While this unit does everything it claims to do, and does it well, it has two problems for the potential buyer.

The editing program that assembles file units for transfer to DVD-R or DVD-RAM is not particularly intuitive and will require a major learning curve.

And the major problem for me: you will NOT be able to transfer your recordings of premium channel programs (HBO, etc.) to DVD-R/RAM. The built-in copyright protection means that if you want to keep the programs, they will have to remain on the hard drive!

it was extremely easy to connect to the dish and tv and also very easy to use. For the basic recording, timer recording, and transferring to dvd you don't even need to read the manual. The only drawback to this machine is the dvd only records on -r and -ram and you can not re record on -r dvd's and ram dvd's are too expensive. It would have been 5 stars if it recorded on rw-dvd's. There is no reason to buy a tivo machine and pay for their service

Hello Folks,

I purchased this DVD recorder from another internet provider, BuyDig.com, who I do not recommend. I also don't recommend this DVD recorder itself for several reasons. I have a Sony 30 inch widescreen HDTV ready TV and I thought the HDMI connection would keep the picture clearer. Well, the Toshiba RD-XS52 has a tuning problem of some kind that results in a halo effect around high contrast video. This effectively reduces a high quality signal to one that is similar to a non-HDTV or worse. It is a subtle problem that gets more annoying every time you watch TV.

The second problem is that I too am having difficulty getting the recorder to operate my set top box, a Cox San Diego area box built by Scientific Atlanta. I called the Toshiba tech support and told a helpful woman technician about the difficulty and that I suspected the IR blaster wasn't working at all. She described a method whereby I could inspect the IR blaster using a camcorder or... Read more