Customer Reviews

Toshiba XD-E500 Upconverting 1080p Extended Detail DVD Player

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(35)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(54)

 

 

Ever since HDTVs came on the scene DVD players have boasted they improve DVD to "HD" quality, most only delivered marginally better pictures at best. Thankfully recent players have come a long way offering some really exceptional pictures from a DVD source.

Given the history of up-processing players and the hype surrounding XD-E500 I couldn't wait to get my hands on this player. For comparison I used my best Up-processing player with Reon-VX HQV. As anyone who has one knows the Reon chip offers one of the best pictures available.

Wondering about the "Two" part of the title now? Well I didn't get carried away and buy two. What happened was the first player sent was defective. It was not obvious at first because I didn't know what to expect, but during the comparisons I and my 3 other testers noticed only a very slight difference over the Reon chip, so small it wouldn't be worth buying. I was about to write a scathing review, luckily I first contacted George, a fellow HD nut. He bought the XD the first day they were available and was surprised I was so disappointed. He then said I must have defective player because the XD blows Reon out of the water.

Long story short, I contacted Amazon and they express shipped a replacement. George was right it blows Reon right out of the water.
The Picture is impressive, very impressive. The better the DVD transfer the better the picture.
New movies like The Bank Job look extraordinary. It was difficult to remember that it was not a true HD picture.

Star War IV looked sharper than ever, the best I've seen outside the theater. The backgrounds of the ships, corridors, lighted buttons, and droids all had richer detail that really stood out. I should note while Star Wars looked sharper it was evident to me it was not HD especially in exterior shots. This probably has more to do with the age of the film, some of the flaws I noticed will probably be present in any release.

Toshiba included a Mbps meter, neat feature. Also a tool for getting an idea of what is being done.
From what I can tell the XD essentially doubles the DVDs natural Mbps.

Bank Job (13 to 14 Mbps), Star Wars IV (17 Mbps), 5th Element superbits (7-8 Mbps), Pirates of the Caribbean I (15 to 16 Mbps), *highest Mbps noticed

Is it HD? No, and it does not claim to be.
Does it look close to HD? Yes, at times it can fool the eye. The three modes (Sharp, Color, Contrast) do a very nice job compensating the picture and can add significantly to the picture.

I only gave the XD 4 out of 5 stars because I feel there are a few small flaws to be worked out and improvements to be made.

Make no mistake this is revolutionary technology. I also believe that this is just the beginning of this technology. Improvement are inevitable. Better software, improvements to the hardware and the much talked about implementation of DVD 2.0 next year.
Kaleidescape already offers a DVD player which does a similar job. In fact they claim it does a better job boasting that it makes DVD look as good as blu-ray. Doubtful, however their system connects to a server and downloads additional data to improve the picture. Maybe this is the next step for all players when DVD 2.0 & DVD DL come to fruition.

In a way this player feels rushed out, quickly put in production an configured for the easiest and most rewarding optimization. Simply put my impression is that if Toshiba tweaks the settings better quality could be achieved. Although part of impression it was rushed might be because we were told to expect this player by December and here it is available in the middle of August.

Considering the price of top of the line up-processors this one is quite a deal at the current price and is likely to get better as they become cheaper to make and as other manufactures start to make their own versions of this.

This player does what it promises. It provides unprecedented DVD picture quality and is a decent DivX player as well. This is a perfect player for anyone who has a large DVD collection, or who prefer DVD to the alternatives.
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08-25-2008

Small Update: The XD-E500 seems to have a issue with aspect ratio. It stretched 4:3 material to fit the screen. Wouldn't be a big issue except, well I prefer it in the correct aspect and the two sources were low quality classic films which look worse stretched. If I find a solution I'll update again.
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No solution yet, all settings correct, the DVDs in question display properly on another DVD player. It should be noted that this is a glitch common to a lot of players.
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Region free via remote control:

- open the tray
- type 2403960
- press 9
- close the tray
- turn the player off and back on again

Worked for me. XD is able to playback Region 2 PAL DVDs now.

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09-29-2009
9 Month Update:
It is now tail of 3 XDs.

The XDE sent as a replacement by Amazon last August died over the Memorial Day weekend. During a Star Trek marathon no less. Maybe it was too much for it. ;) I don't know if it was more embarrassing to admit it was Trek Marathon or that the XD died in front of all my guests.

The symptoms were: at first it froze in the middle of show, pressed stop checked the disc (it was fine) then tried to play it again, then it was stuck at "loading", after it was turned off for awhile it would load the disc but display "bad disc" or "no disc", I unplugged it and left it alone for a day, the next day it load and played the dvd properly but for only 10 minutes then it repeated the cycle as described previously.

I almost didn't buy another one, two things swayed me. The first was the price, much more reasonable than it was last august. The second was I could not get as satisfactory dvd picture from my high end blu-ray player. I tweaked the setting and tried everything I could think of. Whatever I did the picture was not as pleasing as the XDE's.

I almost held off because I firmly believe by this time next year DVD Up-processing will be a new game. Possibly as soon as this holiday season. But I decided for the next year or so I would want another DVD player to save the wear and tear on my Blu-ray player and the XD so far has the most pleasing picture available.

New player arrived to day and I swapped it right out. This one worked properly out of the box, as the second player did. The region free code worked as before. Although it is a later build date the firmware seem to be the same. Same aspect ratio problems as noted earlier.

Among my disappointments with the XD are the lack of quality control. I am very disappointed the second player died. I had a Sony dvd player used regularly for 8 years that I gave away when I upgraded to Blu-ray and HD DVD, never a lick of trouble with it. Not to single out the Sony brand, I have other players last as well but they were not used as regularly.

My other major disappointment is the remote. It can be a bear to use. Well it is probably more the fault of the placement of the receiver in the player rather than the remote. Although when holding the flimsy remote in your hand and having nothing happen it is the remote control that gets the blame.

This is still a great player despite its faults. And still a great player for anyone with a large DVD collection.

As an owner of a SONY Blu-ray and a 2 TOSHIBA HDDVD players, I was very hesitant to believe that a standard DVD player could do a better job at upscaling standard DVD's than the Hi-Def players. SURPRISE!!!, it does. Not only does it upscale to 1080p/24fps, but it reduces the noise of the upscaling process, and almost eliminates the edge or halo effect of standard DVD's.
A complete machine with HDMI, component, composite, S-Video, optical and coaxial sound outputs.In addition, there are already suggestions that the region lock can be removed to make it an ALL region player!.
My only complaint is that the unit does not center the 4:3 DVD's in the 16x9 screen, but it stretches them to fill the screen like the older players. This can probably be improved with a firmware update from TOSHIBA.
I think,for the price, this unit is a savior of the DVD collection we own but often times are embarrassed to show once we have become spoiled with HD titles. For the price, you have nothing to loose and much to gain.

Im giving this 4 stars because its lacking a few key things.
Let me preface by saying the picture quality is excellent. I had been using an OPPO 981 to watch my anime collection, and prior to the 550, the OPPO was arguably the best upconverting player you could buy. Comparing the Toshiba to the OPPO, it has noticeably better picture quality. The upconversion is significantly better on the Toshiba than the OPPO. Both seem to process interlaced material about the same, meaning they occasionaly screw up and produce interlace artifacts if the source doesnt have a consistent 3:2 pulldown pattern.

However, the OPPO has a number of features that the 550 is lacking. First, the ability to change the HDMI signal format (RGB or YUV) and black level. However, I can live with this because my HD set lets me change the black level. Second, the different picure modes all apply edge enhancement, which can create some nasty artifacts if your source is not reference DVD quality. You can just watch without any picture modes, but It would be really nice to disable edge enhancement (they call it Sharp mode) while enabling Color mode or Contrast mode.

I look forward to a firmware update or new rev of this player, as it certainly is the best looking DVD player I have ever seen. With a few tweaks, I would give it 5 stars.

Let me start by saying this is not a Blu-ray Killer. The resolution on Blu-Ray is outstanding with detail that will stun any viewer. But This DVD is a damn fine substitute until the prices drop on the latest Blu-ray players with the latest firmware. Spending 150.00 bucks is much better than spending 400.00. Once the price reaches 100-150.00 bucks with all the bells and whistles I want, then I'll invest in Blu-ray. For now this machine will most definitely do.

I must admit I was skeptical. I have the Samsung HD860 which played on a Samsung LNT4661F LCD TV. It was good but not great. My friend, she has the Sony DVP-NS700H/B which is a damn fine machine that works beautifully on her Samsung LN40A550 LCD. Watching Flushed Away on that set-up was awesome.

I was going to get the Sony DVP-NS700H/B based on my friends set-up and on extremely favorable reviews. But then I heard Toshiba was coming out with some new up-converting tech that originally was supposed to rival Blu-ray but which has now been downgraded to being better than DVD, not Blu-ray quality, but definitely better. I was intrigued nonetheless so I waited.

Well the wait was worth it!! The pic is awesome!! I put in Terminator:The Sarah Connor chronicles season one and man!! It's not HD but it damn well is close. Now images will vary in quality depending on the scene...but overall the consistency is really good! I couldn't be happier! I haven't tried older movies yet or other DVD's, but will get to them soon!

The machine is well designed and easy to set-up and use. But most importantly the image is just awesome!

I will invest in Blu-ray eventually...but the price has to come down. For now the Toshiba XDE500 will do...and it does it beautifully!!!

Update:8.31.08: I've tested some older DVD's with adequate but not great transfers. And I've got to say this machine does an amazing job! Predator, The Great Escape, BSG Razor and Alien look oh so good...it's like watching brand new DVD's! I am going to check out the rest of my DVD collection one at a time. The Toshiba XDE500 is truly a wonder!

Update:9.17.08: Just returned my player and exchanged it for a new one. Peter929, one of the reviewers here pointed out that the machine made a high pitch whine. Well mine did too and I am not sure if it developed over time or if it was there at the beginning and I didn't notice. I checked it after reading the review of Peter929 and noticed it. I returned it for a new one and this one is whine free, whether the machine is off or on. I've noticed that the last reviewer also had the same problem and returned his for a new one. I know it's a hassle but I still love the image quality. It loads fast and the image is the best I can hope for until Blu-ray is more appealing cost wise!

I tried this product to see what it would do for the video quality. What I have learned is that it not only lived up to what was advertised, but it exceeded it. I am so impressed with the video AND audio quality that I had to write a review. The sound is incredible in clarity and separation. The video has breathed new exciting life into my DVD collection, so much that I want see each of them again just to experience the incredible picture quality. Even the older DVDs are significantly improved. Those will never be Blu-Ray quality, but are at their best on this player.

High quality product. Two thumbs up!

Produces a really crisp, sharp picture without adding any artifacts when upscaling to 1080p. The XDE enhancements work really well and with the color mode on movies look better than I' ve seen them on even my Oppo 981.

Overall I'm very happy with this purchase. Sure, it's not hidef, but you can only do so much with standard def material. Though there have been plenty of moments when I've felt like I'm watching one of my blu-ray discs while watching a standard def disc thanks to the XDE sharpness and color enhancements. Recommended.

My first XD-E played two discs and went belly up - dead! I returned it and got the replacement yesterday and played with it for several hours. I should say out front that I love HD-DVD and Blu Ray and have an extensive library of both. I didn't believe for a minute that any sd disc could come close. I was wrong.

My present system is a Sony 60A3000 HD rear projector, Onkyo 805 AVR, Panasonic BD30 Blu Ray player, Toshiba A35 HD DVD player and now this Toshiba XD-E. I set the XD-E resolution at 1080P24 since my TV can handle it.

My A35 is a fine upcoverter and so I made all comparisons with that player. Frankly, I love the BD30 for blus but it falls well behind when playing SD discs.

Mel Gibson's Apocalypto is a great sd dvd and image quality is excellent. I played this disc on both players, switching back and forth numerous times, and was continuously surprised and impressed by the image quality of the XD-E over the A35.
I was taken aback by the sharper images, the complete lack of edge artifacts and the great contrast and color.

I played with the settings with the following results:

Sharp: this setting is on all the time (unless you turn off all image adjustments) and has a subtle effect on the image quality. In almost every scene it improved the picture noticeably and gave a pleasant 3D look to the film.

Color: Many folks will like this setting but I didn't. It adds a touch of color to greens and blues and as far as color goes I'm a minimalist. The added color was too intense and distracting for me. I'll leave the "color" setting off.

Contrast: I liked this setting. It was subtile but very real and it often causedthe image to "pop" as they say these days. I never thought it was too strong so I'll use this setting for most viewing.

Off: The XD-E does a great job with the settings off. If they were not there to play with I would have still considered this a fine dvd player.

It should be said that the settings are readily available on the remote and it's easy and painless to change them while viewing. I've heard complaints that people don't want to change settings during a movie but it's really a non-issue.

Overall, I was shocked by the heft of this player. Even when I picked up the box I thought, "There can't be anything in here?" It's that light! And, when unpacked, it weights almost nothing. Still, for me anyway, it produced as promised.

Frankly, I was planning to buy the Oppo 983 (at $400!) until now. Now I think I'll stay with the XD-E. It won't play my SACDs but I have another player I can use for them. I understand it can be setup to handle PAL, region 2 discs and so that eliminates another concern for me.

I've read many negative comments on various forums regarding this player. Many, if not all, are by people who don't own it or who's display won't benefit from it's feature set. All I can say is: you folks are missing out on a fine player. At $150 it's not the cheapest upconverter out there but it's far from the most expensive. And, IMO it can compete with those that cost far more than $150. Can it compete with HD? Again, IMO it can. Considering the price of HD discs these days and the bargains that can be had on SD discs (many will never see HD!) it can more than compete.

The bottom-line: If you're one of those guys who says things like, "I'd rather watch a lousy movie in Hd than a great movie in SD," this player is not for you. Buy those overpriced discs and enjoy while I play my SDs through this player and watch great movies with IQ very near your's.

Addition: I have two copies of Casablanca, one HD DVD and one straight out of Walmart's bargain bin at $5.00.

I simultaneously ran both, the HD DVD in the A35 and the SD in the XD-E, switching back and forth. The $5.00 SD version in the XD-E was excellent and, believe it or not, very close to the HD version. I found it best with the filters switched off. I then ran the SD in the A35 player and found IQ inferior with more noise than the XD-E, which gave the disc a smoother, less noisy appearance, closer to the HD version.

I have a copy of the Superbit SD, "Desperado," which looks very good on the A35. In the XD-E it was terrific and my wife and son thought it was a new HD disc.

A quick update: I see others with a problem where a 4:3 image is stretched to fill a 16:9 screen. My Sony, and I imagine many other sets, can quickly switch to 4:3 with the "Wide" button set to "Normal" on the remote. I can then view anything originally in 4:3.

An edit on 9-29-08:

Well, everything I said above stands, EXCEPT I returned the XDE and bought an Oppo 983 after all. Clearly the XDE produces a fine picture but, after trying the Oppo, I couldn't go back to the Toshiba. The Oppo 983 produces better IQ and does many other things well. Still, for the money I believe the XDE is a fine player, just not up there with the 983.

arkiedan

First I'll start by proclaiming that the new Toshiba XD-E500 Upconverting DVD is not the fabled Blue Ray Killer, that many believe will someday exist. But it's certainly a huge upgrade from the middle of the road Sony Upconverting DVD player I was using. The picture quality is outstanding.

Hookup and use are relatively easy, particularly changing between the "sharp", "color" and "contrast" setting modes for picture viewing. Simply by pressing a button on the remote you can change between modes and see the difference instantly. Personally I preferred either the "sharp" mode or "contrast" mode. The "color" mode seemed a bit unlifelike, at least on the Lord of the Rings DVD I was viewing at the time.

The one significant drawback to this device (and the reason it didn't garner 5 stars) is the fact that when it upconverts a 4:3 ratio video it will stretch it out to fill the entire 16:9 widescreen on my HDTV. As I have a very large collection of old movies and television shows, I was certainly disappointed in this shortcoming. (Another review has mentioned a workaround where you also connect via component cables and can view the proper 4:3 ratio that way, but you lose the upconversion, so it's not really much of a workaround.)

So, if and when, Toshiba updates the firmware to resolve the 4:3 ratio problem, I'll say the XD-E500 is the best thing since sliced bread. Until then it will still remain the best product in it's category, based on picture reproduction and price point, the one fairly significant flaw notwithstanding.

I bought this player on March 26, 2009. 115 days later after only playing 7 DVD's it had an electronics failure and the video output was reduced to green squares flashing all over the screen. I contacted Toshiba warranty service and was told the unit was faulty. The warranty is 90-days for a free replacement. Between 90 days and 365 days there is an "out of warranty" fee of $90 to replace the unit. The replacement unit only has a 30-day warranty.

Checking Amazon's price today for the unit (July 25) is $60 with free shipping. That would still at least have the 90-day warranty. How can the Toshiba direct replacement cost be 50% more than the Amazon retail price?

I admit the player's picture was great while it lasted. However, I have to caution anyone that the player electronics longevity may be extremely limited. If you do buy one be sure to give it a very good workout within the first 90-days, or you may be stuck with a useless piece of electronics just a few weeks after the warranty expires too.

I was never satisified with the Dvd playback on my Blu-Ray and HD-Dvd players, which is the reason that I bought this player. Wow this player beats all those. I run mine in XDE-Contrast mode. I have never seen a image look so 3D. I compared the same movie on a Blu-Ray disc on a Blu-Ray player to the same dvd disc on the XD-E500. I regret doing that now as I now realize that I have wasted $400+ on a Blu-Ray player and spending 27.95 for Blu-Ray discs that I could have gotten as DVD's for $3.99. I only plan on buying DVD's going forward after getting this player.