Customer Reviews

Toshiba SD3750 Progressive-Scan DVD Player

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I spent all day yesterday and today researching DVD players online, and then went to three major electronics stores to try them out and figure out which one was the best. I knew I wanted the following features:

Progressive scan - even though I don't have a TV that can utilize, I may upgrade soon
Advanced Menu System
MP3/CD - with MP3, I wanted a navigational system, and most importantly I wanted to be able to random play the disc.

I took an MP3 CD to the store and popped it in each of the MP3/DVD players. I tried probably 20 or 30 of them in the end, and I was most impressed with the Toshiba. It loaded the disc the quickest, and random play worked like a charm. Scan time was the quickest when it had to jump around the disc. It has a navigation system online, but only supports the first 8 characters and ends with the ~1 characters.

It has S-Video output and the newer colorstream component output. I'm stuck with the A/V typical jacks. Regardless of me being stuck with the worst grade video output because of my older TV, the picture looked great. I watched O Brother Where Art Though, and as far as I could tell, it looked fantastic. Sound is hooked into my Sony receiver and it sounds great, too. I pop an MP3 disc in and hit shuffle and it works as expected. No support for tags...nor can you fast-forward through a song, though. When I got home, I compared this model to other more expensive models, and it had all their features and more...so I feel like I made a wise investment, and am very happy with the product. It also comes with an advanced remote which allows you to do angle shots, zoom in/out, record and loop frames, turn on subtitles, etc., etc.

This Toshiba SD3750 is the 4th DVD player I've purchased, and this blows all the others out of the water! First I had a Phillips (...) player (I forget the model) which worked okay except that it was slow playing MP3's, and the power button started only working sometime after a few months (doh!). My second player was a TEAC 5 disk changer, but this one refused to play DVD's or CD's right out of the box and only played my MP3 disk. After about an hour of use, it stopped working completely and my disks got stuck in it! My third player was a Panasonic RV21U-K which was okay except that the display was a bit flickery, it didn't display MP3 song names, and it didn't zoom.

The Toshiba is by far the best machine! It has all the features I've wanted:
- very nice, readable menu system
- MP3 playback is quick and it shows the names on the TV
- CD playback shows names on the tv AND on the actual dvd player LED display. This is pretty cool!
- zoom in/out feature with DVD movies
- nicely designed remote control
- large, descriptive manual

Anyhow, I'd highly reccomend this player. Other Toshiba models that also look good are the 2710, and the 4700.

Overall is the best DVD player I have tried. Considering the feature set and price and I am very pleased with this unit.
Pros:
- Excellent image quality (however I can't comment on the progressive scan feature - I purchased this for the other features).

- Nice menu navigation - accessable from the front panel as as well as from the remote.

- Easy to use remote.

- Nice zoom (I currently and will for some time stay with a 4:3 conventional TV) and I like to use the zoom the when watching the extreme widescreen format (I actually prefer the 16:9 high-definition viewing format that some DVD releases have).
This player zooms the ultra widescreen first to close to 16:9 and then to close to fullscreen zoom.
The first step (16:9) zoom has incredible zoom resoulution - almost as good as the original ultra-widescreen image.
The only better zoom I've seen is the Toshiba 2300 NUON which I think has been discontinued although I think I saw a Samsung NUON unit that claims a good zoom. The Toshiba 2300 lacks other features though.

- Operates and feels like it has some quality.

Cons:
- All DVD players that I tried have limited MP3 playback capability. I have a RioVolt portable that does a much better job of playing MP3 files than any home CD or DVD player I have seen.

- Toshiba 3750 does not support CD-RW MP3 disks on this unit and sure enough, my unit will not play CD-RW MP3 disks at all. Normal CD-R MP3 disks seem to work OK.

- MP3 playback is either sequential or full disk random and is user selectable. No directory only sequential or random.

- I had to burn my MP3 disks using the ISO level 1 (8 character music file names - no extensions) which is almost useless for me if I want to actually figure out the filename in the directory listing because I rip my MP3 files using a "artist - song title" filename format and there is no tag support so all I see in the Toshiba directory listing is artist~1,artist~2,artist~3 for example (in contrast my RioVolt plays the extended format and supports tags - so the full artist name and song title is displayed in the directory listing).

In closing I think this is a great DVD player.

The MP3 feature is limited but still useful for playing a disk full of songs either sequentially or randomly.
In general there is great potential for nice MP3 navigation with these players because the video screen is available for MP3 file navigation and selection - even playlists could be supported, but no one in the DVD player arena seems to be close to this yet.

The Video features and quality are great.

After having a nightmarish experience with the Panasonic CV50, I decided to go with a different brand of player. I couldn't have made a better choice. This player delivers all it claims and more. I found CD-R, MP3, and DVD's all play flawlessly on this player. It even plays CD-RW's, although Toshiba dosen't recommend it. I found layer changes to be almost seamless, and the player "warms" up quickly. The remote is easy to understand, and the player will even beep to let you know you've pushed a button on the remote (this can be turned off, if you wish). Anyone out there who is considering trying to save themselves fifty bucks or so by buying a cheaper player should think again...the Toshiba is definately a bargain at under 200 dollars!

I don't claim that this player is a top-of-the-line MP3 player. It contains that function to benefit the consumer, but for its primary function of playing DVD's, it absolutely rocks.

I own a corresponding flatscreen Toshiba TV, thus utilizing the component inputs. In addition, I use a digital optical cable connected directly into my a/v receiver. The video quality is as crisp and clear as any I've seen on a midrange player. The audio quality in DTS or DD mode is superb given that you own a fair home theatre system. Even, if you do not own a high end TV or home theatre system, this DVD player will improve the experience substantially, but it will not be fully utilized. If you can afford it, I highly recommend buying at least a flatscreen TV with component inputs. I've observed the difference between an RCA cable, S-video cable, and component cables and the difference is startling! Using an RCA cable is a disservice. If you do not have at least an S-video input, you won't realize the true worth of this machine.

The remote is not user friendly or the most functional remote out there, but Toshiba normally does not make good remotes. If you buy Toshiba products, you just have to put up with it. I was close to buying the top of the line Toshiba DVD (SD-9200), but backed out last minute, though it is one of the top DVD players out there, due to the huge price difference. For the price, $..., depending on where you buy it, the Toshiba SD-3750 is difficult if not impossible to beat, especially given its progressive capabilities.

I bought this as a single disc for bedroom...when I realized that it would work in tandem with my Toshiba HDTV widescreen I moved my Panasonic 5-disc into the bedroom. I was amazed at the improvement. Using the colorstream component outs...it made the image appear 10x better than with my non-progressive scan. A remarkable buy...one drawback...the sales clerk didn't alert me to the 5-disc Tosh Progressive Scan...grrrrrrrrr!

After doing extensive Internet and local store research I settled on this player for a number of reasons.

1) Progressive scan to stave off obsolecence.
2) It actually read and played my burned MP3 discs
3) Company reputation
4) High ratings accross the Internet and from store salesmen
5) Several others.

I have had the player now for nearly a week, have watched several olderer (Matrix) and several newer (Shrek) DVDs with the player. Layer changes are almost completely transparent, menu navigation is easy and fairly responsive, video image is crisp, and audio is noticeably superior to VHS. The audio and video reviews are based on RCA connections as I have yet to get real cables for the device, so I expect both the audio and video to improve another notch in the near future. MP3 playback is heavenly, with random capability. The only limitation is the limited 8 character display on screen. Once I upgrade cables, I won't even turn the TV on to listen to MP3, so this is a non-issue for me.

Set-up was a breeze and operation is self-explanatory. The only drawback, 0.5 star, is the remote. All the buttons are roughly the same size, closely packed, and the grip is anything but ergonomic. The odd thing is, the remote in my box is nothing like the remote that Toshiba shows on their web site as coming with this player. In reality, this is only a minor quibble as I will soon be transferring all my remotes to one universal remote and should not have to use the stock remote ever again.

All in all, the player is top quality at a very affordable price and does everything that it should with aplomb.

Great replacement for a Panasonic DVD-31 that died only 7 months into the purchase (and out of labor warranty of course....grrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!) I like most of the features except the remote which seems to be a problem with Toshiba dvd players regardless. Anyways very happy, no problems during playback, zoom, etc. MP3 quality on CD-R media is excellent, never used MP3 on CD-RW. Great sound quality using the Yamaha Amp. Also great for the future for the progressive scan output. Forget Panasonic, they don't have zoom feature. Menu selection a little slow to change screens but good layout otherwise.

Toshiba Progressive-Scan DVD Player Model: SD-3750

This high-tech player has progressive-scan output with 3:2 pulldown capability, for the ultimate DVD-movie experience, and MP3 playback capability for hours of tunes from a single disc. What does this mean? It means that my purchase of this particular DVD player means that I get a totally awesome deal because it has what most of the higher priced models of other brands have (such as Sony, JVC, Pioneer, etc.) but at a lower cost. I couple this with my 27" flatface TV with digital filter and the end product is that I have one sweet home audio/video system!

Here are the specs:

*ColorStream Pro 480p progressive-scan video output, employing a 10-bit/54MHz D/A converter and component video outputs, for smooth, fluid images
*5.1-channel analog, and optical and coaxial digital audio outputs provide a great connection to your home theater receiver
*480i ColorStream component video output for a great connection to an analog TV

*Plays DVD video, CD, CD-R, MP3 files, DVD-R and video CD discs
*4-power zoom - x2, x8, x30, and x100 forward and reverse scan
*DVD and CD Text compatible
*Video black-level expansion
*Angle viewer
*24-bit/192kHz audio D/A converter
*Simulated surround sound

This is my first DVD player (besides the ones in my PC's.) It was purchased in Dec. 2001. I wanted quality without breaking the bank. This did the trick. It's easy to figure out. The remote is easy to use. However, I do with it was easier to memorize where the buttons are in the dark. It's sorta hard to figure out unless you look at it in the light. That's my ownly qualm. If that's the only qualm, seems to me that this product is well worth the price I paid!

I also rip my CD's on my computer to MP3's so that I can play my own personal mix on the DVD player. I have a 5 disc CD changer but the mixes or amount of albums I can put on one CD rival having to change the CD's. Very handy feature!!! Sounds great too...

Highly recommended!!!

First of all, I'd like to start by saying that this DVD player does a awesome job on playing DVD Movies! Picture and sound are excellent....

For the 4-stars :
I took away 2 stars because my primary use of this machine was MP3 playback.....There are lots of improvement to be made in the MP3 portion of this machine::

Positive : 1.Attractive on-screen mp3 layout
2. Program, Repeat and Random features...

Negative : 1. On-screen display only shows the first 8 characters of the song filename. (Which sux!)

2. No fast forward or rewind during MP3 playback...Which is insanely disturbing to me...

3. The player has problems playing CD-RW discs. I regularly hear pops, clicks and zips during playback. Im not sure if this is only on CD-RW discs...

That's it!!

If you'r an audiophile like me and into MP3....You might turn your head towards the JVC XV-S60BK.

But if your into mostly watching movies....GO FOR IT!!!