Toshiba SD 38VB Expert Reviews

It's reasonably attractive, styled in glossy black with a limited smattering of buttons on its fascia

Price ; Progressive scan output

No upscaling or digital tuner ; Remote ; VHS recordings

Clearly the SD-38VB is aimed at people who want a DVD player, but aren't quite ready to leave their VHS tapes behind and it serves that purpose well. DVD playback is impressive and the VCR section delivers decent picture quality from shop-bought tapes ...

If you need a DVD deck but still have VHS tapes kicking around, why not combine the two formats with Toshiba's SD-38VB.

For people making the transition from tape to disc, the SD-38VB is a useful tool, enabling you to consolidate two boxes into one and give your tapes a stay of execution - all at a very reasonable price. But on the negative side it's not exactly slick ...

This is a rather strange combi - a DVD player with built-in VCR. It's more common to find DVD recorders with VCRs, which let you transfer tapes to disc, but this deck only allows recording on VHS tapes

Good DVD performance, VHS pictures as good as can be expected

Can only record to VHS, Dated menus, No Freeview tuner

An effective duo that does well in both areas, but DVD recording would make this a much more useful combi

With hard-disk and DVD recording now commonplace and hi-def recorders just around the corner, VHS may seem like an antiquated concept. But just as vinyl lives on despite the popularity of MP3 downloading, the millions of video tapes still being ...

Full HD pixel count, Good pictures, Price, Progressive scan output

Black levels could be better, No upscaling or digital tuner, Remote, VHS recordings

A convenient solution for those clinging on to cassettes, but could've done with a few more features