***UPDATE 12/26/03: This unit is sold as model MD13N3 at Target and Costco but per the Toshiba site they're the same thing. Ours is still working beautifully--so much so that we've just purchased one for our 18-year old as well!

What to get for a boy just turning 16? His own TV/DVD combo! That’s what my son asked for. I figured that I’d buy one that would last him through his college years so I looked for a manufacturer I trusted. I settled on Toshiba.

I wanted a combo machine to save space--I also wanted a small screen that he could easily travel with and one that would be the right size for his future dorm room. A 13” seemed perfect. It’s small enough to pack but large enough to enjoy movies or TV on. It also plays music CDs so he's set.

Since my son loves to play his PlayStation 2 it had to have connectors in the front--this one has two. You can actually have two different peripherals hooked up and switch between the two with the included remote. A nice feature if you have more than one game system as both can be attached at the same time.

There’s a front panel headphone jack which he uses at night so we won’t catch him staying up too late. It also has a timer that you can use as an alarm clock--it allows you to wake to your favorite program (like most clock radios do), but it’s a TV channel and not a radio channel you wake up to. Guess if you love Good Morning America this would work for you. He uses the sleep timer (up to 360 minutes) to turn it off after he’s gone to sleep.

I comes with a V-chip--a V-chip allows you to block out violent or sexually explicit shows. This is all controlled by entering a password. TV shows with ratings above the V-chip setting require the password to allow the viewer to unlock the program. We don’t use the V-chip so I don’t have a lot of information about it--I suppose for those with small children it would be more useful, but we’ve always monitored our kids’ TV in person.

It’s digital cable-ready and can receive up to 181 channels. We don’t have digital, just basic cable, but hooking it up was simple. Programming it for our provider was simple as well--press the Menu button, choose program, sit back and watch it figure out which channels you have, and you’re done. Nice to know that when he moves he won’t have to dig out any instruction book to figure out how to reprogram it. You can change the programming at any time--add or remove any channel--through the menu. The onscreen display is tri-lingual meaning that you can have your instructions in English, French, or Spanish.

The included remote control runs the whole system--TV & DVD. It’s nice looking, laid out in a reasonable manner, and easy to use even in the dark as it illuminates with the push of any button. The buttons used most often are larger and closer together so you can memorize the layout and use it without looking at it. TV controls are grouped at the top of the remote and DVD controls are near the bottom.

The quality is outstanding. It has Dolby Digital and DTS surround-sound output and can be wired to your sound system for better quality. I find the built-in speakers just fine. The speakers are located at the bottom of the set and slightly to the side so the sound doesn’t come straight at you.

The style is nice--all of the”works” are below the screen. The controls and the DVD player are centered and easy to use and understand. It's great that the controls are on the TV--we have a TV with a remote that no longer works so we can no longer use the PIP feature since the only way to access it was with the remote.

The DVD player has some nice features. One is Picture Zoom. It allows you to select a portion of the picture you want a closer look at. It also allows you to expand letterbox films making them look more like their full-screen partners. If you’re using the DVD/TV in a public situation (which I’ll be doing soon as I’m borrowing it to show a DVD at a Public Market next weekend), you can lock the DVD tray so that no one other than you can take out the DVD. You could also use it to keep small children from fooling around and taking out the DVD.

It has all of the basic features as well: slow motion, scan, and multi-camera angle

SPECS
Size: (W x H x D): 14 1/4” x 14 3/8” x 15”
Weight: 24.2 lbs.
Disc Play: CD-R/CD/VCD/DVD-R/CD-RW
Video D/A: 10bit/27mHz
Audio D/A: 24bit/96kHz
Remote Unified (DVD/TV) Illuminated
Terminals: 1 RCA Video In (front), 1 pair L-R Audio Inputs (front), 1 Coaxial Digital Audio Output (rear), 1 RF Input (rear), Headphone Jack (front)
Energy Star Complaint

FINAL THOUGHTS
This is a small machine that has a lot of quality. I’ve borrowed it several times--in the kitchen, in the garage, and to do a presentation. The quality of the picture is bright and clear with wonderful colors. You can adjust it should you need to through the menu and the onscreen instructions, but I’ve not found that adjustment is unnecessary.

The DVD player hasn’t caused me a moments concern--no problems reading disks, no skipping, and no jammed disks (so far!). I expect it to be moving away with my son in 4-years, by then I’ll have purchased something similar for me!




Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 150.94