Customer Reviews
Overall good DVD player 
2008-06-27
This player sets up easily right out of the box and has good picture quality both through the tuner and when playing DVDs. My only complaint so far is that it takes a little longer to load a DVD than some other players I've used. I haven't had a reason to record anything yet so I can't comment on that function but the instructions show that it has a decent amount of recording options so I'm assuming that it can be set up to fit whatever my recording needs will be. I'm happy with this player overall.
Alternative to DVR 2008-06-16
I bought this recorder because I didn't want to pay the monthly fee for DVR. It works as advertised - just make sure and stock up on blank DVD-Rs or DVD-RWs.
Ease Of Use 2008-06-11
I took it out of the box and found that it was very easy to hook up and operate. The operation manual that comes with it is very clear and easy to read. It is not very complicated to understand like some manuals. I am very happy with the choice I made.
Toshiba DR560 DVD Recorder 
2008-06-04
The recorder has been used to timer record daily hdtv. The atsc/qam tuner performed flawlessly using both off air antenna and cable tv hookups. I have tested all input/output configurations and all have performed as specified. This unit has been in use daily for one month. It is the third dvdr that I have owned and is by far the best. I am extremely pleased with this product.
Good value - It works, needs some refinement.. 
2008-06-02
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 player, however my old DVD player was connected via cheap RC/A AV cables not composite not S-video so just by nature of HDMI there would be a difference already!! In any case I now get deeper blacks, less noise, and sharper details. Can't complain.
- HDMI CONTROL. here's a pleasant surprise.. the Samsung "AnyNet" HDMI control actually recognizes the player and now I can use buttons on Samsung remote like the Play/ Pause / Stop/ FFW / REV to control basic functions on the DR560 which is great since the Toshiba remote totally SUCKS as mentioned earlier! Tip: you do have to activate the HDMI Control on the DR560 in one of the setup menu settings.
Cons:
- POOR MENU. the system setup menu navigation is very poor and reminds me of the old DOS programs before there was a Windows operating system! You can't see the live TV picture when you enter system setup menu to program recordings, set the date/time, etc... However there is another shorter settings menu called "Display" which brings up a semi-transparent menu-bar on top of live picture and you can tweak most things like audio, black level, etc.. so it's OK for most things during playback you don't have to enter an archaic menu system.
- TIME SLIP RECORDING. The "Time Slip" Tivo-like recording mode only works on DVR-RW (the minus "-" RW) media, so i'll need to buy new disks to try that feature. I addition the manual says you can't tune to other channels while recording.. bummer. However the regular recording mode (without time slip feature) works on both DVR-RW and DVR+RW so no big deal if you already had DVR-RW media in your home or if you don't miss the Time Slip functionality.
- BOOT TIME. The thing takes forever to boot! Longer time if it has a disk inside the tray. Afterwards there is no noticeable lag it's response time is decent.
- NO EPG. No EPG (Electronic Progamming Guide).. but you should already now that most manufacturers of DVD recorders after 2005 dropped this functionality since the whole thing was a fiasco.. the greedy Cable companies were blocking the free programming guides or charging subscription fees, and the existing EPGs feeds were coming from public stations like PBS that sometimes shut the feeds off by accident. For those of you that must have an EPG note there's only like one brand/model out there a Samsung DVR model with built-in Tuner that still includes EPG but apparently was discontinued this year and it's very hard to find one also reveiws are mixed saying EPG sometimes not work at all.. the model is Samsung DVD-AR650. Oh well.. it's time for Sunday paper TV GUIDE for everybody i guess.
- POOR DTV TUNER PICTURE. Ok.. here is the final catch: The DR560 digital tuner works fine, BUT the picture quality is noticeably inferior compared to the native Samsung HDTV built-in digital tuner. I tuned to PBS 11-1 digital 1080i broadcast on both the DR560 tuner and the Samsung HDTV built-in tuner, switched back-forth, and no matter what the DR560 HDMI output set to 480p/ 720p / 1080i/ 1080p the native Samsung's HDTV digital tuner is waaaay superior in sharpness, detail, and color rendition. It almost felt like DR560 was downscaling the image to SD 480p and then trying to up-convert to 720p or similar.. there's quite a visual difference from both tuners. The DR560 lost many fine details and colors were not as punchy as in the native Samsung HDTV digital tuner no matter what the color tweaking I did on the TV.
------- Bottom line: i'll keep it until something better comes along at this price point that improves the menu system at the minimum (I would have chosen the Panasonic-? brands but users complained of very sluggish controls..). For now, it will happily replace my archaic VHS tape recorder (VHS.. tape.. what's that?? LOL !!) which was second reason I bought it for. And the main reason the playback video i get from both DVDs and TV recordings is still decent quality so i'm happy with it. I really don't mind the digital tuner output since I use the TV one instead. BUY IT - I Recommended it for the price of about $178.
excellent buy 2008-07-19
More than I expected. Easy to use, works as easily as any VCR. This is the DVD recorder we have been waitng to arrive. High recommendation from me and family.
the worst 
2008-07-11
this product very difficult to program and control. I have had a computer expert install and try to teach me how to use it. I should have just continued with my vcr.
Gets the Job Done! 2008-07-10
The Toshiba DR560 has a great DTV tuner and easily records onto DVD-R/-RW! The DTV tuner it has is better than my TV's Digital Tuner. Plays & Records on several different formats. Very nice machine compared to the Panasonic DVD Recorder with Tuner, which is a piece of trash. Overall very impressed with the Toshiba DR560 DVD Recorder.
I've had the Toshiba DR560 for more than a week now. This unit, I believe, is the BEST Single Disc DVD Recorder with digital tuner out there, at least at this time. It works perfectly.
Good Digital Tuner / Recorder 2008-07-02
I my opinion it is a good DVD Tuner/Recorder.
It does what is supposed to do. I bought it more for the tuner because my TV does not have the ATSC and QAM search. I have basic TV service, and I was not lucky to get more channels except some public ones. It records, easy to set up, my TV does not have the HDMI plug, so I do not have very high quality picture, of the air is perfect, but I get less channels then the basic. I did watch some of the European Football Championship in 1080p from the air though.
Solid Product 2008-06-29
This DVD Recorder is all that it claims to be. Simple to set up and use and the quality is sufficient for my use- a basic user. The only low light, as has been mentioned in other reviews, is the remote. The remote works fine and it's layout is okay but the lettering is in a gray color and hard to read under low light conditions, like at night with lights on in the room. The lettering should be white. Still pretty useable tho so I still gave a 5 star rating, probably should be 4.5
