DVD-Player Reviews

This player performed very well for the first 100 days. We were very pleased with the picture and digital sound. Without the failure I would have rated it 4-stars.

However, after 3-months of operation playing about four DVD/week the unit started stalling on scenes. Shortly thereafter, it would load a dvd or CD (even new ones) then give the message "insert disk".

Apparently the player is unable to detect that the disk is already loaded. The unit appears to be fully operational except that it will not recgonize the disk just loaded.

Initially, we managed to get the disk playing after opening and closing the tray repeatly four or five times. About 5-days later it refused to recgonize any DVD or CD that had been loaded into the tray and no amount of cycling the tray door helped. The message "insert disk" was all we could get out of the unit.

At this time, I haven't seen anyone else who has encountered this problem. (Perhaps this is a case where the extended warrany might be justified?)

I purchased the SD-4700 mainly for its progressive scan feature and I must say that it does make a big difference. I'm using this player with a Philips digital widescreen HDTV (32" tube) and, finally, I'm starting to see the full potential of the DVD format. Some people may argue that since a lot of new TVs (especially HDTVs) are equipped with high quality line doublers, you get all the benefits of progressive scanning directly from your TV, but at least in my case, the SD-4700 does a much better job than Philips' own "Natural Motion" technology in presenting progressive output while still maintaining that "film quality" of the... err... film :)

The remote control is a lot easier to use than previous Toshiba models and provides very easy access to all the features you may need during playback (e.g. subtitles, audio and angle selection). It also contains a rather large joystick that makes it very easy to navigate menus. Also worth mentioning is the fact that all the controls are also available on the player itself. Very useful for these times when you accidentally "misplace" the remote.

As for the supported formats, I had no problems playing DVDs, VCDs, music CDs & CDRs and MP3 CDRs. The MP3 support is very basic and has some quirks. For example, I still can't really understand how the player determines the order of tracks. Seems a bit random to me but there must be a logical explanation here :). Anyway, the feature actually does work, the overall sound quality is good and that's what counts. I haven't tested the player with DVD Audio discs yet so I can neither confirm nor deny the problems reported in other reviews.

Now for the kinks, which are minor but still prevent this player from getting 5 stars:

1. Some widescreen HDTVs (my Philips among them) do not allow the user to manually set the aspect ratio for progressive signals. This means that you may get just a little bit frustrated when you play widescreen, NON-anamorphic DVDs ("letterboxed" -- where the "black bars" are coded into the frame to make it display correctly on 4:3 TVs). Your options with these DVDs are to either watch them letterboxed in a rather small 4:3 viewing area (annoying!), have the SD-4700 stretch them to 16:9 (annoying because it will mess up the aspect ratio) or use the zoom feature of the player to try and get the optimal picture (frustrating but doable). What this player really needs is a smart zoom feature that removes the black bars and scales the picture to fit the screen (like most widescreen TVs have) but I guess you just can't get it all. That said, since most new DVDs are anamorphic (contain no black bars and therefore always displayed in the correct aspect ratio), this can be considered a minor inconvenience.

2. The player has some problems displaying menu items in 4:3 progressive mode: highlighted menu items sometimes get totally messed up. This doesn't happen with native 16:9 DVDs or when you set the player to stretch everything to 16:9, so it's not really that big of a deal.

3. Pixel cropping - I think this player crops almost half an inch off the bottom of your picture (I made sure this was not a problem with my TV not being properly aligned). According to the AVIA test signals I used, over 25 pixels were cropped out and that's considered a little too much. Still, I guess many people wouldn't notice this glitch because their TVs are probably cropping so much more... :).

All in all, I am very pleased with this player. You really do get a lot for your money here! Sure, there are a few kinks but they are not horrible (unless you are a non-compromising videophile). If you have an HDTV, you really owe it to yourself to get a progressive scan DVD player, and this is probably one of the better (and cheaper) ones out there.

In response to the reviewer who felt this product is only fair: a little maintenance can go a long way. A $10-$20 lens cleaner might get your player to read discs again. But if yours is defective, it doesn't mean the model is not a very good performer, with excellent features. As another reviewer mentioned, Alon, I too have an HDTV that does not allow for aspect ratio control when viewing thru the progressive inputs. But the SD-4700 has a "full/4:3" setting in the menu to adjust for standard or widescreen DVDs, without distortion. It does have a problem with alignment of icons on the menu pages, but it's trivial and I'm used to it. The letterboxing on a 2.35:1 DVD (like Gladiator), can be easily eliminated by the easy-to-use zoom feature, if you don't mind losing a little side content and picture resolution. But if you want to watch a "super widescreen" release on a widescreen TV, what else can you do? Nothing's perfect, at least not at these prices. I wasn't aware of the cropping of pixels (thanks Alon), but overall, most DVD movies look fairly amazing when played on my Toshiba (CW34x92) 34". They seem to be a perfect match. The colors seem to be true without tweaking, and the definition is very impressive. That's what a progressive scanning DVD player can do when hooked up to a good HDTV 16x9 monitor.

This DVD player has a wonderful picture but without using some kind of head phones, the sound is almost faint. I've heard others and the sound on both Toshiba Portable DVD's (the 8 and 9 inch) is very low and "tinny" even when turned up to the highest volume, you can barely hear it. It's a shame because the picture is beautiful.

I bought this player for long trips in the car. Player has a great picture and plenty of features. The only drawback is you almost have to use headphones unless you are in an extremely quiet room. Ive noticed other portable dvd players have the same problem so I don't think its that big of a deal. I still think it is well worth the money

Prior to our purchase of the SD-P2000 I did quite a bit of study on the other units available and decided on the Toshiba for various techno-features, top of the list being the quality of the screen. I could carry on with techno-babble but we'll leave that for others.

Semi-short and to the point, most reviewers see this as being a superior product, I agree. Some express concern about the quality of sound output and that's the main reason for my authoring this additional review.

If one reads the manual bundled with the player it's easy to glance over the sound output options but they're important features to note. There are three different basic sound settings, one standard and two enhanced. For those having trouble hearing, 1) use headphones (the only logical way to limit background noise and 2) use the "Dialog" mode for sound output, you will find this makes all the difference in clarity and output volume in most cases. A few other reviewers have mentioned noise cancelling headphones. I'f you're spending this kind of money on a portable player the additional dollars may put you over the top. If you're willing to go all out, look into the Bose offering, a bit on the spendy side but wow do they work well.

This is a wonderful unit, look no further.
DC

I've had this DVD player for a couple months now after purchasing it based upon the features and reviews. While I'm impressed by the number of jacks this player has, I think this was not the best choice for me. First, I watch a lot of subtitled DVDs, and one feature I really like is to be able to fast-forward through some parts of DVDs while still being able to read the subtitles. Unfortunately this is not possible with the Pioneer 626 (the subtitles get lost), although my brother's similarly-priced Panasonic DVD player does have this feature. Also, I thought it would be useful to have a player with Dolby Digital and DTS decoding built in, but now I realize it's rather useless since my current 8-year-old receiver needs to be upgraded anyways to support these standards, and it makes more sense to have the support in the receiver than the DVD player. Finally, the remote is a little difficult to use sometimes. Overall, while I'm happy with the image quality produced by the DV-626D, I wouldn't recommend it for others to purchase.

This is a fine player--when it played. Unfortunately it began skipping after 14 months...not what we expect in an item allegedly near the top of Pioneer's consumer product line. My entire system is pioner from the Elite projection T.V. to the surround receiver. Everything else has been fine.

Let me just say that although this is the best DVD player I've seen so far, I've only owned 2. And that included this one. :) But that doesn't mean it's great. My first DVD player was a cheap Sanyo that was on as a WalMart special. Although it seemed to play discs okay, any scenes with a lot of red showed a LOT of color bleeding. And also, when I played the Director's Cut of Robocop (one of the reasons I bought a DVD player in the first place), the player freaked out in the middle of the 12th chapter and wouldn't play the rest of the movie! I think it was the layer change-over.

The Pioneer, however, handled it without a problem. Also, the bleeding red is non-existant. I read a review somewhere where a guy said that the picture from this player is almost TOO sharp! I have to agree, it's crisp as anything. You might want to turn down the sharpness on your television!

When I went shopping for a new player, I didn't really want built in Dolby Digital/DTS decoding because I only have a stereo setup at home. However, as soon as you go above about $300, the players start coming with built-in decoders. I've always been one to believe that you get what you pay for, so I wanted the most expensive player I could get *without* a decoder....! Needless to say, the extra wasn't spent just on the decoder. It's a high-quality player all around, definately worth the price.

There were a few gripes below about the build quality (yes, it's kind of cheap feeling/looking) and the remote, but these aren't the main reason you buy a DVD player, are they? I don't see how you could be disappointed with this player. Better get 'em while they're hot!

Since I had Toshiba's 36AF62 TV, I wanted a good quality progressive-scan DVD player to match it. This player was an easy choice. I'm using the generic cables that came with it and the video looks great (better than using a PS/2). The remote is intuitive and easy to navigate. The zoom feature is great and makes viewing 16:9 films a lot better.

I'm moving up to component cables next month so it'll be even better. As a plus, this player supports the DVD-R spec. so I'll be able to burn my divx movies to DVD-Rs (after conversion to MPEG2 of course) and watch them on the big screen. (I haven't tested this out yet though, I've got to get a DVD-R/RW drive first) I'm a very picky person when buying electronics so being happy with this DVD players says more than you know!

Another bonus, you can turn off the front LEDs while the DVD is playing so no distractions, just the TV screen. The next step is to buy a receiver and hook the player's optical out to it.

Enough said, it's a great DVD player!

I bought this player at Best Buy, and also purchased hi-def Monster cables for about the same price. I hooked it up to my 42" Gateway plasma and put in Monsters Inc.

--The colors are amazing, and you can almost reach out and touch the textures.

--The 5.1 digital surround sound is incredible (Kenwood HTB-306 from etronics.com...can't beat it!!!)

--No skipping with any rentals yet.

--Extremely lightweight with a sleek silver design.

--Drawback: The remote control has a big button for Play, Stop, FF, Rewind, and Slow-Mo. Only a small button for Pause. I wish they'd switch the pause and slow-mo buttons, as I pause it much more than I use slow-mo.

I can't recommend its use using coax or s-video, as I've never tried either. I splurged for the hi-def cables since I have a hi-def TV. I couldn't have made a better purchase....

There is an easier way to make this player region-free than the one listed earlier.

1. Downloaded the file from:
http://mypage.bluewin.ch/a-z/chaos-kitties/downloads/RMTM0000.sit
(the file's 4kb big/small)

2. unpacked the RMTM0000.sit file with "StuffIt Standard Edition 8.0" (http://www.aladdinsys.com/downloads/index.html) Trail version.

3. Burned the whole DIR (RMTM0000) to a CD using Nero Burning ROM (ISO Level 1, Mode 1, ISO 9660)

4. Inserted the burned CD into the dvd, wait for the menu on the LCD of the dvd.

5. Pressed "0" then "PAUSE", turned the dvd OFF

6. That's it !!!, REGION FREE.
(From a post at: http://www.videohelp.com)

You can also hack the player to play SVCDs and to continue playing the DVD where it left off after a power-down.

If you have no DVD in the player. Turn it on. Press PAUSE 1 4 7 2.

A blue screen will appear. If you change the EPROM number listed to:

55 53 00 47 16 55 FD FF

Your player will now play SVCDs and will continue playing the DVD where it left off after a power-down.

I've played R2 PAL DVDs in this player (after the region hack) with no problems.

For the price [...] this DVD player is well worth the money. It does not have progressive scan, but I did not purchase this player for that feature. This unit has many good features and the sound and picture quality are very good by using just the RCA audio and video connections. It had a very good review from consumer reports (a publication I highly recommed and utilize, sepecially for consumer electronic purchases). MP3 playback is very good, as is the VCD. DVD-R, CD-R/RW, all play well on this device.

Not an excellent player (for excellence purchase a Sony DVD-NC655P, my other player). But still a very, very good and economical player.

I neither wanted nor needed another DVD player. I already have three. But this player was part of a rebate offer for the Samsung phone that I bought. What a surprise I got when I received this thing! I was expecting a cheap DVD player. This is not. This is a very decent quality player for, if you actually paid for it, a good price. The remote control is intuitively designed and the picture and sound quality is better than average. The only major gripe I have about it is that the video quality is just a bit jagged, like a Photoshop picture that's been sharpened too much. I'm still a diehard fan of Pioneer video products, but I'm going to keep my eye on Samsung. It's the company with the momentum. I originally planned to sell this player as soon as I got it. But it appears that I will be keeping it after all.

I've had this player for about 8 months now and I'm happy with it. Reading some of the other reviews, I've heard comments about skipping DVD's, but I've never noticed a problem. I did end up having to buy speakers in order to get the audio to sound good, but that's the fault of my TV (only one audio input, while the DVD player has a left and right output). I've personally never had a problem with it, and I'd certainly recommend it to anyone.

I've had this player three weeks and IT ROCKS! It was a replacement for my Awia DDW5 player, which was a replacement for my Panasonic PDV-L55 player. The picture is simply BREATH TAKING ! This player has more features on it than any other I've had a chance to test. As with ALL portable DVD players the speakers are limited due to their size,BUT they get the job done. If you want more sound,get yourself a pair of portable active speakers and your set! The battery life is good,(about 3hrs.10mins.) on my player, which is plenty for a movie. Screen brightness,and sharpness is about the best I've seen. Until I find a better portable dvd player out there,PLEASE KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY TOSHIBA 8" PORTABLE DVD PLAYER!!!!!

I have been looking at other portable DVD players made by Sony, Pioneer, Sharp and Panasonic and finally chose Toshiba SD-P1500. Yes, Panasonic's 9" model is bigger but the picture quality is not as good as this one and it costs more. Why did I choose this machine?

1. I need a portable machine that can play DVD, CD, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R and VCD. Sony machines can't play VCD (Video CD) so bye bye to Sony machines. Other machines may not be able to play home-made Video CD movies on CD-Rs. I have not tried them all in local stores therefore I don't want to risk buying something that I don't know about. This Toshiba claimed to be able to play everything (just like Sharp but Sharp's 8" model discontinued).
2. This machine is inexpensive for its features and the 8" screen.

Next, I would like to tell you my first week's experience with this machine:

1. Battery life: a fully charged battery can give you 3 hours and 15 minutes uninterrupted movie watching time.
2. Display: too bad that there is no internal or external control of the display's brightness. Some dark scenes cannot be display correctly. However, when the movie's lighting is good, the picture does look very sharp and present very good color balance.
3. Sound: (...) you will know that there is a problem with this machine's sound system. Not really, let me tell you why. When you use this machine to play DTS 5.1 encoded movies, the sound is very weak even you turn the volume up all the way to 10. Why? Because there are only two speakers built-in and you are asking for an effect that only can be produced by 6 speakers or more. It is unrealistic. If you want to enjoy home thearter like sound, you should either hook this machine up with a home thearter system, or, get a good headphone. In fact, I bought a $9 Sony headphone and the sound improved a lot. If you have money to buy a noise reduction headphone, (such as a Boss model)you will be enjoying true home thearter sound. However, for people who like to watch VCDs, sound is not a problem at all! I get beautiful MTS sound with all my video CD movie collections even when my volume is set to 3 and it is still kinda too loud for me. Plane noise? without headphone: yes for DVD movies and some CD music tracks but not for VCD movies and some CDs; with headphone: no problem at all.
4. Super correction: this is an undocumented feature. I have a lot of home made video tapes and currently I turned them all into Video CDs and DVD-Rs for easy storage. Some of my early VCDS were made by a slow P-II 450 MHz machine therefore sometimes it skips a track or so and the picture looks fuzzy sometimes. However, this machine can play those VCDs without any skipping, and this is a feature called "super correction" only available in some of the high end progress scanning machines sold in Japan. So, if you have some home-made vcd movies or broken vcd/dvds, this machine will not let you down.
5. Anti-shock system: many other portable dvd players do poorly when you are watching a movie on board a boat or on your bed where you have to change your sitting position all the time. This machine allows at least a 3 seconds antishock protection so that you can enjoy your movie without interruption. I even accidentally dropped my machine from my bed to the hardwood floor and it still plays well without any problems. Quite amazing!

In summary, I would highly recommend this machine if you are looking for an affordable portable dvd player with a big screen.

First, shop around. There are a lot of good deals out there on this item. I've read the other reviews, and I can't really agree with all of them. Perhaps it's because my unit was manufactured in July of 2002, but I have no problems with the sound.

Let me clarify. Sure, from the built in speakers it sounds about like a clock radio (with surround). However, when I hooked it up to a pair of $ Philips ear bud earphones, it was pretty incredible. I could not turn the sound on "The Matrix" up past 3 without hurting my ears. The simulated surround is amazing. Granted, I haven't tried it on an airplane, but I think the secret may be to get "in the ear" style earphones.

The battery life also seems quite adequate. I didn't turn the brightness down and still had plenty of life. The picture is great from any viewing angle. No blackout glare as with cheaper models.

Finally, the unit feels very solid. I already owned a Polaroid unit and this is leaps and bounds ahead of that in manufacturing soundness. I would definitely recommend it to anyone.

Trying to get two audio pieces into one box, offering decent quality, plenty of useful features & low cost may be impossible. I looked at many brands. I needed a unit that has "optical" output for DTS & 5.1 digital to go into my Marantz SR 8000 audio receiver. The cheapest units do not have this, so stay with the better name brands. At this price point I seriously doult that any brand will be very reliable. These units are not being made in Japan, which stood for excellent quality. Instead, China, Tawain, etc. are making them. Making two units into one may save on some costs, but the cost cutting may be the use of cheaper parts inside. So don't expect much from these units.

I wanted to replace my older DVD player with one that plays CD-R, CD-RW, and MP3. I purchased the JVC HRXVC1, based on good reviews. JVC is the inventor of VHS vcr, and I have known people to have good luck with their electronics. I also like Panasonic,which makes very reliable electronics. I have had 3 good vcrs with Panasonic, but the clerk said that they were having higher than normal returns on their combo players. Had it not been for that, I would stay with Panasonic.
This JVC HRXVC1 vcr/dvd combo has more than enough features needed to play tapes & discs. At this pricepoint it appears to be one of the best featured units I've seen. Hooking it up to my surround receiver was difficult, probably just my fault, although the book isn't clear on the hookup of the "optical" setup with the receiver connections with VCR, etc. Once hooked up, it was worth the effort. The setup was quick and easy. The cds sounded great. The dvd's are crystal clear. The vcr recorded tapes are playing good, and no problems....

The GOOD: 1).It works & sounds great. 2.) It looks great on the shelf as well. 3.) There are plenty of features for the money such as Skip Search, index serch, zero return, and three step zoom. 4.) There are front inputs for camcorder or mp3 player to record easy. 5.) This unit has "SQPB" S-VHS Quasi playback which will play S-VHS tapes, and makes for excellent looking viewing of standard tapes. 6.) It has 19um head, for better picture quality in EP mode. 7.) It includes "Spatializer N-2-2" surround for people whose sytems are not setup for surround sound yet. 8.) In use, the rewind & forward is very fast.

The BAD: 1.) the remote [is not good]. 2.)the buttons on the box seem unorthodox in their layout. 3.) it's confusing getting around from vcr to dvd, as some buttons have dual use, and buttons are on both sides of the unit. Petty problems, but at least the unit works fine- so far. If it proves to be unreliable, I'll write back.

This is a nice combo DVD/VCR. I've had it for a couple of years now and have had no problems. That's really why I'm writing; I want to let people know the ones with problems are probably the exception rather than the rule.

The only disadvantages to this product for me:
1) On the VCR, you can't FF by time (a panasonic feature; FF a given number of minutes)

2) Once you set the VCR program, you must hit TIMER (not just power off) to get it to use the program. Okay, hitting TIMER will turn the power off, but let's say you want to record something later in the week. You will turn your deck on and off several times in that period. Do you want to hit TIMER every time? And by the way, hitting TIMER doesn't just turn the deck off, it switches to DVD mode. In theory, this is nice so you can still use your DVD player while recording a show. In practice you just end up turning off two things (VCR via TIMER, DVD via power) most of the time.

3) No S-video input. I had to buy a S-video to composite video adapter to record something from my PC video card. By the way, don't do this; the quality is pretty low.

Little advantages to this product for me:

1) Front panel inputs; I use this to dub from my video camera very often

2) Comprehensive remote; for me, the more buttons the better. I hate on-screen menus. How can I see what the picture looks like when I adjust the tracking if 88% of the screen is the tracking menu?

3) Many flavors of A/V OUTPUT: digital audio (coax and optical), composite video (of course), component video (nice for home theater), S video.

Bottom line: A good combo deck for the money.

I purchased this JVC VHS/DVD combo player after my old VCR pooped out and when I decided I needed a DVD player in my room in addition to the one in our family room. I bought this player when it first came out; VHS/DVD combo players were brand new and seemed much more sensible than separate players. However, I had reservations about this unit, wondering if the quality of the DVD and VHS portions would suffer since both were crammed into one box. My fears were unfounded-- this indeed is a fantastic player!

First, I really enjoy the chrome finish; it perfectly matches my silver 24" flat-screen TV. Second, I love the unit's included remote. All of the buttons are solidly formed, and the rew/play/ff/rec/stop/pause buttons glow in the dark for watching movies late at night. Third, the quality of VHS recording is wonderful. I don't know what other reviewers are talking about when they complain of poor quality tape recording; everything I've taped, even on the "EP" (extra-long play) setting, has come out wonderfully. Sometimes, programs taped on certain VCRs look fuzzy on other sets in the house (i.e. if I try to record downstairs with a different VCR and play it back in my room), but anything I tape with this JVC unit is crystal clear on each set in our house. Fourth, I love the different A/V options the JVC unit is capable of utilizing. The JVC unit allows RCA, composite, S-Video, and component cable connections, so use whatever connection works with your TV. I strongly recommend using the component cable hookup as it offers the highest-quality picture. Fifth, I love the functions of the DVD player. Not only does this JVC player offer standard DVD functions like subtitles and markers, it also offers cool functions like zooming. DVDs, CDs, CD-Rs, and VCDs are supported, but SVCDs are not. Sixth, this quality piece of equipment comes at a great price. JVC makes a great unit, and the price is affordable, so don't buy another brand in hopes of getting a better deal.

The JVC VHS/DVD player has several A/V options, provides high-quality recording, looks great, comes with a super remote, supports many popular disc formats, and does all of these things for an affordable price. If you're looking for a high-quality, yet modestly-priced piece of equipment to handle your VHS and DVD needs, look no further than this great JVC unit.

I have been trying to buy a recordable DVD player for the past few years. This animal wasn't available until two years ago. As of now, the price is still very expensive, but I couldn't hold out any longer. I broke down and bought the Panasonic DMR_HS2 a few weeks ago. I choose this unit because it has a 40GB hard drive, which can be very convenient feature for recording. Unfortunately, I am not pleased with this model's functions nor with its performance.

My requirements for the recordable DVD are:

·Record programs from the TV: The Panasonic unit works perfectly in this area. It works just like a VCR. It has additional features such as allowing you to record a program directly to the hard drive and store it there. You can also edit the recorded program to erase all the commercials before dubbing it to a DVD disk for permanent storage. You can also create chapters. But doing these jobs can be a very time-consuming and tedious process. You can only create chapters on the hard drive or on a DVD-RAM disk, which isn't compatible with most commercial DVD players. Nevertheless, these nice features are available.

·Transfer VCR tapes to DVDs: I would love to transfer all my old VCR tapes and store them in DVD format. DVDs last much longer and they are more compact. My objective is to retire the VCR. The Panasonic unit basically did the job, but at the expense of quality. I am well aware that the quality of the dubbed DVD can be as good as the source VCR tape. However, I was very disappointed to find out that there is a very noticeable degradation in quality from the tape to the DVD. The ironic thing is that I can accomplish this function, but I still cannot throw away my original tapes because their quality is better.

·Create music DVDs with all my favorite songs: I have always wanted to create a few DVDs with all my favorite songs in them. These songs will be taken from the music DVDs that I own. Too bad this unit doesn't have this feature. In fact, it doesn't allow DVD dubbing. Mind you, what I want to do is perfectly legal. This function, if it is available, is protected under the "fair use" doctrine in the U.S. copyright laws as long as you own the source media.

Overall, I think this Panasonic model is over-priced for what I am looking for. I'm hoping that future recordable DVD systems can do what the dual-well recordable CD players can do today.

The best way to think about this new entertainment appliance is this way: DVD player and recorder + VCR + TIVO + Photo Viewer. With that said, in many ways the HS2 brings the benefits of total digital entertainment right into the comfort of your living room. This unit is great for anyone who wants to edit their own vacation, family fun or "life" videos, record high-quality video either from television, VHS, or camcorder as well as archive digital photos! So if you've cam-corded thousands of miles of kid birthday parties or recorded 5,000 old TV shows, the HS2 gives you the ability to edit right on the RAM disc or hard drive, and then make a DVD-R to view, share with your friends or even archive. One particular feature I really like about the unit is "time slip" recording, which is truly remarkable, because it allows simultaneous recording and playback of the same program at the same time-thanks to DVD/RAM technology. For instance, you can watch the beginning of a TV show while the end is still recording, which I think is very cool. Now contrary to some misconceptions, you CAN record onto popular DVD-R discs using the HS2 that WILL play on your buddy's DVD player, or your grandmother's DVD player for that matter.

But if you really get to know the HS2, you can easily title your programs, choose a menu color, set it to skip commercials, divide programs, all while recording very high quality video. The internal hard drive can record up to 52 hours for normal or standard recordings, and for the highest quality video it will store 8.5 hours. If you're looking for a DVD recorder that really does it all, this unit that is quite versatile and covers all the bases very well, I recommend the HS2 highly.

Let me address a couple of the gripes on this webpage about the problems with the recorder. One, does not record tapes as well as the original. I would recommend selecting a better recording resolution on the recorder, it has four and the top two recording levels will definetly allow you to produce a better backup of your VHS tapes then the originals, due to the 3D digital comb filter. Two, why would anyone want to put music on a DVD, and even if you would how many tricks is this dog supposed to do? Three, only records to DVD-R and DVD-RAM, well only with the advent of the new dual format recorders for computers has any one player been able to record to both + and -formats, but I have a brand new dual format recorder and I still only use the - format, in fact, looking at many of the DVD players today they prefer the - format. Four, can't figure out how to hook it up to the television, if you can't hook it up with the s-video, component out, or just plain old coaxial perhaps you should take a course. Videophiles that just aren't happy with these connections should seek professional counseling.
I wanted a keyboard along with it to enter titles to programs, remote works as good as it can, with directional arrows. Also, would have liked to have seen a faster transfer rate using the DVD-R, like a 4x, instead of the 1x, but what I usually do is set it up to record and just forget about it, come back it is done. But I am starting to get greedy like some of my other fellow reviewers:) Great machine though, even for the price, replaces a high-end DVD player, recorder, TIVO, and can archive your pictures!

I own several Toshiba products and have been happy with every one. Once again I was amazed at the workmanship, quality, and price of another fine Toshiba product. Before buying the Toshiba SD-43HT I made the mistake of going really cheap and bying another system from a retail chain. The maker of the cheap system was AMW. I was so dissapointed with the AMW system that I returned it within an hour of setting it up. I then decided to really research the Home Theater market before buying anything else. I came across the Toshiba SD-43HT and decided to give it a try. WoW !!! It was easy to set up and the sound is amazing for a 320watt system. Having a DTS decoder is a must for amazing surround sound. Many DVD movies have the DTS Digital as an audio option, and believe me, DTS digital sound is higher quality than Dolby 5.1 digital. Another benefit with this system is that plenty of speaker wire is included to allow speaker placements just about anywhere. I also like having the digital optical speaker input so that I'm able to hook up my Playstation 2's optical sound port to the Toshiba SD-43HT optical sound port and use the DTS decoder with Grand Theft Auto Vice City. This system is versatile and is a must have in your home. You won't be dissapointed with the price, or the quality in the Toshiba SD-43HT Theater System.

After doing a considerable amount of research on 'home theatre in a box' systems, I decided to pick the Toshiba SD-43HT system. My budget was between $250-$300. This was actually priced lower than that, so that was a bonus. More money to spend on DVDs!

First - the DVD playback. This is progresive scan, and I have an HDTV. My old DVD player which I've had for a couple of years was not progressive scan, so I was really looking forward to seeing what the big deal was with progressive scan.

Wow!

After I got the systen set up I popped in "The Fast and the Furious" and cued up the first race scene. The picture was amazing! It is worth noting that I also picked up some Monster Component cables which should also be helping in giving a great picture. The picture was razor sharp and the color was very vivd and true to life. Remember when you first switched over from VHS to DVD? That is what it is like jumping from "regular DVD" to progressive scan on this system. Wow.

Next - the sound. This system comes with 5 satellite speakers plus a subwoofer. The sub is not powered, it is passive and gets 70 watts. The satellites are 50 watts/channel. So the sound system comes in at under 400 watts. Most systems in this price range come in around 500, so it isn't as powerful. However, this sytem has excellent sound. Again, the race scene in TF&F looked excellent, and the surround sound was awesome. Very clean, pure digital sound. The subwoofer boomed, and the satellites held there own. It is plenty of power for me. You probably aren't going to "feel" the sub like you would on a high-end system, but thats ok. This system pumps out the sound very well.

I plugged my digital cable box into the DVD player/reciever and was plesantly suprised to hear very clean, clear 5.1 surround sound coming out of it. So now recgular televsion can be enjoyed in surround sound! Also, CDs sound great. It even read my MP3 Cd with no problem!

Overall I am very happy. I got what I paid for. This is not a $3,000 home theatre system. But it packs a punch for the price for sure. Definitly worth checking out.

This is a great system for someone who doesn't have the money or time to get the separate pieces for a super powerful home theater system. It sets up easily and has plenty of wire. If you need an extension for some reason (as one reviewer did), there's no problem with the wire being unconnectable from the sub, just splice in a longer cord...it's not that hard and doesn't affect performance. I added several feet to run it over a door frame. The sounds quality is great and the fact that you get the choice of Dolby and DTS is great. (You'll learn to hope for DTS on DVD boxes for obvious reasons). I've had this system for 6 months in my college apartment, where it gets TONS of use and gets abused for movies and audio. We have never had a problem with performance or reliability. The only real downfault is the slow opening of the tray, but the outcome is worth the wait. And it does have limited inputs, but that's because it's not really a reciever...it's for home theater. If u want a full reciever, go drop $500 instead of whining about a sub $300 system w/ progressive scan DVD not having the features you want in a reciever. Bottom line, this is a great buy and will put a smirk on your face when you watch your first movie. It can take a beating and still perform perfectly. If you're out for surround sound, this is your system.

this dvd player is one of the best out there for the price but i tied to play some CDs on it and it would not play em infact i tried to play lord of the rings dvd on it and it wouldnt play tht
tht was the only weird ting
evrything elseis perfect
picture quality and everything else is very nice

Worked with no problems and I am in the 50+ age group not known to be overly savvy with the latest techie gear. Now I am looking for a 2nd player as a gift and will consider this for the gift also.

Don't know where all the good reviews went. I read a whole bunch that sold me on this machine .... convinced me this was the machine for me and I haven't been disappointed. It is very compatible, reading my DVD-R, DVD-RW, VCD, and CD formats. It also apparently reads a lot more. Stylish, functional, very fast initial read of disc, excellent zoom, with a hand fitting functional remote. I compared it to comparable Pioneer and Panasonic models before I bought. (Let's face it though, most of the latest DVD players are excellent compared to even models just 2 years old.) This player actually is cool to the touch when running (compare this to some of the heat related malfunctions mentioned for other players)! I hope this tides me over until the DVD recordables are in the same price range!
Update: Read the December 2003 issue of the consumer magazine (you know which one) for a comparison of DVD players. This one received the top rating!