired, but all of the online information from users plus the manual is more than enough to figure it out.I have almost 100 vhs and vhs-c tapes to convert to DVD. This would cost close to $1,500 to get done at a local warehouse store. I started dubbing them this past week – and this machine has already paid for itself multiple times over! It works great – and is simple to use.The one thing that should not be overlooked when your dubbing VHS to DVD and that is – fast forward the VHS tape to the very end and rewind it to the very beginning before dubbing. If it is still shaky – do it again. I had a few really old tapes that had not been view in years and they were very shaky. After doing this, it corrected the problem and they are dubbing over to DVD perfectly. Very happy with this purchase!
18 people found this helpful
RPS –
3.0 out of 5 stars
Just what I needed, then……
I read a lot of reviews on this product and found it to be an acceptable risk. The unit has performed, as expected VHS to DVD recording is almost painless. The recording speed is great, 8h on one DVD; I can record most of my VHS for a year on one DVD. There have been some issues with the VCR part. If a tape is defective it will shut down and do nothing. I have to reach in and move the tape then it will eject, also if it thinks there is copy protection on the tape it will shutdown stopping the recording at that point, quite troubling to say the least since I recorded the tape my self. The instructions are quite shall I say TMI; you don’t need most of the info. I found several reviews to be quite helpful and informative, so scan them all and read the ones that look promising. Over all a good but not great product. This is a dying media (VHS) so the product selection is dwindling. I could have possibly done better, definitely could have done worse. I had back surgery and needed something to keep me still. And this did it. Overall very satisfied. Now that I have used it for 1 year it has limitations in the VCR area. Mainly it just quit working with any tapes after 9 months. You put the tape in and it goes for a couple of seconds and turns off. When it’s turned back on it rejects the tape. This happens with New, Pre-recorded, and self recorded tapes. I have another VCR so I go around it but that is not why I bought it.
James –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Used but not obsolete
It’s nice to play and preserve old media
Hal –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great for recording and dubbing
I didn’t experience any of the problems some reviewers reported. It arrived in perfect condition, was easy to setup and best of all it works perfectly! The manufacture date on this unit was Sept. 2012, so it may have been improved since some of the others bought theirs. The remote works just fine, setup was easy and intuitive and it does a great job of recording both DVD & tape. I’m using it with an older TV without a digital tuner, so I have it connected to a digital to analog TV signal converter. My one bad experience was when I called Toshiba support with a question regarding something in the User Manual. The phone numbers included with the manual are confusing (in deciding which number to call) and when I finally got through to the automated call director I was asked to “speak” the first 3 numbers of the serial number. The first character was the letter “C” and it just could not understand the letter “C”. It repeated back all sorts of letters, noe of which was “C” and finally connected me with the wrong department. When I finally got a person on the line in tech support, the call volume was so extremely low that I had to ask him to shout I could understand him. The answer I was given turned out to be incorrect anyway. With the exception of the call to customer support it went just great. I would recommend this product highly! It works very well for me.
Marjie, Mother of 9 –
3.0 out of 5 stars
It Works, But Not Easily
My family tells me that I’m a dinosaur. I’m OK with that. Part of my dinosaur persona involves taping shows that are on when it’s inconvenient for me to watch, on VCR, because this dinosaur doesn’t want to pay for DVR service. So, when my old VCR died, I ordered this one, with the DVD player and recorder built in, so I only have one player, instead of 2.It works to tape, and it works to play DVDs. It is somewhat complicated to set up for recording – the first few times I did so, I had to have the instruction book in one hand and the controller in the other. It’s not at all intuitive, in other words. And once you’ve begun setting up to record something, you cannot finish and then continue watching something, because you must either shut the unit off so it will wait for the appropriate recording time, or cancel the recording. It’s needlessly complex.Lastly, the default for this appears to be that if a DVD or tape is inserted into the unit, it will start automatically, not allowing you to continue watching whatever might have been on the TV and decide when you want to start watching the DVD or tape.When this unit is turned on, the counter displays the time elapsed on the VCR tape or DVD, instead of the clock, even if you’re not watching it, or if there is not a tape or DVD in it. It also won’t show the display for the VCR or DVD status unless you are actively watching one or the other.All of these make this considerably less user-friendly than the DVD Recorder/VCR I have on my other TV, and needlessly complex. So, the unit works, just not easily.
One person found this helpful
DLay –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not bad, gets the job done quick and dirty!
Thanks to previous reviewers about how to record from VCR to DVD. This machine is awesome, I spent months and hours reading through reviews for a decent tv tuner to hook up my vhs player to a computer. Next spent more time researching and testing out various software to burn and create DVDs. After all this I realized, I don’t have that time to record to pc, then personalize each video on DVD. So I went with this to pretty much get the job done fast & dirty; and I am very satisfied with how easy and fast I’m getting the job done. I’m not personalizing each DVD created with this because typing each letter through the remote is very tedious. So I just use a Sharpie to label each DVD manually. I’ve got over 100 family / misc. vhs tapes to sift through and after a week of using this off and on; I’ve finished burning 22 DVDs and got rid of 10 vhs tapes that were either unrecoverable or not important.Tips:- Can change the default to auto Finalize the burnt DVD when space runs out on the disk.- Sometimes if the vhs tape is finished playing before the DVD runs out of space, you will need to manually Finalize the DVD- If you want to combine parts of multiple vhs tapes, don’t finalize the disk until your done recording to the DVD- Sometimes if nothing is recorded to the vhs tape for 3 minutes (I think) it will automatically stop dubbing from VHS to DVD.
4 people found this helpful
Mark S. Detwiler –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nice DVD recorder and VHS VCR
This unit replaces an older Panasonic recorder I had used extensively for the last 4 years that had stopped working. With the price of this Toshiba I thought I would take a chance on it despite some of the negative reviews I have read.Hook up was easy with the composite cables (in/out) and HDMI out to my high end Pioneer Elite AV receiver. I was able to get this unit functional for the most part without even reading the manual. I found the manual itself not all that difficult to understand when I needed to consult it.The DVD upscaling to 1080p was excellent. Even the VHS upscaling on my 52″ Philips was very good.The VHS HI-FI audio with plain old Dolby Surround is outstanding if feed through a quality AV Theatre system. This unit continues to breath new life to my VHS commercial tapes that cannot be obtained on DVD or Blu Ray.Recording quality to DVD if kept to SP mode or higher is very good to excellent.Overall, very satisfied with this product. However, with some of the reviews that have mentioned breakdowns after short periods, I plan a follow up review after 6 months or so.Update 04/21/2011: I’ve been using this unit extensively for over 6 months now for both recording and playback. It still works like it’s new. I have no complaints or problems. Some of those negative reviews about this fine machine are either about no RF input/outputs or no tuner. I say, check the specifications before you pluck down your hard earned dollars and buy! Toshiba also makes a DVD / VHS recorder with tuner and RF connections so there are choices. Some of the ratings dings on this product are a bit unfair!
13 people found this helpful
John E. Little –
3.0 out of 5 stars
Works great but the manual …
I bought his primarily to convert VCR tapes to DVDs. It does a good job with that once you get over the hurdle of the poorly done manual. It took me awhile to get to the idea that this procedure is called “dubbing” not copying (to me dubbing meant overlaying content). It also took some research to discover that you must set up the menu to show “VR” for your RW disks in order to edit the disk. This editing is difficult if you make a mistake and try to correct it (the problem is locating the proper point on the disk). I decided the effort was too great and tried to load th VOB files to my video editing software only to discover my machine could not “see” the files on the VR formatted disk (the manual does note this can be the the case). I reformatted the disk and used the “video” option this time and it worked out just fine. I would recommend that if you want to do any editing that you use your video editing software not the “VR” option. In the beginning I didn’t have an extra HDMI cable so I tried to use the Svideo connection for the TV monitor. After having somewhat less hair on my head I ended up calling the support people to discover that back on page 27 it shows you have to make a change on the menu to recognize that input. A simple referance to page 27 would have saved that. I should point out that am not a novice with video. I have used NLE editing software for years.All that said I would recommend the hardware but be aware of the nuances in the manual and firmware . BTW this Japanese company has very excellent USA support people who speak our language. Kudos for that!
22 people found this helpful
Whatever! –
3.0 out of 5 stars
S-Video Input???
In addition to being able to output audio/video from both the DVD and VCR via HDMI, I decided on this particular DVD/VHS recorder because it had an S-Video input. I needed something that I could connect to the S-Video output from my cable box (in an effort to avoid paying the extra cost of getting a recorder with a built-in tuner). Well, it didn’t work! I could record audio, but not video… which sort of defeats the purpose!!I can’t say for sure whether this particular unit was defective, but after a couple of hours of trying to get it to work, I gave up. It worked perfectly via the RCA-video input, but not the S-Video input. I tried a couple of different S-Video cables, and I also reread the entire user manual looking for possible answers to what might be causing the problem. I found one small “warning” about using S-Video, but unfortunately it’s actual meaning was totally vague at best. I can’t imagine why they would put a video input on a unit that wasn’t actually intended to be used for recording, but who knows! Likewise, I can’t image that my cable box would have an video output that wasn’t intended for outputting video, but again… who knows!At any rate, I ended up returning it. I bought it from Vann’s (via Amazon.com), and I MUST say that Vann’s customer service was nothing short of excellent! After calling them and explaining the problem, they sent me an e-mail (within five minutes) that included a link to print out a UPS return label. I have absolutely no complaints about Vann’s whatsoever, and I will happily order from them again.In summary, I can’t say for sure exactly which component might have caused the problem, but if you’re considering buying this DVD/VHS recorder for connecting via S-Video to your cable box, you might want to contact Toshiba and your cable company first.
6 people found this helpful
Jennifer B. Jacobs –
5.0 out of 5 stars
DVD recorder part of machine didn’t work but seller fantastic (not their fault) – refunded easily!
While it turned out that the unit dvd recorder did not work, that is NOT on the seller. The machine arrived in excellent condition – it looked like a new machine! It looked even better than the old one I have at home (that was 14 years old). The seller was super nice & communicative; offered a refund quickly and made the process painless & is an A+++++ seller. In fact, I purchased another machine (shipping soon) because of the type of person this seller turned out to be – figured I would try again! That is how much faith I had in this person!
Walter C. Scott –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Toshiba DVR 620
Bought this product to replace a Samsung combo player. I already oun a Toshiba DVD recorder, but needed a VHS machine to copy onto DVD. I liked the Toshiba DVD machine so I figured I would give it a try. Toshiba makes there machines easy to set up and easy to use. This machine is no exception. Just plug in the cables. Follow the set up instructions which are easy to follow. Great DVD and VHS playback. You must have a tuner to record off the air programs. This has been the case since high defination TV. We have the cable box for digital TV so it was no problem. I had to get a couple of spliters for vidieo and sound as I already have the other machine plug in. Could not find S spliters from morter stores. So thanks to Amazon I could get these items. I`ve done some copy work from VHS TO DVD It is not that hard. I find it easyer then some of the earlier machines i`ve ouned. Lets face it VHS is a thing of the past. It is harder to find these machines. If you need a machine to copy those old VHS tapes and record of the air program. Its a good machine and at a good price.
Big Brusher –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nice Unit / Good price
I bought this unit because it had good reviews and was a reasonable price. Nice looking design and looks very cool with my Samsung HD 37″ flat screen TV. Wasn’t sure if Toshiba made a good DVD/VHS system at the lower end but so far so good. I have a lot of old VHS tapes I like to watch so very happy that I can watch those now. Easy to set up the unit though it didn’t come with cables so I bought some at Target. Don’t know if that was a mistake or the unit didn’t come with any since I bought it ‘used like new’ from Amazon. Customer service was really nice about it and credited me the cost for new cables. The remote is straight forward and easy to handle. For a good unit to watch your movies and tapes on I’d definitely recommend this unit. Picture is bright and clear and resolution looks good, assuming your TV has good contrast and resolution. Mine does. The life span on any DVD/VHS unit in my experience is a couple of years at best assuming you treat them well which is why I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on it. Be sure to get a power surge unit to plug any and all your electronics equipment into because power surges will put an end to any electronics unit in a hurry unless your unit is specially protected! If you’re looking for a nice looking unit at a good price without a tuner this one will work well for you. Have fun!
2 people found this helpful
Kindler –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent product
Bought this to dub VHS tapes to DVD (DVD-R). I have Windows 7. This product worked perfectly right out of the box and really was a cinch to hookup to my computer, basically a small box the size of a deck of cards, 3 RCA cables connecting my VCR to the box (red, yellow & white on each end), then another wire to connect the box to my computer (USB port). The box also accepts other S-video hookup from the source, not just the 3 wires.Followed the Quick SetUp instructions for installing the software — no brainer — and within 5 minutes was ready to dub. The rest is intuitive and just a few mouse clicks, start the tape going and you’re off and running. A little screen shows the movie playing with sound and has some setting controls (which I didn’t mess with). Comes with a bigger manual (pdf) for fancier operations but didn’t need any of that. I encountered only 1 snag: when I went to register the product, I got a message saying there was no internet connection. So I opened up the internet on my computer, retried and no prob. Also, you may encounter what appears to be a couple of problems but they really aren’t. First, as my first tape was playing, on the bottom of the screen, there appeared to be a line of static, like my VCR wasn’t tracking properly. I adjusted the tracking on my VCR as it was playing to make the line disappear — which it almost did, but I overdid it and distorted the image completely. I aborted the dubbing and burned the DVD (click of a button), and when I watched the DVD there was no line at all. The second apparent problem — and this is REALLY important — is that if you’re watching the movie as it’s dubbing, the voice and video are out of sync. THIS IS NOT A PROBLEM — it will be resolved after the DVD is finalized.I honestly don’t know why people have a problem with this product. It really is easy to install and use. Also, when it comes to the quality of the results, what do you expect when you’re dubbing 20+ year old tapes that are probably being played on an obsolete VCR? Watch the tape by itself up close and you’ll see. Garbage in, garbage out. It won’t look as good on your TV as it does on the little image playing on your computer because the resolution of the little image is simply so much tighter, so don’t use that as your standard.I would DEFINITELY recommend this product. BE SURE TO GET ON HONESTECH’S WEBSITE AND DOWNLOAD ANY UPDATES.
3 people found this helpful
emalinx –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great product. External tuner allows more function
I had replaced a Toshiba DVR610 with a JVC DR-MV100B. The JVC was a pain. When the JVC conked I got this newer Toshiba DVR620. It works just like the DVR610. It reads and finalizes DVDs recorded on the old 610. This is a great recorderThe Toshiba has no tuner. I use the tuner of an older Sharp VC-H820 VCR. The Sharp tuner puts out a superior picture to the JVC and thus clearer recordings. It was a pleasure to stop using the JVC tunerI use tapes a lot because1. tapes start faster. DVD’s need to load and the screen blanks out so I miss moments of program2. Both Tapes and DVDs can fail. On the Toshiba I can record a tape and a DVD simultaneously. I can even record a third tape on my Sharp at the same time.Yes one could TIVO, but recording real time means I don’t have to do it later3. It is still easier to search tapes than DVDs, depending on the searchThe Toshiba and the Sharp both make excellent VCR recordings. JVC tapes were less good, although that could be the internal tuner, and it developed tracking problems.The Toshiba has great design1. I can change channels while recording because I use an external tuner. I did this a lot during 911 to grab news flashes. The JVC internal tuner will not allow channel change during record1. The Toshiba can ‘Display’ while recording or watching. In VCR setting this means I get the invaluable time and tape counter on the TV screen. The JVC would not do this and it drove me nuts. The tiny panel display on the unit is not useful2. the remote is logical. FED and REV are on the right and left of PLAY, unlike the JVC which puts FWD and REV above, to the left3. The Toshiba VCR screen display is clean and easy to read. The DVD screen display is smaller, and filled with detail I don’t need4. The Toshiba DVD thumbnails are smaller, so more fit on screen, and the graphics more elegant than the clunky JVC5. The tuner on the JVC changed channels so slowly you get stressed6. Having an external tuner is useful. If VCR dies I still have my tuner. if you don’t have a tuner, you might be able to buy a used VCR to use for a tunerGoing back to Toshiba is just a reliefAnd the Toshiba dubs tapes nicely to disc.
3 people found this helpful
Tesseract in Blue Jeans –
2.0 out of 5 stars
Limited Features for HDMI, Closed Captioning, Cablebox Images
Bought new. Has OUT-HDMIplug-in, but NOT an IN-HDMI plug-in. The DVD recorder only has IN-plugs for standard cables. Hence, if you want to record movies off your dish-or-cable service or DVR box, you cannot do so in HD. You can only record off your dish or cable box by routing standard (yellow-red-white) cables from the box to your recorder. This will result in recordings in standard definition, not HD.In addition, the data passed to the recorder is as-is video image. It does not pass the closed captioning data-stream separately. Hence, if you record a movie you are watching with the dish-or-cable closed captioning option on, it will play back EXACTLY as you saw it (i.e., the closed captioning will be on the screen and you won’t have the option to turn it off, because it was an “image capture” of what you were watching). Likewise, if you record a movie while the dish-or-cable closed-captioning off, it will play back on the recorded DVD exactly as you saw it (i.e., without closed captioning). The Toshiba recorded, although having a closed-captioning option on the Disk Display menu, is only available for store-bough (new) DVDs. It is not accessible for self-recorded DVDs. And since the dish-or-cable movie’s closed-captioning data-stream is not picked up by the Toshiba recorder — once again, you get a recorded image of exactly what you saw while watching the movie. If you watched it without closed captioning, you will not be able to “turn on” closed captioning on the DVD you just recorded. If you watched the movie with closed captioning, you won’t be able to “turn it off” on the recorded DVD. The recording is nothing more than a video image of exactly what was on your screen at the time of viewing.This also means if you have a caller-id feature or other pop-up info-buttons that are displayed on your TV while recroding — these too will end up on your recording!!!Same goes for screen formats. If you watched in standard format, or wide-screen format, or letter-box (or if you have HD cable or dish, you get two channels for the same broadcaster — one in HD and one in standard … each with different screen formats displayed). Since the Toshiba recorder does little more than just record exactly what was being viewed at the time … if you watched in reduced or standard format (i.e., a smaller screen image with a big black ‘border’ around the movie) — your recording will show ONLY the smaller image with a big black ‘border’ around it. Even if you watch the recording on a wide-screen TV, or worse, on a small-protable or laptop … you’ll still get that tiny-view with black borders.All in all — I DO NOT recomend the Toshiba recorder for anyone who has HD TV’s with HD dish or cable boxes and DVRS — and DEFINITELY NOT for someone who wants the option to view self-recorded DVD’s with closed captioning turned off (for hearing family members) or turned on (for hh family members). You just don’t have the option to turn on or turn off the closed captioning. You get what you saw, and ONLY what you saw, when you first recorded the movie.Final comment — BEWARE if you want to view DVD’s you already recored on different DVD recorders. I have — over 200 movies recorde
Toshiba DVR620 DVD/VHS Recorder, Black
d on Panasonic and LG recorders (both died after an approximate 2-year lifespan). These disks have the closed captioning embedded and I could (on other machines, or on my MAC) watch them with or without the closed captioning being shown. But, remember, the Toshiba doesn’t record or read the closed-captioning data stream on self-recorded DVD. Hence, although I can watch movies (DVD-R,+R,-RW, +RW) on the Toshiba (either those recorded on it, or on other machines) — the embedded closed captioning data stream (that existed on disks I recorded on other machines) is NOT read by the Toshiba. Hence, you can’t view the closed captioning that has been embedded as a data stream on any self-recorded DVD’s.I am strongly considering returning this new recorder. If you care about the features I mentioned, you might consider not buying this, or other models until you FIRST get WRITTEN confirmation from the manufaturer that the model you are considering has the features you expect.
One person found this helpful
S. Needham –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Works fine, once you figure it out.
My sole purpose for buying this machine was to convert VHS tapes to DVD. It accomplishes that task wonderfully. Of course, as anyone with a brain should suspect, the image quality on the DVD is only going to be as good as the image on the tape you are trying to convert – and the quality of that tape. If you are converting a commerical grade VHS tape in fairly good condition, the picture will be almost identical. If you are converting a junky home video that you taped on a cheap tape you bought at the grocery store 25 years ago, the image will reflect that. It will only capture the image – good or bad – that you give it. Don’t expect miracles. It can’t improve the source image itself.So far, the DVD’s I have created have played in the two other DVD players I’ve tried them on, and my computer. So as long as you finalize the disk, you should be able to play it on other machines as well.The only complaint I have, and the reason I didn’t give it five stars, is the instruction manual. It is not very well written and in some cases the instructions are plain wrong, such as the pages on how to convert a VHS to DVD. As another reviewer pointed out, you have to set the DVD up first, then queue the VHS tape, then start the dubbing. The manual says to set up the tape first. Nope. Machine won’t start dubbing that way. It will just hold the tape in pause mode.I haven’t tried to do many of the other features yet, but I suspect the manual might be wrong on a lot of things. If it is not working, find the Toshiba customer service number and try to get better directions – don’t assume the machine itself is broken – or that you are stupid. If you are following the manual and it is still not working – the problem is probably the manual, not you.Now that I’ve figured out the correct way to dub to dvd, I am very satisfied with the purchase and price.
5 people found this helpful
Ernest –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Avery good piece of equipment!
I was actually looking for the ‘sister’ product when I learned about this one.I had read numerous reviews offering suggestions as to what would be a good product to buy for DVD recording.I originally did not want to buy a VHS-DVD combo, just a ‘stand-alone’ DVD recorder was all I wanted.I have numerous VHS-C;and VHS tapes that I wanted to burn to DVD – I was already using a lower end USB Capture device on my computer, but it looked as if the quality was lacking more than I wanted, or, expected – which is why I turned to searching for a DVD recorder.Now, the DVD recorder I was looking for, shot WAY UP in price since last year when I ran across it for the first time.It went from around $140.00 to hundreds of dollars!!!!But this piece of equipment was newer and a whole lot less!!I think that I paid around $140.00 for this one, and it was a combo!!!Now, I have had it for a few months and I have burned about 12 or more discs so far. The only problems that I had with burning was me!I made a couple of errors, but these ‘mistakes’ still will play on a computer, just not on a DVD player for TV.I have used the player to play DVD’s – one feature that I like is the ‘REPEAT’ where I can have my disc play continuously for hours (and I have numerous times).One feature that I would like to highlight is……THE INSTRUCTION MANUAL!!!!Yes, that’s right…THE PRINTED WORD! The primary means of communication for centuries!!This manual goes step-by-step, and VERY THOROUGHLY..gives you detailed instruction as to how and WHY you do what you do to record etc..It also gives you an understanding as to certain ‘how’s’ & ‘why’s – it tells you what you can expect from certain types of discs concerning playability – it tells you what type of quality you can expect from recording a disc at 1 hr or 8 hours.I read practically the whole manual.I must say it was a surprise and a ‘joy’, to learn that there are still some people that practice true ‘quality’ when it comes to educating a consumer and making sure that the company did what it could in telling the consumer how to properly use their product!This is the one main reason why I rated this product so high – not only is it a great product in features and productivity, but also in teaching the consumer how to use their product!Great job!
3 people found this helpful
IBDB –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love my Toshiba!
Recently purchased this Toshiba and am so satisfied with it! I had no problems with prompt delivery and it was so easy for me to hook up to my current system which includes my satellite DVR and my other component. I didn’t have to read the instruction book, just the short leaflet for quick hook up! (I wanted to hurry up and use it right away!)I am now reading the book sent with it and am finding new ways to operate and perform certain tasks. It’s simply written and easy to understand. I’ve had no mechanical problems whatsoever with it as some others seem to have experienced and I hope mine continues to be an outstanding product! It has played my DVD’S that my others have not been able to do, so that makes me really happy! The clarity of the DVD’s that I’ve recorded on are awesome even though I don’t have an HD television, I couldn’t ask for better quality. I have also transferred some of my old VHS’s to some new DVD’s and they’re just as clear as if brand new! I’m so impressed! I have only one minor “complaint” and that’s when the VCR starts to play after the tape is inserted, it makes a loud “clunk!” Liked to scared me simple when I first used it! But I wasn’t expecting that sound and it made me wonder if the VCR was going to work, but it did, beautifully! It records effortlessly and quietly, too. I would recommend this product to anyone looking for a fine DVDR/VCR Combo. It’s just simply great to have! I’m so glad that I bought this particular unit after researching so many for weeks before settling on this. I hope that others will have the same, excellent experience as I have had so far!One thing in particular which made my decision easy was the fact that Amazon made me feel reassured that they will help me in any way with this item if I’m not 100% satisfied. That means a lot to me as a consumer.I’ve never had a bad experience with any of Amazon’s employees and they’ve been more than helpful at times when I needed it the most…and it wasn’t about the quality or complaints about any products I’ve purchased, it’s been with technical help on my end! Seems to me that they went the extra mile when they were under no obligation to do so, and believe me, that means a lot to me.So, all way round…I am very satisfied with everything. No complaints here!
One person found this helpful
Jill –
1.0 out of 5 stars
Trouble getting DVDs to play on other devices and NO TOSHIBA TECH SUPPORT
EDITED…Less than 3 months old (still under warranty, but too late to return to Amazon), the VCR stopped working…TERRIBLE skipping. At first, I thought it was the tape. After trying several, I put them in another VCR, and they played just fine. Of course, Toshiba has no tech support to call…you have to go online. I went to their support at Toshiba/Acclaim and clicked on “chat.” I found out that Toshiba HAS NO REPAIR POLICY. Products under warranty have to be returned to them (at customer’s expense) for replacement. As this model is no longer available, they can’t replace it. They offered a coupon for the price of the unit plus shipping. Yeah, right, like I’d EVER want another Toshiba product.I ended up connecting an old VCR to this Toshiba unit, played the tapes in it, and used the DVR to create my DVDs. What a joke, but at least, I’m getting my desired DVDs.STAY AWAY FROM ANYTHING TOSHIBA!!!!!!!I purchased this VCR/DVR to dub old family VHS tapes. After dubbing the first video (using a -R DVD), it played perfectly in the Toshiba DVR620. However, it wouldn’t play in my other DVD player or in my PC. I tried calling the Customer Support number that came on an insert with the DVR. After pushing the number for technical support, a recording came on telling me to go online to their website. I couldn’t find an answer to my problem online, so I called another number that I found on their website. After going through the “press one for xxx, press two for yyy…..” I got ahold of a female with a foreign accent. She asked me if my problem was warranty related, I told her “no,” it was a technical problem. She then told me that Toshiba has no phone technical support, and I needed to refer to Toshiba’s website. By this time, I was highly irritated and was going to send the unit back to Amazon.After cooling down, I thought I’d try a couple of other things. Others on the internet who had experienced the same problem pointed out the the DVD had to be manually finalized before it could be played in other devices. I inserted the DVD back into the DRV, and went through the setup option to finalize the DVD. Once again, no luck.I then thought I would try a +R disk. I dubbed the video, but before finalizing it, I reviewed the entire group of setup options. Under “Recording,” there was an option for “Recording Compatibility.” It was the last option under “Recording,” so I cursored down to it and hit enter. It was set at “No” so I changed it to “Yes” and finalized the DVD. Voila, it played in my other DVD player and my PC. Because this was a +R disk, I wasn’t sure if success could be attributed to the disk type or the compatibility setting. So next I dubbed another tape using a -R DVD. Again, it played in my other player and my PC.Looking through the owner’s manual, the section in “Setup” regarding “Recording” doesn’t even mention the “Recording Compatibility” option. I’m wondering what the hell is going on with Toshiba…placing a Customer Support phone number in with the product and then eliminating that support, referring customers to a lousy website that doesn’t even address entered issues, and enclosing an owner’s manual that doesn’t accurately reflect the product’s options. My advice, don’t buy Toshiba stock.Because I finally figured out how to dub a DVD that can be played in other devices, I am happy with the product (as long as it doesn’t break before I get all my tapes converted). I took one star away because of the TERRIBLE customer support from Toshiba. Shame on them!!!
4 people found this helpful
Lothar S. Konietzko –
2.0 out of 5 stars
Ate my VHS tapes after 36 burns
I bought this product after reading the reviews a year ago. I purchased this product in June of 2009 and it sat in the box for 11 months . . . I was too busy to play with a new toy and read the manual that is thick. I started converting my VHS tapes to +R DVD’s around May of 2010, so almost a year after purchase. After about 38 or so burns the player started to eat my VHS tapes on ejection. This happened three times, the first two the tapes came out and no problem. I was able to burn another DVD problem free than went to transfer another tape, a Maxcell tape with a TV recording on it, the player shut off and when I turned it back on and tried to eject the tape it had been eaten by the Tosh1ba gremlins. The tape is currently hanging out of the deck and can not be removed without forcing it. Something is not right if after only 38 transfers the deck starts eating tapes. This deck was never used for viewing VHS tapes, it was bought with only one purpose in mind, transferring my wall of VHS tapes into DVDs. As a teacher, this is really important to me because I have things I can’t replace. I decided to look at warranty info and was not happy. Toshiba gives a 90 day warranty on defective issues, than a day 91 to day 365 replace the product for a fee product exchange program. I emailed Toshiba 3 days ago about my problem and got no reply so I called them today. After talking with a customer service rep. and explaining that this product has had very little use was given the option of sending it in for replacement at a cost of $105. Not happy with that I called VISA (1-800-VISA-911) and they would have been happy to replace the product because the double the warranty of a product purchased with a VISA card. Well that would = 180 day warranty so that didn’t’ work. I’m VERY DISPLEASED with Toshiba at the moment and would warn people to be careful in purchase of this model. Prior to the tape eating issue the deck was operating fine and was pretty ease to use after a few learning curves were over come. The manual isn’t bad but could have improvements made to it for ease of using features. Overall I would give this product a 2 out of 5. I’d make sure to buy an extended warranty for a product like this in the future and I’d call VISA if I used a credit card to purchase and even consider their 5 year protection plan for a fee. It seems the companies don’t care about the consumer because lets get real, a 90 day warranty doesn’t speak much for quality of a product does it. There is a real good economics lesson in this for my students for the upcoming school year and I look forward to teaching it.
7 people found this helpful
John B. –
3.0 out of 5 stars
Terrible customer service
I’m giving a 3-star review at this time. I just hooked up my DVR this morning. Following the manual did not work to go through the original setup, setting the clock, etc. However, after pushing the SETUP button, I was able to set things up; the manual said nothing about using that button for the start-up.I tried to get written proof of the warranty, which appears to be 90 days, according to Toshiba’s website. I was unable to register my product, evidently one can’t register DVRs. Instructions were to fill out a form if one was unable to register a problem and I did so. I could not submit the form as I got an error that my email address was not valid. So, I called and talked to a cust. serv. rep. With the too-common Indian accent, I had some difficulty understanding her. She did get me to a page for DVR620 support, but there was no information there on the warranty. I put in the model number on a page she directed me to and a small window came up showing the warranty, 1 year, for the remote control for the DVR. I was unable to find info on the warranty for the DVR and she kept telling me to put in the model number. I got fed up and told her the website was useless as was her advice, thanked her for nothing, and hung up. I will think long and hard before I ever buy another Toshiba product, and I told her so and I also said than on the survey I filled out after trying to register my product on-line and find out written warranty information before I called.I would give Toshiba a 1-star rating for customer service. I gave this 3-star rating as I did start to play a DVD in the unit and it worked just fine. It is nice just having to connect one cable, an HDMI cable, for the unit. I will probably provide another review after I have some experience with copying some VHS tapes to DVD. I just can’t believe the impossibility of getting something in writing regarding a warranty and can’t believe Toshiba won’t let customers register a DVR. I’ve never had a problem with any other electronic device I have ever bought,.
One person found this helpful
davequ –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Works very well – comes with a poorly-written manual
I have had this model for a few months now, and I am surprised at how well it worked.I have successfully copied old VHS content (movies, sports etc) that I had recorded years ago on various VHS recorders. I have also successfully recorded DVR recordings to dvd as well. Some of these recordings were imo “priceless” as to my knowledge they cannot be viewed or purchased anywhere, due to greed and fighting over things like music publication rights, etc. Now I have them, no matter what model of DVR ends up in my house.I doubt I would have been successful and would have been terribly frustrated had I only the manual to rely on. Luckily there were users like G.B Packert “http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A3HORC76QQTIBW/ref=cm_cr_dp_pdp” and others who posted all the “how to” information necessary to operate the recorder properly. Hats off to all of you.It’s all been said by previous posters and I would simply be repeating what has already been said, so in short:Bottom line – The Toshiba DVR620 DVD/VHS Recorder does exactly what I wanted it to do – record/dub to DVD all my old VHS tapes and non-HD DVR content – and it does it well. When the dubbed DVDs are “finished” properly, they play just fine in my blu ray player. Definitely worth the $165.99 I paid for it. Now if only Toshiba would get a decent tech writer to redo the manual.If you’re looking to dub VHS tapes to dvd format or save old non-HD DVR content to dvd – this is the machine to get. I will not post on this item again unless I have a problem or a new issue. 4 stars (took one away for the manual)
3 people found this helpful
Sean’s Amazon site –
4.0 out of 5 stars
second review
My DVR620KU was delivered yesterday. I set it up with component cables rather than an HDMI cable as my main purpose for buying the unit was to transfer old vhs tapes onto DVD’s. I was told by customer support that the component connect would be better for this purpose than HDMI cables. The manual is pretty good with step by step instructions, I recorded several VHS tapes to DVD’s and I was successful at first and fairly pleased with the quality of the transfer. Too bad most store bought VHS movies are copyrighted and thus can not be transferred onto DVDs. I transferred onto DVD-R discs thus it important to manually finalize them after doing so. After successfully transferring several vhs tapes in the middle of one of the tapes the tracking of the machine went bad. I tried several solutions including putting the recorder back to factory defaults. It didn’t work and now previous vhs tapes that I successfully viewed on my VIZIO 60 inch HD TV are now not viewable due to lack of tracking and what appears to be a snowy screen. I will call Toshiba support on Monday and if they can’t correct the problem I am sending the DVR back/SECOND REVIEW: I am upgrading my review to four stars at this time. This recorder did track most of the vhs tapes that I recorded to dvr without a problem and the quality on the dvd is good. As the unit has a one year warranty I will continue to dub tapes to dvds and hopefully will not have further issues.
One person found this helpful
Customer M –
4.0 out of 5 stars
DVD + VCR Combo Unit
I’m not an electronic wizgeek. But I completed a two year program in electronics and worked as an electronic tech for several years.Toshiba DVR620: this has no Tuner but the nearly identical – but higer priced – Toshiba DVR670 does, and so the 670 will tune in Cable stations without a cablebox (i bought a DVR620 and DVR670).These machines are a pain in the neck to set up and not designed to be user friendly. The Manual is a nightmare. It can’t be trusted word for word, and is poorly organized. The Manual should be corrected/edited and offered as an online download so that you don’t have to keep calling Toshiba. When you call Toshiba (and you will) they are helpful but that too is time and work.I don’t dub much from Tape to DVD although I tried it. It works OK. I use the DVR670 to tape off cable…and there it works OK. But there is no hard drive so you are recording to DVD or tape. The DVR 620 is mainly a space saver that allows me to play back tape or DVD in one machine.Conclusion: I’d say the Toshiba DVR’s work OK provided you’re patient and willing to nerd around for your viewing pleasure. I just don’t think that there are many better units out there…I had a great experience buying the DVR620 from Amazon after a horrible experience with Discounts Jungle (a seller offered by Amazon where I originally bought a DVR620). My experience with Discounts Jungle: they sold me a used unit for new, and worse, it was defective out of the box. I would avoid them. But because I bought the item from Amazon I had Amazon as a backstop warranty and I feel confident that they will square things with Discount Jungle…eventually.
4 people found this helpful
Pamela –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Does the Job of Converting VHS to DVD
I bought this recorder primarily to simplify converting VHS tapes to the DVD format. Another reviewer here helpfully provided step by step directions for doing this. I was hoping to not have to hook it up to a tv to just dub tapes. However, after fiddling with it for awhile, I realized that the setup and some other menus are tv-screen viewable only, so hooking it up to a tv is a must. It’s better anyhow to have it hooked to a tv since on some tapes you really need to be able to view what you are recording.I would say it took me a couple of hours to work my way through the whole process and produce my first copy, but I am pleased with the results. The quality is as good or better than the original tapes, and with practice the process is will be pretty simple. It’s also nice to be able to add titles and to record from multiple tapes on one DVD easily.I copy audio tapes to MP3 occasionally on my computer using an audio cable and free computer software(CDex), and it can be a bit tedious. I’m guessing from this experience that using this player to dub VHS to DVD tapes is less difficult than going the computer route. It costs more, but you also get a nice player and recorder for both VHS and DVD tapes in the process.Of course this player/recorder performs many other functions, but I have not tested these as of yet. I have it hooked up to a tv that didn’t have any VHS or DVD playing equipment, so it is a nice addition to my family of peripheral devices as well as a backup player for my main devices.
4 people found this helpful
M. H. –
1.0 out of 5 stars
Big mistake.
I was a little hesitant to buy this after reading some of the negative reviews, but there aren’t many VHS-DVD recorders out there, so I crossed my fingers and bought one. I had owned some Toshiba products before with good results but I guess things there have changed. I wish I could have seen how this worked for copying tapes to DVD but I wasn’t even able to get that far. I used this thing about three times over a month to watch some tapes (it did the job, but VHS player function was no-frills; my 15 year old VHS player had more features). It sat in standby mode for another week or so, then I went to turn it on again. I pressed the power button on the remote, the DVR made a funny noise, and all the lights on the display went out- as if a fuse had blown I tried unplugging it and letting it sit for awhile; I could plug it back in after waiting and the lights would come on for about two seconds, then things blacked out again. I’ve never had an electronic device fail like this after such a short time. My last two VCRs did the same thing, but after 15 YEARS.I tried calling Toshiba’s “tech support” number included with the product (“Need help? Please contact us for help if you require assistance…”) but all it did was direct me back to their website, where I was told I would have to ship it in for repair at MY expense. And then they would send me another USED unit. Sorry but I thought I paid $200 for a NEW, WORKING device…?If this thing failed in basically brand new condition, then it is bound to fail later down the road too, especially considering all the other negative reviews. On top of that, I would be out the product for who knows how long getting it serviced, and each time would cost ME more money. On top of THAT, the warranty has gone from one year to just 90 days parts AND labor! I can understand how sometimes products malfunction, and might be willing to give a product a second chance. But it sounds to me like Toshiba can’t even stand behind their own product, and their customer service is awful, if you can say they have any at all. I shouldn’t have to shell out more money after only a month to fix an obviously defective product when I already paid for a product that works! Get a clue, Toshiba- do things right or quit making this junk altogether!Anticipating nothing but more problems with this and wanting nothing more to do with Toshiba or this headache, I was having some buyer’s remorse. Luckily Amazon DOES have excellent customer service and even though I was a little over the 30 day return deadline, they agreed to refund my money. I guess I was actually lucky mine failed so early and I could still do something. It will be easier for me to use the money to pay Costco to copy my tapes and pick up another VCR at Goodwill!
4 people found this helpful
FresnoDick –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wrong remote; otherwise does the job as expected
This unit works much like an earlier Toshiba that I had, except for the addition of the VHS feature, which is not something I really wanted or needed. However, I decided to test it for dubbing. The final step in the instruction is to press the “Dubbing” button. My remote had no such button. Looking in the manual, the picture of the remote shows a button with that label, but it’s something else on the remote, and does not work for dubbing. In frustration I copied the VHS tape to DVD using my old VCR.Some time back I bought a second unit for a backup and stored it for future use, so I got out the remote and it DOES have the dubbing button. In other words, Toshiba put the wrong remote in my first unit. Probably too late to get it replaced, and I do have the backup.Otherwise, the unit works fine for creating DVDs which is all I ask of it. Like its predecessor, it has small letters on a dark background, so is hard to read from where I sit when using it, but eventually most actions are fairly automatic.Since it seems that DVD recorders are disappearing, and what is available is outrageously overpriced, it might be a good idea to pick up one of these at a little over $200 if you plan to make DVD recordings for some time into the future.
Rio –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Saved my original wedding vhs for prosterity…
VHS to dvd recording machines used to be plentiful at Costco. They’re no longer available. Luckily Amazon’s still got a few reconditioned machines out there for sale. Was able to record my original wedding vhs for our 30th Anniversary. One of the two vhs tapes is already skipping. The other surviving tape copied very nicely via this Toshiba VCR 620.There’s no included manual, though previous product reviews describe the recording procedure correctly, verbatim. The only thing I’d add at the beginning of instructions is to make sure the recorder/tv screen show “Line 1”. Then simply push dubbing, record your vhs, then finish with “finalizing dvd”. Remote control on mine is fussy, but got it working. Guests were amazed seeing themselves 30 years earlier, pounds lighter, no skin wrinkles, no gray hairs, and a wonderful moment in time…
2 people found this helpful
JDE –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Quality!
I have been very happy with my Toshiba recorder. I had some very old VHS tapes of the kids that I’ve now safely recorded to DVD. The dubbing feature makes it very, very easy. One of the cool features that I discovered was on the tape counter. I’d put in a DVD recorded on an old cam-corder that I’d only recorded about half way through. As a matter of practice to prevent tracking issues, I went to fast forward to the end of the tape and then rewind before starting my dubbing. I noticed that the tape counter stopped at 54 minutes even though the tape continued to fast forward. Then I realized that the counter was displaying only the time that was recorded–not the “blank” tape. This was great in helping me determine quickly if two tapes would fit on my single, 2-hour DVD. You can also “title” segments recorded on the DVD and “finalize” the disk so that it can play on other DVD players. Although it’s not a tuner (you can’t record directly from cable), it has lots of input formats. One of the great things is that it has composit input ports right on the front so you don’t have to move it to plug in a camera. When it’s turned off, it displays the time. For me, that’s another plus. The instuctions are well written. For example, when demostrating a feature they not only provide clear step-by-step procedures, they also provide a graphic of the remote showing the exact buttions that will be used for all the steps. It accepst DVD RW+ or – but I’ve had best luck with DVD R+ since I’m not planning to re-record my creations.
One person found this helpful
M. Dillard –
3.0 out of 5 stars
DVR 620 Does not work with Comcast DTA
I have 2 Toshiba DVR620’s and one older DVR610. The DVR610 Worked fine for me. I have it on a Comcast cable box and can record on DVD just fine. I have never tried the dubbing feature so I can’t speak to that. I bought a DVR620 for my mother’s birthday in October. She needed both a VCR and DVD player and I wanted her to be able to record as well. My mother also has Comcast with a cable box. I had problems with this DVR in getting it connected so that the DVD worked. When I finally got it all connected, the DVD tray would not open. I had to return it to Toshiba and get it fixed for $70 plus the return shipping because the labor warranty is only 3 months. The parts warranty is one year. Otherwise it worked ok. I haven’t had a chance yet to get it connected back up and see if the DVR works with the DVD recording. Then I bought a Toshiba DVR620 for my bedroom TV. Recently, in Atlanta, Comcast has been converting to all digital. I had to get a Digital Adapter (a DTA not a full cable box) for the TV in my bedroom. Now before I bought the DVR620, I knew that the digital conversion would take place. Having done the conversion already at my mother’s house, I knew that I would have the digital adapter. I called Toshiba before buying the DVR620 to make sure DVD recording would work with a digital adapter from Comcast. I was told yes. So after buying the DVR 620, I now find out from Toshiba support that DVD recording will not work with the digital adapter. I have to have the full cable box because you need the red/white/yellow audio and video inputs on the cable box for DVD recording to work. So be sure if you buy this unit and want to record on DVD that you have a full cable box and not the digital adapter.
6 people found this helpful
moviesmusicfan –
1.0 out of 5 stars
Piece Of Junk
You know there might be a problem when you read that about half praise the product and half call it a piece ofjunk. I didn’t read the reviews until after I purchased it, by that time I couldn’t cancel it (the one thingabout Amazon that’s either good or bad is that they process your order right away) it was already in the shipping stage. I was hoping to be the half that praised it. When I received it, I checked the DVD and VCR and it played good. A little over two weeks later, I started having problems with the DVD (which some reviewers stated that was when something started to happen to them). I read the troubleshooting section and it didn’t have the problems I was experiencing. I at first thought that it might be the disc that I was watching (I didn’t watch that one for many years and thought maybe something was wrong with the disc that I forgot about). When I started watching a disc that I knew had nothing wrong with it and the problems were happening, I knew that it was the machine. I couldn’t return it right away so in the mean time I would use the VCR to have less wear on the my old one (I did not use the VCR since I checked it when I received it). I put a tape in and about five seconds after it started to play, it went into fast search mode without me touching anything. I stopped it, ejected it then put it back in. the same thing happened. It was a movie that has not been released on DVD yet and it might never be so there was no way I wanted to play around with the VCR part (again some reviewers stated that the VCR ate their tape, I did not want that to happen to me). At that point, it had to go. I called Amazon and by the time I got off the phone, the return label was emailed to me. I had absolutely no problem with Amazon (I have been dealing with Amazon for a long time and the one thing a can say is they will bend over backwards to please their customers. I have every respect for them).The one negative of returning this item is that I had to bring it to a UPS store (I don’t drive so that was a bit of a hassle). I know prices for a DVD recorder have gone down in the last few years but the price for this unit is too cheap for all that it states that it does. I thought, wow, this is cheap for a DVD recorder and VCR. But, you know the old saying; you get what you pay for. So the bottom line, for me, is this unit is junk.
40 people found this helpful
DianeNYS –
5.0 out of 5 stars
This worked out great for us!
This came within 2 days of ordering (!!!!) and though it’s not as easy to use as 1-2-3, the posts on this site giving advice has been invaluable to our usage of it. So far, so good…Tricky to figure out how to rig it up with our multiple TVs (some with cable boxes, others without) and other DVD players (one TV has a built-in DVD player) to try to copy a DVD to a DVD (we are still working on this), but it does great copying from very old VHS tapes to DVDs. The 1080p upgrade feature is WONDERFUL!!! And these new DVDs are MUCH better quality that the VHS tapes they are copied from. We do appreciate this :)Also, I ordered this “used” from the Amazon Warehouse, saving a LOT of money. The description for the exact one I ordered from the list seemed to suggest that the only problem was going to be the box; that the item would be in “good” working order. I took the chance, and what do you know? For the very low price we paid, the item turned out not only to be brand new (truly not “used” at all!), and but also to be the upgraded DVR620KU item (instead of DVR620) with all appropriate paperwork and peripherals. The ONLY “flaw” was that it was packaged in the DVR620 BOX, and that box was just a bit battered, not a problem with the shipping of it or anything. This is great! I’ll use the Amazon Warehouse option again when the item description leads me to believe that the item is very close to new and unused. But, of course, this is just our situation, and your results may vary 🙂
One person found this helpful
Que Pasa –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Perfect for VHS to DVD Copying
The delivery took longer than I would have liked; however, it did arrive within the time window. I purchased this item for one reason ONLY: to convert old VHS tapes to DVD. I have no knowledge of other uses of the machine.I previously paid almost the price of the Toshiba DVR620 to have 15 VHS tapes “professionally” copied, plus I had to wait for over a month for my tapes/dvds to be returned.My TV monitor is connected to the Toshiba by HDMI, so no time spent sorting and connecting RCA cables. Thanks to reviewer “G.B. Packert” I hardly looked at the owner’s manual yet I was set up and copying DVDs within 30 minutes. I have now copied dozens of tapes with no problems.The only downside is that transfer from VHS to DVD is done in “real time”. This is not a big problem since I get to watch my old tapes while I copy them to DVD and there are some I have not seen in years (decades), so it’s not too tiresome to wait and watch during the transfer.Some reviewers commented that the remote was required to eject the tape/dvds – this is not the case. There is a hinged front cover that will open to reveal most all functions that are found on the remote. I leave the front cover down all the time on mine.Because “BG Packert” did not completely idiot proof his/her steps I have clarified/modified and added to those steps in order to make the VHS to DVD process a little clearer (at least for a non-techie like me). My changes are spelled out below (and I liberally quote directly from BGP’s review throughout my comments).1. Because old videotapes may not track well when they have been unused for several years, fast forward to the end of the tape and rewind the tape before copying it. The recorder may refuse to copy a tape if it does not track well.2. Eject the videotape. Apparently Toshiba DVRs (both the 610 and 620) can balk if the videotape is inserted before the DVD.3. Push the DVD button and insert the blank DVD. Allow blank DVD to load.a. By-the-way “Verbatim DVD-R” disc’s work fine for making copy to DVD.4. Press Record Mode (not Record) button (on the remote) and set the speed (typically use: “SP”). The monitor will go blank after selection is made; or, if you press “Enter” on the remote.5. Press the “Setup” button (on the remote) and select “General Settings” then “Recording” (on the monitor).6. From the “Recording” menu (on the monitor): select “Dubbing Mode”;a. Then Select: “VCR > DVD”.7. To get out of the “Recording” menu, press “Set-Up” button again. (Monitor goes to blank blue screen.)8. Press the VCR button and insert the videotape.9. On the remote, press “Play” and then “Pause” (not Stop) at the point slightly before you wish to start copying. Press the “Dubbing” button to begin the process.10. When you want to stop dubbing, press “Stop” on the remote. (Allow “Writing to disk” process to finish. You can then insert another videotape to dub onto the same DVD, until the DVD is full.) If you replace the VHS tape: press “Dubbing” to begin copying again on the same DVD.11. To add titles onto the DVD disk: Using the “Top Menu” button (on the remote) select the part (Chapter) of the new DVD you wish to title then press “Enter”.a. Then (using the monitor) select Edit to create your Title. (Refer to pp 76-77 in the Owners Guide for how to use the remote to create titles.)b. After naming the Title press “Enter” and then select “yes”c. Press “Return” button on remote, 2-3 times until blue screen appears. (Allow “Writing to disk” process to finish.)12. “Finalize” the DVD (after adding titles): Press the “Setup” button (on the remote), then select “DVD Menu” and then “Finalize” on the monitor. (Finalizing may take a few minutes). This step is not required but failure to follow it may result in your new DVD being unable to play on another machine. Also using a DVD-RW disc may allow you change titles after it’s finalized.When finished with the “12 Steps” you are good to go… unless, you want/need additional copies. If so, you will need a program to copy DVD to DVD (unless you want to re-copy your VHS tape again).To do copies: I bought “easy CD & DVD burning” by Roxio. While available from Amazon I did not buy from Amazon, because I needed it immediately. The program is simple and easy to use for a novice, such as myself. Overall I was very pleased with Roxio’s “easy CD & DVD” except for one thing: If you want to copy a single “title/chapter” that you’ve created (and not the entire DVD) Roxio will copy without sound (!). You will get a message that “AC3 codec” is not supported. Roxio’s tech support will tell you to buy “Creator Nxt 3”; but reviews on Amazon (for that product) convinced me not to waste the money.Actually, if you intend to copy the entire new DVD (not just selected titles/chapters) “easy CD & DVD” works perfectly. In my case, when I only wanted one “chapter/title” (with sound) and not the entire DVD I recopied just that portion of the VHS tape (again) to DVD. No problem, just took more time.I also found that it takes approximately 3 hours to play, convert, title and copy each standard SP (2 hours recording) VHS tape. My old VHS tapes were already well labeled with subject and time markers. If your tapes are not already labeled you will need additional time to locate the places at which you want add your title/chapters (step 11 above). Alternatively, you can let the machine set chapter marks at a specified time interval (5, 10 minutes, etc.).SUMMARY: For what I bought this for (converting VHS tape to DVD) the Toshiba DVR620 DVD/VHS Recorder works perfectly.
38 people found this helpful
Barbara –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Recorder works fine
Toshiba-DVR620-DVD-RecorderI have had the Toshiba-DVR620NU-DVD-Recorder for over 4 years (Amazon). I use it to transfer recorded DVR programs (from Dish) either to a VCR tape or a DVD also from a VCR tape to a DVD. It works fine. I assume that you have connected it up so that programs go thru the recorder and to your TV.I buy my DVD’s in bulk at Amazon (Verbatim 4.7 GB Recordable Disc DVD-R 100-Disc Spindle 95102) and sleeves in bulk at Amazon (Americopy 100 Paper CD Sleeves with Window & Flap). You can also buy new VCR tapes at Amazon (Maxell 214150 T120GX/8PK VHS Cassette Standard Grade T-120). I have recorded hundreds of DVD’s as shown below.First you must set the Clock. See Pg 26 for instructions.To Timer Record:1. I use SLP mode (lowest quality – but good enough) so a standard VCR tape is 6 hrs and a standard DVD 8 plus hours. See Pg 34 for other recording modes.2. Find the program on your DVR and fast forward thru it to note elapsed time. Play it until it begins. PAUSE.3. Insert blank DVD disc and wait to load (shows on screen) or blank VCR tape.4. Press SETUP. Then down arrow to TIMER PROGRAMMING, and ENTER.5. NEW PROGRAM appears – ENTER. Right arrow (and use up/down arrow) to show start. and end times (add 3 min for 1 hr program to be sure to get the end). Continue to REC TO.6. Select DVD for DVR to DVD or Down arrow and select VCR for DVR to VCR.7. Right arrow to mode and select SLP.8. Press TIMER SET and on the DVR remote press PLAY. The program should start on the TV and the Recorder should show the two recording red lights and counter moving.If the recorder shuts down and you get only one red light and no counter movement, then you goofed (probably chose VCR instead of DVD or vice versa). Go to OTHER PROBLEMS below.One Touch Recording:1. If you want, you can record while you are watching a program and either pause or stop it whenever you want.2. Place either a VCR tape or a DVD into the recorder. If DVD, let it load.3. Press REC MODE. If DVD, all are available – If VCR then either SLR or SP.4. Start program and press the red REC button. You should see a red light on the recorder and the counter going. You can PAUSE to eliminate commercials and then press PAUSE to continue.5. When finished, press the STOP button.To Transfer from VCR tape to DVD: (in Instruction booklet called DUBBING : pg 50-left side 51)1. Insert VCR tape and then blank DVD. Wait for it to load.2. Press REC MODE button and choose SLP.2. Press SETUP, and choose GENERAL SETTING & ENTER, and down arrow to RECORDING & ENTER.3. Down arrow to DUBBING Mode & ENTER. Now choose VCR to DVD & ENTER. Press SETUP to exit.4. Press orange VCR button & PLAY and PAUSE at beginning of VCR recording.5. Press DUBBING button. The VCR tape should start on TV and Recorder should show the two recording red lights.You can Skip step 7 because you did this in step 2. Step 7 does work if you are careful.I note the VCR recording time and turn on the TV at that time to see if recording correctly – I then STOP the process when the program is finished. If you don’t do this, then the Dubbing may continue until the DVD is full (8+ hrs).If you are dubbing something shorter than 6 hrs, then you will want to use higher quality REC MODE ( up to 60 min. – XP, 61-119 – SP, etc)OTHER PROBLEMS:If you press the wrong key in above (like timer set instead of dubbing or vice versa), or if your DVD disc is defective, or something else goes wrong, the Recorder will stop and may jam. The recorder turns off, counter inoperative, one red light on recorder box. Normally you can stop recording by pressing the STOP button. On the TV screen it will ask you if you want to end the recording. Choose YES. Then press SET UP and go to TIMER RECORDING and delete the old program and try again. If however when you press SETUP and nothing happens and/or you are unable to eject your tape or DVD, then the recorder is jammed. The solution is as follows:1. Unplug the electricity to your DVD/VCR recorder.2. Wait at least 10 minutes.3. Plug the Recorder in again. Now it is reset and you should be able to eject the tape or DVD after turning the recorder on. Set Clock (pg 26).4. Try recording again – but if you get the dreaded single red light and the unit closes down, then press TIMER SET button again quickly. This usually will get it back to normal. You may have to go back and delete the old program, but a new timer program should now work.Finally, do not forget to finalize all DVD’s that you are done with – see Pg 32.
16 people found this helpful
Steven Webb –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Works great for easy VHS->DVD dubbing
My only interest in a product like this was to copy a large collection of homemade and store-bought VHS tapes to DVD. I read all of the reviews and researched all of the brands and models available on Amazon that met the following criteria:1) An easy dubbing process – as close to “one button touch” as possible.2) Composite (RCA style) Video and Audio output for monitoring.3) Automatic tracking, with manual tracking control available.4) Good customer review rating.Here are the products I ended up comparing:$98 Magnavox ZV427MG9 DVD Recorder/VCR Combo, HDMI 1080p Up-Conversion, No Tuner (Manufacturer Refurbished)$178 Magnavox ZV457MG9 Dual Deck DVD/VCR Recorder with Tuner$145 Toshiba DVR620 DVD/VHS Recorder, Black$214 Toshiba DVR670/DVR670KU DVD/VHS Recorder with Built in Tuner, Black$250 Panasonic DMR-EZ48VK 1080p Upconverting VHS DVD Recorder with Built In TunerI didn’t need a built-in tuner, and since that was only difference between the two Magnavox models listed above, I was able to eliminate the more expensive one from my list. Same goes for the two Toshibas models.The Panasonic was nearly twice the price as the other two brands, didn’t seem to offer any additional useful features, and had the lowest review rating, so I eliminated it next.After reading all of the reviews for the last two on my list, I ended up going with the Toshiba DVR620 over the Magnavox ZV427MG9 for the following reasons:1) Several people mentioned that the labeling on the Magnavox remote was nearly impossible to read.2) There were 3 complaints about tracking problems on the Magnavox. For the Toshiba there were 2 complaints, but 1 person said they were actually impressed with its auto-tracking across a wide variety of tape brands and ages.3) The Magnavox was refurbished, and I would rather have something newly manufactured.4) Aesthetically I found the Toshiba a little more appealing.So far I have had the Toshiba DVR620 about a week, and have transferred many home movies as well as store-bought tapes. (Note: Many store-bought tapes employ copy-protection in which case the unit will display an error saying that the tape can’t be copied, however I’ve tried over 20 so far and am happy to report that 2/3rds of them are not copy-protected.)I am very pleased with the performance and quality of the unit. It took a little bit of manual reading to get familiar with the VHS-DVD dubbing process and to make sure I had all settings set optimally. But once I went through the steps a couple of times I was able to put the manual away. The process is about as close to “one button touch” as possible. Simply insert a blank disc (I’ve been using Kodak brand DVD-Rs) and the video tape, pause the tape at the point you want it to start, select the disc recording length (you can choose between 1, 2, 4, 6, or 8 hours), hit the dubbing button, and away it goes.The remote is lightweight, well labeled, and easy to use. The placement of a couple of the buttons are a bit non-intuitive, but that’s just nit-picking. Do beware that the remote is *vital* to all operations as the only button of any kind on the unit itself is for disc open/close. You cannot play/stop/rew/ff anything, nor can you eject a tape without the remote.It has a some handy features such the ability to auto-create disc titles, auto-insert chapter markers, auto-finalize the disc if it fills to capacity, and auto-stop dubbing if it detects a 3-minute span of no video content.I fully expected to waste a few discs in the beginning as I learned how to use the unit, but I’m happy to report that I’ve burned over 30 discs now and have not created one coaster! The discs play fine on all of the different players I have – the Toshiba unit itself, my PC, and a standalone Panasonic Blu-Ray/DVD player.My only complaint about the unit is that there is no easy way to tell what recording mode was used for the VHS tape, so for home movies, you don’t know if you are dealing with 2, 4, 6, or 8 hours of material. The only way to find out is to fast forward the tape from beginning to end and see what the tape counter says. Unfortunately this isn’t completely reliable as sometimes the counter doesn’t “catch” and just sits idle even though the tape is moving. (I seem to recall this often being a problem with VCRs of old, and may have more to do with the tape itself and/or its contents that is has to do with the VCR.)I can’t speak to any of the other major purposes of the unit such as timer-based recording of an external source such as a cable box, or its HDMI interface and other I/O capabilities, but as a standalone unit for dubbing VHS to DVD-R, I think it’s a great product and I would highly recommend it!
23 people found this helpful
Sunny –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Just plug, play, and record! Just skip step #7 on page 50!
Unit doesn’t come with HDMI cables, which is normal, so I used my own and plugged it into my Samsung HDTV. It plays my old VHS wonderfully! I can actually hear the sound on my old Disney movies … a problem I was having with my old Panasonic VHS.I then tested it on recording/dubbing my old home videos on VHS to DVD. I had problems because I got the red circle with the slash through it. So I called up Toshiba customer service and after a few button pushing of 1’s, 2’s, and 3’s, I was connected to a representative who told me to skip step #7 on page 50.Step 7 is the “press [dvd], then press [rec mode] …” I basically skipped that step and went straight to the press dubbing button and everything works perfectly!The catch with not being able to use step 7 is I have to sit and watch the entire VHS so I can hit the “stop” button again. But if I do fall asleep dubbing, the VCR to DVD duplication automatically stops if it senses no image for more than 3 minutes. So it’s not that bad.And one more tip the Toshiba rep gave me is that I must be in L1 mode. There is an L1, L2, and L3 mode (you can change by pushing the input button on the top left of the remote control). I haven’t explored the rest. But she said I must stay in L1 mode to dub VHS to DVD. Which is the mode you first get when you plug in the unit … so as long as you don’t change it, everything is fine.The reason I didn’t give it 5 stars is because I must have the remote control to eject the VHS. No remote, the VHS is forever in the unit. There’s only 2 buttons on the entire unit … 1) eject DVD button and 2) power button. If they had a 3rd button to eject the VHS, I would have given it 5 stars.I will revise my review if I experience any more problems with the unit. But overall, I’m very happy with it.Added January 2010 – My unit still works find after all these months. Many thanks to V. Genova’s post for telling me I can flip the bottom cover open and find the eject button to the VHS, plus other useful buttons. I’m still very happy with the unit even though I’m done converting everything to DVD in the house. Of course I couldn’t convert the Disney VHS but I still kept them so my daughter can watch Disney VHS on the HDTV using the Toshiba player.Added January 17, 2010 – I hooked up
TiVo TCD652160 HD Digital Video Recorder
to my Toshiba player and now I’m recording my TV shows to DVD!!! I’m so excited! I used the A/V cables and set it up as TIVO OUT and Toshiba player IN. I was in L1 & DVD mode of my Toshiba player. I played an episode I saved on my TIVO and hit the record button on my Toshiba player. That’s it! Now I can take my favorite TV episodes on DVD everywhere I go. The quality is decent, not HD. But it will keep my daughter very happy when we’re on road trips. My TV is the
Samsung LN46B650 46-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV with Red Touch of Color
, also from Amazon.
620 people found this helpful
Lynchburg reader –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Works fine after calls to Toshiba
I bought this DVD recorder to copy many old family home movies on videocassettes to DVDs. Our home movies date back to 1988. After some advice from customer service at Toshiba, I have been able to use the recorder to dub my old home movies successfully to DVDs.Like several other users, I found that when I followed the instructions for dubbing to DVDs, the recorder showed a “Barred” icon, a slashed red circle. After several attempts with different brands of DVD disks, I called Toshiba. I got some very helpful advice from the first customer service agent at Toshiba, but I was still unable to resolve the problem. I called back and talked to another agent, who was able to help me resolve the recording issues. Both customer service agents at Toshiba were very knowledgeable and did an excellent job of explaining their advice. I was very satisfied with Toshiba customer service. I will summarize the advice below so that other people who have difficulties with the recorder can try these steps to resolve their problems.1. Because old videotapes may not track well when they have been unused for several years, fast forward to the end of the tape and rewind the tape before attempting to copy it. The recorder may refuse to copy a tape if it does not track well.2. Eject the videotape. Apparently Toshiba DVRs (both the 610 and 620) can balk if the videotape is inserted before the DVD.3. Push the DVD button and insert the blank DVD.4. Press Record Mode (not Record) button and set the speed (I use SP).5. Press the Setup button and select Recording. Select Dubbing Mode. Select VCR > DVD.6. Press the VCR button and insert the videotape. Press Play and then Pause (not Stop) at the point slightly before you wish to start copying.7. Press the Dubbing button. Push Stop when you want to stop dubbing. You can then insert another videotape to dub onto the same DVD, until it is full.8. You can add titles on the DVD disk with the Top Menu button by selecting the part you wish to title and clicking on Edit and Edit Title.9. After adding titles, you should finalize the DVD by pressing the Setup button, selecting DVD Menu and then Finalize (this may take a few minutes). Then you should be able to play the disk on another machine. I have been able to play finalized disks on my Sony DVD player.I hope this is helpful for others having some trouble with these machines. I am very happy to be able to make digital copies of my old home movies.
4,850 people found this helpful
Gene in Arizona –
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good & Bad Points about this Recorder
I need a recorder to do several things. I want to dub old VHS tapes of the family and edit out the parts that the person doing the taping screwed up. I want to record movies or shows from my Dish DVR and edit out commercials and finally I want to record movies from my Dish DVR that are commercial free.This is the 3rd recorder I have owned in about 4 years. The quality of all recorders are suspect. My first one was a Go.Video VR3845 which was exceptional. It did all that a person could want. However after about 2 years the DVD drive unit went bad. It cannot be repaired since Go.Video is out of business and there seem to be no parts that I can find to fix it.My next recorder was a JVC DR-MV100B. I thought this one would be great, but in trying to record to a disc from a TiVo or Dish DVR, you cannot pause the recording to edit out commercials. For recording a movie with no commericals such as one recorded from TCM or Fox, it is great. The Go.Video recorder would allow you to edit commercials using the pause button. In less than a year the DVD drive unit in the JVC went bad. While it was with JVC being replaced, I purchased the Toshiba DVR620 Recorder.The great thing about the Toshiba is that you can pause to edit out commercials when recording a disc from a program that you have TiVoed. However, on the negative side, if you dubbing a disc from a VHS tape, you can’t pause the recording to edit out unwanted items on the tape i.e. commercials or other screw ups that you don’t want on the disc. This is really strange because with the Go.Video recorder AND the JVC recorder, when dubbing, you can pause to edit. With the JVC recorder, while dubbing and you press the pause button, you can fast forward, rewind or advance frame by frame either backwards or forward the VHS tape to get to the next spot where you want to resume recording. This is great for old tapes that I have of football games that currently have commericals during the game. With the JVC I can now record the game on disc commercial free. YOU CANNOT DO THIS WITH THE TOSHIBA DVR620.So now when dubbing I use the JVC recorder. When I want to edit out commercials on something I have TiVoed, I use the Toshiba. Why couldn’t they put it all in one package like Go.Video did?The other negative thing about Toshiba is trying to put titles on the recordings. It seems that tying to put a title on a disc is like text messaging. For those of you who use text messaging, it might be easy. For people like me who don’t text, it is really a pain and very time consumming. Both Go.Video and JVC use a common screen that displays the alphabet. You choose a letter and proceed. With the Toshiba, you use your number keys to choose a letter, then have to arrow forward one space and choose the next letter. Totally unacceptable and time consuming.The last thing is the manual. It seems that all product manuals are created by the engineers that build the product. What needs to happen is that manuals should be written by a consumer who knows nothing about the product. Then it would be understandable. However, it is just not Toshiba that has a poorly written manual.For the ability of Toshiba to record and allow the editing of commericals, I give it 5 stars. For the inability of being able to pause when dubbing from a VHS tape, I give it zero starts. If it could do both, it would be a 4 or 4 1/2 star unit.
90 people found this helpful
Robert in NY –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Recorder VHS to DVD & Direct From TV
I’ve owned this model for nearly 3 years (bought through Amazon Jan 2014), and its still going strong.It records direct from TV/Cable beautifully and dependably. And I use it frequently.It also records FROM VHS to DVD. You just need to insert the tape in the tape slot and a blank recordable dvd (not Blu-ray though) in the DVD tray. Then push the remote’s “Dubbing” button (not the separate “Record” button, which is used only for recording direct from tv or cable. The quality of the new dvd is generally no better than the quality of the tape being copied, and I find there is some deterioration of dvd quality if the dvd is set to record two hours or more. Best to record in one hour segments on multiple dvd’s if you want the very best quality dvd playback. (You can test this by recording the same vhs to dvd, by first setting the dvd recorder to one hour; then record with the two hour setting. You may find little difference).Once the “dub” button on the remote is pushed, the vhs tape can not be fast-forwarded, unless you first stop the recording process. You can of course re-start recording when you reach the desired place on the tape–the dvd will simply show multiple recordings which can be played in succession.The remote is standard size, and has good range (at least ten feet), unlike many of the new “compact” remotes which I find often have a weaker signal.This model has been discontinued, but is still for sale on Amazon and other sites. The bad news is the price is now nearly $250; I paid $179. So if youre thinking of converting vhs tapes to dvd’s I wouldn’t postpone buying this recorder, or one by another manufacturer (I see one by a company named Funai for a lot less).Caution: Be sure you DON’T buy a recorder that goes FROM dvd TO vhs, as these used to be fairly common and are of no value in copying tapes TO dvd.Ports On the Rear: This unit also has a HDMI Out port on the rear. I’m not sure how much this really matters since the unit can neither record nor play Blu-Ray discs, but it does also give you options for use of RCA connections (the traditional red white and yellow cables) , digital video (5 plugs connections), and S-Video.There are also RCA IN plugs on the front of the unit, under the flip-down panel–I think these may be mainly from recording from external drives, handheld video cameras etc–I’ve never used it so you’ll need to check the manual first. There is a also a DV IN connection on the front.There are limited editing functions available before a dvd is finalized, and of course you can set automatic chapters every 5 minutes or so if you wish. You can also give the dvd a title, again before finalizing. (Once you finalize a dvd, no further changes of any kind can be generally be made).The full manual is on line at Toshiba’s website.Except for not having Blu-ray recording or playback, this unit seems about as full-featured as you’ll find. Thus the hefty price of the unit.
11 people found this helpful
Mr. Bottom Tooth –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good unit for VHS archival
I’m using this to archive old VHS tapes at work to DVD-R discs. So far, it’s performed pretty well. Of the 300 or so VHS tapes I’ve converted, only 2 discs threw back errors that they couldn’t be recorded. One of the error actually locked the machine up and it had to be power cycled. Still for 300+ discs, not too shabby.I’ve had to clean the heads on this once so far. Most of these tapes I’m converted are from the early to mid-90s and have been sitting in terrible storage conditions. It’s not too much of a surprise that the tapes are filthy and degrading to the point of mucking up the heads on the VCR mechanism. A quick cleaning with a wet-based cleaning tape, and everything was okay.The process of dubbing it is simple: 1. Use remote to enter settings menu to desired max recording time of DVD (higher the time the lower the quality) 2. Insert blank DVD-R into tray (DVD-Rs are auto formatted). 3. Insert VHS 4. Press Dubbing button on remote 5. After a bit of time of the unit detecting no video on the tape, the unit auto-stops the dubbing and the VHS tape. This is actually a great feature. A Sony DVDirect VRD-MC3 and MC5, for example, will continue to record until the disc is full even if there is no signal from the video source 6. Enter the Setup menu via the remote and then access the disc menu to finalize the DVD. You can also edit the DVD menu and DVD title options before finalizing (which I don’t bother with).You do need to use the remote to enter in any setting menu. You need the remote to finalize at disc. There are buttons behind the front panel to control the VCR portion, adjust tracking and initiate the dubbing process. You can also eject the DVD from the front of the unit. However, the fact there are no button controls to access the important menus, means you better not lose the remote!Overall, initial disc setup for a blank DVD-R is very fast when compared to something like a Sony DVDirect VRD-MC3, VRD-MC5 or VRD-MC6 (all of which I also use daily). The slow part of the whole process is the finalization of a DVD. The unit lags behind any of the DVDirect models I have by about 50% more time required.Oh, I connect the unit to an LCD TV via the HDMI port and everything works fine.
11 people found this helpful
C. Glazier –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good for transfer of VCR to DVD
There was a previous review that I found helpful with several Toshiba Service Steps. I found a few extra hints.You may be interested in hooking the Toshiba DVR620 to your computer. Get a good Video Capture Composite (red white yellow) to USB. I got the EZ Grabber 3.0 available on Amazon. 1. Re-Wind first. eject, then re-insert.. 2. Fast forward to the end of the tape… NOTE THE TIME on odometer. Rewind. 3. If the time you noted is over 2 hrs 10 min, don’t try to use the SP setting. If 2-4 hrs use the LP setting. I wasted a few hrs trying to copy to DVD then hit the end of the 4.7 GB. 4. Eject the tape. 5. Press the Setup Button and select Recording. Select Dubbing Mode. Select VCR > DVD 6. Insert blank DVD ( I used -R, and works fine, but manufacturer recommends +R) 7. Press the VCR button and insert tape, fast forward to the part of the Tape you want. Pause. Press VCR Play. 8. Immediately press Dubbing button to start transfer to DVD 9. Add more VCR videos or clips until DVD is full or just stop.10. Add titles to DVD by returning to DVD Menu, by pressing Setup , DVD Menu, Enter, Edit, and you can figure out the alpha key strokes, but of interest is the _ space key at the bottom of the alpha keys. The Clear key deletes unwanted characters.11. The new DVD will play on this machine but not others unless you Finalize. Finalize by Setup, Disk Menu, Yes. Takes 4 min. I have played Finalized disks on Sony/Toshiba/JVC and Computer DVD drives.I hope this slight re-write with a few additions of the previous in-depth recommendation is helpful.An almost identical type device with almost identical functionality is the JVC DR-MV100. The JVC has the old style Coaxial In and Out besides the HDMI, Composite, Component, S-Video 4pin Out. The Toshiba has an S-video 4pin In, and S-Video out. but no old Coaxial in/out and has the HDMI. The Toshiaba has VRC tracking adjustments where the JVC does not. Both have outstanding VCR playback resolution and DVD performance.
17 people found this helpful
Be Smith –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Works great
I bought this to copy old family VHS tapes to DVD. It works great once you research the correct steps to copy. The directions in the manual do not correctly tell you how to do copy. Some people report that they can use -R DVD’s but I was not able to use them and in step 4 below I would get 00:00 next to the record mode displayed on TV. I has success with the +R DVD’sThese directions work the best: USE ONLY THE REMOTE CONTROL IN THE EXACT ORDER LISTED1. turn on Toshiba DVR620- button on the left front of the machine.2. Dislay should read L1 (this is where the red, yellow, and white cables come out of the DVR and then go OUT to the TV- the three farthest to the right when looking at the back of the DVR)3. Insert Blank DVD (press the open button top left of the remote, insert disk, press open button again to shut) The TV screne will display that the disk is loading. When the DVD is finished loading the screne will briefly display the type of DVD you put in. (ie. R+)4. Press “Record Mode” button on the remote (NOT RECORD!!!!) and choose the speed you wish to record in like SP. Next to the record mode it will tell you how much time you will be able to record. I have found that if no time shows up 00:00 then the disk will not record so you might as well take the disk back out and put a different one in. I put two disks in that showed sp 00:00 and went through all the steps to the dubbing step and got can not record message.)5.Press VCR button on the remote and insert video tape. Press Play and then PAUSE the tape about 5 seconds before you want to record. DO NOT PRESS STOP YOU MUST PAUSE THE TAPE.6.Press the DVD button on the remote7. Press the Dubbing button on the remote. (DO NOT PRESS the RECORD button!)If it is working you will see a “red dot” and a red “DB” in the display window. You will also see the video being copied show on the TV screne. If you didn’t follow the steps correctly you will see the DB, a white DVD disk flash for only a few seconds and no red dot… nothing is being recorded so start over.8. when the video comes to the end of the video or you stop playing the VHS tape at a specific spot the TV screne will display that it is “writing to disk” you can add more video or you can finalize the disk.9.Finalize disk by:Press set up, press DVD menu + enter, choose finalize, choose yes if you are done putting video on the DVD
21 people found this helpful
Gregory Lusk –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great for Copying VHS to DVD
I purchased this as a Christmas gift for my parents. The sole reason for the purchase was to transfer old family VHS tapes to DVD. We have tried multiple times using video capture on the computer, but the quality was poor. This device was great. The procedure is as follows: 1)Put tape into VHS side, 2) Rewind tape, 3) hit DVD button, then 4) hit dubbing button. This will copy the contents of the VHS to the DVD. The recorder will automatically stop when the VHS stops, or when there is no picture for 3 minutes. If you want to put the contents of multiple tapes onto a DVD, you just hit stop and then repeat the process. When you have finished copying the contents, you must finalize the disc by hitting the menu button > DVD > finalize disc.I’ve copied 6 VHS tapes to 3 DVD’s thus far. The quality is better than on my old VCR, and using any up converting DVD player, it looks amazing on my parents 1080p LCD.SummaryPros:- This is great for recording VHS tapes onto DVDs- This unit upconverts DVDs and VHS tapes on playback (making VHS tapes look great, you notice the difference)- During upconversion, it converts the source to the aspect ratio of your TV (it took the 4:3 VHS tapes and played them in hi-def 16:9)- HDMI outputCons- There is no tuner built into the unit (means you cannot record TV shows without an external tuner. TIP: the VCR you might be replacing could have a usable tuner)- There is no HDMI INPUT. In fact, there is only S video, component, and composite inputs. This means you cannot record in HD (above 480p) from a standard TV tuner. There is a DV input in the front for cameras, but I know no tuner that uses this.Conclusion:-Unit is great to convert VHS to DVD-Unit is great for converting external source (like super8 video camera) to DVD-Unit has great playback of VHS and DVD-Would not buy unit for frequent recording from TV because…-Cannot record in above 480p HD from a Tuner
80 people found this helpful
Pearly –
5.0 out of 5 stars
VERY Happy With This Machine! Saved $1500 in Tape-to-DVD Transfer Costs By Doing It Myself!!!!
I am SO VERY PLEASED with my purchase of this DVD/VCR Recorder. I have almost 50 camcorder tapes of my kids, and another 30 VHS tapes from before we had kids. I wanted to convert them all to DVD and then put some of them on a hard drive (maybe even upload some of the funny little kid videos to YouTube). This machine makes it SO EASY and SO AFFORDABLE to do this! My camcorder is a Sony Handicam analog (no DV link). I hooked it up to the Toshiba machine with “RCA-type” jacks. I carefully followed the instructions in the Toshiba manual. I only wasted one or two DVDs getting the process down correctly. After that, it was EASY and after doing a few of them in a row, I could practically do it in my sleep! Same for transferring the old VHS tapes. Really easy! The finished result was clear and good.I was confused about what sort of writable DVD to buy. I wound up getting DVD-R’s. You just need to make sure that you “finalize” the DVD after you finish recording it. Then it will play on ANY DVD player, and it even plays just fine on my Mac. (Instructions for finalizing a DVD are in the manual). I will need to convert the files to another format to be stored on a hard disc (my husband is going to take care of that at some point).Anyway, for around $160 I bought this Toshiba machine and saved myself $1500 in video transfer service costs. To me, that is an incredible deal. All it took was my time and effort. I went to Gaylord.com and bought some archival CD/DVD storage binders and archival copper infused CD/DVD pages (but there are less expensive options for long term protective storage of your family DVDs, such as jewel cases or Case Logic binders that you can find online and locally).My advice is: sit down and read the manual first. Test out your skills a less valuable tape first. Expect to waste a few DVDs. But with practice you will be doing tape to DVD transfers in no time. Considering that most services charge $20 per tape to do it, I think the Toshiba machine is worth the time and money.
16 people found this helpful
Dennis Fowler –
2.0 out of 5 stars
A good performer, but very bad timer setup problems
I’ve had the DVR620 for almost a month now. It reads my VHS tapes well, the DVD recorder/player does a great job. I’ve dubbed a VHS to a DVD with no problems, done some straight forward recording from my DishNetwork box, etc. Picture and sound quality is excellent using the HDMI connection to the TV.One flaw in the dubbing process; going from VCR to DVD you may have more on the VHS tape, six or eight hours, than will fit on a DVD at LP speed (4 hours, decent quality). But instead of stopping the VCR when the DVD fills up it just leaves it going. Automatic VCR shut off here would be helpful.One important note about using the DVR 620 with DishNetwork. A nice looking feature of the DVR620 is Satellite Link (Page 43 in the user manual), supposed to start recording when it detects a video signal from the tuner when a timer switches it on, at, say 3:00am. It doesn’t work, because even when the tuner is “off” it has a video signal, so recording starts the minute you set Satellite Link. Sat.Link is USELESS with Dish Network. Whether it works with DirecTV or not I don’t know.Basic hookup was relatively straightforward, but it helps to be a bit of a geek to pull it off. You should know a composite input from S-Video from HDMI, for example. The quick start guide is adequate for basic functions. Also, it lacks both RF (coaxial cable or TV antenna type) input and output.The manual needs an index, a more complete glossary, and more clarity in the writing and illustrations.The DVR620 is feature rich, which means it isn’t simple once you get beyond the basics. I haven’t even looked at editing a DVD yet, I’m still learning my way around the remote, which is littered with a welter of buttons and small lettering that’s hard to read.Setting up a timed recording is my greatest frustration. With my old setup (satellite box and VCR) it was just a matter of setting the timer on the tuner and letting it start and stop the VCR with what is called an IR Blaster. If I could get the tuner to fire off the control codes for the DVR620 I could do that, but my tuner doesn’t have the codes to control the DVR.And there’s no screen display to tell me how things are set on the recorder, such as DVD mode and that Sat.Link is on. Once the DVR is off there is no pass through, so you can’t just set things up, put it into standby mode and keep watching until you fall asleep or whatever.I’m dissatisfied primarily because of the timer setup issue. I do a lot of time shifting and I have yet to succeed in setting a timer. I’ve complained to Toshiba about the Sat.Link problem with my Dish Network tuner but their attitude is that the feature works as it is supposed to, (not with my tuner it doesn’t) and refuses to take the DVR back and refund my money. If you use Dish Network and do a lot of late night recording, don’t buy this.
2 people found this helpful
SMcLeod –
4.0 out of 5 stars
It works great, yet I am still a bit unsure how …
It works great, yet I am still a bit unsure how to record my VHS tapes to DVD as the instructions are very detailed for all other uses except this and they are assuming you know what all these cables do and don’t do. Nowhere does it give you an idea how many hours on a VHS tape will fit on a DVD. The cabling is the most confusing and what must be plugged into what in order for it to work. There are cautions about doing this and some things I don’t understand completely as I read the manual. For this procedure alone I really wish it said Step 1 do this, Step 2 do this and so on. The directions are too complicated for this process which should be so simple. I get why the other directions are more complicated, however, recording my VHS tapes to DVD should not be that complicated. This is my sole purpose for purchasing the unit. I am using just a HDMI cable between the unit and my flat screen TV and everything works great. I do not have cable and I haven’t been able to link my computer to the flat screen as yet either. So this should be a very simple process, yet the directions seem way more complicated. Until someone I know who can read through the technical terms of this operation can show me the 1, 2, and 3 steps to accomplish this simple task I am content to watch my VHS tapes and DVDs which it does both very well, although I do think I will get both a cleaner for the VHS and DVD platforms.
One person found this helpful
E. Dearmon –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Toshiba DVR620KU – Best For Converting VHS Tapes to DVD
I bought this unit STRICTLY FOR CONVERTING my huge tape collection to DVD. I previously purchased a Sony but it stopped working, after converting only about 40 tapes. So I purchased this Toshiba unit to replace it. This Toshiba has worked GREAT, and so far I have converted over 200 VHS tapes to DVD, with absolutely no problems. 2-Hr VHS tapes in SP mode will fit perfectly on a DVD+R blank disc by recording in DVD SP mode.One word of warning: the Mode Select button is directly below the VCR selection key, which is used a lot. If you press the Mode Select button accidentally, you may change the DVD recording speed easily without noticing. I must have done this, and discovered after converting 5 tapes that they were Converted in EP mode (less quality) rather than SP that I wanted, but now I am more careful and occasionally purposely press that button to insure that I am still set for SP mode DVD recording. If less quality but more space is wanted, you could use the EP mode to record 2 – 2Hr tapes onto one DVD, but the DVD picture & sound quality will be at lesser quality than the original VHS tape(s).Overall, if converting VHS to DVD is all you are looking for, this unit will deliver quality DVD copies, and is a more reliable unit than the Sony products. Actually, once you set the unit up with your preferences, you only have to press the DUBBING button to record each 2-hr VHS tape to a blank DVD. Remember to FINALIZE your DVD after recording, so that it will play on other units. You should also use DVD+R, not DVD-R, since Toshiba recommends and supports only the “+” format discs. Toshiba has excellent tech support, and they actually speak good English.The space reduction of DVD vs. VHS is fantastic, and by converting old tapes to DVD, you are preserving them for the future, as VHS tapes have a tendency to eventually decay beyond usable condition.I will never buy another Sony product.
207 people found this helpful
Nancy Sherburne –
4.0 out of 5 stars
I Wish It Would Produce The Thumbnails My Magnavox Did
I had purchased my first DVD recorder from a Fingerhut catalog. It was a Magnavox and without my doing anything but doing he transfer, it created a table of contents so to speak, so when I popped in a homemade disc with more than one program it displayed a small image of the first scene in that program. I could have added titles if I could figure out how, but at least with the images I could move down to the one I wanted and click on it to start it playing. It held the length of the program which also helped. The Toshiba does not do this so when I play a disc I recorded on it I just hit play and watch the whole thing. At least when I play back the discs I had created on the Magnavox the table of contents is displayed on my screen. I just may use the Toshiba to play my VHS tapes since that side of the Magnavox had stopped working, and when I can afford to replace the Magnavox, which I still have, I will use that for the remaining VHS tapes to transfer. My sister had sent me a copy of a movie I was not able to play on the Magnavox but could on the Toshiba. Another funny thing is the Toshiba’s manual said very clearly you had to use DVD-RW discs to record on, but I have been able to use the same DVD-R discs I did on my Magnavox with no trouble. I still like toe Toshiba and am glad I purchased it. It gives me a clear picture, and when I had cable it gave very good reception. A fine machine at a very low price.
One person found this helpful
careful buyer –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Advance recorder with a very good manual. More features and options than I expected.
This recorder does everything I thought it wold and more. I have only had it for a few days and have enjoyed discovering all its features. The instructions manual is comprehensive and well written. Because of its many features and options operation is not simply intuitive. But with instructions in hand I have been able to make all the connections and test its ability to play DVDs and VHS tapes, and record to both. The time slip feature which allows you to press a button while watching a live show, leave the room (make some popcorn) come back press the same button and pick up where you left off is a feature I did not expect on a recorder at this price point. Using DVD RW is like having a unit with a harddrive allowing you to record and re-record on the same disk. The unit will record to DVD at many record qualities resulting in record times up to 8 hours (lowest quality). Recording at 2 and 4 hour quality level results in a very acceptable result. Hookup instructions are as good as any I have seen, however as we all know every system is different. Connecting to my surround sound challenging but it works fine taking the audio feed from the Audio out jacks on the back of my TV. I intend to use this unit to transfer family VHS tapes to DVD. With instructions in hand I expect this unit will do the job. The one tough recording button will be handy once all settings are made the dicks are formatted.This is not a recorder for the timid or the technologically challenged. But if you are one of those who enjoy well written manual and find the process of learning the ins and outs of a new addition to your media playing and recording family, this unit will do everything it is advertised to do and more.
One person found this helpful
Burt Gardner –
4.0 out of 5 stars
DVR620KU
The steps below are correct but there are some things you should know about the record speed.1. You must use the red, yellow, and white cable as the record speed isnt visible using HDMI or the S-Video cable.2. Make sure you set the record speed for both the VCR and the DVD– Correct Steps as stated below:1. Because old videotapes may not track well when they have been unused for several years, fast forward to the end of the tape and rewind the tape before attempting to copy it. The recorder may refuse to copy a tape if it does not track well.2. Eject the videotape. Apparently Toshiba DVRs (both the 610 and 620) can balk if the videotape is inserted before the DVD.3. Push the DVD button and insert the blank DVD.4. Press Record Mode (not Record) button and set the speed (I use SP).5. Press the Setup button and select Recording. Select Dubbing Mode. Select VCR > DVD.6. Press the VCR button and insert the videotape. Press Play and then Pause (not Stop) at the point slightly before you wish to start copying.7. Press the Dubbing button. Push Stop when you want to stop dubbing. You can then insert another videotape to dub onto the same DVD, until it is full.8. You can add titles on the DVD disk with the Top Menu button by selecting the part you wish to title and clicking on Edit and Edit Title.9. After adding titles, you should finalize the DVD by pressing the Setup button, selecting DVD Menu and then Finalize (this may take a few minutes). Then you should be able to play the disk on another machine. I have been able to play finalized disks on my Sony DVD player.
40 people found this helpful
Greg, New York City –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another great Toshiba DVD recorder, and this one also records to / from VHS (dubbing).
Quality, Reliability and Endurance. Toshiba makes the best DVD recorders in my experience and in my experience has the best time recording capabilities. I bought this to replace one that finally died originally purchased in 2007/8. Can’t ask for better than 7 years of heavy daily usage to record business news, tv shows, and sports events for later viewing. High quality, 99% reliability and auto finalization feature that can be set so that your finalized DVDs work in PCs, laptops, and other devices on the go. The SONY, Panasonic and LG machines we owned from 2003 to 2007 all died within 12 to 18 months with heavy usage and I stumbled upon my first Toshiba in 2007 at a Best Buy. Needless to say, the rest is history, and I am very pleased. Have owned this Specific machine since Christmas: heavy usage, no issues and also has the added benefit of allowing you to dub your old VHS tapes to DVD. VHS tapes do eventually wear out, so DVD is the way to go. The price was great at $170 around holiday time. Original machine I owned was a Toshiba D-R410 which is cheaper, lasted 7 years but only does DVDs ( you can manually connect a VCR for dubbing ). Overall another great Toshiba purchase. We now own 3 Toshiba recorders across the house and will upgrade the other two to this model when those finally pass too. Great for those families with busy work /school schedules who binge watch nights and weekends on everything they missed while working, studying and living, For those that record as they watch, the remote has a pause button – a feature that was missing on the Panasonic and Sony models that forced you to either record commercials or stop your recording in order to pause. Best value on the market, very reliable and great quality. Cheers !
Flash –
3.0 out of 5 stars
“Skip step 7? Really – Are you kidding me? …Nope!”
I bought this player to transfer home-made VHS tapes of our family to disc. We purchased it for Christmas and watched DVDs and tapes for for several weeks before I tried the transfer feature over a weekend. I read the entire manual, rereading some sections several times to make sure I both knew and understood the steps. The manual was passable, although further editing from a technical writer was needed. I followed the steps, of which there were 9, to no avail; the device would not transfer the data to disc, in fact the VHS would not run during the DVD recording process. Not good. I tried several more times, and even experimented with changing some of the instructions that seemed incongruent with the others – no luck, and the return deadline was the next day. I called Amazon and made arrangements to return the device if Toshiba customer service could not help on Monday. I then went to Amazon customer reviews (perhaps one of the top reasons I truely enjoy shopping Amazon). I found someone who had the same experience and spent time on the phone with the Toshiba tech guys. Eventually he reached someone who told him that in the Owner’s Maunal (page 51) Step 7 (of 9 – sorry, I couldn’t help it) should be skipped – it wasn’t suppose to be there – I mean, really, it is the wrong thing to do even though it is in large font. I deleted step 7 and the process has worked without a problem, at least so far (thanks for the tip MattWest). The other guy didn’t have as much luck and returned his unit.Aside from that, the unit performs well. The picture is quite good, and it is a significant improvement in sound even when it is run through a very old Denon receiver. I am pleased with the result. The remote is not particularly intuitive but it serves a variety of functions well. For the price, the unit does quite well in terms of sound and picture. This would be a “4” if the manual was more readable, and, of course, accurate. With these caveats I recommend the unit.
17 people found this helpful