Excellent picture, built-in Dolby Digital decoder, dual tray

Disc changing is slow which makes it unsuited for CD's

I've had this player for about 6 months now and am quite happy with it. I mostly watch anime DVD's, and since a lot of them are 2 disc sets, the ability to load both discs at once is a bonus.

I have a Dolby Digital-ready receiver so the built-in decoder was nice to have, too. Full Dolby Digital surround sound is just great, especially for movies like the Matrix or Saving Private Ryan.

My only real complaint is that the disc changing is slow and noisy, which makes using it for CD's not very practical. Of course, if I'd wanted it for that purpose I would've just bought a CD player instead.

Overall, I'm quite happy with this DVD player. It has yet to let me down.

HDCD, dual tray

ff/chapter advance on same button; sound on the "bright" side; does not play CD-R's but will play CD-RW's; some picture distortion (moire?)

My first DVD player, which I've owned for about 15 months now. My initial impressions were generally positive, though I noticed its relatively "bright" sonic signature right away and my impression in this regard has not changed since. The audio sounds a bit "thin" and harsh compared to my HDCD cd-only player.

I didn't notice any video problems at first. I still have not encountered any problems with layer changes. I have noticed, on a number of films, some distortion in the video (moire?) in some films. This seems to occur when there is an object in the frame which has numerous perpendicular lines (the pattern on a man's suitcoat in one film, a lampshade in another, vertical blinds in another): the video becomes distorted and has sort of a "shimmery" quality; the pattern of the object gets distorted and the object's brightness changes in intensity rapidly. While I've only encountered this in a few films, I've probably only watched 50 or so total. I don't know if this problem would occur with these same discs (Ma Vie En Rose, Casablanca, Happiness) on other players, not having used another player.

As others have mentioned below, the dual function of the fast forward and chapter advance button on the remote is really annoying. The only way that I've been able to more often than not successfully begin fast forwarding rather than skipping a chapter is to point the remote AWAY from the unit when I first press the key and then point the remote AT the unit while holding the button down. Not a problem when you want to watch and entire film, obviously.

Overall I am moderately satisfied with this product, hence the "3 star" rating.

Similar Products Used:

none

Dual Tray System, Great Picture and Sound Quality

None So far

This is a great DVD Player. It has more features than any of the other DVD players in its price range. I have had this player for over a year and have not had any problems with dual layer discs. You also don't find many DVD players at this price range that have HDCD decoding either. You also get your choice of optical or coaxial digital output which I really like. Having two disc capability is nice for some of the dual disc DVD's. It saves a lot of time when they tell you to switch discs to get to that feature - all you have to do is hit a button. Yeah you can find better DVD players, but not in this price range. I give it five stars when comparing it to other DVD players in the same price range. I don't feel it would be fair to compare it to players that cost twice as much, but would probably give it four stars compared to those.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer, Panasonic

Excellent picture. Dual trays are great for those "movie nights".

n/a

This site helped push us toward the Toshiba line back when we were first looking at a DVD, to avoid the pitfalls of the sony and pioneer models. Thanks to all for that.

The unit performs very well. I can't speak to the surround capabilities as we do that in the receiver. The remote is just fine. I admit that I thought it was cheap of them to not provide separate keys for fast foward/reverse, but once I read how to do it - it's very easy and I don't see what everyone is so pissed about.

The purchase price for the features I was looking for in a DVD player.

The remote control. Many have already mentioned, lack of a separate FF button. True, you can FF by chapter, but you can also FF if you know the right button combinations; up to x30.

Overall, I'm satisfied with the purchase of this DVD
player. I waited sometime for DVD player prices to drop. $249.99 dual DVD trays, HDCD, dts, Dolby Digital was all I needed to start with. Besides, this was 1 component from a complete home theater system purchase.

Similar Products Used:

1st DVD player...

Features, built in 5.1 Digital decoder

This is a very good DVD player for the price. With built in 5.1 decoding and DTS output you can't beat the price. I paid $220 at mczone.com plus 5 free movies and 13 free DVD rentals. The dual tray is a very cool feature. The picture is so very sharp compared to a VCR. Excellent value in my book.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer 525

Component video out, built in Dolby Digital decoder, excellent picture, no noticeable glitches during high load scenes (i.e. explosions, effects that contain a lot of motion)

A lot of trouble navagating the menu on The Matrix, SEARCH (FFW/REV while PLAYing) control a bit difficult to use.

Overall, this is a great DVD player, with excellent processing and picture quality. With component video outputs, built-in Dolby Digital decoding, S-Video out, as well as a slew of other outputs, this is a very high end box for a great price. Snap one up today. It's the best I have ever seen.

Similar Products Used:

Sony, Pioneer

Great Picture & Sound

Nothing

Like Geoff said previously just a great machine, i myself bought mine through Consumer Direct great price great delivery.The dvd player was manufactured in december 1999 has performed flawlessly unlike my sd3108.Does take a little time to load up but performs great. Also if you buy at Consumer Direct you get 5 free dvd movies. By the way i don't work for them. Get on the internet and grab this deal before they are all gone

Similar Products Used:

SD3108

Value,performance

Slight clicking noise when skipping tracks on CD playback

Technology keeps moving faster and faster.I needed to update to a DVD with DTS and component video outputs.My Sony model worke and looked great,but lacked component outputs and a felt the picture was detailed but soft.After reading very good reviews of this Toshiba in Stereo Reviews-Sound and Vision,and Home Theater magazine,I decided to purchase this model,(349.99 delivered,Amazon). Wow was I impressed!The picture was fantastic using the component outputs,producing a rich,engaging lifelike picture.And,after using Video Esstintials test DVD thing just got better!The sound was also fantastic hooked up to my higher end Pioneer reciever.The Toshiba uses Quality DACs,and you cant beat the inclusion of a seperate Pacific-Microsonics HDCD chip!You wont see HDCD decoding on any other model in this price range!All in all,I feel you cant get a better picture or value with the high-end interior components,then this model! If you have a large projection T.V,you might want to move up to the Toshiba DVD player that includes Progressive-scanning,its more expensive,but is worth it on screens over 40inches.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer Elite VSX226tx reciever,Sony,Toshiba stereo VCRs,second generation Sony DVD.

Video and Audio outputs. No matter if you have composite, component, or S-video this player has it. Not to mention coax and TOS audio connections.

Clumsy remote and auto shut-off feature. I recommend purchasing the Cinema 7 universal remote from One-for-all. The only function I had to learn was the zoom. Every other function worked from the code setup.

One word, WOW! I only have a composite video connection on my TV and I could not believe the sharpness. I will never rent a VHS video again. I can only imagine what component video would be like but I am very impressed. I purchased this player based on price and reviews on this forum and am very pleased. I haven't experienced any problems with the DVD's I have rented so far. I am waiting on renting the Matrix until I get my new surround speakers. DVD ROCKS!!!!