After half a decade of waiting for a machine that'll do merely what I want it to do--transferring my old VHS library to the more permanent DVDs--I jumped at the opportunity to get the DVR-610, at a great price (I purchased it at BestBuy, which allowed me to return it within 30 days for full refund if it wasn't up to scratch).

I must say: it passed the "probationary" period smashingly, though with a few small reservations I will mention later. Supposedly this deck is Toshiba's new improved version of its DVR-600 from last year. That deck brought forth quite a few frustrated reviews from buyers, and with this buyer-beware in mind, I assumed we were still in the Dark Ages as far as preservation on home DVD's was concerned. I initially thought a deck with merely a DVD recorder would do the trick (i.e., wiring my old VCR to its inputs to do duping), but I received conflicting and discouraging reports on these machines, too.

And so, the present model does a very,... Read more

This is the 3rd attempt I've made at purchasing something to transfer my old videos to DVD and I think I finally have a winner! The user's manual leaves a little (ok, a lot!) to be desired, but after deciphering the badly translated English, I was able to transfer my videos to DVD with no problem. It literally takes about 3 button pushes and off it goes.

The quality so far seems excellent in both video and DVD playback too. And everyone I've given a DVD to has been able to play them so far!

This Toshiba D-VR610KU took away my headache and fustration from other DVR/VHS recorders that I own. Other DVR's did not copy to certain brand DVD blanks or if it did copy the quality was poor at all settings.

Pro(s):
I use Verbatim Archival Grade and Taiyo Yuden blanks from Japan in this Toshiba DVR and it copies with NO problem.
Playback quality after recording at all settings. VHS-DVD dubbing is EXCELLENT and picture is very close to Blu-Ray.

Con(s):
Another remote control you do not want to lose. 48 BUTTONS!!!
Owner's Manual is poor.
VHS Rewind is very slow.