Customer Reviews

Toshiba SD4800 Progressive-Scan DVD Player

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Toshiba is one of the top brands in TV sets and DVD players. When I recently bought a new TV set and progressive scan DVD player I shopped all of the available sets very critically because picture quality is very important to me. Toshiba and Sony were clearly the two brands with the best picture quality, but Toshiba was less expensive. So I bought a Toshiba TV and progressive scan DVD player at quite reasonable prices and I'm thoroughly satisfied with both. As a bonus, Toshiba products have an excellent reputation for quality and reliability.

However, if you're primarily interested in playing CDs rather than DVDs, get a Sony Super Audio CD (SACD) player. They sound significantly better on both Super Audio CDs and other CD discs than any other CD players I've ever heard.

But if you're primarily interested in playing DVDs, and want outstanding picture quality at a bargain price, I don't think that you can beat this Toshiba.

I don't pretend to be an expert, but when I replaced the Toshiba 5 disc player with the 4800, I couldn't believe the difference. The picture on my Mitsubishi HDTV was sharper and more akin to what I had seen in the video store when I bought it. I will never play cds, mp3s or anything like that on it. For sheer entertainment, you can't beat it.

After an arduous journey through the world of HDTV, Progressive Scan, and Dolby/DTS 5.1, I have to say that I have finally found my golden fleece. As a beginner, I thought Sony was the brand to buy, but I was much chagrined after seeing the Toshiba.

I first had a Sony DVP-NS715P that I exchanged for a Sony DVP NC655P 5-Disc Changer. On both Sony models, the progressive scan image quality was terrible. The reds and blues would appear blurry and horridly undefined. The only way I could get it to look halfway decent was to run the player through S-Video on Interlaced, defeating the purpose of having progressive scan. At first I thought it was my TV, but when I tested it out with the same TV with different settings at the dealer at which I bought my TV (A Sony KV32HV600 HDTV Monitor, mind you), it still looked bad. I tested the Toshiba SD-4800 and the image quality between them was like night and day. The clarity and definition was more than what I had expected from HDTV/Progressive scan. I took the DVPNC655P back to Best Buy and got the Toshiba, and I won't be looking back!

This player works well as a DVD player only. Nice touches include being able to play CDRW's and MP3's.

But I bought this for the DVD-audio portion. Well the sound is mushy and bloated in the mid-range. Not unpleasant but rather uninvolving. My player skipped when the picture on the screen changed. Not always but at times. Distracting to say the least.

As a DVD player it works fine. And it is a low cost intro to DVD-audio. I just wish it was a wee bit better.

Great dvd player. mp3 play back is good. even does dvd-audio which is a plus. great deal for under $$$. progressive-scan is truely amazing on an hdtv set.

Worked great for about a year. Then strange things started happening. First, occasionally I couldn't turn the unit off. Then some DVDs wouldn't play although they did on other players. Finally, sometimes the DVD image would get stuck and a full volume very loud screech would come blaring out of all speakers. Ouch! So I am now looking for a replacement - of a different brand.

A good review written soon after purchase is not a good indication of what is in store. Like another buyer, my decision was made on good reviews. The unit worked great for 18 months, but then the drawer refused to open. Not much to be done except get a new one.

On checking the reviews, found a number of people had problems after the honeymoon.

This is a late review. The DVD player is average. I got the Panasonic RP91 right after and that player had more options to tweak the aspect ratio of progressive scan ouput. If you own a 16:9 TV and the movie is in 4:3, the RP91 adds black bars on left and right side of TV to preserve the 4:3 aspect ration on the wide screen tV. The Toshiba does not do that, it stretches the 4:3 image full screen.

Gorgeous color -- by that I mean that color with this player is absolutely correct, with no weird cyan blush in shadows, no blown-out highlights on flesh tones. Night scenes beatifully rendered, few jaggies (if any), excellent motion handling, perfect skin tones. Few players at any price can transmit the exact flesh tones and atmosphereic effect of the color in "A Passage to India" or the warm depth of Technicolor in "Meet Me in St. Louis". Every DVD I play in this machine (I have over 300) looks exactly right. The great b&w movie classics are also rendered perfectly. Overall the image has a smooth movie-like appearance, none of that etched "digital" look or green/cyan color cast seen in most players. Some reviewers have knocked the audio; I'm using the digital output into a cheap $90 SONY 5.1 DTS amplifier and a $3 coax cable that came with my Toshiba DVD recorder - sounds pretty good to me (maybe those who don't like the sound should throw away those trashy optical cables and use the coax type recommended by audiophiles). Or maybe they should read the manual; there are three audio settings, the default "3D" creates the same distortion other players have, so turn audio effects OFF and let your external amp or receiver do the work. The Zoon control (aooms in and out) is a great plus for the 27" tv I sometimes use instead of my 40". Plays beautifully on my old CRT and my newer HDTV. Hint: Balance the color of your monitor beforehand, and the SD-4800 plays a great picture right out of the box. The factory settings on most tv's are truly awful. Mine is 5 years old and going strong, and has been inspected and received a little cleaning at a Toshiba shop in 2005. Take care of this baby, and it plays a great image for a long time. On the other hand, if you want your DVD movies to look like your computer games, get a Sony player.

I bought my SD-4800 here on Amazon based on the high reviews I've seen. I like the remote control and the player works fine with my HDTV, when it works.

The problem is that it doesn't always work. Most recently I found that it won't play Gladiator. Instead it just puts up an error message "Bad Disk". This is a real store-bought copy of Gladiator, not a copy or home-burnt DVD. There are no visible scratches on the disk and it plays fine in other DVD players (including a Toshiba combo DVD/TV player I have.)

Tech support from Toshiba has been less than helpful. Apparently they don't make firmware updates available any longer.

In short, a fine DVD player for many movies. But it won't work with all, including many popular ones.