Toshiba SD-3900 Progressive-Scan DVD Player

by Toshiba

Product Details

Product Manual [566kb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 17 x 2.8 inches ; 5.1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 8 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B00008BO8Z
• Item model number: SD-3900
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #134,462 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Get the most from DVDs and CDs with Toshiba's SD-3900 single-disc DVD player, whose ultimate progressive-scan ColorStream component-video outputs produce seamless, flicker-free images with high-definition and HD-ready TVs. Built-in MP3 and WMA (Windows Media Audio) decoding let you compile music on a PC and listen to it on a stereo or TV, and you can even watch customized digital-picture slideshows using recordable CDs filled with standard JPEG image files.

Whether your living room is currently home to an HDTV or you're merely thinking of "someday," the SD-3900 stands ready to deliver the full potential of DVDs. Progressive scanning, referred to as 480p for the number of horizontal lines that compose the video image, creates a picture using twice the scan lines of a conventional DVD picture, providing higher resolution and sharper images while eliminating nearly all motion artifacts. The SD-3900 also performs 3:2 pulldown. DVD mastering introduces a common distortion when adjusting 24 frames-per-second movies to 30 fps video; 3:2 pulldown digitally corrects this distortion. Conventional composite- and S-video outputs bring compatibility with nearly any television. 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.

A set of left/right analog-audio outputs channel audio to Dolby Pro Logic receivers and stereo televisions. Both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel surround-sound signals can be routed through the player's digital-audio outputs (one each coaxial and optical) for direct connection to a full-featured audio/video receiver. The player's internal digital-to-analog converters work at 24-bit, 192 kHz resolution to ensure optimum sonic quality from a range of digital program material. Playback options include video 3D-DNR (digital noise reduction), powerful 16x picture zoom, dialogue enhancement, Spatializer simulated surround (for two-channel listening), and parental lock.

Product Description

CONSUMER ALERT: This television receiver has only an analog broadcast tuner and will require a converter box after February 17, 2009 to receive over-the-air broadcasts with an antenna because of the U.S.'s transition to digital broadcasting. Analog-only TVs should continue to work as before with cable and satellite TV services, gaming consoles, VCRs, DVD players, and similar products. For more information, call the Federal Communications Commission at 1-888-225-5322 (TTY: 1-888-835-5322), or visit the commission's digital-television Web site at: htttp://www.dtv.gov.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very nice player, don't let the price fool you!, April 22, 2003

By 

R. Williams "Horror Afficianado" (portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Toshiba SD-3900 Progressive-Scan DVD Player (Electronics)

I have never owned a Toshiba player before, but I have heard about their quality since I first got into DVD 4-5 years ago. I'd wanted to try one out, but always ended up selecting a different model (I've had 4 players) Finally, I decided to upgrade again and got this player because of the price. While it's MSRP is $149, it can be found at Amazon and other locations for $. Don't let that fool you. This technology gets cheaper and better every day, and I'd say this model is much nicer than a $400 player 2 years ago, and that it's easily competitive with players today in the $200 range.

I've got it hooked up to a Sony Wega via component cables, and the pic is excellent. Very detailed, no artifacting, no sign of the chroma bug. Blacks are there too, many players now days cannot really do a black properly, this player does it very well, and does it without muddling all the dark colors on the screen into 1 shapeless blob too. It's detailed enough to be dark without missing what's going on. The colors are very strong, but do not bleed or over saturate. This is a problem on many players and TVs, so I wasn't expecting much. I was very surprised though at the depth and color of the pic. Reds were stabilized, even bright reds. Very nice.

If you're considering this player, I'd stop considering and buy it. Toshiba's the name in DVD and this player is one of their best. I gave it 5 stars because I really don't think there is a better player out there in this price range.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sleek, Sharp, and Easy to Use, September 25, 2003

By 

thattherepaul (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Toshiba SD-3900 Progressive-Scan DVD Player (Electronics)

I've been around the block with DVD players. First, I bought a Samsung which choked on playback and was incompatible with my TV, then I bought the Toshiba 2900 which worked but had an inscrutable interface.

This Toshiba 3900 really is perfect: the image is clear, sharp, and easily adjustable to any TV - even if you only have a regular-size old TV like I do, you'll notice that the image at first is weirdly vertical (like El Greco paintings) because the default output is for the slightly wider screen of the new digital TVs. Adjusting the output for my regular-size TV was easy, I just pressed "MENU", selected "Setup", and under "TV Display", I selected "regular TV", and the image output changed to be perfectly sized for my TV.

Clearly, Toshiba put some thought into the remote, which has the frequently-used play, stop, forward and rewind buttons slightly larger and centered nicely. The menu interface also is a breeze, in plain English without inscrutable icons or baffling toggles. The zoom feature, for example. is just as it should be: you press "ZOOM"; the display zooms (on the Toshiba 2900, pressing zoom led you into a forest of mystifying menu symbols and toggle options).

The Toshiba 3900 comes with progressive scan, an image enhancement feature now standard with DVD players. Both the progressive scan image output and the regular image output are crystal-clear and sharp on my regular old TV, and quite an improvement, particularly compared to analog broadcast.

Recording perfect VHS tapes from the DVD player is easy - simply by feeding the audio and video output from the DVD into the audio and video input for the VCR, I can record perfectly anything that's playing on the DVD player. I'm not saying you should do this, I'm just pointing out that it's possible.

The player has played every disc I've put in it without difficulty, even one that had been scratched.

And it has a sleek, understated gray brushed titanium finish that looks sharp. Friends have actually commented on how nice it looks.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Easy to hack for playing all regions, October 28, 2003

By 

Dale Strumpell (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Toshiba SD-3900 Progressive-Scan DVD Player (Electronics)

This player can play non-R1 DVDs. It also converts PAL to NTSC. Here's the hack:

1. Put in non-R1 DVD.

2. When the region whine message appears, press: [menu] [1] [play]. The DVD should play, but with region message still up.

3. Press [Marker] then [Clear]; Message is now gone.

I rated this player at less than five stars because it lacks the ability to remember the last-played location on a disk when the power is turned off.