Toshiba SD-3109 DVD Player
Very nice but a few improvements would have earned 5 stars
I purchased the Toshiba 3109 DVD player about one month ago and it was easy to install and everything works fine. The 3109 only comes with the basic 2 channel audio and video RCA style cables so you will probably have to run to the store and get S-video or composite video cables as well as a  digital audio cable for a proper installation. These cables are not cheap  and will cost at least $15 each for cheap off-brand stuff.<br />The Matrix  played without any problems. Saving Private Ryan played fine except for  about a one second pause near the end of the movie. Everything else I have  put in it has played ok so far.<br />The forward and reverse scan modes on  this player are not as smooth as even the low cost Sony players. My  father-in-law received a very low price ($US) Sony DVD player for xmas  and I was impressed with the much smoother scanning of the Sony. The  Toshiba 3109 scanning is much more jerky. The Sony also included a S-video  cable which was a nice touch.<br />The Sony remote was also better and allowed  you perform basic TV operations such as volume and channel changing  (although the video input selection required the original TV remote). The  Toshiba remote only operates the DVD player. I don't even use it anymore  since I have a Sony receiver and I can control the DVD player with it.<br />My  last gripe is the 2 disc capability of the unit. There is only one disc  door and behind that door is some sort of disc swapping mechanism that  operates pretty slowly. I think this extra mechanical complexity will only  lower the long-term reliability of the unit and that Toshiba should have  put 2 disc doors with dedicated trays on this unit.<br />The zoom feature is  nice (this is about the only reason I have to dig out the Toshiba remote)  and the setup menus are decent - better than the Sony in my opinion.  Overall the Toshiba is a decent unit but if you don't need the on-board 5.1  decoding I would consider saving $ and buying a low end Sony.