This is a review of the Toshiba DR560 Upconverting DVD Recorder with built in high def tuner.

BACKGROUND:
I bought this unit to handle a few needs with one piece of hardware:
1. I wanted a high def tuner for my tuner-less Sharp Aquos 26" LCD TV (purchased in 2007 before the new rule requiring tuners in TVs!)
2. I wanted to be able to take old analog home movie footage and transfer it directly to DVD with no editing. My old VHS tapes were approaching their shelf life limit.
3. I wanted to upconvert standard 480 resolution DVDs to make them look better on the Sharp TV.

SETUP:
The setup of the device was simple. I hate the fact that manufacturers still don't include HDMI cables with hardware that costs this much. So I grumbled for a minute and then purchased an HDMI cable for it (don't get me started on how most electronics stores charge an obscene price for digital cables! I bought one at a large discount retailer). All I had to do was... Read more

Got my Toshiba DR560 on Amazon, shipping was quick as usual, been using it for 2 weeks and is hooked up to my Samsung LN37A450 37-inch 720p LCD HDTV via HDMI cable. I'll focus on my user experience:

Pros:
- IT WORKS. Easy push-button to setup one-time recordings
- GOOD WITH COMCAST CABLE. Picks up my Comcast channels both the regular Analog *and* the Digital TV (DTV) cable broadcast channels. I'm not sure why the other reviewer said it did not work with Comcast digital?? It works just fine and tunes to both the analog and digital signals from Comcast cable, DO NOTE that there is an "EXTENDED SCAN" mode to learn the digital cable channels maybe the reviewer missed that option and just did the regular analog cable Scan.. I have not tried tuning into the FREE OTA (Over the air) HDTV programming since I get weak air TV signals in my area.
- DECENT UP-CONVERSION. I did find a better picture quality in the upconversion of regular DVDs compared to my regular DVD... Read more

I waited for the release of this new model (end of March) and it was WELL WORTH IT! Setup was easy and the ATSC/NTSC/QAM digital/analog tuner produces a clean, crisp, 3D-like picture on my analog TV from over-the-air broadcasts. We were blown away by the HD-like quality! I use an outdoor antenna and bought this mainly for the digital conversion and recording of TV shows. Recording quality is awesome, even recording in LP (4hr) mode produces DVD quality video with perhaps a hint of fuzziness on the edges of numbers/letters. I will use this mode most of the time because of the quality and 4hr record time. SP (2hr) gives superb quality all around. It's hooked up to my 36" Toshiba TV with a component video cable for best pic quality and I am using optical cable for audio to my home theater amp. It does have HDMI for those with HD TVs. Power up takes a few seconds if there is a disc in the tray as it scans/loads it. Formatting is very quick. I use DVD -RW's but it can do DVD +RW as well... Read more