Toshiba D-R430 DVD Recorder

I needed to copy a very precious VHS tape. I wanted to transfer to DVD and make ccpies. After pricing what the local drug store wanted for just one copy, I figured it was time to shop for a DVD recorder. But which one? There are so many. And what about reliabilty? Seems most combo players that can record DVD had issues either with the DVD or the VCR part of the unit. A lot of newer DVD recorders had fair to low consumer ratings and seemed more like throw away electronics if something went wrong or when (not if) the unit becasme defective. I started my search and found that Toshiba's DR420 and DR420 DVD recorders had 4 plus star rating from the people who bought them. The only negative seemed to be that the manual of operation was not written for most to comprehend. I gained most of my operational knowledge on the unit from reading the reviews by people who bought the machine. Because of those reviews, I was able to copy/burn/transfer my VHS tape to DVD within 20 minutes and thats what I wanted it for.

So for a little bit more money than what the drug store wanted for one disk, I can now start to transfer old VHS tapes to DVD. I'm still learning about menu writing, but the unit works fine. Don't forget to "finalize" your DVD recording after you write/burn your media to it, if you want it to play the disk in other media players or PC's.

I was looking to purchase my first DVD recorder. Like many folks out there, I mainly wanted to copy my favorite VHS tapes before they totally disintegrated. I have several that are irreplaceable. I began looking at new recorders, and comparing prices, and then I came across a couple of sellers with refurbished units. Normally I would never buy anything refurbished, especially electronics, but after reading comments and opinions from online forums it seemed to me that nearly everyone who bought a new unit had problems with it either immediately or within a few months, and that those who had purchased refurbished units seemed to have much less trouble. So I went ahead and purchased this Toshiba DR-430, it seemed the be the more reliable unit from what I had read, and the price was hard to beat. I also purchased the additional Square Trade warranty as it was really cheap for an extra 2 years coverage, I figured I would be finished copying my tapes well before then, so if it lasted 2 years I would be happy. I have had this unit now about 4 months, and have copied over 30 of my VHS tapes, I have been very pleased with the quality and performance of the unit, no issues so far.
It is true that the refurbished units only come with a quick start guide, NOT the full factory manual, BUT you can easily go to Toshiba's website and download the factory manual, which I did. I had read many people say that the factory manual was very hard to read because it was not organized very well. That is definitely true in my opinion, but I am not very tech savvy and was able to figure it out, so the average person should have no problem.
I do have to share this fact which I found out immediately when I tried to copy the first VHS tape...most, if not all, pre-recorded tapes have copyright protection and the DVD recorder, no matter what brand I am told, will not record anything with protection. And there were several different types used. So I went back to Ebay and found a gizmo called a Digital Video Stabilizer, I bought the cheap one that is just a circuit board that comes in a brown cardboard case, cost me about $25, it is easy 1 wire hook-up, and it did very well, considering that I could not record most of my tapes at all, but with this little box(it works off a 9 Volt battery, thats it) I was able to copy @ 80-90% of my tapes, many came out better looking than the original tape did, some still have a little of the copy protection evident, just depends on the tape, but they were still watchable, better than not being able to record them at all thats for sure. That is just for pre-recorded tapes, if you have tapes you made yourself you will have no problem, but I still recommend the stabilizer because it actually does digitally clear up your tape signal and records it with enhanced clarity. So now that I have the stabilizer I have been really pleased with the Toshiba, I have even recorded Disney movies and cartoons that the recorder would just give an error message because of the copyright protection, so that little box is well worth the price. I tried 2 different versions of that stabilizer, and only 1 worked, the other was more expensive and did not help at all. The one I bought, which is still available to date on Ebay, it looks cheap with the little cardboard cover, but it does work well at a reasonable price. I hope some of this information helps anyone who was lost at first like me and hopefully this will save you some of the hassle I ran into.

I bought this tunerless recorder/player to record programs for keeping from my cable DVR, and also to play any DVD. It has done a perfect job so far.
This was a slightly used item. When I first tried it, I got no picture on my TV. That was an old TV that would only do a 480I scan. What to do with no on screen display? I suspected that the DR430 was set to progressive scan. Reading the user manual very carefully, I found that I could start a DVD playing and then hold the setup button down until progressive scan was turned off. The book said 3 seconds. It took about 5 seconds, but it worked. No other problems.
I have had it about 1 month and I have recorded 14 DVDs. I cannot speak to the long term reliability, but I am very happy with it to this point.

I wanted a DVD recorder that was inexpensive yet
reliable. They sell this same unit at Best Buy in
both new and refurbished form. The Magnavox brand
is the other model that was $10-$15 less, but I
believe that it's an older model as Best Buy only
sells it in refurbished form. So after being able
to read reviews on both eBay and Best Buy's sites
I felt this was the best choice. It was $30.00
more at Best Buy, plus another $8.00 for sales
tax. The more expensive models that include a
tuner really aren't neccessary anymore because
anyone with cable or satellite needs a digital
box anyway. It's like the old VCR's that were
cable ready, only satellite and cable today makes
it impossible to use the built in analog tuner.
So it's really no different then if you still had
a VCR and wanted to record something from a cable
or satellite box. You need to have the box or DVR
on the channel that you're recording, the same as
you would with a VCR in today's world. All you
need to do is format the disc 1st, meaning setting
the recorder to the kind of disc you're using and
then make sure to finalize the disc when it's done
recording so that it can be used on any other DVD
player. I don't record live programming anyway.
Anything I need to record I record to the DVR. So
the only reason I got it was if say someone in my
family missed something on TV that I had recorded
in my DVR I can now record from my DVR to the DVD
recorder and give them a disc to watch on their
DVD player. You really can't do that with VCR's
anymore because of HD television. This unit will
record in HD so playing it back is no different
then watching a digital HD broadcast or watching
a DVD that you purchased or rented. A great value.

This is my second Toshiba recorder. I have an older model that I used for about 4 years and works perfect with no problem at all! I bought this one to upgrade and was not disappointed! Very great product to have. Records and play back every type of dvd with no issues!