Toshiba RD-XV59DT

09. Feb, 2010 0 Comments

If you are lacking shelf space on your TV stand then the latest 3 in 1 combi from Toshiba could be just the solution you are looking for. The RD-XV59DT integrates both DVD and VHS recorders as well as a Freeview recorder, but is it any good? Read our full review below to find out if Toshiba have managed to maintain their long run of quality electrical goods.

The Good

Whatever media type you are looking to play the RD-XV59DT can just about do it all, when we first got our hands on the machine it took a little while to get to grips with it, mainly because it is so feature packed, but we were soon using it to it’s full potential and boy does it have lots of that.

Initial Set up is quick, just a matter of waiting while it searched for available freeview channels etc, and then it was good to go. We managed to acquire a few VHS tapes to test out the 6 head player/recorder and found it to be excellent on playback and recording you can even record an old VHS onto the internal hard drive and from there burn it onto DVD so backing up that old wedding video is really made a breeze.

The RD-XV59DT also has a DV input which allows you connect up your camcorder and transfer videos directly, once loaded onto the hard drive you can then edit the video to your hearts content before burning onto disc, completely bypassing the need to use your computer.

DVD playback provided great picture quality with it’s ability to upscale standard definition DVDs to 720p, 1080i and 1080p, you can even simultaneously play and record, allowing you to watch a DVD, while recording to the HDD all which is done simply at the press of a few buttons. It was able to record onto every type of disc we put in, including DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW. The Toshiba RD-XV59DT was also able to play all varieties of CD, we tried a SVCD, VideoCD and even divx all of which played without a problem.

The Freeview portion of this unit is possibly one of the best we have seen in a Freeview recorder, the menu is well laid out so you can effortlessly watch and record your favourtie programs, at the touch of a button the live TV recorder will start and then allow you to pause and rewind just in case you are interrupted. One very nifty feature we found was that if you set a program to record and it clashes with another you have already set up it will then actively seek an alternative viewing time and suggest that to you, eg a later showing of Emmerdale on ITV2.

The conector options on the Toshiba RD-XV59DT include 2 scarts sockets and an HDMI located at the rear, aerial in and of course the DV input.

The Bad

The manual even though comprehensive, suffers from the usual Japanese to English problems we have seen so often, it’s not ineligable just hard work, but we figured it out in the end and are now using the Toshiba RD-XV59DT effortlessly.

Conclusion

Over all an excellent bit of kit, if you are looking for something to bridge the gap between technologies then this one fits the bill brilliantly. With it’s closest rivals being nearly twice the price of this little beauty you can’t go far wrong.