crisp picture, 6 disc capacity, HDCD, and DTS

no shuffle

I bought this player 3 months ago for 441.00 delivered of the net. I ahve had no problems that the rest have reprorted. It plays the Matrix in all 6 slots. It plays scratched discs. It runs silent in cd and dvd mode. The remote is not backlit but is extremely easy to use. Love the zoom and multi-angle features. not having shuffle in a 6 disc changer is strange but not a make or break feature for me. I am totally satisfied with mine.

Fast Pickup, very clear picture

Needed new Optical pickup and software upgrade

This is an update to an earlier post...

My SD4019X had experienced the same problems that a few of the other contributers had experienced as well. Even though my warranty had technically expired (by 1 day). Toshiba offered to repair it, no questions asked. I didn't have my receipt (lost in a move) but they looked up the machine on their database and found it quickly while I waited on the phone - the advantages of buying direct from the manufacturer - they can tell when it left their posession. Toshiba directed me to a local authorized service shop where I took the machine. The service was almost ingratiatingly friendly and they estimated a 2 week turnaround time for repair and return. I dropped the machine off on Saturday and by Monday they had called me with an update: Needed new optical pickup and belt and the machine was awaiting the parts. There was no mention of a software upgrade. Imagine my shock on Friday when they called and let me know the machine was available for pickup - I'm used to usually waiting at least 4 weeks to get something back! I picked up the machine and re-inserted it into my system and tested the CD's and DVD's that wouldn't play. Result? There really must have been something wrong with the old unit. I was used to waiting no less than 5 seconds for a CD to load and usually longer for a DVD. The new pickup time was a shock, about 2 seconds for a CD and around 4 for a DVD. All the fuctions tested ok and to my amazement I was able to find 'start' of chapters/segments that I didn't know existed before because the 'old' machine couldn't pick up the start of chapter/segment token. For example, my "Matrix" DVD jumped immediately from the 'phone booth' segment where Trinity leaves the matrix to the epilogue where Neo 'flys'. There are 3 mini-fast forward points in between.
Anyway, I'm happy with the machine as it is functioning now. Toshiba's service centre has also extended the warranty 90 days effectively giving me 15 months of warranty coverage.

Toshiba Canada seems to have an excellent service/support relationship with their in-field teams. I'll post again if anything new develops.

For now, upgrade to double 4 stars. Would have been 5 if machine had operated like this originally..

S.S.

Similar Products Used:

None

Beautiful picture and exceptional audio sound;

Doesn't play CDR/CDRW, VCD

I purschase this player almost 2 years ago and to this day I haven't experiences none of those problems I have seen other users complaint about. This player not only display exceptional picture quality, its DTS/5.1 output makes any home sound like a movie theater. For the user that complain about this player not handle high resolution, "GO BUY A TV THAT CAN HANDLE HIGHER RESOLUTION". This player works great with my Sony Trintron Tv and Sony SAVA-500 receiver speakers. My audio cd's players great with out any flaws. The changer works great. No problems here at all.
The only flaws I have experiences with this player is pertaining to its unability to play CDR/CDRW as well as VCD movies. If this player was able to play those type of cd's, I'll say this would absolutely be the best DVD Player in the market. It would have been great if Toshiba would have made a firmware upgrade that would address that problem. Nevertheless, this is a Dvd player, and I believe that's what I really purchase it for, so who am I to complain. Also for the users who have experience problems with this product, I am sorry to here that. But we all know that no one manufactor make all their products perfect, I guess thats why we as consumer have warranties and the right to return it if there are any problems.
Yes, I certainly would recommend this player for those of you that are interested in a "DVD" Player, which plays dvd & standard audio cd's, with exceptional picture and audio sound.

Similar Products Used:

None

sound, picture, ease of use

Cannot Read CD-R's, no shuffle play

I guess I must be lucky - with the exception of the "weaknesses" above I have not experienced any where near the problems of other reviewers on this forum.
I have 1 CD that has a little problem on one track and that is it, but I have also had problems with a couple of CD's on my CD Player as well ! I have not experienced any "clicking" at high volumes which was reported here, or playback problems with CD-'s in different carousel postions etc...
I do not use shuffle play so to me it is not a big deal, but not being able to play CD-R's presents a BIG problem since I prepare many CD-R's from favourite songs off of lots of MY albums - which as I understand it is permissable
I guess after reading all the negative reviews it is hard to get excited about this unit because everytime I use it I'm waiting for it to go wrong.
The unit I purchased was the SD4109XU purchased in Toronto, Canada. The first unit had to be returned, as the audio outputs did not work at all. The replacement unit has worked extremely well (considering the problems reported here)
Sound - fantastic - John Williams and Julian Bream were right there in my living room and I now hear things previously missed - their breathing
Picture - fantastic - I watched The Matrix last night and I must admit the picture was extremely good and the sound - WOW!
Features - seems pretty standard and easy to use and there are some annoying little quirks which I understand can be overcome by reading the manual
I tried most of the complaints highlighted on this forum and could not get the unit to fail
For the Value I give this unit a 5 - it was by far the cheapest carousel DVD I found in Toronto at $550 CDN - all the others were $675 and up.
Because of the CD-R problem I have to give it and overall rating of 3 - BIG DISSAPOINTMENT TOSHIBA !!!
My thanks and sympathy to the other less fortunate reviewers who have placed their reviews here, as they took the pain out of testing my unit - I hope you all got your problems resolved one way or another
I did write an email to Toshiba about the CD-r problem because I believe it can be fixed by getting the correct CD Writing software, which I believe they should work on, but as yet I have heard nothing and do not expect to
Having given what I believe to be a moderate review, I would not recommend this unit to others because of the CD-R problem and the shuffle play
In my opinion it is extremely poor for a company like Toshiba to produce a unit with so many major problems. Especially since all their other products have been (in my experience - Laser Disk, TV, VCR) so good.

Great picture and sound

Tempermental, doesn't read many CDs and DVDs and seems to be more sensitive to small blemishes on a disc.

I've had this player for just over a year and sure enough, when the warranty expired I began experiencing problems. I was very happy with this model at first, despite the inability to randomly shuffle between discs. The image quality and sound are great. Lately it won't read many discs, either telling me there is no disc or a disc error. From the similar reports here, I have to recommend to look elsewhere. Too many have had the same problems with this unit.

I am giving the lowest value rating because to spend that kind of money on a unit that barely makes it a year is a waste. Picture and sound are excellent, but only while the player lasts.

It has the AC3 decoder built in and 5.1 output , zoom

6 disc carosel is bulky

This machine was very very bad. It started to fail to load the DVD's. It would just sit and shuffle. I am trying to get it fixed under warranty but you know how that goes. Other than that it played fine and gave good sound. Overall a bad buy for the price.

Similar Products Used:

None

5.1 and DTS Encoder, HDCD, ColorStream Outputs

haven't seen any

I have used this product for a full year now. Every DVD and cd I have tried has worked except for CD-R stuff. Doesn't have shuffle or random but I don't care cause if I wanted that I would buy a CD player for $100 not a DVD player. Color and Sound are excellent, I have a Toshiba 36 inch Super Tube television with color stream inputs and I still cannot believe the clarity and sharpness not to mention color spectrum. I highly recommend this player. but if you want shuffle, save your bucks and buy a cd player.

Good picture quality, good sound quality

No shuffle play, remote not backlit, no auto source select

I did not read the reviews on this product until after I brought it home, and was shocked to learn it lacked a shuffle play feature. I had assumed it would have this feature as I assumed it would have a play and stop button, especially considering it was a six disc changer. I purchased it to replace my 7 year old Sony Mini HiFi that I was using as a 5 disc changer. Upon discovering this I was ready to return it, however, I auditioned it for a few days first.

The picture quality is excellent using the S-Video hookup. Sound quality was excellent as well. I was using the built in Dolby Digital decoder because my receiver doesn't have one. I checked out the spatializer N-2-2, it sounded neat, sort of gimmicky, but it added a spaciousness to the sound and would be good for someone who doesn't have all five speakers. I was not able to check out the HDCD because I do not own one and am not even sure where to get one.

The player has a fairly intuitive remote, however it is hard to use in the dark as none of the keys glowed or were
backlit. The menu system is very good and easy to navigate, the user is not overwhelmed with options.

I did not like the fact that in order to play a CD, if you had the 5.1 outputs selected (i.e. the last time you used the player you were watching a movie), you have to turn on the TV and go into the setup and choose 2Ch Analog, then shut the TV off. What a pain in the ASS!!!

I also experienced some major picture breakup on The Matrix, Sarah MacLachlan Mirrorball, and Pink Floyd The Wall when using the built in decoder. This was especially bad during the tracks with multi camera angles on Mirrorball. This did clear up after 3 days, and eventually worked fine on all discs. The manual states that if you don't use the player for a long period of time it may not function properly, so this may have been the case. I am not sure how long it sat on the shelf at the store. However, it did not give me a good feeling.

This is a good DVD player for the price, but it could have been a great DVD/CD player if it had shuffle, automatic source select, and a better remote. As it is, I would recommend buying the SD-3109 instead. It is basically the same player, with two drawers instead of six, which is all you should need if you are just watching movies. If you are like me and still want to find a replacement for your CD changer, check out the Sony DVP C650D. That's what I bought after I returned this player, and I am much happier now. It's more expensive though.

I gave it four stars for value because it has a lot of
features for the price. I gave it 3 stars overall, because of the poor usability due to what Toshiba left out.

Similar Products Used:

Sony DVP C650D

Toshiba DVD players in general do a good job with video and were one of the first to include features such as component outputs on even their entry level players.

They dropped the ball on this one

Although I have generally a high opinion of Toshiba's DVD players, they were borderline irresponsible with this one and they should have waited to introduce a competitive unit.

Specifically, why the hell would anyone introduce a 5-disc carousel player without the ability to play CDs randomly? Who was the marketing genius behind that one?(Several people seem to have bought this player assuming, logically, that it will play 5 discs randomly). Couple this with the fact that it won't play CD-Rs either, and I find very little reason to own this player, especially since there are players out there that are very highly rated that do both of these things(Pioneer comes to mind).

Again, I'm generally a Toshiba fan, but this wreaks of being a band-aid product thrown out to the public until they can put out a truly competitive product. Shame on Toshiba.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic, Pioneer, Denon carousel DVD changers

Easy to use, quiet, excellent DVD unit, plays HDCD

Remote is not backlit, not intuitive. Does not handle CD-R

I decided on this unit because of the obvious features. The flexibility to connect to head units by either digital direct or analog lines is fantastic. The ability to handle CD/DVD/HDCD is nice too. Note that, as others have mentioned, you cannot random play between CD discs. The N-2-2 feature is nice for folks that don't yet have surround sound -- it adds extra space to the audio. Compared to other similar units, this puppy comes in as a winner, price wise.

However, beware!!! This machine WILL NOT play any CD-R material. If you are looking to replace your CD player with this as a two-for-one deal, you may as well forget it. Anybody that collects music knows that there are plenty of CD-R recorded audio discs that play just fine in standard CD players. As an avid listener to club music, I'm always receiving mix CDs from DJs that sell professionally mixed music on CD-R. I had planned to remove my old Pioneer 530 6 disc changer in favor of this new machine. What a surprise when I put in three CD-R discs and not one played. I have no choice but to either keep the Pioneer in addition to the Toshiba 4109, or go with another DVD player. Because of this limitation, I would not recommend buying this machine as a CD player. SHAME ON YOU TOSHIBA!