Toshiba SD-5980 Progressive Scan DVD Player with HDMI Output Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I now have either owned or own 8 different DVD players and am very familiar with idiosynracies of each. This is the second Toshiba that I have owned and partially decided to purchase this one because I had a very good experience with another much older Toshiba that is still running strong.
-Decision Making Process:
I bought this for the HDMI Up-Conversion after just having purchased a Panasonic 42" HDTV Plasma (Awesome TV). I had heard the HDMI hook-up was stellar and wanted to find out. The decision was between an LG, Toshiba and Saumsung. Although the Toshiba was priced $30 less at Best Buy, I initially opted for the LG due to its good looks and slim profile. Bad move on my part. The LG was not compatible with my TV (There are disclaimers saying this can happen. I tried every kind of hook-up (component, composite and HDMI) and none of them would show me a picture. After reading some poor reviews of Samsung and having another Saumsung DVD player die on me previously, I decided to go with the Toshiba. It's not a great looking player, but not horrible either. I'm glad I did!
Positives:
First of all, the positves way outweight the negatives.
1) Stellar picture with HDMI output. I'm using the freebie HDMI cable that came with the player and the picture looks significantly better than my other player with Component (a solid Panasonic DVD recorder).
2) Free HDMI cable. These things are expensive and even if it's not the greatest quality cable, it's good enough to reap the benefits of HDMI outputs and notice a difference.
3) Great sound. The sound might even be a slight improvement over my Panasonic, which I love.
4) Card reader is an very nice extra that Samsung does not have. Looking at pictures in "HD" with HDMI is awesome!
5) When you press "Display" it will display the time surpassed and the total time of the movie so you have an idea of how much longer you have to go in the movie. Too many DVD players do not let you know how much longer you have before the movie is over.
Negatives:
1) It's a little complicated. Like most players, you need to read the manual to make sure your audio outputs are correct so you will be able to hear your audio in Digital. This is standard on most players I have dealt with.
2) Pay close attention with which mode of HDMI you are in (there is an HDMI button on the remote that toggles between 420p, 750p and 1080i. I was trying to play DVD+R's that I had burned and finalized from my computer and the picture kept flashing on and off. The sound was fine, but the flashing was unbearable. I thought it was because they were burned DVD's and it wouldn't read them, but I didn't have that problem on either of my other 3 current DVD players. As it turns out, the shows I was watching are not able to be viewed in either the 420P or 750P mode and can only be viewed in the 1080i mode. Once I switched to 1080i, those DVD's worked great.
3) When I was using the card reader, I had the picture in 1080i and it blinked on an off again. Once I switched it to 420p, it worked perfectly.
4) The player itself is not really that attractive and the display is downright ghetto. I'm not sure what Toshiba was thinking when they designed this thing. Perhaps they really wanted to keep the price down, but the display literally only shows you the minutes that have surpassed on the DVD you are playing in archaic looking number. For example, if you are 31 minutes and 29 seconds in, the display will read simply "31." The chapter is not listed nor are the seconds nor can you change it to display anything else.
In summary, I strongly recommend this player to anyone that is looking for an upgraded picture via HDMI cable. The HDMI up-conversion IS for real. THe picture is great and so is the sound. Having an digital card reader is cool and the player overall is fairly likable. If you have the patience to work through some of its quirks and don't mind the so-so looks and absolutely horrible display, you should make this one a purchase.

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A treasure trove for videophiles and techno-mavens, Toshiba's feature-loaded and amazingly affordable SD-5980 single-disc DVD player upconverts standard DVD-Video content to full high-definition resolution--either progressive-scan 720p or interlaced 1080i. Further, the sleek, silvery player offers a cutting-edge High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) to foster a direct digital hookup between the SD-5980 and a compatible HDTV or HD-ready TV/monitor. The player spins DVD-Video movies, of course, and also handles recordable CDs loaded with MP3 or WMA music files and discs filled with JPEG digital photos, letting you make the most of your digital media.The unit's 9-in-2 flash-media card slot supports Secure Digital, Mini Secure Digital, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick Duo Pro, XD Picture Card, Compact Flash, and Multimedia Card. By taking advantage of these different media formats, the player lets you enjoy JPEG images and music files in both the MP3 and WMA and formats.Even better: Thanks to the SD-5980's specialized chipset (MPEG decoder and scaler) and its HDMI interface, you'll see megapixel JPEG images with enhanced resolution.The SD-5980 is outfitted with 10-bit/54 MHz video DACs (digital-to-analog converters) and ColorStream Pro progressive-scan component-video outputs for seamless, flicker-free images when viewed through high-definition and HD-ready TVs. Progressive scanning, referred to as 480p/720p for the number of horizontal lines that compose the video image, creates a picture using a minimum of twice the scan lines of a conventional DVD picture, giving you higher resolution and sharper images while eliminating nearly all motion artifacts. For compatibility with traditional SD (standard-definition) televisions, the SD-5980 sports composite- and S-video outputs.HDMI is a lossless, uncompressed, all-digital audio/video interface supporting standard-definition (SD), enhanced definition (ED), or high-definition (HD) video, plus multi-channel digital audio--all using a single cable. It transmits all ATSC HDTV standards and supports up to 8-channel digital audio, with bandwidth to spare to accommodate future enhancements and requirements.The SD-5980 also performs 3:2 pulldown reversal. DVD mastering introduces a common distortion when adjusting 24 frames-per-second movies to 30 fps video; 3:2 pulldown digitally corrects this distortion. The "expanded" mode in the player's black-level setting produces richer, deeper black tones in every image. PLUGE (Picture Line Up Generation Equipment) delivers black as well as below-black signals to a television.Digital picture zoom is an interactive DVD feature that lets you select and magnify an area of a picture you want to zoom in on. Enhanced digital processing during moving video or freeze-frame playback produces high color fidelity and resolution, even when you're zoomed in. You can also use this feature to expand letterbox-only films to full-screen (4:3 aspect ratio) dimension.For audio, choose from 2-channel analog audio outs (which benefit from 24-bit/192 kHz digital-to-analog audio converters) or either of 2 forms of digital-audio output, optical or coaxial, for transmitting discrete, multichannel surround signals--either Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS 5.1--to a compatible audio/video receiver and speaker system. (Both Dolby and DTS signals can be transmitted via HDMI as well.)Listening in surround sound puts you right in the middle of the action, whether you're playing an action movie, a concert video, or a period drama. Not set up for surround yet? A special 3-D Surround circuit simulates surround sound from any 2 speakers.What's in the Box DVD player, remote control, remote batteries, a user's manual, a stereo analog audio interconnect/composite-video cable, a 2-meter HDMI cable, and warranty information.

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