Customer Reviews

Toshiba SD-5970 DVD Player with HDMI

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(38)

 

 

In 3 months, I've been through 1 Harman Kardon dvd22, 1 HK dvd31, 1 Sony upconverter dvd, the upconverting Samsung 841 (absolute garbage), and the Toshiba 5970 one so far is the best one I've had hooked up to my Sony HD 34" XBR960. The HK22 had beautiful color, great audio processor (Wolfson), but no upconversion and won't play SACD's. The HK31 had the same and did play SA's, but no upconversion. Sony had poor colorand no HDMI cable (they're $120 everywhere), Samsung was trash-grainy picture w/ artifacts, extremely poor audio and unresponsive remote. The Toshiba has beautiful color, flawless picture in upconversion, beautiful audio completely equal to the HK's, comes WITH the HDMI cable, which the Sony and Samsung did not. The 5970's looks even matche my HK AVR630 receiver! This product is worth twice what I paid for it and is cheaper than the Samsung @ Circuit City and BestBuy.

Superficial as it is, unattractive remote--but I just programmed the Toshiba's codes into my universal.

Do yourself a favor and bypass this player if you are planning on using dvd recordable discs. I bought this player yesterday and will be returning it today. It states in the manual that it can handle recordable dvd's, however when you go to use the player, it is an entirely different story altogether. You will notice that there is frequent pixelation and hanging up when watching recorded video. As far as handling store bought videos, it does great. Another negative though is the fact that, as another reviewer pointed out, the player doesn't remember where you left off when stopping a disc. The video starts over from the beginning. Movies also begin with subtitles enabled and you have to shut them off manually each time you go to watch a movie. Not a great product in my opinion.

If you're anything like me - you know that spending even one penny over $200 for a DVD player is just ridiculous - especially with the upcoming release of HD-DVD and BluRay just around the corner.

Anyway - I did a lot of research on the "reasonably priced" upconverting players for my new HD set and pretty much came down to the Samsung HD841, the LG DVB-418, and the Toshiba SD-5970.

After having read the poor reviews on the HD841, I decided to try out the DVB-418 - that was a BUST. The picture quality on the LG was just terrible - grainy and washed out. The LG didn't even pass the first "4 Shades of White" Test on the THX Optimizer. In fact, my old NON-progressive scan DVD player looked MUCH better. I quickly exchanged it for the Toshiba - and I'm not looking back...

For the price, the Toshiba is great. It comes with an HDMI cable (which is at least a $30-100 value in itself) that works great. (And don't buy into the whole "Monster cables are better" jazz - they're just more expensive.) My first test was to check out the THX Optimizer - sure enough - passed with flying colors.

Bottom Line - for $150, this is the way to go. If you're looking for a combo DVD/VCR unit, check out the SD-v592. That's another Toshiba model thats been getting rave reviews itself (even better than this unit actually)...

I have several DVD players to compare the Toshiba SD-5790 against: a great 2-year old Sony progressive scan (DVP-NS-700), a Pioneer universal DVD player (DV-563A), and the new Samsung DVD-HD841 (with upconverting DVI output). I'm projecting images onto a 92" screen via a high-def LCD front projector which has DVI-D and progressive scan component video inputs. The picture quality from the Toshiba SD-5970 via its HDMI output (720P or 1080i) is *easily* better than any of these players, and *far* better than the really horrible Samsung (which is completely over-hyped). Unlike the Samsung, the picture from the Toshiba is solid, three-dimensional, has good color balance, and is free from grainy artifacts (which plague the Sony and Pioneer). The Toshiba's picture is sharp and detailed, unlike the Samsung which has a *really* soft and unfocused picture. The Toshiba actually has tremendous detail in dark picture areas again, unlike the dreadful Samsung. The Toshiba performs great with both video and film based material. Of all my other players, only the Sony also does well with both video and film based material, but the Sony suffers from alot of progressive scan artifacts (edge ringing, halos, etc.). Also, this player plays CD-Rs well which have WMA files and JPEG photos.

The one drawback of this player is in its ergonomics. The remote control it comes with is not the best (by a long stretch). Even using a (better) universal remote to control the Toshiba, the player is still slow to respond to commands. I've had occasional lock-up issues with the player too. Having said that, what do you expect for the rock-bottom price? Additionally, it's worth saying that setting up the Toshiba's HDMI output is one hundred times easier than setting up the Samsung's DVI. It's as simple as flicking a switch, whereas with the Samsung, one has to go through a rather Byzantine procedure.

Overall, I've been very impressed with the Toshiba SD-5970. I've owned alot of DVD players and this one produces by far the best picture quality - the HDMI output really makes a difference, and is well implemented. For the price, I highly recommend this. I don't know how this player compares to the more expensive new Denon or Sony HDMI upconverting players. Hopefully another reviewer will be able to make that comparison, but I'm totally happy with my purchase (through Amazon.com).

Pros:
-Well, it's HDMI-enabled and upconverting
-Picture quality seems fine in digital mode (I'm using it with 42-inch 16:9 plasma monitor via DVI-D input);
-Offers 3 or 4 zoom levels, but you really need only the 1st one, if you have a widescreen TV or monitor;

Cons:
-Periodically SKIPS SOUND when using digital sound output;
-Menu and options are kept to a bare minimum, very little control is offered;
-Forgets current DVD position, when in stand-by mode (grr!)
-Can only be in Analog or HDMI output mode, but not in both at the same time;
-Remote control is one one the worst I've seen so far: not intuitive, buttons a grouped who knows how, the "Pause" button is buried among the supplemental ones (go figure in the dark, when you need it...)
-Infrared sensor has very limited acceptance angle, so using the remote contol is a pain in most cases;
-Reluctant to play DVD-R/DVD+R disks: sometimes hangs up trying to "load" them;
-Controls logic is underdeveloped. For example, pressing Eject button while in stand-by mode causes the unit to start reading the inserted DVD instead of opening the tray immediately, so you keep waiting while the player recognizes the disk until finally spits it out.

Ok for now, but I'm going to return mine as soon as the new Sony DVP-NS975V comes out.

I bought this Toshiba in October 2004. The controls were always sluggish ... but the picture was better than my old player, so it it was tolerable.

The Good - HDMI, when it actually worked.

The Bad - everything else. The remote is confusing, if not down right comical. As mentioned, there is quite a delay before the machine reponds when you press the remote, or the buttons on the machine. It seems that this player was just not ready for prime-time.

My player's HDMI output simply stopped working - in the middle of a DVD. Also, the machine no longer recognizes DVD's region code.

I cannot recommed this DVD Player.

UPDATE July 23, 2005

I contacted Toshiba, they instructed me to return this DVD player for an exchange. The newer SD-5980 that I received in exchange is a BIG leap forward. Good controls, responsive remote, easy set-up.

Thank you Toshiba for stepping-up and standing behind your product. Well done.

Wow! What a piece of junk! Where do I start? There are SO many things about his player that I think are wrong. I've used many electronic devices, and I have to say this is the WORST made electronic device I've used in 15 years. Here are a few of things that I can think of:

Remote has a poor layout.
(tiny pause; huge, useless buttons; hidden navigational buttons)
Remote has unresponsive buttons.
Power button on machine is unresponsive at times.
(You push it and the thing doesn't start!!!)
Open button on machine is unresponsive at times.
Display on machine flickers at times.
Poor human/device interface.
Requires you to unplug to reset.

I can't say enough!!

0 out of 5 stars

UPDATE: 7/8/05-I just called Toshiba, and they offered an exchange...

If you have purchased your 5970 less than a year ago, call Toshiba at 800-631-3811. Explain that you are having problems (as described above, for example) and they will exchange it for a 5980 (a much better model, I HOPE!) (I have to pay to ship it back to them, along with the (WORTHLESS) remote, and a copy of my reciept.) The poor rep. that I was talking to didn't think I was funny. He said "We are no longer servicing that model, but we are doing exchanges for those units. I said: "Great! What will you with the returned models? Hopefully throw them over the hill!" He didn't find humor in my question. He said that they will be refurbished....the poor soul that will get this refurbed piece of junk!

I was surprised that this DVD player comes with an HDMI cable (so does the now disappeared Samsung HD941), because nowhere on the spec. says so, and the guys at BestBuy didn't even know, so I bought a cable after I ordered it on Amazon. Now I have to figure out what other devices I can used a HDMI cable on.

I've been waiting to try the HDMI connector on my HDTV (a Sharp LC32G4U), but don't have a big budget for Denon or Onkyo DVD player, so this Toshiba looks pretty good on the spec., and priced hundreds less.

Anyways, the setup for HDMI is quite simple: plug the HDMI cable to connect the player and the HDTV, move the little analog/HDMI switch on the front panel to HDMI, and play the DVD(the day after tomorrow), and, of course the power cable has been plugged in. The TV displayed the current resolution as "1080i" as default HDMI mode. Press the HDMI button on the remote to switch to 480p or 720p; there seems to be a 1080p mode, but since my TV can not do 1080p, so the picture turned into horizontal lines - how can they expect me to buy those 1080p HDTV if I can only afford this player?

The picture seems to be smoother and better detailed in the higher definition, I don't have keen sense to sight and sound, so this is that much I can tell. I do like the ability to hook up the player to Tv using only 1 cable with HD and Stereo sound, wish all devices are like this, so I can get rid of the 38 wires behind my receiver.

All in all, I like the player for it's quality HDMI picture, slim stylish case, and most of all, putting the new technology into our home at an affordable price.

I purchased this and hooked up through the HDMI connection to a 46" Samsung DLP. The picture quality was quite impressive. It beats 3 other progressive scan players I have hands down in picture quality. Now the not so good: There is a slight response delay when pushing buttons on both the player an remote- somewhat annoying. I have the audio going into my 5.1 receiver via the coaxial cable- the player has 2 audio options - PCM and RAW- It must be in PCM to hear through the TV, but this in turn sends a 2 ch signal to the receiver resulting in the receiver playing the audio in dolby surround vs. 5.1 digital. To correct this, you must change the audio option to RAW (which will not send the audio signal to the TV). This means you have to change this back and forth whenever you want to alternate between tv and receiver. There may be a way around this, but I have not figured it out yet. Overall, I am pleased with the purchase.

This is the most frustrating DVD player I've ever owned. When it works, it's fine, but . . .

Remote is badly designed, you need a light on to use the thing. The pause button is buried between the repeat button and the fluorescent dimmer. Why?

I can deal with the remote. The biggest problem is that it is very slow to recognize discs if it does so at all. If the disc is not pristine and dust free, it skips or simply doesn't recognize at all. I don't even bother with it using the kids CDs anymore, too frustrating.

My $39 Apex is far more reliable.

Update 2/2006:

Player totally failed 1/2006. I swore at the time to never buy another Toshiba product. But . . .

I called Toshiba Customer Support and they sent me a new player (SD-6980) which so far is fantastic (and adds new features as well):

- Good remote
- Reads most any disc
- Flash card reader
- DIVX support