Toshiba RD-XS54 - Page 4

Does the Fan stay on all the time? How much does it weigh?

Does anybody have this recorder? I was wondering whether it can play Cd or DVD's with Divx files.

I used the HDMI interface tonight. Very, very crisp.

Slinky, it should be documented in the manual how to advance or reverse in time by inputing number of hours. I think in the TV Guide listing, you can input 24 and the right arrow to take you 24 hours ahead.

I asked about this on the XS34 and someone here helped me out. I thought it was a hidden feature but found it in the manual's TV Guide section after reading a 2nd or 3rd time.

Yes, you have to read the manual 5 times to understand everything this box does. Is this a positive or negative? Depends on the person I guess. Bad for those who want to turn this thing on and know everything it does in 5 minutes. Good for those who want the ability to do a lot of different things with one box.

The TVGOS works.

Good point about reading the manual Alan. Its amazing how much bandwidth is wasted on posts which would be resolved if people would just spend a few minutes reading the manual and getting to know the functionality. One of the single biggest time wasters on this forum.
By the way Alan, would be very interested in hearing your opinion on the functionality and picture quality of the XS54 after you've had a chance to use it for awhile.

Your paranoia is now reaching epic proportions. I did not respond to your post. I made a very general observation to a different poster. Am I not allowed to voice ANY opinions on ANY topic? Are you irritated that I'd want to hear someone's opinion other than yours? Poor baby. If my comment hits home with you, deal with it. But quit commenting on every post I make. You now have tried to resurrect this all again, even though I wasn't even responding to you nor mentioning your name.

You have a disease which needs treatment. Seek help. Post Traumatic Slinky DVD Recorder Overload Syndrome.

[quote=Alan Wong]
Yes, you have to read the manual 5 times to understand everything this box does. Is this a positive or negative? Depends on the person I guess. Bad for those who want to turn this thing on and know everything it does in 5 minutes. /QUOTE]


From what you have said this sounds like a recorder that wouldn't be good for an impatient person or one who wants to rush it out of the box and tends to give willy nilly knee-jerk assesments. Sounds like it may be more complicated than the Pioneer models. That's probably not good for someone who wants instant gratification or is quick to return things. I am sure there will be users who buy this that will give it a good thorough trial period and be able to give the rest of us who might be interested an intelligent and well thought out review.

SLINKY COMMANDMENT #1

Thou shalt not post in a thread unless ye hath owned (even for a week or two) the recorder that is the subject of the thread. Thou shalt not have any opinions nor maketh any inquiries into a recorder unless ye owneth said recorder. We who have owned multiple recorders are the ONLY ones qualified to comment on said recorder, and are to be considered the SUPREME experts and LAWGIVERS on said recorders, and those who do not owneth and returneth multiple DVD recorders shall be cast out, censored and banished into Hades.
Thus sayeth Lord Slinky

Now I am beginning to understand why this guy has bought 3 different recorders in the last
month or so...
Does this mean I have to take you off my "buddy" list?

Slinky.... Very interested in the information you are providing about the Toshiba. Can you tell me if you can divide a title on the hard disk to record to two dvds?

Thanks Again.

As a newbie I'd like to thank everyone for the insightful and informative posts, I've learned alot in a very short amount of time.

I'd especially like to thank Squonk and Slinky for some seriously entertaining as well as educational posts , you boys are two damn funny.
IMHO, I have to take Squonks side though, Slinky is worse than my girlfriend trying to pick out a dress for a dinner party

Anyway, keep up the great posts!

Thanks Slinky,
I am following this thread closely. Currently have a Sony HX-900 and looking at the Toshiba as a possiblility... Looking to see what it has over the 900 other than the ethernet port.
Thanks Again... Keep rollin' with the review..!
Very informative!

"Keep you ears open and you mouth closed... you may be surprised at what you may learn!"

Tryin' to put a signature quote on my messages.. Goofed on the last one.
How do I do it?

Choose the "usercp" option in the menu bar at the top of this page.

Thanks Slinky. Keep us informed on the Toshiba. It is interesting...!

Received my XS54. Doesn't seem like the the CPU is any faster than the XS34. To sum it up, I'd say it's an XS34 with a larger HDD and has LAN connectivity.

I'm in a different room right now and streaming video to my PC. I asked earlier if the web server port can be changed from the default of 80. It can which is cool. I tried connecting to the XS54 over the Internet on a non-standard port because my ISP blocks port 80 and that worked. The only thing, I didn't seem to get any feedback. I turned on and off the XS54 online and it responded but there was no feedback on the screen. Wondering if the TTL is set to 1 where I can give commands to the XS54 but responses don't leave the LAN? Will have to fire up Ethereal and sniff.

On a P3-800, with my browser running and the highest res window from TV 1080x720 @ 1.7Mbps rate, my CPU is about 45%. Wish there was an option of 1280x720 and an option for bitrate to be higher, as I've got plenty of LAN bandwidth. Don't know if I'll use this much but I guess if you don't want to spring for additional cable STBs, this is a poor man's substitute.

This is a keeper for me because I liked the XS34 already. Main benefit is larger HDD. I tried getting to Toshiba to check for a SW upgrade. You have to enter your S/N and I did but the XS54 responded that my S/N wasn't valid.

Hoping I'm just hitting their server before it's ready. Hope Toshiba comes out with low end boxes with an Ethernet port where I can stream content from the XS54 to them. I won't own more than one XS54 but I'll pick up streaming media receivers if they're inexpensive.

Just sniffed the video stream. I guess you can stream if you have a router at home but definitely not out to the Internet. TTL is set to 3. Hmm, wondering what the TTL is set to on the Japanese version? The marketing guy in me says the XS74 or whatever the next more expensive model will be next year will have a higher TTL value to allow Internet access for a higher cost.

An interesting thing I noticed is that the TCP Push bit is set. Is this normal with IP video as I haven't seen this bit set normally.

This has been a (mostly) great thread. I've learned a lot about this machine and I'm pretty sure this is the one I want to buy. I'm going to replace an RCA Scenium DRS7000N.

For one of you that already has the machine, I'd like to understand how the "pause live TV" part of this works. I've read that many of the DVD-recorder/DVR machines require you to actually start the recording process in order to pause or rewind "live" TV. Is this the case with the RD-XS54?

For comparison, on my Scenium DRS7000N, as soon as I start watching TV, it starts recording and will keep about 42 minutes of backlog which is deleted when I turn off the machine or switch the menu. I don't have to hit a record button or set up a recording to be able to pause or back up. It records everything I do--if I change channels a couple of times and then rewind, I can watch my channel surfing. Basically, I don't have to think about that function...it's always on.

Thanks for any info you can give me on this function. Keep the other pointers and known issues coming.

Will the XS54 be able to change channel on DirecTV Sat box? I believe that the XS34 willnot change channels on Sat box.

I was wondering whether anybody tried to play Divx file on the machine.. Does it play DivX files?

MaddogMoney...I think it would be safe to assume (although I do not have the 54 yet) that you would actually have to start the recording process then at some point start watching the recording in order to pause and rewind. I have the panasonic E80 and that is the case.

Does anyone know if there is an adapter to connect to the HDMI to component inputs on a television?

To pause live TV, you have to hit the "timeslip" button. I wish the box would just record automatically the current TV station you're watching, like a Tivo or SA8300 which I've used in the past.

One good thing with timeslip is that when you hit the button to stop recording and go back to "live" viewing, the machine give you an option to save the data you timeslipped.

Thanks for the answer Alan.

Does anyone know if this owners manual is found online anywhere?

The manual isn't on Toshiba's website yet. But when I looked through the manual, it's pretty much the same as the XS34 manual which is available on Toshiba's website. The only difference I noticed is that the XS54 has a chapter on network connectivity and its features.

So, if you not looking to read the manual specific to network functions/features, just look at the XS34 manual.

I say, has anyone 'sniffed' the XS54>XS54 option whereas you can 'copy' the video from one XS54 to another one on the network? Would be nice if there was a PC client that could 'spoof' the XS54 and let you pull DVD ready MPEG to the PC HD (saves copying from HD > RAM > PC).

The LG LRM-519 does this:

http://us.lge.com/Product/proddetail...e=1&perPage=10

Pleas see pages 44, 45, 46 and 60 through 66 of the manual.

I just bought an ES10 Panny and was reasonably pleased with the 4 HR mode (recording for archive through a D* HR10-250 Tivo unit), but if there is an "improved" 4 HR mode on the EH-50 I'd sure want to know about it. Do you have links to reviews and or discussion of same?

Many thanks and pardon the interruption.

Boy, you sure pulled that post from way back. I was referring to the discontinuation of the E-500 model (which I have), compared to the new EH-50 model. The ES10 is supposed to have the same improved 4-hr LP as the new EH-50.

RG