I am trying to decide between a Toshiba RD-XS32 or a Pioneer DVR-533HS.(Both recorders have an 80gig hard drive) I am leaning toward the Pioneer as I understand it is easier to program manual scheduled events and it has better editing tools.. I live in the mountains and have satellite tv so the tv guide feature is a null point for me. The main thing I see over and over again on the Pioneer reviews is hard drive noise. Has pioneer come up with a fix for this yet. Any comments on either recorder will be appreciated

I currently have a pioneer DVR-533 and a Toshib RDXS34 (same as 32 but a 160 GB
drive). They both have good and bad points.

Pioneer's good points:
-No cooling fan (quieter in that regard). Toshiba has a fan that runs all the time and isn't very quiet.
-Remote has a more logical setup (I think anyway)
-Some menus easy to find and more consistent in control arrangement.
-One touch copy, and simpler OTR operation.
-Front of Pioneer is less obtrusive looking. Front of Toshiba has a bright blue light under the disc tray that almost illuminates the room.

Toshiba's good points:
-Hard Drive is quieter
-I like the search menus better. Easier to read and use.
-Starts up quicker.
-Console front setup in a more logical fashion (all transport buttons are in a row)


I haven't looked at the editing tools yet. As for manual programming for scheduled events, I thought both of them use the TV guide feature to do this (I might be wrong though). Anyway, after I decide which machine I like better, I'll return the other one (30 day refund guarantee).

Cheers.