Toshiba SD-3109 DVD Player
Excellent performance and great quality.
Ive had this player for a few months now and it has worked flawlessly. I was concerned after reading some of the &quot;bad press&quot; at Amazon and other sites but I read many reviews from trustworthy souces like etown.com  and Sound and Vision, as well as the many positive reader reviews and  decided to purchase it. That was a good decision.<br />I finished my basement  (prewired for surround), purchased a &quot;big screen&quot; though my uncle  who works for Sony (I got an unbelievable family discount) and with the  Toshiba 3109 and Dolby Digital surround sound, my home theater is now  complete. Movies never looked or sounded so good. The picture is extremely  sharp and detailed. The sound is very impressive with the 5 discrete (+  Sub) channels. The enhanced black level feature really shows great detail  in the dark areas of the screen. I went out and bought The Matrix and it  was absolutely stunning on my Toshiba. This is said to be the  &quot;benchmark&quot; movie as it is a good title to play to &quot;test the  legs&quot; of your player. Lesser machines are said to have problems with  this title as its bit-rate is rather high. With the included bit-rate meter  I was able to see just how much data the player was processing. Pretty  cool, and as I said, not even one glitch.<br />This Toshiba has many added  features that are not always included in other players at this price point.  Although to be honest, I really do not use features like the 3-power zoom  and HDCD compatablity and the dual-tray is only moderately useful (the 2109  is the same player w/o the &quot;extras&quot; but $100 less). Even without  all those extra features though, the 3109 is a superb buy. The setup menus  are very easy to navigate and initial setup is a breeze. The remote however  leaves something to be desired as it is rather awkward and not well laid  out.<br />With balancing family and career, It is nice to have a home theater  where you don't have to go through the hassle of finding/paying a  babysitter and even paying $30 for 2 tickets, popcorn &amp; drinks in order  to experiance a good movie. My kids love watching Disney DVD's at home and  it sure beats paying for them to see a movie 17 times as you know they love  to do. So, I figure my home theater should pay for itself in a couple  years.<br />The 3109 has had a lot of play time between many  &quot;grown-up&quot; movies and Disney/Barney/BluesClues and not once has  it ever froze, &quot;crap out&quot; or even hiccupped.  I work hard for my  money (as many of you do) and like to make my money go a long way. With the  Toshiba 3109, I definately got more than my money's worth. Don't believe  all the &quot;bad-press&quot; out there because you will miss out on a  great DVD player. IMHO.