Toshiba SD3750 Progressive-Scan DVD Player
Worth Twice its Price
For my newly-acquired HDTV, I knew I was going to have to move up from my much-beloved interlaced player for something progressive scan. I had pretty much figured I was going to hold out for a Marantz or Pioneer Elite, because I wanted the best possible picture on that huge, detailed screen. <br />Fortunately, my older receiver, which I wasn't planning to replace until I could go all-out, required that whatever DVD player I buy have an onboard Dolby Digital decoder, thus limiting my options. I looked at several high-end machines, but I had happened to see the SD5700 demonstrated, pretty much by accident. The picture quality was up there with the pricey models, and the machine had a surprising number of attractive features -- the ability to play MP3s, HDCDs, and DVD-Audio, plus a better-quality zoom and on-screen menu. So, knowing I'd have the option of returning it, I tried one out. <br />Seven months later, it's still on my audio rack. The picture quality is outstanding -- a high-quality DVD, such as \\"Monsters, Inc.\\", looks nearly as sharp as high-definition -- and low-quality discs don't look bad, either. There honestly is little quality difference between the progressive picture from this machine and that from many of its more expensive cousins. <br />An especially nice feature is the progressive output which allows you to adjust the picture on an HDTV which won't change picture formats with a progressive feed. The practical upshot of this feature is that if you have a non-anamorphic DVD, you can set the progressive feed at 4:3, use the DVD remote to zoom in on the picture, and it's almost as if the disc were enhanced for 16:9. You can't control the zoom as exactingly as you could with a normal picture, but as someone who has a number of early, non-anamorphic movies in his library, this feature is a godsend. The picture quality is near-anamorphic. <br />Also, it's a good tool for viewing 4:3 pictures (such as a DVD of a television program) in their correct aspectratio, without any stretching or distortion of the image. It windowboxes the picture, producing black bars on the sides, which is better for the TV than than the bright grey bars the TV would produce on its \\"narrow\\" setting. It's not great for the TV, but it's no worse than viewing a 1:2.35 movie with bars on the top and bottom. <br />The sound is high-quality as well, though most of the cons in playback come from this feature. I have to set the receiver volume higher than I would with my old player, and I'd swear (though others disagree) that the player cuts off the first half-second of sound when switching to a new screen in the menus. But it still sounds great, especially when you're letting a good receiver do the work (as I do now with my DD-EX/DTS-ES machine). I've had no complaints. <br />I have tried only one borrowed HDCD on the machine, as music is not my primary purpose for owning my equipment. I'm not the best person for judging its merits, but to me, it sounded wonderful. Likewise the DVD-Audio, which I've used a little more often. It's true; you do have to switch to the analog 5.1-channel outputs to use the DVD-A feature, which can be a bit of a pain, but the sound quality is good. I would tend to agree with those who say it could use a little more kick in the bass, but I let my receiver and speakers take care of that. <br />I enjoy playing MP3s on this thing -- it'll find the songs wherever they're buried on a CD-R, and will even play them at random. The on-screen (TV screen) MP3 title menu screams \\"1985,\\" though, and the big clunky letters won't show you the entire song title. But navigating among the titles is easy, and it's incredible to be able to play 200 songs without changing discs. <br />The onscreen menus for the player are intriguing. You can do from a button on the remote, while a disc is playing, a lot of things that other players require you to stop the disc and find a menu to do. The NAVI function gives you a full function menu while keeping the picture going in the center of the screen. Some unexpected and useful functions include a title menu which will show the first scene from every title on the disc (though it won't always let you play every title -- like the hidden blooper reels on the \\"Star Wars\\" discs -- you can see them, but you can't access them from there). It will similarly show you each chapter or each time interval of your choosing. <br />As with other machines, you can capture screen images and use them as your background, or as your screen saver. <br />At the factory setting, the player beeps every time you push a button or navigate on the remote, which I found rather irritating -- but quickly found you can turn that function off. <br />The remote leaves some to be desired. It's cheapish in looks, and the navigation is done with a thumbstick . . . which would be a good feature if the top of the stick didn't have raised dots which will redden your skin until you develop a callus. <br />Yes, as others have said, the manual is poor, hard to read through, and not very explanatory. I had to learn some of the features from others and from the Internet. <br />Overall, this player has been an outstanding buy. It's hard to believe it cost so little -- and is out there for even less than what I paid in May. The picture quality is exceptional, and the pile-on of features makes this the best value for the money I've seen. It's a player which compares to those priced at [money].