Toshiba SD-V390 Progressive-Scan DVD-VCR Combo
Sexy Yes, But Only Half-Baked
WOW!  At first glance, Toshiba's SV-390 seems to do it all:  home theater quality audio/visual plus support for your digital camera, camcorder, DVD/CD burner, etc. []WRONG!  As it turns out, the SD-390 may be incompatible with some of your favorite DVD's.  <br />There are several types of DVD's in use today, and the SD-390 works well with most of them most of the time. But sometimes the player will choke attempting to load a disc that it does not recognize.  You are less likely to see this problem with \\"DVD-R\\" discs mastered by major film studio.  These almost always load on the 1st attempt, or on a 2nd attempt if necessary.  The problem seems to be more common with \\"DVD+R\\" discs recorded on home DVD burners and produced cheaply by independent film studios.  Many of these will never load or play in the SD-V390.  <br />Unfortunately, neither Amazon nor Toshiba explicity mention a compatibility problem in the SV-390 marketing materials.  Amazon's site specs include the \\"-\\" format and exclude the \\"+\\" format.  Toshiba's site tapdances around conditional support for the \\"-\\" format while making no reference to the \\"+\\" format.  You are expected to understand the subtleties and implications, \\"Buyer Beware\\"!  <br />After enough irritating load failures, you will realize there is a problem, you may be surprised to learn that assistance is not readily available.  Neither the SV-390 display panel nor the Owner's Manual do an adequate job of identifying what prevents a disc from loading.  Toshiba Consumer Support will offer useless suggestions such as checking the disc, cleaning the lens, or taking an expensive trip to your authorized service center.  It would cost more to diagnose and resolve the problem (if that is even possible) than to replace the unit.<br />Similar experiences from frustrated consumers can be found on the Internet, along with in-depth and limited-use advice from techy-guru's.  Common suggestions are to download a firmware upgrade or to hack the existing firmware in your DVD device.  This is better left to techy-guru's, as a firmware mishap can ruin your device.