Toshiba SD-3109 DVD Player
Don't believe the hype!  Artifacts, artifacts, artifacts!
If your looking for a DVD player that visually delivers...looks someplace else and don't believe the hype, as the Toshiba 3109doesn't deliver the goods.  Edges were unfocused and colors were soft. After another tweak session with Video Essentials it appeared that nothing improved and I was at a complete loss... until... a friend of mine let me borrow his Sony 550D.  In a single word... WOW!  What a difference between the two players.  The 550D surpassed the 3109 in most every respect, colors leaped off the screen, shadows appeared as shadows and not dancing black pools of fast moving artifacts.  The only area that the 3109 bettered the Sony 550D was in CD playback - you have to love HDCD and what it does for audio playback.  But isn't the 3109 a DVD player?  Of course it is, so if video is your main concern then skip the 3109 and go with the Sony 550D - it costs more but the extra money is money well spent.  My next venture will pin the Sony 550D against the Sony 7700, but then that's whole different ballgame and since this is a review of the 3109 I'll stop here.  END