Customer Reviews

Toshiba SD-V280 DVD-VCR Combo, Silver

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

The unit looks fabulous, and I had no trouble with the remote control on my television. However, I only had it for 6 weeks when the power supply died. It can't be repaired, and Toshiba won't honor the 90-day warrantee.

So, while it looks like a great product, the power supply is fragile and the customer service is one of the worst I've seen.

My advice: Go with a similar product from a company with higher standards of quality and customer commitment.

I purchase this vcr/dvd combo today and was disappointed. My first dvd movie suddenly paused without warning...I could not start my movie and had to exit all together. Second, use of the remote control was frustrating. Save yourself some headaches...do not purchase. I'm returning my purchase tomorrow.

First off being a combo unit it saves alot of shelf space and thats good. The dvd player is a very good unit. The pictures are bright and clear and colors seem very prominet-like film. The sound from the dvd player is equally good. All the subtle noies and loud moments come through clear. One problem though, on layer changes the player pauses a good 3 to 4 seconds. Although on Jurassic Park 3 I noticed nothing at all. It may depend on the disc so, its not a deal breaker for me. No digitizing occured during playback either. It has optical and coax outputs for DD and DTS sountracks. Also, "s" video, composite. and componet outputs. The vcr is like all vcr's today with all the basic functions. It does rewind very fast though, and it records unusally well in SLP mode. The playback of rental tapes and some of my own were ouite respectable. Not a bad vcr. With music cd's I was a little surprized. It sounded quite clear and of good quality to me on various types of music. One note though, the bass was very prominet. This may be because Im using the optical output for cd's for the first time and adjustments were needed in my receiver settings. So thats it . Quite a good little deal if you ask me. With exception of the layer changes and a poorly laid out instruction manual, the SD-V280 is a good deal.

When I bought this combo system I assumed that in exchange for convenience and space saving there would be some compromises. Unfortunately there are a little too many. First, the unit cannot play back MP3 CDs as advertised. It lost about half of the songs from each CD I tried, it broke individual songs into multiple files, it messed up directory structure -- in short, forget about using it to playback your MP3 collection. It is clear that the MP3 functionality was tacked on as an afterthought - and not very well. Instructions regarding MP3 playback do not even appear in the (indecipherable) manual, but rather are found on an (equally indecipherable) piece of paper shipped with the unit. Since MP3 playback was a big selling point for me, I was rather disappointed.

A second annoyance is that the remote control does not work with my new Toshiba TV. Nor does the Toshiba TV remote work with the VCR/DVD. This is just ridiculous.

My main complaint however is that the unit simply stopped working 3 weeks after I bought it. The entire electrical system just shorted out - I couldn't even eject the tape and DVD that were in it. Amazingly, there is a Toshiba certified repair center nearby. They promise to have it fixed about 3 weeks. Great.

Update - Two weeks later, I received a call from the Toshiba Authorized Service Center saying that they don't know how to fix the unit. I was told to call Toshiba customer support. Toshiba says they will looking it, but are non-commital doing anything.

I bought the SDV280 after returning a similar competing product (reviewed elsewhere). I can't comment on reliability, but so far I'm pleased with the DVD playback quality. The disc drive is quiet and the tray has a good, solid feeling when it comes scooting out. The remote is very responsive and has separate pairs of buttons for FF/Rew and Skip Forward/Back. As others have pointed out, however, it is not a universal remote.

One gotcha with this unit, as with other combos, is that it does not necessarily free up an input on your TV. If you use just the RCA connections, you can play both DVD and VCR on one input (the Toshiba does the necessary switching), but if you use S-Video for the DVD, you need to plug the VCR into the second set of RCA jacks; it won't play on the first. That's the case with my TV anyway, and it means threading the VCR cables around to the front of the TV, which is not completely satisfactory.

The player is very nice to look at, with a nicely subdued blue glow to the digital display. It's surprisingly lightweight and easy to carry and position. The gold connectors are nice too. Quality is excellent with both the DVD and VHS. Recording looks good. Colors seem perfect. Audio is top notch. Dialogue, music, and the bass really kick in nicely. Monster cables or something equal increase the quality something fierce, so I recommend picking those up. The VHS is noticably less crisp than DVD, but that's pretty much a given with anything. I'm sure the remote and on-screen menus could be made more user-friendly, but I'm not complaining. Some form of audioscopes would be welcome to go along with the music. Overall, no real complaints. I like the multitude of features. It compliments my little home theater setup nicely.

Whole thing broke down - no way to eject disks. Toshiba repair claiming "lightening or power surge" and refusing to back warrantee (there was no lightening, and if there was a power surge, it didn't affect our computers at all...)

This unit is very light weight considering the fact that it has additional hardware to accomodate the DVD electronics.

There's no vent/exhause holes for dust or insects to get in. This means that there's probably little to no electronic problems in the future.

The remote and on-screen feature takes a little time to get used to, as most new things do. I found them to be self-explanatory.

DVD play is comparable to most DVD players with all the extra DVD features accessible through this player.

VHS playback is also generic in quality. But VHS recording comes a little short. It only have SLP & SP recording which means that if you want to dub over a family video or a movie that's more than 2 hours long your going to have trouble. It does NOT have EP or even LP recording which is capable of recording 4+ hours. I found that a little surprising when I tried to record over a family home video ... good thing I have a Sony VHS as my back up.

In general, this VHS/DVD combo is a great addition if you a first time DVD-player owner. Otherwise if are into recording VHS over 4+ this is NOT the combo you need.

Thought it was great, bought it as a Father's Day present. Then, only about 6 weeks after receiving it, the power supply didn't work at all. Amazon wouldn't take it back. Toshiba directed me to take it to an authorized dealer. I did, and they held it a month, then gave it back to me unrepaired, saying that "failure is typical of lightning or power surge." There was no storm. There was also no warning on the box that a surge protector might be needed for the product. I am told that this is not covered under the warranty! If Amazon won't stand behind this product, and Toshiba won't either, I don't think it's worth buying. As a student, I don't appreciate being ripped off of this much money.

Thank goodness that the DVD part of this unit quit working just before the 90 day return period at Target expired. The VCR always had poor picture quality and the remote only worked intermitently, so I'm glad to be rid of the thing.