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Toshiba DVR670/DVR670KU DVD/VHS Recorder with Built in Tuner, Black
Review by Movie Maker (Wash, DC) : Sleek & Nice for the Price. Complicated Owner's Manual.

I purchased this unit to replace a 15 year old PROSCAN VCR which was eating my VHS tapes. Before I selected this unit, I read all of the INVALUABLE reviews of VCR/DVD machines on this web site and I'm glad I did. If you have not purchased VCR and/or DVD replacement equipment in a while, there are a number of considerations you need to be aware of.

First, if you want to go from your antenna line-in and/or your cable line-in directly to the back of the VRC/DVD unit to record OTA or cable programs while watching other programs on your TV, then you need a VCR/DVD unit with a tuner. Not all units listed have tuners; this one does. A tunerless unit will require a more complicated hookup and you can only record what you are watching.

Next, there is the issue of analog versus digital equipment. Be sure to pay attention to the statements posted about analog equipment. Also, pay attention to the measurements to be sure the unit you purchase will fit wherever you wish to place it. Some combo units are bigger than stand alone VCRs & DVD players.

Finally, you should be aware of the input/output connections on the back of your TV to be sure they will accommodate the input/output connections on the back of the VRC/DVD unit that you purchase. Some web sites ([...]

Except for the complicated Owner's Manual & the noisy opening & closing of the DVD tray, this unit has met or exceeded all my expectations.

Best regards..........

Toshiba DVR670/DVR670KU DVD/VHS Recorder with Built in Tuner, Black
Review by Steven J. Gunsel : Toshiba DVR

This is my fourth DVD/VCR recorder with digital tuner. The first was an earlier Toshiba, which was OK for about 8 months before it quit working. Next I had two Panasonic units - the first was DOA, its replacement lasted about 4 months before it died. All were about $300 or so. I have only had this unit for a couple of weeks, so I have no idea how long it will last. It works OK. The over-the-air recordings are very good quality, even though not HD. For some reason, I have a lot of trouble programming the unit to record the same show every Sunday morning. The fairly extensive manual is less than clear on the proper procedure. I would have thought that by now everyone would produce equipment with a user friendly interface. Apparently not. There are not many units to choose from if you want a recorder that can handle DVDs as well as VHS and has a digital tuner. My daughter has a Tivo type unit, and it is extremely easy to use and far more versatile IF you have cable. I don't. Unless you are desparate, I'd wait for something better, preferably one that records to a hard disk instead of DVDs..

Toshiba DVR670/DVR670KU DVD/VHS Recorder with Built in Tuner, Black
Review by Joanne K : Toshiba DVD/VHS DVR670 Recorder

The reviews and details of this product were right on. It was not difficult to set up. Took a little time to understand the basics since the DVD has many options for use. My old VCR was extremely simple but I can now tape timed programs on the VCR and also on the DVD. I am still learning playback which has too many buttons to easily understand. I used the VCR transfer to DVD feature which worked ok. Quality of picture was not as good as I would like but I am still learning the many options to improve this.

For a person who's VCR has died and not an electronics genius, this is as simple as you can find for replacement. It will take a few tries to find the right buttons to do the basic functions but the manual is detailed and easy to understand. I am pleased with the product.

Toshiba DVR670/DVR670KU DVD/VHS Recorder with Built in Tuner, Black
Review by JOE BLOW : Record 1 DTV Channel while watching another DTV Channel

The Toshiba DVR 670 is virtually the same as its predecessor the DVR 660. The major difference being that you have to flip down a panel on the front of the unit to access the VCR/DVD buttons whereas on the DVR 660 these are on the outside.

The DVR 670 is one of the few VCR/DVD combos on the market that allow you to record Off The Air Digital broadcasts on VHS tape. While the quality of HDTV programs on VHS tape is inferior to DVD, it's a quicker, easier, and cheaper way to make recordings if you just want a temporary recording of a TV program you don't want to miss, plus you save money in not having to pay monthly fees for a DVR service.

The Toshiba DVR 670 VCR/DVD combo has a Digital tuner so you can record Off The Air OTA channels with it. It is a little bit complicated to use but the manual has a lot of information. If you want to make quick recordings of HDTV and don't care about high image quality you can easily use VHS tapes and reuse them to record over and over. If you want high quality HDTV recordings then you need to use the DVD recorder part of the VCR/DVD combo.
The Digital tuner works very well, it produces high quality images from HDTV, however the audio is not as loud as when I watch HDTV through my Digital converter box.

If you have an analog Tube TV and you want to record one OTA channel and watch another OTA channel at the same time you can do it with the DVR 670.

The following are instructions on how to do this:

ITEMS NEEDED:
2 Rabbit ear antennas
1 Digital converter box
1 tube TV with analog tuner only
1 RF Coaxial cable (included with the DVR 670)
1 set of Composite cables (included with the DVR 670)
1 set of Stereo Audio cables colored white and red (included with the DVR670)

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Connect TV antenna into RF IN on converter box.

2. Connect one end of RF Coaxial cable to TV RF OUT on converter box.

3. Connect other end of RF Coaxial cable to RF IN on TV.

4. Connect 2nd antenna into antenna IN on the back of the DVR 670.(You will NOT need to use the antenna OUT on the back of the DVR 670).

5. Connect one end of the composite cable, the yellow one, to OUT on the back of the DVR 670.

6. Connect the other end of the composite cable to the IN on the TV.

7. Connect the Stereo audio cables to OUT on the back of the DVR 670.

8. Connect the other end of the Stereo Audio cables to the IN on the TV.

You are done. Now you will be able to watch one channel and record another channel at the same time.

To watch a channel with your converter box, turn your TV to channel 3 and turn on the converter box and use the CONVERTER REMOTE to switch channels. To check on what you are recording press the VIDEO or GAME button on your TV REMOTE and this will switch you over to the DVR 670 tuner. To go back to watching multiple channels with your converter box while the DVR is recording one channel, press VIDEO or GAME on your TV REMOTE, now you can use your CONVERTER REMOTE to watch multiple channels.

***UPDATE 3-12-10***
I have to down grade this from 4 to 3 stars because of a couple of minor problems: 1. once in a while it will freeze for a second or two when playing DVDs. It seems to be hypersensitive to dust or light scratches on the DVD, if you clean the DVD well this momentary freezing goes away. 2. when I tune in OTA Digital stations on some it goes out of order when I change channels, for example when using the remote up or down channel button it will go to 2-3 then 2-4 then 2-1 then 2-2 instead of 2-1 then 2-2 then 2-3 then 2-4. It only does this on a couple of channels but it's irritating.
This unit can be noisy too, the exhaust fan turns itself on a lot, even when the unit is turned off it will run.
I would probably still buy this because there is not a lot to choose from on the market, the JVC DVD/VCR combo has a lot of problems(see Amazon reviews) and the Panasonic DVD/VCR combo doesn't record OTA DTV on VHS tape.

Toshiba DVR670/DVR670KU DVD/VHS Recorder with Built in Tuner, Black
Review by Glazed Over : Even better than I expected

Have used this recorder for three weeks now after the ol' VCR died and it works even better than I had hoped. The digital tuner can pick up all the "clear" local HDTV signals on Cablevision's cable system so now (using a simple splitter) I can record one show at 480p using the DVD while watching another in full HD either via the TV's tuner or via the cable box. Or record any of remaining channels non-clear channels using the cable box's S-Video out (the best you can use as external recording input source). The quality of the resulting tuner recordings (in 2 hour SP mode) is almost as good as the original as seen on a 720p TV (and I am very picky in that respect), and it is certainly far better than the VCR side. Plus, the DVD-RW discs are of course re-usable via an erase (or format, as Toshiba calls it). Recording is almost one-touch; really very convenient. I can't see any reason to record anything on a VHS tape again. This box is a great alternative to the monthly fee for a HD based DVR if you do not need any of the fancy programing and scheduling features that come with such other options.

I bought a set of 10 Sony DVD-RW disks and they work as expected. I can view recordings on my PC and also create DVDs on my PC (in DVD-VR mode only so far, via NeroVision) which are then viewable on this unit. I have not been successful in creating AVI movies that the unit is happy with but after converting such movies (or WMV files etc.) to DVD-VRs I can view them on this unit just fine. It also played mixed folders of JPGs in slideshow format, although if you have many files in a directory any kind of manual navigation gets a little tedious. I have not tried any of the other myriad supported formats yet other than a CD-R music CD which also played as expected.

I tried VCR->DVD recording ("dubbing", as the manual calls it) and it works as expected but the quality is just so much worse than a HDTV tuner->DVD recording but that is just a limitation of the VHS technology. It did seem that the quality of VCR playback was a little worse than on my old 15 or so year old Mitsubishi but since the latter died I was not able to do side by side comparisons. However, this unit serves its purpose well of digitizing old home movies etc. before the tapes degrade even further.

The only small negatives are the almost impossible to read "gray on black" text on the remote (now who thought that would be cool?), and the slightly noisy VCR motor or fan (?) that is always on when the unit is powered on.

All in all, I am very impressed with this unit's performance and even the manual is quite readable I thought and I have had no issues with what I have tried to use it for so far.

Toshiba DVR670/DVR670KU DVD/VHS Recorder with Built in Tuner, Black
Review by Steven Downham "divijets1" : Toshiba DVR670

So far so good! Loving the ease in transferring my VHS tapes over to DVD. You definitely want to carefully read directions as you do it the first time or two, but it's very easy.

Have been able to use Picture in Picture now since it has the tuner in it so that's been nice.

Only thing I don't like so far as the remote, it's OKAY, but after the poor reviews on the remote for the last model I would have thought Toshiba would have made it better. Not laid out great, and not backlit. If that's my biggest complaint going forward I'll stay happy!

Toshiba DVR670/DVR670KU DVD/VHS Recorder with Built in Tuner, Black
Review by MacDavid O'Ryan : Excellent Digital Tuner but Tough to Program

The digital conversion in June forced me to upgrade the multiple VCRs I have relied on for the past 15 years to record over the air television. (Yes, I am a dinosaur, broadcast TV only in our household!) This was not an altogether bad thing as the forced conversion afforded the opportunity to convert to DVD recording. I bought 2 units - this one from Amazon and a JVC DR-MV100B from Sam's Club. If Congress had done a better job of handling this conversion and forced all broadcasters to the UHF band this unit would have gone back to Amazon. But Congress (no surprise) did only half as good a job as it could have (familiar?) and we still have to juggle VHF and UHF. Here in Denver we still have stations at 7 and 9 and the tuner on this Toshiba picks them up flawlessly while the JVC has proven to be very unreliable - sometimes the signal(s) come in flawlessly, othertimes not. (This is maddening when you've recorded a program and portions of it are just lost for no apparent reason!) On the other hand the JVC is relatively easy to program (the Toshiba most assuredly is not) and, given a reliable signal, the recording quality is superior. The JVC was (is?) $50 cheaper and is my go to choice for recording for all channels other than 7 and 9.

Bottom line: If you have a weak digital signal the Toshiba is the better bet as long as you can figure out how to program it. If you have a strong digital signal, check out the JVC...

Toshiba DVR670/DVR670KU DVD/VHS Recorder with Built in Tuner, Black
Review by Mal Schoen : A Great Little Machine!

Previously I owned a separate VCR and DVD player, but when the VCR finally gave out, I was shocked to discover that replacing it with another stand-alone unit was no longer an option. Okay - Plan B. I researched VCR/DVD combo units and finally landed on this one. I read the other reviewers - some loved it, some did not. I'm glad I went with my gut and bought it anyway, from Amazon. Right away I liked the good price and free shipping. Then I discovered I liked the machine. True, the manual is large and can be intimidating, but I learned a long time ago that you don't need to know how to do everything in a manual, just what you personally want to do. It didn't take long to learn how to record from television or copy from a video to a DVD, the two things I really wanted. My only disappointment is that some videos seem to be copy-protected and can't be transferred onto DVD. But this is not the fault of the machine. If you want a good VCR and DVD and have need for a built-in tuner, as I did, this machine is for you....

Toshiba DVR670/DVR670KU DVD/VHS Recorder with Built in Tuner, Black
Review by William D. Bandes : Absolutely fantastic if you can hack it.

I just bought 3 more of these, one for each TV in the house. I cannot BELIEVE how good this unit is. It is taking my puny narrow-screen cable signals (no other choice here) and pumping them out in gorgeous wide-screen like I have never seen before (through an HDMI cable, which you must use for the best results, your TV must have an HDMI input). You can record onto videotape or DVD. You can dub from tape to DVD or DVD to tape. The results are out of this world no matter what you do. BUT this is a complex machine and you have to have patience, there is a rather long learning curve but WOW, it is worth it. Worth it to get some help from a techie friend if you need it, rather than settle for something less. The only "trouble" I had was a confusion between the "On/Off" button and the "Timer Set" button on the remote. I ALWAYS have a pending recording (Monday thru Friday, etc.). IF you have a pending recording, you MUST turn the unit on and off with the "Timer Set" button, or your programs will not record. When I turned the unit off with the "On/Off" button, things got messed up. So I put a tape across the "On/Off" button, and used a label-maker to put a marker above the "Timer Set" button. Now I use the "Timer Set" button exclusively to turn the unit on and off, and everything works like a charm!.....