Toshiba SD-4700 DVD Player

**Lex** · 14 January 2002, 18:07 Monday

Has Toshiba worked through the freeze problems that plagued units some time back? How is your current player, any problems?

I personally, like the Pioneer Elites a bit better, but that's just me.

I like my Tosh 9000 ok, but it does occasionally freeze up on dual layer discs.

Lex

**SiliGoose** · 14 January 2002, 18:42 Monday

I have a 4700 and am very happy with it. No quirks yet. Progressive scan is excellent and DVD audio is opening new doors.

-Sili

**Sonnie Parker** · 14 January 2002, 19:06 Monday

I had an audio drop out on JP3 (but it did it on the rewind/replay- so it must be the DVD). Also had a drop out/freeze on Planet of the Apes.

I like the Toshiba for the extra features it has over many other brands/models. Don't know if I'd ever use all of them but I'd have them.

Don't bang me on this one but for 2.35:1 I'd like to have zoom (1 step) to fill a tad more of my screen. I don't mind the 1.85:1 but the 2.35:1 is a bit thin.

Plus, I'll get Progressive Scan for when I do get my 16:9 RPTV in the next year or so.

I guess I just don't want to spend a fortune on another DVD at this point. Just in case that something better pulls me in at a later date.

SONNIE

Cedar Creek Cinema

DVD Collection

BFD Comprehensive Setup Guide

**Sonnie Parker** · 14 January 2002, 23:46 Monday

I believe I have now learned that the drop outs and freezes that I have been experiencing may actually be the change in layers on the disk. It appears the 2108 does not do well at covering this up.

Siligoose, does the 4700 fix this?

Thanks,

SONNIE

Cedar Creek Cinema

DVD Collection

BFD Comprehensive Setup Guide

**Lex** · 15 January 2002, 08:40 Tuesday

Your right Sonnie. Some layer changes seem worse than others, but occasionally, my 9000 freezes completely still. I can't say whether it's all on layer changes, I don't know.

Lex

**John Holmes** · 15 January 2002, 09:21 Tuesday

I have had a Tosh 1200 for about two years. I have had only one disc to act up in it. Moonraker, which is from the first press. Funny thing is, it played fine the first year, but in the last few months it won't even load.

I don't consider this too bad for an entry level player. It has seen countless rentals and my own 200+ disc many times over. There was a span of about six months or so, I was watching 4-5 movies a week on it.

"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

**Andrew Pratt** · 15 January 2002, 11:13 Tuesday

Sonnie you say you're moving to a widescreen set in a year so this might be a moot point but if I owned a 4:3 set (which I do) I would never buy a toshiba DVD player. The problem is Toshiba's have horrible downconversion from widescreen to full screen resulting in jaggies and other distracting artifacts. I started out with the Toshiba 2109 and sold it months later when I realized I hated the image i was getting. I switched over to a panasonic and its been much better in that regard plus it has never had a problem with any of the discs that the toshibas hiccup on and its colours IMO are more real then the tosh colours. anyway if you're set of the tosh I'm sure its a decent player but I know I couldn't ever go back to one...besides no discrete codes won't work for my pronto

**SiliGoose** · 15 January 2002, 12:20 Tuesday

I would say layer changes are about average. It hasn't totally froze on me, that's for sure. It's certainly smoother than my previous Pioneer and Panasonic players at the layer change.

-Sili

**Sonnie Parker** · 15 January 2002, 12:39 Tuesday

Toshiba's have horrible downconversion from widescreen to full screen...

Can you explain this downconversion? I don't understand. Does 3:2 pulldown have anything to do with this?

I have the 2108 and don't have a problem with the image. Looks fine to me (but that's just me). You might look at it say it's terrible. I calibrated my Sony RPTV with AVIA and couldn't believe the difference it made. So, (point being) it's quite easy for me to be missing something. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with the picture.

You have a 4:3 RPTV (50"?) and the Panny A320. Does it bother you watching a 2.35:1 picture? I have a 61" and sit 15 feet away. While it's obviously better than watching it on a 35", it's still a tad annoying. My solution is to get a 16:9 but I can't afford it for now.(Maybe??? next year).

Btw, nice pics on your site.

SONNIE

Cedar Creek Cinema

DVD Collection

BFD Comprehensive Setup Guide

**George Bellefontaine** · 15 January 2002, 15:10 Tuesday

Mr. Holmes and I both own a Tosh 1200. It's connected to a Tosh 36" tv in my study, so it doesn't get a lot of use. But recently I discovered it wouldn't accept the dvd The Art Of War. It just kept saying: Check Disc. The dick played fine on my Sony 7700 in the theater, so I know it isn't a defective disc.

My Homepage!

**Andrew Pratt** · 15 January 2002, 15:48 Tuesday

Sonnie I sit about 10 feet back from my 50" tosh and don't really have a problem with the narrow formats...its a hell of a lot better then pan and scan

If you dont' see jaggies take my advice and don't go looking for them...once you do you'll see them everywhere and it gets extremely distracting. That said if you really want to know what I'm taking about I can easily show you.

**Kevin P** · 15 January 2002, 17:11 Tuesday

Can you explain this downconversion? I don't understand. Does 3:2 pulldown have anything to do with this?

This is the downconversion that happens when you play an anamorphic (enhanced for 16:9 TVs) DVD on a 4:3 TV. In order to keep the picture from looking too tall and skinny on a 4:3 set, the player "squeezes" the picture down vertically and adds letterbox bars, and some players do a better job than others at it. Toshibas simply drop every 4th scan line, resulting in a sharp image but diagonal lines tend to be jagged as a result. Sony uses an averaging algorithm which smooths out the jaggies but results in a softer looking image. Panasonic, Pioneer and most others fall in between these two extremes. Opinions vary on which ways are better--some people like the sharp Toshiba downconversion while others go crazy over the artifacts. Others like the artifact-free Sony downconversion while others are put off by the softer image. Different strokes for different folks as they say.

Once you get a 16:9 TV, or a 4:3 set with a 16:9 mode, downconversion will be a moot point since you'd "tell" the DVD player you have a 16:9 set and anamorphic DVDs will no longer be downconverted by the player.

BTW, this has nothing to do with 3:2 pulldown. That's a topic for another thread, and that comes into play when you get into progressive scan DVD players and HDTV sets or projectors and line doublers and stuff like that.

KJP

Official Computer Geek and Techno-Wiz Guru of HTGuide - Visit Tower of Power
My HT Site

**Andrew Pratt** · 15 January 2002, 17:25 Tuesday

good explination kevin I forgot to answer that part in my reply.

**Sonnie Parker** · 15 January 2002, 22:15 Tuesday

Well to be quite frank, I've learn to live with the bars. I just wish more were 1.85:1 instead of 2.35:1.

I don't think I want to know about jaggies. I don't notice them now (or don't realize it if I do), so I suppose that's probably best for me.

My wife complains about the bars more than I. Pan and Scan doesn't bother me either. I guess it's like jaggies....if you don't know what you are missing maybe it don't bother you as much. I know a lot of folks make a big deal out of P&S vs. Widescreen, I respect these opinions. I understand it's because that's the way the film makers intended us to see it (Widescreen that is).

Maybe it won't be too long before I don't have to worry about it. Of course then I got to worry about the bars on the sides for regular TV and I definitely don't like the stretched screens (4:3 to 16:9) that I've seen in showrooms. What gives?

SONNIE

Cedar Creek Cinema

DVD Collection

BFD Comprehensive Setup Guide

**Andrew Pratt** · 15 January 2002, 22:46 Tuesday

Sonnie I understand where you're coming from and while P&S does give you a "larger" image it comes at an expense of losing part of the picture...its like taking your favorite picture and zooming in the middle then cutting off the sides to make it fit your old picture frame. Widescreen grows on you

**Lex** · 17 January 2002, 01:28 Thursday

Ok, here's some facts. Sound and Vision said this player is a worthy contender at it's price point. Audio quality using the internal DACs of the player, and the internal DD decoder was rated good. Video quality is good, looks, well, it won't win many beauty contests, but that's not what really counts here. No backlit remote, not a good thing, but I suppose doable. My Elite mega-changer isn't backlit, not a huge deal...

DVD Audio quality was rated pretty decent, but no bass management was a pitfall.

Lex

**Sonnie Parker** · 17 January 2002, 10:39 Thursday

This all sounds fair. I'm not really concerned about the remote because I use the HTM 9000. As far as DVD-Audio....well, it will be some time before I concern myself with this. I'm mostly a DVD-Video fan. If I listen to music it's background only and I'm doing other things that I wouldn't have time to notice the ambience/surround. I do however like to watch concerts on DVD, but DVD-A won't effect this. Plus for DVD-A I'd have to purchase additional equipment for the inputs as my Sony 9000 can't accomodate it.

I'm not gonna get in a big hurry to purchase it. I'm gonna keep thinking about it for a while and looking at other players as well. This one is still number one on the list though.

Thanks for all the input.

SONNIE

Cedar Creek Cinema

DVD Collection

BFD Comprehensive Setup Guide

**Jeff Kowerchuk** · 18 January 2002, 00:58 Friday

Actually, Andrew et. al.:

Toshiba has actually corrected their downconversion problem. The new 4700/5700 have remarkably better downconversion algorithms...ie. they are actually watchable!

It was a nice surprise when I first fired up the player.

/Jeff

**Sonnie Parker** · 18 January 2002, 02:37 Friday

I about didn't see you sneek in Jeff. You're a couple of years old here.

I suppose you own a 4700 or 5700 and this problem is not so much of a problem anymore. That sounds good.

Now you are really dangling the carrot in front of me. lol

Thanks,

SONNIE

Cedar Creek Cinema

DVD Collection

BFD Comprehensive Setup Guide

**SiliGoose** · 18 January 2002, 20:45 Friday

Sonnie,

I suggest you find a way to sample DVD-A. It really is phenomenal. I just wish the selection of DVD-A discs were better.

-Sili

**Sonnie Parker** · 18 January 2002, 21:22 Friday

I think eventually I will. I'm just not in any big hurry to spend the extra moola. I've dropped a good chunk here lately on changes and additions.

I would really rather see a DVD Music Video with the DVD Audio effects, if that's possible. I just seem to like to watch something when I'm listening to music.

SONNIE

Cedar Creek Cinema

DVD Collection

BFD Comprehensive Setup Guide

**Sonnie Parker** · 19 January 2002, 12:03 Saturday

For the record, I ordered the 4700 from OneCall today. $225 delieverd 3 day fedex saver. I placed the order on the net at about 2:30pm and they sent me an e-mail a few hors later with a tracking number. These folks are jolly on the spot.

Thanks for all the help, tips, and advice.

SONNIE

Cedar Creek Cinema

DVD Collection

BFD Comprehensive Setup Guide

Toshiba SD-4700 DVD Player

Toshiba SD-4700 DVD Player

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