Toshiba SD-5980 Progressive Scan DVD Player with HDMI Output
Couldn't tell the difference b/w this high end and a low end
I was curious as to the quality difference the HDMI and brand name gives me in a DVD player,  so I decided to hook up 2 DVD players,  one cheap one and one expensive one, and see if I could tell the difference. <br /> <br />For this I used a Portland brand DVD player (cost roughly $39.99 at a large dept. store) and a Toshiba SD-5980 (cost roughly $135 here).  I hooked them both up to my Sony Grand WEGA KDF-42WE655 42\\" HD LCD Projection TV. I connected the Portland via Monster S-Video cable, and the Toshiba via the provided HDMI cable. The DVD I used for this experiment was the BMW short films DVD available from the USA bmw site (also found in online format at bmwfilms.com) <br /> <br />And to be honest,  it was tough.  I thought *maybe* the Toshiba HDMI player was a little better picture quality, but wasn't sure.  I also thought I may be subconsciously biased due to knowing which one cost 3x more, so I repeated the experiment in a blind test for my wife (I made her leave the room when I was loading up the DVD player and setting it up to a short film).  And she picked the Portland as a better picture.  Neither of us could tell the difference in the sound quality. <br /> <br />Maybe using a $200 third party HDMI cable would have made a difference,  but I wasn't about spend that kind of money on a cable! <br /> <br />As neither of could tell the difference,  we returned the 5980 and use the cheapo for all of our DVD needs. <br /> <br />There may be other differences between the two in terms of features, but as we don't use alot of advanced features,  we didn't test that.   <br />