Toshiba SD2710 DVD Players Reviews

Price Paid:  $289.00 from a&b sound

Summary:
I had experienced the same problems most SD2710 owners were having. slow loading,freezing, noisy motor and wouldn't even play DVD-Rs. Had replaced laser head assembly and software upgrade just before warranty expired. All problems solved. Makes me wonder about Toshiba quality.

Strengths:
Good picture and sound.

Weaknesses:
Brought player in three times for repairs. Weaknesses as mentioned above.

Price Paid:  $120.00 from amazon

Summary:
total crap. bought this 8 months ago and watched 5 movies tops. now i have no sound and the front panel display had gone out. can't believe how crappy this thing is. will not buy anything from toshiba again. and i don't recommend anyone to do so either.

Strengths:
features

Weaknesses:
not reliable

Similar Products Used:
panasonic

Price Paid:  $179.00 from R.C. Willey

Summary:
I use this unit in a rental ski condo (www.parkcitytownhome.com) and have had few problems with it so far. I personally have viewed several DVDs on it and thought the quality and sound were very good. The rest of my system, not shaby for a rental, is: Sony Receiver STR- DE635 Sony 32"TV: KV-32S42 Speakers: Sony Subwoofer and back, and Canton DL-220 front Sony auto A/V Switcher It has some nice features like the zoom, screen saver and two digital sound hookup options. It also has a set of RCAs. This allows you to hookup this device with your receiver so that both the CD and DVD buttons work - important for my renters who could be confussed otherwise. The features and Toshiba quality were a factor in buyin this unit, but frankly, you''ll probably only use the zoom when you first get the unit; it''s not something frequently used. The screen saver, especially since renters may leave it on, however, is nice. The main reason I purchased this unit is that there was a special promotion that was supposed to give you 10 FREE DVD RENTALS from Hollywood. But I NEVER RECEIVED THEM over the last 4 months. BUMMER. If the majority of your use is for DVDs, this system would be a good choice. However, if you want to use it for CD listening a lot, be careful and see my weakness commnets below.

Strengths:
Good quality and features for the money. Extra Bonus of 10 free video rentals would have been nice.

Weaknesses:
Although CDs sound very good on this machine, I was very disappointed that the LCD does not show the track or time remaining for the song. This was very annoying to me, since I often like to just play certain tracks on some CDs that now is very difficult to do. Another small annoyance, is that the black borders around a wide screen movie are not deep black, but one shade of black lighter. The Panasonic RV31 has a darker black that frames the movies better in my opinion.

Similar Products Used:
Panasonic RV31 - Returned. Difficulty hooking up digital optical cable.

Price Paid:  $119.00 from amazon.com

Summary:
I have only view one movie with this unit, but the video & audio quality seem solid. This looks to be a good basic unit, especially for the price. Have not tried the multiple formats, so cannot comment. The only surprise has really been the weak LCD. What surprises me is the default behavior of only displaying elapsed time. This is particularly annoying when playing a CD. ie when skipping forward you cannot the track number, only elapsed time. Before someone jumps to correct me, yes I know there is a button on the remote to "toggle" the display to track (and chapter etc). The only problem is the power-up state defaults back. If you do everything by the remote, this may not be a nuisance, but if you just walk up to the unit and want to check out track 8, for example, it''s annoying. My previous Panasonic A110 displayed the track number by default (elapsed time, too?) don''t remember and it went belly up, hence the Toshiba replacement. Also, when a disk is "stopped" instead of showing total time, it shows zeros. Minor nits, I know, but you really wonder what they are thinking when they decide these trade-offs. But, for the primary mission it has - playing good video - it seems to be a solid unit (though no apparent improvement over the three year old Panasonic).

Strengths:
good video quality both coaxial and optical digital out zoom component video out

Weaknesses:
odd quirks in LCD functions displayed. disc spinning slightly noisy, but not a problem from normal seating position. limited front-panel controls (no FF)

Similar Products Used:
Panasonic A110

Price Paid:  $150.00 from amazon.com

Summary:
Overall, this unit is a good value for what i paid. It has 4x zoom, which similarly prices players lack. It also has both optical and coax outs, which is nice. I had no problem at all with amazon.com, unlike these other people. These things are made in China, they must have gotten duds. As a manufacturing engineer, this doesn't surprise me, but i seem to have gotten a good one. Also, i don't think that the motor is all that loud.

Playback has been good, although the laser skipped twice during Saving Private Ryan. The picture is good, and the sound is great with my Marantz and my JBL Studio speakers. The optical out definitely provides the best sound. The remote sucks, but i have my Marantz 8000 remote, so who cares.

I tested the mp3 player out with good results. It reads mp3's on my cdrw's, which is nice. It has an on-screen display for mp3 playback, which is a step up from other players (just remember to keep names short). Wish you could ffwd and rewind mp3 songs, but i am glad it converts mp3 songs to pcm into the digital outs, another thing that other players don't always do.

my slowly growing system:
Marantz 8000 receiver
JBL S310's and S26 speakers
Sony cdp cd545 CD changer

Strengths:
features for price, zoom

Weaknesses:
somewhat touchy laser, remote (but who cares when you have a marantz remote instead)