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One failing of the cable card is that it's one way only, you can't do video on demand, but that's not an issue for me).There are some limitations to the Toshiba Symbio 160HD4. The TV Guide works well, but it will take a little time to set it up the way you want it.
The biggest limitation is reliance on the single tuner in my TV set. When the Symbio records, the TV goes to that channel and you can't pause or change channels while the system is recording.
Symbio 160HD4 Audio/Video Hard Drive (AVHD) RecorderI've had my Symbio for over a year and it's worked flawlessly with my Toshiba TV. I previously owned a ReplayTV which is similar to a Tivo and was very pleased with it.
It's simple to use and produces great HD recordings. (I use the cable card, but you could use a cable box if you choose).(I choose the cable card for simplicity, but the Symbio/Toshiba TV combination offers IR to control your cable box.
It was more feature rich than the Symbio, but at the time I purchased the Symbio, neither Tivo nor ReplayTV supported HD.My bottom line: I like the unit, it's simple to connect and use, but I wish that it had a few more features but it meets my needs and they have great technical support if you need it.
Easy. Scheduling recordings is done via the Sharp TV set's built in TV Guide on Screen (TVGOS), which receives program listings *free* from my local cable company (Time Warner). The main drawbacks of using the 160HD4 with the Sharp Aquos LC45GD7U set that I have noticed are: (1) TVGOS filenames for recordings are not assigned by the Sharp TV's TVGOS, so it can be hard to figure out which recording is which.
To playback, I use the Sharp TV remotes 'i.Link' button to popup a control window, select the recording to play, and push play. (2) Unlike the Toshiba TV sets, the Sharp's remote controller does not have dedicated buttons for controlling 160HD4, which means that one has to use the virtual buttons in the i.Link popup window on the Sharp TV set. Don't believe Toshiba's disclaimer, which misleadingly says "Toshiba Symbio AVHD recorder model 160HD4 is compatible only with Toshiba Integrated HD television models 51H94, 57H94, 51HX94, 57HX94, 46HM94, 52HM94, 62HM94, 52HMX94, and 62HMX94." I am using my Toshiba Symbio 160HD4 with my Sharp Aquos LC45GD7U set which has TV Guide on Screen and i.Link support with DTCP copy protection so I can record all digital cable channels received including encrypted premium channels decoded using the CableCARD installed in my Sharp TV set by local cable company (Time Warner).
The 160HD4 device has no controls of its own, not even a power switch. The Toshiba 169HD4 works fine with my TV set, with full capability to record and play digital TV from both broadcast and all my cable channels including premium channels. Setup is trivial, plug it in and run the included firewire cable to the TV.
Still, this is not much of a handicap, as the Sharp's popup virtual buttons seem easy to use.
I've only had to unplug the unit 3-4 times in the 6 months I've used it and that was related to filling up the drive and losing the audio.Would I buy it again. Also, Toshiba claims it will slow-forward/reverse, the unit i have doesn't.I read a few of the reviews and one guy stated the only way to terminate a recording was to pull the plug, thats not the case, if the show is recording, simply press the record button on the remote and wait a few seconds for it to stop. If i could find another unit that could pull the TV Guide from the cable without an additional monthly fee, had the same simply one button recording, no. I purchased this along with my 62HMX95 about 6 months ago, when I first started using it I had a lot of issues with the audio not getting recorded, so much I called toshiba and got an RMA, needless to say the problem seems to have taken care of itself and unless the drive fills up, I dont have any problems with its operation at all which is to say, not much. The lack of a tuner prohibits it. But since I haven't found one that meets my needs yet, i bought a 2nd off EBay.For those of you curious, the drive is a standard 160G IDE drive, easy to replace. It records and plays and thats about it, you can fast forward/reverse and jump a few minutes in either direction at a time and pause, but if you want to use your TV while recording, forget it. I haven't tried a larger drive yet but thats next on my list after the second unit arrives.
Indicators on the front show power, recording status, and playback status. The only thing this device doesn't do that's mentioned in the manual, when using it with the Mitsubishi set, is the live TV pause, playback, rewind, fast-forward functionality. It's quiet, it goes into a sleep mode when not in use and wakes up very quickly when it needs to. Contrary to the description and manual, it DOES work on non-Toshiba devices. from a functionality perspective, this device works exactly as it should. At it's core, it's a 160Gb IEE1394 hard drive with an AV/C interface. This device HAS been discontinued though so you might have trouble finding somewhere that actually has it in stock.
You might be better off looking on some sort of auction site ;).Oh, and yes. I bought this for use on my Mitsubishi 73727. It just so happens that the Toshiba's have this functionality built-in when plugging in an IEE1394 AV/C device.So. A lot of people have marked this as a negative against this device on various forums; However this is not functionality that is EVER provided by the AVHD. It's something that has to be provided by the TV. It's 'DTVLink' logo compatible, and should work on most all TVs that support these standards.
It's limited to channel changing via the "up channel" on the remote but at least you can use the TV to a limited extent while the Symbio is recording. You can even modify the automatic settings for starting the recording earlier and ending the recording later to ensure you record all of your football games. However, I was pleasantly surprised by its performance when I hooked the unit up. The unit is also limited to recording from three inputs: Antenna 1 (analog or digital cable), Antenna 2 (analog or digital over the air), and Input 1 (composite video)At the present price point ($200+), I feel that this unit is a steal, especially considering its ability to pause and rewind live tv similar to Tivo and its ability to record in HD and SD.Next I plan to train my Golden Retriever to program my favorite shows for me. You can also set up the unit to record manually if you wish by entering the date, times, channels, etc.For the most part, the Symbio does lock down most functions of the television while it is recording.
However, because the newer Toshiba's have integrated digital and analog tuners you can watch channels on the tuner not being used by the Symbio. To record a show you simply highlight the selection on Toshiba's integrated TV Guide system and hit the record button. Before purchasing this unit I read all of the reviews that were mostly rating this unit in the poor to average category. It couldn't be simpler. Could my wife be far behind.
By the way, hooking it up is a snap, you simply plug the fire wire connection from the unit into the Toshiba TV.The HD recordings this unit makes are absolutely indistinguishable from the original.
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