I started with the 3109, and was extremely pleased with its performance. Being another Toshiba player, I decided to upgrade to the 6 disc 4109. This would alleviate my need to have my 5 disc CD player as an additional component, and simply run CDs and DVDs all out of one unit. Once I received my new unit, I was extremely disappointed. Perhaps this unit was dropped on its head, but nonetheless, it played my Matrix DVD in only 3 of the 6 slots intermittantly, and simply froze once or twice. It played CDs out of those slots fine, but seemed to have a louder than average background noise...coming from the player(not the speakers).

Realizing that it didn't have a shuffle feature across CD's, I clearly decided that the 4109 was a mistake. I could see myself moving my DVDs to a slot that would hopefully work, and being continually frustrated.

Needless to say, it went back, and I kept the 3109. Running multiple components isn't that much of an issue, and I'll likely just get a nice touch screen remote to run it all anyway.

PS You can remove the "zoom" from the screen by pressing the setup button twice. I called Toshiba support for that.

DVD player and a 6 disc CD player with HDCD

No shuffle on CD's

I have a space problem and purchased this machine specifically for the 6 disc CD player. I was very disappointed to find out that it will not shuffle the CD's. Toshiba, shame on you.

That said, wow for the HDCD. Anbody who is thinking about purchasing a good quality CD player MUST consider HDCD. It will be the thing of the future. Don't miss out on it now. This feature alone makes this deck worthwhile. No other DVD player has it. Only high end CD's players have it.

Oh yes, I almost forgot, it's also a great DVD player. If you have a good TV, you can set the black background control. It really makes the DVD picture stand out. I have not expereinced any lip sync, freezing or other video problems. The digital sound is amazing. Don't cheap out on speakers. The zoom feature is excellent. I like Zoom1 for wataching letterbox format on a regular TV. Thanks for the tip on how to get rid of the annoying onscreen lettering.

However, when I first installed it, the drawer did not open properly. A week later, everything seems fine. I still think I will exchange it for another unit.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer 415 and Pioneer 525

Very good picture quality, above average CD audio on regular CD's, excellent CD audio on 24/96 DVD audio and HDCD encoded discs, impressive looks.

Can not play CD's randomly, disc drawer seems a bit noisy and awkward, and see below in my review

I am glad I read the recent reviews on this model before going out and auditioning DVD players. Thanks to all of you for pointing out what to look for. As it turns out, I also encountered most of the complaints others reviewers stated on this product.

First of all, I agree with the rest that the lack of this machine's ability to play discs randomly is inexcusable. Why make this machine so appealing to those who want to replace an older CD player with an all in one unit (like me) with its six disc capability and HDCD decoding and not offer random play? This absolutely doesn't make sense.

The salesman had a copy of The Matrix for a demo disc when I was auditioning the 4109 (and also the Toshiba 3109 and Sony 530). The disc played fine in the disc one slot. Having read the reviews on this site about problems with indivdual slots, I had him try it in all of the slots. Sure enough, it would not play in slots 3 and 4. We tried another machine with similar results (slot 2 wouldn't play this time).

I also heard the audible noise the player emits when playing audio CD's. The buzz seemed to be even louder on the few HDCD encoded discs I brought along. The audio quality was quite good, however, if not quite up to par with my current CD setup.

The 3109, on the other hand, passed all my test and was eventually my choice. My main interest in the 4109 was to replace my Yamaha CD Changer/Audio Alchemy DAC (HDCD decoding) with an all in one unit. I was sure disappointed, so I compromised.

My advise- buy the 3109. The sound and picture is just as good (and perhaps slightly better) and will prove to be far less irritating than the 4109's obvious flaws and ommisions. Besides, at least you get two trays, which in all actuality, is all I'm likely to need for my listening and viewing sessions. Not to mention the 3109 runs about $100 less . I think I'll hang on to my Yamaha/Audio Alchemy set-up for a while though.

I hope Toshiba takes our critiques to mind and builds a better DVD changer for 2000. The sound and picture quality are the only two items that keep me from giving this unit 1 star for an overall rating.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba 3109, Sony S530D

Internal 5.1 decoder, changer for CDs

Unreliable product. Also will not play MP3 downloads from PC.

Like other owners that have given their stories, the optical unit needed to be replaced within one year. I got stuck paying $75 in labor for what I would have thought should be an extremely reliable piece of electronic equipment. The repair shop also upgraded the firmware during the repair visit. Toshiba refused to acknowledge any defect that may be inherent in a larger population of their DVD players. The repair shop in Chicago did an OK job with the repair, but couldn't or wouldn't help me deal with Toshiba. Now all I can do is communicate my experience with Toshiba to the public. And refuse to buy their laptops, HDTVs, digital cameras and any other piece of consumer electronics that they may want to unload upon me.

Similar Products Used:

None yet.

6 Disc capability, Zoom, Black Level Enhancement, Built in DD Decoder,

No Backlight on Remote and small buttons,No Shuffle

I have had this player for about 2 weeks now and I'm fairly pleased so far, no problems playing Matrix, Heat, Enemy of State, Private Ryan, Thin Red Line.
Still awaiting my Toslink for Digital Audio and I can't wait to try Private Ryan in DTS, I plan on using my Yamaha for the digital audio.
Picture quality is very good with RCA connections should be much better with S-Video I hope.
I paid $340 shipped from Bid.com so the price made it a no brainer, howvever I also purchased two Pioneer 525's as presents for family and I have to say I kinda wish I had the Pioneer still as the picture seemed to be as good and movie audio was better, as for playing Audio Cd's this wasn't an issue that duty goes to my Sony 300 disc changer but I can totally understand previous posts angry about the lack of shuffle and clicking noises.
I thought in the past you couldn't go wrong with Toshiba, this is a good unit that needs a few issues resolved to an excellent DVD player, so if you can get it for a low price and plan on using it for video only its a good choice otherwise in the budget dvd market the 525 is the way to go and bid.com has them cheap I bought two for $402 shipped plus $50 off plus the 13 free rentals/5 free movies we all know about I figure when you add up the movies/rentals its worth nearly the $150 its like getting the DVD players for free!!
So I give this a 4 for value and overall a 4 because it does what I need it to do at a low price with no problems so far.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer DV-525

Basically, this is the same unit as the Onkyo DV-C600. Same remote, same chassis and probably much of what's inside. The HDCD decoding is specific to the Toshiba so it hangs in the living room while the Oinkyo does bedroom system duty.
Bottom line, this is a top notch unit. The on-board DAC's are extremely high quality and even though I've got a toslink hooked up, when I listen in stereo I find that using the 4109's processing can sometimes produce a better signal than my AVR units DAC's. Depending on the music.
Picture quality is completely up to snuff with s-vid, composite(of course), and component hookups. I've become close friends with the 3x zoom and examine features.
I've seen and owned a good chunk of what's out there and I highly recommend this box.
Look around online and you can find a deal like I got.

great picture and sound

doesn't work now

When working, great movies and sound. I started having the disk read problems in Nov 2000. Since then it has been in the shop (off and on) for 12 weeks. The Toshiba authorized repair center doesn't have a clue of what the problem is. The latest guess is an "intermittent laser pickup problem, if you see it again, bring it back". Obviously from the other reviews here, Toshiba doesn't know what is going on either. I very disappointed in lack of support from Toshiba. They have obviously put out an inferior product and are letting the customer pay for their mistake.

black levels...

Remote, Noise, Slow Loads, Freezes, Digital Effects, very plastic and cheaply put together.

BLUE LIGHT SPECIAL! - The value you would expect at K-MART!

Boy I feel like an idiot!

Well, first never listen to anyone that has not owned a product longer then a couple of months. I did and ended up with this! My worse purchase in 5 years.

Pros -
Its a DVD player (that is not saying much).
Black levels


Cons -
*Noise -(The damn thing is noisy. Now I know that people say when you are watching a movie you can't hear it. That's true if you only watch load action films, try watching a classic film or with more quite moments and then listen to that cheaper motor trying to spin that disc. Ahhhh)

*Freeze - I have had at least 25% of the movies I watch freeze and have to restart the chapter.

*Digital effects - hello low res. It looks like a apple computer game.

*Remote - what am I going to do with a 50 button remote? the buttons are so small. I never use it.

Since owning the machine for 6+ months, I have had so many little problems that it is a headache.

Funny Story:
I had a date over the other night and we had dinner and sat down to enjoy a movie - Cinema Paradiso. I had to stop the DVD twice and restart it becuase of freezes not to mention the digital low res atrifacts poping up here and there. She turned to me and said "So this is state of the art?". We laughed and stopped the movie...

The machine is also made cheaply compared to the rest of my system. I have since been looking for a replacement - I think a Playstation 2 would be better. I currently have my friends Yamaha DV-5250 and it rocks. No problems, made well, and no noise!

OVERALL - This is CRAPOLA!

Don't bother with a multidisc player unless you are going to use it for CDs. How many times have you watched 2 movies or more back to back with out getting up to eat something or go to the bathroom. Changing a DVD once to watch a movie is no big deal. I can understand shuffel play for CDs, but I am sure that you are not going to do this on a DVD.

This has been the worse purchase in 5 years! I hate myself for it, because I relied on a friends review after he owned it for 2 months. He hates it now as well. It is my fault for buying this. If I did my homework instead of rushing out to buy something, I would never have purchase this junk.

Note: Do your homework and go to the store and look at them, but stay away from this. Maybe you should use this as a model of what not to buy and then work up from there. There are many other DVDs out there and I am sure a lot better!

Value: 2 stars - little expensive for a lowend multidisc dvd player.

Overall: 1 star - Find this at the blue-light special at K-Mart!

My system:
Receiver - Yamaha HTR 5250
DVD - Toshiba SD-Crapola (Optical & Svideo to HTR)
Reception - SAT. DISH (Optical & Svideo to HTR)
CD - Yamaha CDC665 (RCA to HTR)
VCR - Mits. HS-U560 (RCA to HTR)
TV - Epson LCD Projector


Speakers:
Front - Celestion Impact 15
Center - Klipsh KV-1
Back - Optimus Pro 77
Sub - Infinity BU1

I just purchased some Phasetech speakers and will be moving the Celestions to the rear and putting the Optimus Pro 77s in the den.

Good luck, and don't say I didn't warn you.

This is a great DVD player if you own a Fisher Rack system with a Zenth 13 dial tv set.

toshiba and onkyo

This is a update to this pure crap of a machine. I do believe that some guy earlier on this review of this machine said to open it up and unplugg a harness and wait and plug it back in, it worked, and also when I hit where the laser unit is at, hitting it with a screw driver also made this pure crap machine work.

Well anywho, I purchased a Sony es 9000 and gave the toshiba crap machine to a friend, he took it to a electronic store to be fixed, and it would cost 350-375 to be fixed!!!!!! the sorry machine cost only 399.00 that math does not add up! Toshiba and Onkyo, made a sorry ass machine and dumped it on comsumers. This machine is the same as the Onkyo 600. They both have a problem with dvd's and cd's reading.

We should all send this horrible machine back, to Toshiba and demand our monies back, and plus more, for dealing with a sorry ass company, toshiba. Don't you all think that if we pay our good money on a product that SHOULD work, then when we have problems with it, TOSHIBA should be willing and glad to refund all our monies, and plus for time and effort on their sorry ass machines. TOSHIBA SUCKS!!! big time, they have never admitted that their onkyo-toshiba product has any defects, when review, after review of the SAME problem has said different. TOSHIBA well all want our money back.

doesn't work

I'm sorry I didn't post this sooner. To the guy that gave his player away, and then his friend payed over 300.00 to get it fixed: He got robbed. The problem is software related, not hardware related. The DVD manufacturers are using new technology in creating these DVD's. Toshiba knows about the problem, but refuses to put out a bulleton on their internet site. They told me there is a software upgrade available for about $50.00 bucks. I argued with them that they should at least quit playing 'coy' with its customers and just tell the truth about what the problem is(in other words, they asked me questions as if I don't know how to hook up a stupid DVD player correctly). Toshiba doesn't want to support their product. Everyone who comes to this board should holler that they know it is a software upgrade problem and ask why they don't
just say so on their website. It would save alot of people
their time and money. On top of that, they should allow us to download the upgrade free of charge, or they should pay for their service locations to do the upgrade. They have posted an upgrade for their sd-2300 model, and their customer rep said that is because it is newer. What a crock. They are allowing this model(which is discontinued) to be sold(by retail outlets) knowing it will not play the new DVD's, and they refuse to give anyone a heads up or support the darn thing. No one should buy a Toshiba product until they step up their customer support, and I urge everyone who comes to this site to press for Toshiba to put info on this model on their website. FYI this software issuse is not restricted to Toshiba, but that is what I own so I don't know how other brands are handling the problem. Obviously, the DVD makers And the DVD player makers are not communicating together, except that they both will not take the fall for this compatability glitch.

Similar Products Used:

N/A