Recently, when faced with replacing my lightning-damaged 1st-generation TiVo? digital video recorder (DVR), I tried out (and subsequently bought) Toshiba's new combo unit, the SD-H400. In addition to its intelligent hard drive recording capabilities, the SD-H400 packs a full-function DVD player in its sleek, compact chassis.

Another lightning lesson learned
My trusty Sony SRV-2000 TiVo recorder was taken out by a lightning strike near my house back in August. It could (should!) have been avoided by fully protecting the unit with a surge suppressor (as I recommend others do). The Sony was connected to a 20" TV in the bedroom. While I had connected its AC power and cable TV cords through an APC surge suppressor, I had neglected to protect the phone line connection (a TiVo recorder should be connected to a phone line at all times so it can download program information).

So, when lightning struck, a surge sneaked in over the phone wire and fried the Sony's internal modem. (Many experts consider phone connections to be the most vulnerable to lightning. Don't learn the hard way like me — be sure every path coming into your equipment is protected, not just the AC power line.) The repair quote was surprisingly high, and when I looked at replacement options, the Toshiba SD-H400's 80GB hard drive was more than twice as large as the Sony's 30GB drive, and DVD playback would expand movie-viewing capability.


Setup and first impressions
The first surprise was that despite the Toshiba's bigger-capacity hard drive and built-in DVD drive, it actually weighs a few pounds less than the Sony. For starters, I simply unplugged the Sony box and connected the Toshiba exactly the same way, using composite video connections. A JVC VHS VCR, which I occasionally use to dub material from the hard drive, sat on top of the Toshiba.

Because I had been in touch with TiVo's tech support people while trying to pinpoint the problem with the Sony, I had already informed them that I would be replacing it with another recorder. TiVo assigns every recorder a unique "service number" (basically an account number), which can be found in the manual or on the unit's back panel. If TiVo doesn't recognize your recorder's service number, you won't be able to access TiVo services or download program information. So, before beginning the TiVo setup procedure, I called their tech support and gave them the service number for the SD-H400.

Because I was going from the Toshiba's composite video output through a VCR on the way to the TV, I thought I might have trouble viewing DVDs, because often a VCR in the signal path — even one that's turned off — triggers the DVD's copy-protection system. When that happens, the picture takes on an alternating shadowy look that can be pretty annoying. When I did try watching portions of a couple of DVDs, however, picture quality was always crisp and clear.

My setup was pretty straightforward, since I don't use a cable box in the bedroom system. Anyone planning to use the SD-H400 with a cable box or DBS receiver would probably want to plug in the supplied IR (infrared) "blaster" to enable cable or satellite channel changing for timer recordings.