Toshiba SD-3960 DVD Player

by Toshiba

Product Details

Product Manual [3.00mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 17 x 2 x 2.3 inches ; 4.8 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: B0001U6RNI
• Item model number: SD-3960
• Batteries: 2 AA batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 2.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,720 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
  • #91 in Electronics > Televisions & Video > DVD Players & Recorders > DVD Players
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Note: Toshiba SD-3960 DVD Player is no longer being manufactured. You may want to consider purchasing the newer Toshiba SD-3980 DVD Player instead.

The high-end SD-3960 DVD player from Toshiba delivers a stunningly clear picture and fantastic surround sound, making it a perfect addition to your home theater. Utilizing Toshiba's ColorStream Pro progressive-scan video technology, the SD-3960 yields vivid colors, clean resolution, and reduced onscreen distortion. A 10-bit/54-MHz digital-to-analog video signal converter also assists in reproducing your DVDs in theaterlike clarity. While the SD-3960 is compatible with both analog and digital televisions, you will achieve optimum picture quality by using the player with a high-definition-compatible television.

You can take full advantage of the visual clarity of the SD-3960 with its versatile digital picture zoom option. The zoom feature lets you magnify a portion of the picture onscreen while in freeze-frame mode or even while watching a DVD in real time. The feature is great for spotting details in movies or even adjusting letterboxed movies to fill your screen.

The SD-3960 plays DVDs, DVD-Rs, and CDs, so you can enjoy all your favorite videos and music. You can also play MP3s and view digital JPEG photos from CDs created in your computer with the SD-3960.

The SD-3960 gives you more than a great picture. You also get vivid, realistic sound, thanks to Toshiba's 24-bit/192 kHz pulse code modulation (PCM) audio processor. PCM audio translates digital signals from your DVDs and CDs into warmer, natural sound. For a cinematic surround-sound experience, you can easily connect the SD-3960 to a home theater receiver with an RCA-type connection. The SD-3960 features Dolby Digital and DTS surround-sound output.

The SD-3960 gives a sonic boost to any home theater, even a setup with just stereo speakers. The SD-3960's virtual surround-sound capability creates a simulated surround experience from any DVD or CD recorded in stereo.

What's in the Box
SD-3960 DVD player, remote control, owner's manual.

Product Description

TOSHIBA SD-3960 DVD Video Player with Progressive Scan - 3D-DNR (Digital Noise Reduction) DVD-Video, CD-Audio, DVD-R, CD-R/RW playback MP3 & WMA compatible audio playback QSound 3D simulates surround sound using two speakers Coaxial digital output for connection to optional Dolby Digital or DTS surround receiver Dialogue Enhancer mode delivers intelligible dialogue at low volumes Digital Photo Viewer displays digital photographs on your TV set in a variety of popular digital formats including Konica, Fuji Photo, Kodak Photo CD & JPEG Picture Zoom Video Outputs - Component, Composite, S-Video

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Watch out - Reviews of earlier units not applicable, May 5, 2005

By 

Steven Brown "computer engineer" (sebastopol, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Toshiba SD-3960 DVD Player (Electronics)

What many people don't realize is that Toshiba switched the innards of this unit somewhere in 2004.

The high rating on the review website and CR were based on earlier units built around the Toshiba TC90602FG chipset. Then Toshiba in all their infinite wizdumb decided to completely rework this thing, changing the innards to a whole new setup using the Zoran Vaddis 6 chipset, and continue calling it by the same model number so no one could tell them apart.

The Vaddis 6 and variants are the chipsets found in the lowliest of low DVD players like the ones you see for $39 at WallyMart et al

You can not put any credence in those old reviews from players tested with the Toshiba chipset. You now know why the reviews are so lopsided. "I don't know how you could call this thing bad, it's wonderful!" and "Are you crazy? This thing is a pile of doodie!" are common on any review site.

Given the mid 2004 change date you will are almost assured of getting a Zoran chipset. Avoid.

40 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Ford Escort of DVD players; fine transportation no style, September 12, 2004

By 

Clare Quilty (a little pad in hawaii) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Toshiba SD-3960 DVD Player (Electronics)

I have a much better player in my TV room but wanted a basic, inexpensive player for my bedroom. My only requirement was that it would play DVD's and not cost a fortune and, in that respect, my needs were completely met. The SD 3960 is cheap and it provides adequate picture and sound.

I seem to encounter a new side-effect every day, though. First of all: it's loud. It sounds like it's grinding pepper in there when it's got a disk in its mouth.

It also has a pretty good on-screen display function (it counts up and down, and also provides a little four-quarter bar graph to illustrate how much of the movie has been watched -- this may be standard but I'd never seen it). It does not, however, display a counter on its face which is kind of a drag when you want to check the chapter without interrupting the program.

When you push "OPEN" the drawer literally takes 10 seconds to eject the disc. I know, I know, I would never consider that a major inconvenience but when you want to change discs and you hit the eject and you count "1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6... c'mon, open up already!!!" It displays the word "OPEN" on its face the whole time so it's not like it's confused. Just slow.

Also, the player doesn't save your place when you stop in the middle of a program and it automatically shuts off after a mere five minutes. Sure, it saves electricity which is great but if I need to run downstairs for a second or grab the phone... I either have to make it quit, or rely on "STILL" or I end up searching through the scene selection trying to get back to where I was. Again, not a tragedy but after a while....

Like I said, though, I didn't expect much given the price. As a second player, it fills the bill. But if you're shopping for a primary player and you're lured by the price... you might consider dropping a few more bucks on one with a little more ability.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for what it is - a cheap progressive scan DVD player, December 12, 2004

By 

Ian Mccullough (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Toshiba SD-3960 DVD Player (Electronics)

I purchased this player because it scored well on the benchmark tests at hometheaterhifi. They use objective technical standards for progressive scan players and rate them by traits (such as layer change time and pixel cropping). They use the same scene on the same disc for each individual benchmark and I thought this was a pretty sound way to measure a piece of consumer electronics. They were right.
My wife and I were early adopters of DVD technology and I got a dreadful Zenith way back in 1999. It worked - sort of, but didn't have seamless branching, a feature which allows interweaving of extra film (i.e. T2, The Abyss) into the theatrical release. The Zenith whirred, clanked and disturbingly clicked on occasion while rarely making it through a rental with even the faintest scuff. It really hampered our Netflix enjoyment. The new player works just fine after several movies my old player choked on. These include The Abyss, Time and Tide (a fun Asian action flick with poor transfer to DVD) and several diverse rentals for comparison. There was some pixilation on one rental, but it stopped my old player dead in its tracks and was fine after I cleaned the schmutz off the disc. Two weeks of use and not a whiff of problem - just solid if unspectacular performance.
The player has component outputs which allow high quality progressive scan images for progressive scan enabled TVs with compatible jacks. The image and sound are good and the layer transfer, although noticeable, is swift. The remote isn't terribly responsive, but I suspect this will improve once I replace the batteries that came in the box. The player is nice and quiet and the tray glides out silently (nice for when my 8 month old is sleeping) and only takes two seconds to open after pushing "open". The display on the player is rather lame - you can only see the chapter number. The on-screen display is quite nice with time elapsed and time remaining. I never thought this would matter, but simply love it now that I have it. The detailed on-screen display has everything and the kitchen sink, so I can deal with the lame player display.
I'm not a home theater owner, so this might not be great with a receiver, amp and surround sound - I simply wouldn't know. But for my needs - to watch movies without hassle and without going into credit card debt - this was a very good purchase.