Easy to use menus, good performance

Display/Remote fairly primitive for playing Audio CDs

This is a very good inexpensive player. I won't repeat what others have said...unless I disagree :-)

Transport Noise:
mine is as quite as anyone could expect...just a slight whirring when loading, and the door is reasonably precise and quiet as well.

Loading Time:
Perhaps I just don't have enough experience with other units, but the load time seems reasonable to me.

CD-R playback:
I have yet to find a CD-R that won't play (I have personally burned all that I have tried). Others here have noted problems, but I have none. All ROMs were burned on a Plextor SCSI drive using Adaptec's CD Creator. Oh, and while I am always on the lookout for "inexpensive" blanks (rebates and such), I don't use "cheap" (crappy) ones.

Digital Out:
Yes, it doesn't have optical, but the coax-out works perfectly. This should only be a problem if you don't have an available coax-in on your preamp.

Picture Quality:
Absolutely no problems or anomalies at all.

For the money, I don't see how you could ask for more. All in all, a great unit. I'm giving 4 stars for overall in recognition of my limited experience with DVD players, i.e. I don't have a lot of viewing experience to compare against.

Similar Products Used:

Denon, Sony

Value, great picture and sound quality

No optical output

I purchased the Toshiba SD-1600 DVD player in early January after reading great reviews on this and other sites. I have not been disappointed! You cannot beat the picture and audio quality in this price range. Also, it includes most of the special functions you want (I especially like the expanded black level).

I have the Toshiba DVD player connected to a Pioneer VSX-D509S receiver with Boston Acoustics 380 front and rear surround speakers, JBL S-Center channel speaker, and JBL PB-10 subwoofer. The sound quality is out of this world (especially with DTS encoded DVD's)! It equals or surpasses the sound experience at a movie theater! The player is connected to my TV via s-video cable, and the picture is superb.

A few weeks after purchasing the DVD player, I noticed some reviews describing problems with the "Art of War" DVD. So I went out and rented it. The Toshiba played the DVD flawlessly (although I personally don't recommend the movie). I’m not sure if changes have been made to the player or to the DVD, but I didn't experience any of the problems described in earlier reviews. In fact, the Toshiba has played all 30+ DVDs I've tried with no problems.

For value and performance, this DVD player gets 5 stars.

Great picture and sound, oh ya, PRICE!

none

For the money, you cannot beat this unit. Playback quality is superb. I paid over $220 for my previous DVD (APEX) for it's features, however, it has poor playback, problems with the audio and video sync. I was amazed at the difference in playback between the two. And the price $149.00!!! I use my Apex for playing MP3 exclusivly now. You cannot go wrong with this one. Best price I could find was at:
www.ernstelectronics.com

Similar Products Used:

APEX 600A

Easy to use
Good manual
Nice remote; fairly easy to use in the dark
Coax 5.1 digital output
Composite/SVHS/Component Output

No TOSlink (digital) 5.1 output

I've been watching movies on this every weekend since I got it, around Christmas. I've probably watched around 30 whole and partial DVDs, with only one video glitch, and that DVD had some obvious scratches on it. It has never it frozen or otherwise failed to play a DVD (and there are still DVD players for sail that have those troubles).

The remote control is pretty good, and briefly comparing it to other remotes at local stores, it is perhaps one of the best designs. The menu buttons, play and pause are easily identifiable in the dark. Secondary buttons, such as Fast-forward/reverse and track skip are also pretty easy to identify by touch. The tertiary buttons are less easy to identify in the dark, but that improves with practice.

I've currently got it hooked up in the worst possible manner, running the composite output into my receiver, which then goes into the VCR, which then goes into my 10 yr old 27" TV. Still, the picture quality is distinctly better than I get from my (mediocre) Magnavox VCR.

My receiver is a Dolby Pro Logic (not DD/DTS), with 5 speaker surround setup, and the movies sound quite good to me.

Weaknesses? At this price point, no.

Well, one minor thing I've observed: I've noticed a very brief pause (<1 sec) in the middle of several movies, which I believe is the layer shift (the player has reached the end of the DVD's first layer and is switching to the second layer to continue the movie). I am the only one that has noticed it (neither my roommate nor friends noticed it), and I would guess that all DVD players exhibit this behavior. It in no way affects the movie. Just a little thing I hadn't seen mentioned before.

The only significant features it lacks, in my opinion are:

- no optical 5.1 DD output (but it does have a coax). This may be an issue because some lower-end receivers (<$400) only have optical 5.1 inputs.

- does not support progressive scan output (but nothing else does currently in the <$300 range, AFAIK)

Unless you must have progressive output or optical 5.1 output, this is a perfect buy. It is well worth the regular retail of $200, and would be an exceptional buy if catch the sale prices of ~$180.

Similar Products Used:

none

Picture Quality
Simplicity
Color stream component

Does not read CDR's, Optical output

This is simply the best entry level DVD player, and frankly is all you need unless you have a plasma or digital television. Great sound, picture and many options. Zoom feature perfect for regular televisions. Sounds pretty good with music cd's as well.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba Color Stream Television

Excellent deal for the price. Beats many players that cost 3x as much.

None I can think of.

I bought this player for my father for Christmas after liking the SD-1200 so much. They really did improve the remote (never used the 1200's remote anyway...I have a Sony AV2000 remote), and I have to say this player is truely the best deal for the money. To everyone claiming it won't play CD-Rs....ours does! Make sure you're using 8x media or better. I was able to play VCD's and music CD-R's just fine. I recored mine on a Sony Spressa CD-RW with Sony 12x CD-R media.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba SD-1200

Good picture and sound, great multiple zoom. Good price and 3 free DVD movies.

No optical output. Slow to load.

When I bought this DVD player I assumed that it would have a Digital Optical output. The salesman even tried to sell me the cable separately. After all, who would make a DVD player without this standard feature.

TOSHIBA!. They are the only brand I have seen so far without a digital optical output. They have the COAX digital output and I know the difference is marginal, but after spending as much as I did on a new A/V receiver, I didn't want to loose anything in the sound. I didn't even know that this feature was missing till I tried to plug it in to the new receiver I bought 2 weeks later. I checked out the Toshiba website. It appears that none of their models have this feature but I could be wrong.

I found movies slow to load. But that's typical at this price range. I also found that it paused during playback of some movies. However, I later found that this also occurred with the JVC XV-521 that I upgraded to. (minor annoyance only)

The sound, picture and zoom feature are what I liked most about this product. 4 zoom options are great if you have an older TV like myself I find that letterbox just makes the picture a little too small. The zoom on the JVC is not nearly as good. And the Panasonic that I wanted to buy had no zoom option at all.

I took the Toshiba SD1600 back and replaced it with the JVC model and have not looked back since. If Toshiba just included the digital optical output then I would have kept it.

If you are using an older receiver without digital input or if you just don't care about this feature, then this DVD player is a great bargain. Otherwise, consider the JVC XV-521 instead.

Similar Products Used:

JVC XV-521BK

Good value for the price, 3x zoom feature, on-screen setup, component and S-Video connections

No digital audio out

I've owned the SD-1600 for over 7 months now and it has performed almost flawlessly since day one. I say almost because there was one time when I put in 'Cast Away' and got no sound, but that was fixed relatively painlessly by taking the disc out and putting it back in. Other than that one time, it has played every movie I have put in it without error.

I know that there are a lot of reviews that say that the player is able to play CD-R's, and maybe it can, but the owner's manual says that it can't, and it has rejected every CD-R I have tried in it so far. I would advise against buying this player if your dvd player *must* be able to play CD-R's.

My other components:

Technics SA-GX530 tuner (1992)
Zenith SY2569 TV (1996)

As you can see, this isn't a high-end system, but the picture and sound from the SD-1600 are great, and that is without using the S-Video or component output hookups for video (my Zenith doesn't have them), and only analog Pro Logic surround sound.

The zoom feature is useful for making letterbox dvd's fit regular tv's, but anything more than the 1x setting appeared a little blurry (probably due to the weak resolution of my set).

I have noticed that once in a while I can see some layer changes while watching certain dvd's, but it seems that it is more disc-specific and not necessarily a huge flaw of the player.

Installation was easy, and the on-screen menus make it easy to set up the unit in a short period of time. The bottom line for me was that it was a quality player that could play well with my current system, and would not be outdated too quickly when I upgraded my other components.

Similar Products Used:

None

Plays every disk I've tried flawlessly!!

N/A

I bought the as a second player for Christmas 2000. It has replaced my older Toshiba 2008 in the living room. It plays every disk I've tried with no problems!! It even plays disks that have my 2 yr old son's fingerprints on them! We took some of these "fingerprinted" DVDs to my Dad's and most of them wouldn't play on his Panasonic. It even plays a DVD that has a 3/8" crack in it!! Unbelievable!!

I'm very satisfied with the performance of this player. Highly recommended.

Similar Products Used:

Other Toshiba, Panasonic

Cool zoom feature, stylish design, quiet operation

Remote sucks

This player is a replacement for my Apex as it can't play all my discs (with seamless branching). I got this at Amazon for $190 - $50 coupon - $15 rebate. Not bad for this great player. Just program the remote into a universal with backlight and you'll be all set. Now I've got to get back to watching DVDs...

Similar Products Used:

Apex AD-600A