No comments about Toshiba SD-38VSR Analog PAL and NTSC DVD and VHS Combo Player.

No comments about New NAXA NX-831 Progressive Scan DVD Player w/Remote NR.

5 comments about Toshiba D-R1 Progressive-Scan DVD Recorder/Player.

1. Searched all around looking for a DVR and was lucky I came across this one! I am impressed with all its features and since I have many home mini-dv tapes, with clips of school made commercials, and videotapes of memorable events from TV, it was great to organize all of these moments (1-5 minutes long) on DVD. The best thing is the MENU feature at the beginning of each DVD. You can watch this clip, and then another clip, in any order you want. You can even change the color of the backgrounds to suit your tastes. At the last Christmas party, guests would choose what clip they wanted to see by perusing the menu. I had 21 clips (4-5 minutes each), and it was neat how people would look through the menu and then decide what they wanted to see. Besides, the thumbnails (depending on which frame you want to use) entice the viewer to the clip. This is far better than fast forwarding on videotape, and not really knowing what is next, or how far on the videotape the clip is. Not only that, I can label these titles or chapters, so reference is very easy. As a teacher, it is easy to showcase (educational) clips that only last 2 or 3 minutes long and have it all logged on one DVD. I tried it in the classroom and it was so easy...just to click the menu and there your clip showed. Of course, you have to organize it at first, but after that, it is a cinch. A DVD to last for YEARS!
   What I really did not like that much was the manual. I found it a bit confusing (maybe it was me and my learning this new DVD format), but after a couple of hours of toying with the DVR...I found myself very comfortable with it. You also have to program all your labeling through the remote, which is ok. It is almost like text messaging, but once you get used to it, it isn't that bad. Love this product and recommend it to anyone who wants to organize all their homevideos on DVD.
   I am still learning new features as I go along, but as of right now, I am very happy!



2. Bought this unit with great expectations, but..
   1. Bought expensive Memorex DVD-R's. First insertion recorder refused to recognize the disk.
   2. Bought more expensive Fujifilm DVD-R's. Discs recognized by player but.. after <1min recording time the recorder shuts down and says recording failed, DVD might be dirty. Created three expensive coasters.
   3. Tried another Memorex. It worked but picture stutters badly.
   4. Supplied DVD-RAM. Works, but again picture stutters.
   Unit was returned within 5 days.



3. 1. RF out does not work. Had to connect TV to S-video.
   2. It would record for a while, then fail and render the blank DVD unusable.
   3. If you leave the machine recording on a blank, when it reaches the end, instead of stopping, it renders the DVD unusable.
   4. Machine crashed numerous times, necessitating pulling the plug out and putting it back in to get it back.
   5. Finally got a short show recorded and finalized. It would not play on a Pioneer Elite DVD player, although DVD-R's created with a panasonic DVD recorder worked fine on the Pioneer.
   6. I wish these DVD makers would add a PS/2 keyboard jack on the front, as their remotes are painfully impractical at inputting text.

   I'm very disappointed. Box is headed back to the vendor tomorrow.




4. This DVD-Recorder happens to work very well. I know a few people have reviewed it and said that if they can get it to work, it works for a few minutes and then stops, but there is something they are not doing right...waiting.

   You simply can not use this DVD-Recorder just like you would a VCR, where you can turn it on, and then immediately start recording something. I'll tell you how I figured that out. One time I set it to record a show that started at 9:00pm, so I put in a DVD-R and turned the power off. Well at exactly 8:50pm the unit turned on (at first I thought I did something wrong, but I didn't) and you could see the Zeros for the counter on the front of the unit (00:00.00). Then at exactly 9:00pm they started to count up to indicate that it was recording. Bottom line is that the Toshiba DR-1 needs about 10 minutes to warm up before it records something, otherwise...if you record right away...then you will get the problems that people have talked about. Once I learned to be patient and turn the unit on in advance (like if I am going to copy a VHS tape to DVD) I never had a problem with it again.

   Oh and by the way, I have used VERY cheap DVD-R's like "Princo", "Ritek", "Optodisc", & "Dup-EZ" (mostly Princo) and they all work fine. Only thing is you should really go with what the manufacturer recommends for DVD-Ram, that being: Panasonic LM-AB120U (for 4.7gb single sided), and Panasonic LM-AD240U (for 9.4gb double sided).

   There is one thing I am not crazy about, but I think that it happens to be this way with any DVD-Recorder. You can't do any editing (like cutting out commercials) if you use DVD-R, or DVD-RW (DVD-Ram only). You also can't edit if you are dubbing, like if you are recording from a VHS tape that has commercials in it and you want to pause them out while you make the DVD. It just doesn't work for some reason. But if you are recording a show on TV through the DVD-Recorders tuner, then "pause" will work just fine. I wish you could edit a little better, but I have learned to deal with it.

   Lastly the "Timeslip" feature is just amazing (this too only works with DVD-Ram Discs). Let's just put it this way, if you are recording a show that is on from 3:00pm to 4:00pm and you get home early at 3:30pm, you can watch the very DVD-Ram disc that is currently recording from its 3:00pm start time and it will still finish the recording until 4:00pm. If that was a VCR you would either have to watch from 3:30 to 4:00, then at 4:00 rewind and watch the first half hour, or you would just have to wait and watch it all at 4:00. With DVD-Ram technology, you can watch the same disc that is currently recording.

   That is amazing, and if you just leave a DVD-Ram disc in the unit while you are watching TV, you can pause live TV and rewind it and even fast forward it up to the point where you initially paused it. Then you can finish watching the program whenever you want.

   So just have a little patience and you will love this DVD-Recorder from Toshiba. I think it's the greatest.




5. It takes for ever to start up and recognize the discs. Sometimes it just `hangs' - it just seems to be doing something but doesn't respond to any of the controls, after about 5 minutes it returns to life... very annoying to say the least.

   Sometimes the D-R1s `finalization' process makes discs unreadable. This just kills me. I spend hours copying my home video to DVD-R, think I'm all done, I can watch it fine before the finalization process, but after I add a title and finalize it toasts the disc (supposedly high quality - Memorex). Nothing will read these discs, not even the unit itself. I've lost hours of my time this way.

   One of the main reasons I bought this unit is because it has an IEEE1394DV input. Sadly, like many other features on this thing, this sucks. The quality of recordings made via the IEEE1394 is WORSE than those using the standard video input. It seems to pause, or hesitate, every now and again, which makes the audio sound terrible. My DV camera is a high quality Sony. I don't see this problem when I copy DV to my PC using an IEEE1394DV cable. So I guess this is the fault of D-R1.

3 comments about Philips DVP3040/37.

1. This player has tons of cool features but started having problems reading tracks on DVDs after a month until it wouldn't even work on brand new movies. It was the second cheapest player as Best Buy but I guess you get what you pay far. Save your receipt.



2. I had the same problem as the reviewer above. Huge skipping issues, even on brand new DVDs, not too long after purchase. The thing does look terribly cheaply put together.



3. Just like previous reviewers said - my Philips DVP3040 can't play an entire DVD without stopping, sputtering or slowing to a complete halt. Do not waste your money.

No comments about Audiobahn AVDVD05N Universial Mount DVD Player w/Remote.

No comments about 8.4" PDVD.

2 comments about Coby Ultra Compact DVD Player DVD-206.

1. Mine worked fine for a few months -- then suddenly went haywire: broke down into loud grinding noises during a video, wouldn't respond to remote or buttons on the unit, and wouldn't stop the grinding noise until unplugged. Now when plugged in it does absolutely nothing.
   
   Probably of value to those who seek opportunities to throw their money away. Everyone else: avoid as if it were nuclear radiation or other cause of terminal illness.
   
   Unfortunately, I am not given the option to give it a less than zero rating.



2. I bought it on eBay plus shipping handling it's cost around 30$. It plays all kind of DVD+-RW cds and it's region free. That's the reasons I bought it. Don't know if it can play vcd, not tested yet. Have to unpluged to be complete shup down. I don't like the layout of the remote. Other then that everything works fine. I own it only one week and hope it will last long.

5 comments about Sony DVP-NS715P Progressive-Scan DVD Player.

1. This player is one of the best DVD players out there for the price. Not only does it feature options that high end players have: such as progressive scan and multi-format playback, but at this price it's a STEAL!

   That being said, there is one thing that SONY should have added to this DVD player: the ability to read ID3 tags. Although the player allows you to navigate through an on-screen menu to the song you want, it only displays the title that you give your file on-screen. It does not display the info from the ID tags such as genre, track numbers and artist. However, the player does have the ability to scroll the file name of your song on its front display.

   By the way, for those of you who are having problems with playing CD-Rs with MP3 on them, be sure to burn the CD as an ISO 9660 format, level 1 or level 2 or joliet. So far all the media i've placed in the player worked flawlessly.

   I've searched the internet and found that Amazon and [their partners] have the lowest price for this player.




2. I bought this unit but returned it after two days. It was a very good unit for watching DVDs and if that's all you'll use it for then you'll be happy. But the unit bills itself as a MP3 player also. Well, it does, in fact, play MP3s but, only in alphabetical order of file name. No random order. Not even in the order the files are burned onto the CD. Imagine burning a CD with 8-10 hours of your favorite music and then having to listen to them only in alphabetical order, the same song by two different artists always played back-to-back. Sonys answer to this problem? Their manual suggests renaming all your files so they are alphabetically in the order you want them to play. Seems like a bad joke to me. In the past I've prefered to buy only Sony equipment. I have a Sony TV, DVD, VCR, receiver, speakers, and even digital cable box. But now I find myself having to get off the Sony train. I'll give it 5 stars for DVDs but only 1 star for MP3s so overall I'll give it a disappointing 3 stars.



3. I've been looking and looking and looking for a replacement for my old Panasonic DVD player. This is it. Not only does it play the new formats. It has 2 count them 2 sets audio outputs. This has been my biggest complaint when trying to find a DVD player. I've had a bad experience with my RCA carousel DVD player that had more than one set of audio outputs. The manufacturers seem to think that if you don't want a carousel you don't want to hook your DVD player into your stereo as well as your TV. There are times when you want theatre sound and there are times when you want regular TV. If you feel the same this is the DVD player for you



4. I was looking for a decent DVD player to play my MP3's as well. It took me 3 players before I got to the this model. Too many players out there say 'MP3 compatible', but really don't handle all MP3's (skipping, loud popping, etc.). The Sony was the first one that handled ALL of my MP3's without a hitch. Like a previous reviewer already mentioned, it's pretty lame that Sony did not put in a Shuffle function for MP3 discs. They made it available for regular CD's, so what gives?

   Oh yeah, the DVD player itself works fine. There's a few settings that allow you to customize the sound in case you don't have a 5.1 receiver (like me). Picture and playback are no problem so far since I bought it back in December of '02.

   For you MP3 freaks (like me), here's some recommendations to help with playback and other stuff. These tools are FREE on the web. Use Google to look for them.

   CDEx - want to make your own MP3's from your CD collection? This FREE ripper has no restrictions, lots of personalized settings and has one of the best encoders (LAME) for MP3. You'll get great sounding MP3's from this tool.

   MP3Gain - Tired of loud, then quiet MP3's? This tool helps equalize the volume of selected tracks, saving you from volume knob twiddling.

   MP3Trim - This helps with trimming excess space at the end of tracks as well as cleaning up garbage bits in the MP3. Ever had one that couldn't play or started part way in the song? This tool will fix those problems. Afer I got MP3Trim, ALL MP3's played in my boombox and Sony DVD player. Only limit on this software is that the MP3 song limit is 7 minutes.

   MP3DirectCut - Allows you to split MP3's (especially those albums that are one long MP3), trim them and lots of other stuff.

   Once you have the above tools and figure them out, your MP3 exeperience will be smoother and much more enjoyable.




5. When I purchased this player seven months ago the salesperson quite emphatically suggested I also purchase an optional extended warranty. I should have taken the hint. Having purchased Sony products before without issue, I decided not to accept the offer. This was an unfortunate decision on my part. Shortly after the warranty expired the player stopped reading DVDs. Here's a trick for those of you experiencing similar difficulties; I have found, on occasion, that I can get it to play if I first use a couple of carefully chosen expletives and rap it on it's side.

No comments about Lite-On DD-A300GX Double Layer DVD Recorder with DivX Playback.

4 comments about Sony DVP-FX1021 10.2-Inch Portable DVD Player.

1. I got this player because it was the only high end player that I could find that supported +R and +RW formats which I use on my computer when converting home video. The screen is very nice and the battery life should be excellent. There are two problems with it that I can see from a user point of view. Neither is a showstopper but they are surprising misses from a company with Sony's experience.
   
   One is that the remote gives you no way to adjust the volume. You have to use the volume on the side of the machine. You also need the remote to fast forward thru part of the DVD. The unit has a chapter skip button but on fast forward.
   
   Second, it is almost impossible to tell when the battery is done charging. The charging indication is displayed on a small LCD panal on the front edge of the machine. It is almost unreadable unless the light is very strong. It is a pain to figure out what the charge is on the battery and if it is done or not.
   
   If you are looking for a good, large screen portable DVD player with good battery life, this is a good choice but a few poor design decisions keep it from being a great choice.



2. $700. Uh, why not just spend that on a notebook computer from dell or hp and get a 15" screen, 40GB harddrive, and all the other added capability of a computer. Then you can play games and burn cd's and dvd's as well for about the same amount of money. The only thing better about the dvd player vs the notebook is it probably has a slightly longer battery life and is better in terms of portability...lighter and smaller form.



3. This 10 inch Sony portable is a very nice looking device and it definitely has all the features you need. However, after comparing the quality of the screen resolution to the Toshiba SD-2700, I would conclude it's not all that great. This device is quite expensive at (retail) $799.00 and therefore I would expect a much higher quality screen resolution.
   
   I wonder how long we have to wait before Sony will release a portable dvd player that utilizes it's XBrite LCD Monitor technology?? If you've seen a Sony laptop computer with an XBrite screen, you'll know what I'm talking about.



4. Great portable DVD. Just what I wanted for a 9 mo old that loves Baby Einstein videos and who was going on his first 7 hour car ride. Geat picture quality and sound. Batery life excellent. Remote control nice feature in the moving car.
   
   Sony should sell a travel bag for it beacuase the other verndors bags don't quite fit the 10.2 size as well as I would have liked.