ColorStream Pro™ Progressive Component Video Outputs

FIrst off, this DVD player is NOT for everyone. If you have an average and standard TV set, you may be better off savings a few hundreds dollars and buying a good DVD player in the $200-300 range. That being said, if you have a new TV - especially one with component video inputs and/or HDTV capability - this is the DVD player to buy!

I own a Toshiba wide screen HDTV, and my previous DVD player was not a progressive scan player. It gave me a fantastic picture, but when I replaced it with this 5109, I was really impressed! Until HDTV becomes widely available and affordable, I'm more than thrilled to show off what this combo can do with a 480 progressive scan signal!

The player is loaded with features, some which you may never use - like a 4X zoom feature, but who knows - better to have it available! Some features you may never be able to do without once you have them - like having two trays loaded up and ready to go for back-to-back play at the touch of a disc-swap button!

The one and only complaint I have about this great piece of hardware is that the player seems to have a hard time recognizing the remote unless its pointed right at the player. This is a tad strange since my Toshiba HDTV set remote can be angled as much as 35 degrees off the front of set and the set still responds. But again, this is a very minor compliant - so I may have to push a button twice every once in a while!

Save yourself time and money get one for $474.95 at YourInsider.com

fantastic picture, sound, value

very light chasis, retail price (which some dealers try to get)

This is the best DVD player currently on the market for anyone that can use the progressive scan outputs. The picture is stellar, and no scan lines are visible on my Toshiba 40" CRT rear projector (the perfect mate to this player). I am using 50 foot component video cables from canare (built by charles sprague) and can see no deterioration. The sound is great and the bass rocks and shakes the walls. The features are very well executed, and the remote control is not as bad as some of these reviews would suggest. I do wish it was lighted, however. The dual drawer design is nice, but they really could have made it more useful by allowing random play (for music or music videos), or memory so you can stop one disc to play the other disc, but be able to re-start the original disc at the same location. All in all, no serious complaints. I will not be upgrading until the universal players become perfected and the prices reasonable (several years). It is possible to get a good bargain on this unit, but make sure that the discounter has the unit in stock. It is under incredible demand and may be back-ordered for months.

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sony dvd players

Progressive Outputs at this price!

Remote is straight forward but slow.

The progressive outputas are definently the reason to buy this product if your TV can handle them or you are planning to purchase.

Comparing the Progressive to Intelaced outputs is like day and night. The progressive is cleaner, mich crisper, and has improved color saturation.

As described in an earlier post, the progressive signal cannot be adjusted on Pioneer projection sets. I have mine hooked up to a SD 641. When the DVD disk is properly formatted, everything is STELLAR! With the poorly formatted disks, I switch to interlaced signals where I can override the projection with options. I believe this to be a Pioneer issue for not allowing the same options with progressive inputs, but I don't know the technology.

The reomote is pretty straight forward but dificult to get moving in a fast forward scan. I prefer the remote from the Poineer TV and push the fast forward button 2 or 3 times to speed it up.

With CD's I cannot distinguish the difference from a 5 year old Sony CD player in sound quality. The Sony will play CD-R where the Toshiba DVD will not.

The 2 disk feature is not a big plus unless you are using it to play conventional CD's. Not to many 2 disk movies out there. I use the old Sony 5 disk tray for my music.

Bought my 5109 from OneCall. Ask for Jason. He was exteremly helpful. Dis not make a single recommendation I am not extremely pleased with. Great common sence approach.

In December I could not find this player in Denver. Bought it sight unseen. A local retailer was hoping to get it in January. Thought it would sell for ~ $800. OneCall beat the pants off that price.

If you watch movies and can hook up the progressive outputs, don't waste your $ on and interlaced only signal. Get this DVD player!

progressive scaning,twin trays.

Remote dosnt wrk well

Just bought sd5109 from United Audio in Chicago,Price 599$ cant beat the price.Bought to up grade just bought a Toshiba tw40x81 hdtv ready tv with progressive in puts,couldnt believe the picture quality looks as good as film.What a great combo cant wait to see hd to see the diffrence,for the price I recomend it highly........NN

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Panasonic A100

Component Video, 5.1 Audio Channel Output & Dual Disk Trays

Toshiba's Technical Support Is Non-existent

This unit delivers a nice quality picture via the interlaced component ports. Individuals interested in "progressive scan" technology need to be aware that not all 480p compliant video systems will work with this unit. I have the unit connect to a Sharp XV-ZW99u projector and have observed the following quirks:
1) The aspect ratio of video run through the unit's progressive component video ports is elongated along the vertical axis when compared to the same video run through the unit's interlaced component ports.
2) Video signal distortion occurs routinely when a video signal is run through the unit's progressive component video ports. No such distortion occurs when the same video is run through the units interlaced component ports.

At this point I am not able to determine whether these quirks are the result of a defective unit or simply an incompatibility between the DVD player and the Sharp projector. Consumers have no access to Toshiba's technical support engineers. A detailed e-mail sent to Toshiba's customer support department yields the following generic response:

Hello Jay,
Thank you for your e-mail regarding Toshiba America consumer
electronics. Unfortunately, no guarantee can be made as to the compatibility of Toshiba progressive DVD products with other manufacturer's products as specific component video performance and function may vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

Regards,
Dale

Looks like I will be limited to utilizing the units interlaced component ports. The only positive aspect of my brief experience with this unit is that I was able to purchase it via the internet for $450. I therefore feel less cheated than I would have, had I purchased the unit through Best Buy for $700.

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First DVD Player

Prog scan, HDCD decoding, great sound for a DVD player

very light

Great picture and sound (for a DVD). Comes with the Vid Essentials CD which is nice.

Progressive Scan; HDCD; Dual DVD Tray

Remote; Build Quality

The picture on my Panasonic CT-32XF55 DTV set when using the progressive component inputs is outstanding -- far superior to my Toshiba 2108.

The DVD player is loaded with almost every feature you could possibly imagine... I can't think of anything it really is missing.

My only gripe is the remote does not have backlighting (uses glow in the dark keys instead) and it is missing a tray open/close button! Toshiba really has to work on this.

All in all though, an outstanding value for the $499 I paid at Supreme Video.

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Toshiba 2108

Good picture, sound, price and 1X-4X ZOOM.

No optical digital output, no 5.1 output , slow loading and menu choices are slow. Remote is not multibrand. 90 day labor warranty.

No optical digital output, no 5.1 output , slow loading and menu choices are slow. Remote is not multibrand. 90 day labor warranty.

No optical or 5.1 output, slow loading and menu choices are slow. Remote is not multibrand. 90 day labor warranty.

I think this a great "bang for the buck" player. I have tested several players in my home over the last few weeks and settled with the SD-1600.

The sound quality and picture quality is great for the price. I really like the zoom feature, if you are watching a wide screen format movie and don't like the big bars at the top and bottom of the screen you just zoom in 1X and the picture size is nicely increased without distortion. You will loose a little of the sides of the movie but it is not noticeable to me. Unlike some of the other players with zoom the Toshiba players do not distort or look blocky when you zoom and the picture stays very smooth and clear.

The only thing I do not like is the lack of optical output. I ended up using the coax output and it is very clear. The remote is efficient for the player since it does not have a lot of frills. The menus are a little slow responding and it does not support HDCD as far as I can tell.


I tried the following;
Sony DVP-S560D - New unit. Very nice player but it lacked zoom. If this player had zoom I would have kept it. Many nice features including multibrand remote.
Toshiba 5109 - Open box from Best Buy. The remote on this unit was flaky and I was afraid to keep it. Many nice options.
Toshiba SD-3105 - From Ubid but was cosmetically damaged in shipping. Great unit! Included the four things I was looking for, clear picture, great sound, optical digital output and zoom.
Pioneer DV-434 - New. I really disliked this player, poor picture and sound. No zoom.
JVC XV-M565BK - New. This was not as nice a s the Toshibas or Sony. It was better than the Pioneer. The faults were no zoom and cheap transport for the three tray loader.

If you are looking for a no frills player and don't need optical or 5.1 output then the Toshiba SD-1600 is a very nice unit.

I am giving it a five star rating for what is does. There is a lot it does not do but what can you expect for $157.00?

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See review

Note about review below

Note about review below

Please note the review below this is for the SD-1600 and am sorry I posted in the wrong froum.

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Note about review below

Has played every DVD without a problem

Pixilating/Breaking up

Well, the machine has never skipped a beat. It has played every DVD without a problem. Sound is very good. But I started noticing a kind of pixilating problem. When the camera pans, especially vertical, there is a horrible breaking up, especially of horizontal lines. For instance, if there are venetian blinds, they absolutely drive you crazy. I've been told by Toshiba and a local authorized repair shop that it's probably a laser defect. Unfortunately for me, I was dumb enough to get a refurbished unit and by the time it got bad, the warranty was gone. No need to say "I told you so." I really knew better. The shop said the repair cost would exceed the economic value of the player, so I'm looking for a new unit (Thinking of the Pioneer Elite DV-37). I'm not convinced, from reading these reviews, that it's not a common problem with Toshiba DVD players, so I'm not going to repair it or get another Toshiba. I'm only going to buy new, also. The unit appears to be good quality, but I wasted my money. Oh yes, the picture is OTHERWISE great.

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ProScan Non-progressive