13 out of 13 people found this review helpful.
Toshiba SD 2800 / SD 412V
Date of Review: Dec 3, 2002
The Bottom Line: A DVD player with a decoder that can't keep up with today's fast action movies, thus showing 'glitches' and B&W frames during high/low contrast action scenes.
This DVD player has been exceptional for the last year until now! By watching DVD movies as much as I have, you begin to notice 'glitches' in the system. The problem arises when you watch DVD movies with fast moving, high contrast-then dark action scenes, (eg. lightning/strobe light-type effects). The decoder in the DVD can't keep up with the movie signal and actually shows a 'glitch' and turns the picture frame Black & White for a brief second. I've seen this happen on a half dozen movies now, all with the same characteristics. I own a SONY WEGA KV-32FV310, basically top-of-the-line standard TV, before going to HDTV. I emailed SONY my concerns and they said hands down it's the DVD player. I tried some movies where this 'glitch' occurred on my neighbors 40" SONY XBR TV with a SONY DVD player and...no issues what so ever. Overall, not a huge concern since it occurs infrequently and lasts only a second, YET, I will definitely switch out this player when DVD recorders come down in price.
The SD 2800 has every feature you'll need without spending huge bucks on something you'll probably never utilize. To start the 2800 has: 1 regular video and analog audio output,
1 S video output, 1 Component video output, a Bitstream/PCM coaxial audio output, along with a Bitstream/PCM optical audio output.
The SD 2800 also features: zoom, picture enhancement, sound enhancement, and camera angle selector. The zoom feature allows you to magnify areas within the picture. The EPM or Enhanced Picture Mode, allows you to chose up to 5 picture enhancements: normal, enhanced black level, movie 1, movie 2, or animation. EAM, Enhanced Audio Mode, offers 3 different audio choices: normal, 3D, or dialogue. The dialogue feature makes voices more intelligible over background noise. The SD 2800 also allows you to select multiple angles at which to view a scene if so recorded.
The SD2800 allows the viewer to also set TV shape (4:3 letterbox, 4:3 Normal and 16:9 Widescreen), and select the sound format to Bitstream, Analog, or PCM. Set the output that corresponds best to your system connection. This DVD player can play: DVD video, Video CD's, Audio CD's, MP3's, DVD-R discs, and CD-ROM/CD-R discs of CD-DA or Video CD format.
"Progressive Scan"...do you need it? Probably not! If you own a regular analog TV or even one with a digital comb filter, this feature is not compatable. If you happen to own a Digital/HDTV the progressive scan will work, but most of these TV's have progressive scan built in. I've read other Epinion reviews which state that these HDTV's actually do a better job than the $200-300 DVD player... makes sense to me. Bottom line, it's a high-end catch phrase that the salesman will throw in your face that "you must have this"... NOT!
You will also not require the Dolby Digital/DTS Decoder feature provided on some DVD players. Purchase an amplifier with a Dolby/DTS Decoder since it will do a much better job than any DVD player. Buy all this with you home theatre system later down the line and keep the quality there with components that do the proper job. The remote has a good setup. It features an on/off button and is easy to use and handle with its small ergonomic size.
UPDATE (Nov 18/04): This unit is 'progressively' getting worse. Any flash in a DVD movie will 'glitch' the screen to Black & White for a brief moment. "Very Annoying"!!!
Recommendation...DO NOT BUY THIS UNIT !!!
