Toshiba SD-3980 Progressive-Scan DVD Player

by Toshiba

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 16.9 x 1.6 x 7.9 inches ; 10 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B0007RB1WM
• Item model number: SD-3980
• Batteries: 2 AA batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 1.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #103,275 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Toshiba's SD-3980 single-disc DVD player packs a serious home-theater punch for an amazingly low price. Its progressive-scan ColorStream Pro component-video output produces seamless, flicker-free images for high-definition and HD-ready TVs. Built-in MP3 and WMA (Windows Media Audio) decoding let you compile music on your PC and listen to it on your stereo or TV, and you can even watch customized digital-photo 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-3980 stands ready to deliver the full potential of your DVDs via 10-bit/54 MHz processing. 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, giving you higher resolution and sharper images while eliminating nearly all motion artifacts.

The SD-3980 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, 96 kHz resolution to ensure optimum sonic quality from a range of digital program material.

Enhanced Audio Mode (E.A.M.) offers three sound settings: normal (boosts regular digital audio signals), 3-D (virtual surround sound enhancement via Spatializer N-2-2), and dialogue expander (which enhances center-channel frequencies in the range of human voices during playback of Dolby Digital multichannel content). Other playback options include Power Picture Zoom (which lets you magnify a select area of an image), bookmarking (up to 9 marks), and parental lock.

What's in the Box
DVD player, remote control, remote batteries, a user's manual, and a stereo analog audio interconnect/composite-video cable.

Product Description

It's very clear theat DVD is here to stay. So if you haven't bought a DVD player yet, here's your opportunity for a really high quality model. If you own a DVD player already, this will make a great second model for use elsewhere in your home. 1 Pair Analog Audio Outputs Digital Cinema Progressive (3 - 2 Pulldown) Digital Picture Zoom Screen Saver Front LED Display Unit Dimensions - Width - 16.93 x Height - 1.65 x Depth - 7.87 Toshiba USA 90 Days Labor/1 Year Parts Limited Warranty

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars User-hostile., April 24, 2005

By 

Jan M. Kujawa (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Toshiba SD-3980 Progressive-Scan DVD Player (Electronics)

I'd give it zero stars, if I could. Stay well away. It's a flawed design. The tray itself was skimped on -- it's got about half the lip of a normal DVD tray, the tolerances are all bad -- it's the single worst piece of consumer equipment I've ever seen.
I had to jiggle the tray to get a test DVD in it, then turn it over and physically shake it to get the DVD out.

I have been pleased with Toshiba players in the past, so the lack of quality in this one completely blindsided me.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Is it cold in here or is that just my Toshiba freezing up again?, June 27, 2005

By 

iansomniak (USA, Planet Earth) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Toshiba SD-3980 Progressive-Scan DVD Player (Electronics)

Toshiba's SD-3980 is surprisingly slim and compact...probably TOO slim and compact for its own good. I'm not sure what the advantage is to having a DVD player this small, unless maybe you want to put it on top of a small TV or something. The disc tray is also uncomfortably slim (and flimsy), so you must exercise extreme caution when inserting and removing discs. Size aside, the real problem I have with my SD-3980 is its tendency to freeze and/or pixelate once or twice during almost every movie I play on it. Just like my old Toshiba SD-2300, the 3980 occasionally likes to pause itself for a few seconds before resuming normal playback. It also likes to break the picture up into little square bits for a second or two every once in a while (just like my old SD-2300). These incidents happen completely at random and for no apparent reason. The SD-3980 also seems to have trouble returning to a DVD's menu after play is started. If you're watching a disc and you stop it and press MENU, nothing happens. You need to eject the disc and sit through those annoying FBI warnings all over again just to get back to the main menu. These problems are not so terrible or so frequent that they render the player unusable; but they are bothersome as they keep you constantly checking your discs wondering, "Is this DVD scratched or is it just my Toshiba acting up again?" Furthermore, the 3980's display window shows only the current chapter number, not the elapsed time; and you can't capture a screenshot to use as a wallpaper/background image like you could with the SD-2300. On the plus side, this player is silver and silver is GROOVY.

UPDATE: This thing DIED for no reason less than 1 year after purchase. My 7-year-old Toshiba SD2109 is still going strong. Go figure.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Keep away from Toshiba!!!, May 2, 2005

By 

Guofan Xu "gxu" (gxu) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Toshiba SD-3980 Progressive-Scan DVD Player (Electronics)

I bought SD-3960 and it died within 3 months' warranty period. Called Toshiba and they replaced it with a SD-3980. It has a very shallow tray comparing to other DVD players, which doesn't bother me too much. However, it keep frozen during the DVD play back.　Ｉ have to unplug the power to reset the software according to Toshiba's technical support.
I bought sony and APEX DVD players from amazon before and they are always trouble free.