Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Although this player has it's problems (I have had one go bad also...), it has by far the best sound I have heard yet.
When my Toshiba SD-3109 finally kicked the bucket about 6 months ago, I looked at it as an opportunity to get into a new player which I expected would have a better processor and sound quality.
Well... I have owned two new models (one philips and one Pioneer) which left me with the impression that technology has reverted itself for 6 years.
The Pioneer was absolutely awful for sound. It didn't seem to send any frequencies below about 40hz no matter how I adjusted the settings.
The Philips was somewhat acceptable, although it didn't seem quite as complete as the old Toshiba. I have used it for 6 months now while trying to get another Toshiba on ebay.
The Toshiba arrived this week and I hooked it up tonight. UNBELIEVABLE DIFFERENCE!!! There is no comparison between the two players. The Toshiba is so much more accurate and realistic. I had to turn my subwoofer (Mirage SS-1500) down from about 11:30 position to about 9:00 just to keep from cracking the walls. It sounds like your actually there now (before I had to turn the sub up to get any realism - but it clouded the clarity and dimension).
Very good dvd player for sound quality.

Strengths:
very accurate sound reproduction.

Weaknesses:
breaks too easily - making you untimately realize how bad new players sound.

Similar Products Used:
Pioneer
Philips

Price Paid:  $0.00 from broken freebie

Summary:
When I was given this broken unit, it still had the factory batteries in the remote, and they are still good!!. It looks like everyone is having the same problem. It stops reading disks and makes a lot of noise. the problem is a broken 12-tooth gear on the traking-motor shaft. On mine, the gear was cracked, and had slipped so that it no longer meshed with its mate. I just pushed the gear back onto the shaft so that it meshes properly. this took care of the problem. The problem gear is on the underside of the mech. assy. You need to eject the tray and remove its face-plate. Then remove the face of the unit. Then remove the screws holding the mech. assy. and flip it upside down. There, you will see the faulty gear. Good Luck.

Price Paid:  $350.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
I was just reading over some of the reviews & it sounds like most people are having, or have had, the same issues I just started having now. What I have found to be the problem is the Mech Assy (Laser/optical P/u & Spindle Motor, which is basically the player itself. I looked up how much it would cost to replace that piece, 158.00 through www.vancebaldwin.com. I could go out & buy a DVD-R/RW for that price, or at least pay for a majority of one. Almost at the sametime I started having problems with my Toshiba, I started having problems with my Philips DVD/VHS combo player. The DVD is not working, or works when it feels like it. Anyway, just thought I would let people know what I found wrong, being that it's the same problem everyone else is having(Getting disk errors, sounds like it's going to spin up, etc....).

Price Paid:  $400.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
I have to reiterate what I've seen so far, as I can definetely relate. I've used this model just about since it came out, and never had any problems with it. Definetely loved the dual-disc feature. But about 4 months ago, started to get the ole' freezing/skipping/disc error scenarios that many of you have experienced. Being very home theater inclined, I am very versed on different manufacturers and different products. Versus the other brands I have purchased, this by far lasted a shorter amount of time than everything else. I've got Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic, and Kenwood product, and I can honestly say I've not had one problem, except for with Toshiba products. They last a while, and then boom, out of no where develop problems, and once one problem starts, it snowballs into many others.

I did take a peek on the inside and could not find any problems with the chassis anywhere. So I decided to look/listen first hand what happens on the inside when I put a DVD in. Well, a whole lot of nothing. Both trays function with no problem, and it seems as if its making an effort to work, but doesn't. The disc does not spin at all, and all I hear is a hissing type sound, and a beep here and there. I dug further and found no problems with any of the gears, or with anything impeding the laser from moving...It just doesn't work.

Now to be fair, I have to say it did work great when it was working. Obviously one of the majos disadvantages was the inability to read DVD-R, however when I first got this DVD player, DVD-R was not very public, and not used unless you had a ton on money. So the player just wasn't build with the future in mind. But it served it's purpose...

Strengths:
Dual Disc Tray
Inovative Remote Control
Output selection

Weaknesses:
It's Toshiba for starters
Not DVD-R compatable

Similar Products Used:
Sony DVD player
GE DVD player

Price Paid:  $350.00 from Sears

Summary:
I Purchased the SD-3109 new and was sold on the dual tray feature. This was the first Toshiba product that I had purchsed. The unit worked great for aprrox. 2+ years. Then the remote would not access all the features. Then WHAM! Thanksgiving Day 2003,while playing X-men United, it froze on the main screen. I put in another disc thinking the X-men disc had been damaged, and got the msg. "Loading" then "Disc Error". Until today I had not read any of the reviews. Based on what I have read, I don't think I will visit a repair shop with this unit. I am very disappointed with the Toshiba brand name based on my experience with this unit, I expected a longer service life (Similar to what I have gotten from the other major electronics brands that I own).

Strengths:
Great picture and sound when it was working. Zoom feature excellent.

Weaknesses:
Don't lose remote

Similar Products Used:
None