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Toshiba RD-X2 DVD-RAM/DVD-R Recorder

Toshiba RD-X2 DVD-RAM/DVD-R Recorder

List Price: $1,299.99
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Product Info Reviews

Features:
  • Built-in 80 GB hard drive with PVR functionality--up to 75 hours of recording (in LP mode)
  • DVD-R and DVD-RAM recording, records more than 4 hours on a single-sided DVD-RAM disc
  • Plays DVD-Video, DVD-R, DVD-RAM, music CDs, CD-Rs, and CD-RWs
  • Scalable digital-audio recording (Dolby Digital or linear PCM)
  • ColorStream component-video and Dolby Digital/DTS digital surround sound outputs


Description:

Looking for more than just a DVD player? Try the Toshiba RD-X2 combination DVD player/recorder and PVR. The RX-D2 lets you record favorite TV programming--or copy home movies and other videos--to its built-in 80 GB hard-disk drive (HDD). Next you can create virtual titles for recordings, including menus and chapters with thumbnail images. Then use the built in assemble editor to burn your programming to recordable DVDs in high-quality MPEG-2 digital images. A convenient library function maintains an inventory of all recorded content by disc or title (sort by date, time, or genre).

The RD-X2 offers the flexibility of recording on both DVD-RAM--perfect for instant chapter access and for multiple rerecordings--as well as on DVD-R, widely regarded as the most widely compatible of the many DVD formats (great for sharing camcorder footage with loved ones). DVD-RAM offers double-sided recording (9.4 GB total storage), and the format is re-writeable, too. Dubbing from DVD-RAM to HDD and back is fully digital; it's both high-speed (2x to 8x dubbing from HDD to DVD-RAM) and lossless.

Advanced timer programming lets you use the unit like a VCR, telling it the time and channel you'd like a given program recorded, and built-in Gemstar VCR+ greatly simplifies this. When recording in SP mode, the hard drive holds about 36 hours of programming; you get up to 75 hours in LP mode. Time slip/chase TV recording/playback lets you begin watching a recording that is already in progress or "pause" a live recording and then return to it later.

Significantly, this model provides the option of recording audio in higher resolution than the MP3-like Dolby Digital 2.0. Choose from three separate formats, depending upon your desired quality and available disc space: Dolby Digital 1 (192 kbps), Dolby Digital 2 (384 kbps), and linear PCM (1,546 kbps). Four line-level analog-audio inputs and one RF audio/video input accommodate recording and dubbing content from multiple sources.

For playback, ColorStream component-video outputs provide great color detail and high purity when connected to compatible televisions (the unit also has standard RF and composite- and S-video outputs). Both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel surround-sound signals can be routed through the player's digital-audio outputs (one each of RCA coaxial and Toslink optical) for direct connection to a full-featured audio/video receiver.

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