Toshiba SD-1200 DVD Player
Great Value, Top Notch Performance
As most of the reviews indicate, this is a very good DVD player at a bargain price. I auditioned players from Samsung and Panasonic in the same price range. Although both of those brands performed adequately, each was  deficient in at least one critical area. The Samsung had a tendency to  randomly skip over seconds worth of movie; this was true of every DVD disc  I played in the two-day period, ranging from recent sci-fi (Lost In Space)  to an old classic (Casablanca). The Panasonic was considerably more in  price, had more features on paper, but it's performance was not up to the  task. Although it had no problem playing the discs, the video quality was  not as impressive as even the cheaper Samsung. In addition, at least one of  the remote functions seemed to not work (VSS, to enable the virtual  surround sound feature). Finally, in order to change settings you have to  locate the proper icon (which are almost as intuitive as ancient  hieroglyphics) from a series of display menus. Those items not accessible  from the display menu have to be accessed through an &quot;action&quot;  button. <br />So finally to the Toshiba. I went to Amazon to read customer  reviews, and noted that this Toshiba was both the top seller, and also  garnered the most positive reviews. Satisfied that this component had  potential, I went to a local Best Buy and asked the sales person his  recommendation. Without hesitation he recommended the Toshiba for it's top  performance at a very reasonable cost. While there are other models out  there with seemingly more bells and whistles, this unit will play movies  flawlessly, and has the most useful features for the average consumer.  Finally, Toshiba has a reputation for designing and manufacturing top-notch  home electronic components. This DVD player is no exception to that rule,  and furthers Toshiba's reputation as a leader in home audio/video  components.<br />The only slight I can find with this model is the size of the  remote buttons; for the average male, the buttons are much too small and  close together.  But once you get past that small inconvenience you  appreciate how good this player really is.