Tosihba SD1600 DVD Player - Not Such A Good Deal Anymore
Written: Oct 31 '00 (Updated Nov 05 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good picture and sound, zoom and other features
Cons: No CD-R, chroma upsampling errors, remote, no digital optical out
The Bottom Line: There are better choices in this price range - like new Panasonic RV31
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| dkozin's Full Review: Toshiba SD-1600 DVD Player |
Toshiba SD1600 DVD player is a successor to a well-known SD1200. It costs about $190 and has very good picture quality and “parallel video output”.
Picture
The player produces very good picture quality, but it has "chroma upsampling errors" due to use of Zoran Vadis 3 MPEG decoder (several Toshiba (Zoran) and Sony (LSI MPEG decoder) players have this issue). Players from Panasonic (Panasonic MPEG decoder) and JVC (Mediamatics) don't have this issue.
CD-R
The player does not play CD-R discs :(
Video Outs
SD1600 has the composite, S-video outputs and ColorStream component jacks. The best way to connect DVD player to TV is to use component-video outputs but even S-video output looks great on this player.
This player allows you to dim or deactivate the front panel display. It also has onscreen bit-rate meter, it fluctuates from less than 1 to 10, and although it's useless, it's nice to look at it once in a while.
PLUGE allows the player to pass “blacker-than-black” signals to your TV than needed, eliminating the gray color in places where the black color should be. All Toshiba DVD players have a video black-level enhancement mode that you can access from the menu.
Audio Outs
The SD1600 has Dolby Digital and Digital Theater Sound (DTS) compatible digital coaxial output, but there is no digital optical out. It would be better if the player had an optical out - optical connection provides you with less interference. Front-panel design has only buttons for basic functions. Everything else is performed through the remote control. So if it is lost or gets broken, only the basic functions will be available.
The player has a feature called “parallel video out” that allows you to watch the movie on several TVs/Monitors at once by connecting to them using S-Video, component (ColorStream) and composite outs.
The SD1600 has other “standard” features, present on virtually all DVD players today: parental control, CD-audio playback, camera angle select, multi-language and multi-subtitle select, Spatializer N-2-2 Virtual Surround Sound.
It also has some advanced features (“trick play”): x2 playback, 1/8x, 1/4x, 1/2x, x2, x8, x20 Forward and Reverse scan, 4-Power Picture Zoom, Time Search.
The remote size is OK, but you have to point the remote directly to the player for it to work. The button layout is good - Left/Right and Up/Down buttons are centrally placed, with the Enter button in the middle.
The Toshiba SD1600 is a basic model with functions that will satisfy majority of users. Although it has some features that other manufacturers does not provide in their basic models (like zoom), there are better choices in this price range - like new Panasonic RV31.
Links:
Connecting DVD to TV and Sound Systems - http://dkozin.epinions.com/elec-review-3AC4-6B1C4F6-39B6D398-prod1
DVD vs VCR - http://dkozin.epinions.com/elec-review-E5E-4098221-3953CEC9-prod4
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
dkozin
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 in Electronics |
 - Top 10 |
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Location: California
Reviews written: 838
Trusted by: 516 members
About Me:
I love to push buttons on electronic (audio and video) equipment. It makes me happy.
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