picture quality, price.

remote crammed with tiny buttons

I picked this baby up for $188.00 Canadian (about $130 US) and have had no complaints so far. Every DVD I've played so far has performed flawlessly (including the Matrix). All the dual layered discs have a minor pause, but thats not unusual, or so I have heard. I have mine connected to a 27" JVC tv (through the S-video) and a Yamaha 595a DD/DTS reciever. The picture and sound quality have both been outstanding. Saving Private Ryan DTS is absoultely amazing. My only complaint (and a minor one) would be about the remote. The buttons are very small and they put all of the important ones (play, pause, stop, menu keys, etc) at the bottom of the remote and crammed in with the rest which makes them hard to feel out in the dark. Like I said, a minor complaint.
If you are looking for an quality entry level DVD player, look no further. The 1200 has all the features you will need, a great picture, and a great price. I would place it just above the Pioneer 525 which a friend of mine has. Picture quality between the two is virually identical, but the setup menu is a bit more user friendly on the Toshiba. Plus the Toshiba has much disc-spin noise than the Pioneer. For God's sakes, do NOT buy a Panasonic. Someone else I know had one of those and it crashed and burned after a 12 month run (standard life span for a Panasonic).

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none

Ease of set-up, picture quality, terrific audio.

Remote control will take a little while to learn.

I've been reading reviews and descriptions of "the major" entry level DVD players on this and other web sites for the past week, and finally narrowed down my choice to the Toshiba 1200 and the Pioneer 525. I wanted to make my purchase at a local store rather than an internet dealer, so I'd have sufficient time for an extended in home audition, with ease of product return if necessary. The Pioneer 525 has been impossible to find at any local retailer, so I bought the Toshiba SD 1200 at the nearby Best Buy store for $218. I also immediately upgraded the cables to Monster S-video and analog audio interconnects.
I got home, spent all of two minutes hooking up the deck to the S-video input of my 36" Sharp TV and the "tape 2/video" line level inputs of my NAD amplifier (simply stereo; no surround sound system yet), and popped in our first DVD, "Boys Don't Cry". After spending about five more minutes setting all the basic audio and video parameters via the small buttoned remote, we started watching the film (a fabulous movie, by the way). My wife and I were truly amazed at the fantastic clarity and vibrancy of the picture quality, and the terrific presentation of the soundtrack. Yes, I know that we have a long way to go before making intense critical impressions of the Toshiba 1200, and we'll be watching plenty of movies in the next few months. But our initial impression is WOW !!! For just over 200 bucks (and an additional very well spent $50 for the upgraded Monster interconnects) we have taken our first steps into the world of DVD enjoyment. A standing ovation to the Toshiba 1200 DVD player!! Right now, I highly recommend it. I'll update my review after a few more weeks of watching and listening.

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none

price, picture quality, features

buttons on the remote are small

I bought this on the basis of reviews, and for its price
I am definitely not disappointed. We've watched about
half a dozen discs and have noticed no glitches. The
unit is not dead silent, but I cannot really hear it beyond
several feet, and definitely not from a viewing or listening
position. I have not done any critical test of audio CDs.
They sound okay playing through my Marantz SR-780, but I
did not hook it up to my tube amp. Picture quality is
noticeably better than my laser disc player, but I gather
that's to be expected. Easy to set up and use.

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none

Picture quality, zoom feature, fast forward and reverse speeds are flawless, price

The remote is terrible

This is a great unit for the price. The picture quality is fantastic! The features are not plentiful, but adequate. The zoom feature is pretty neat.

I have mine hooked up to a Toshiba 36" tube through the s-video connection. I haven't hooked it up to a HT system yet, because my I just recently ordered all of my components...so I will have to postpone my opinion about the sound quality of this unit.

The remote is useless, but that's okay with me because I plan to order a remote to handle my entire HT system.

Bottom line: if you are looking for a great picture and a few neat features in your DVD player, give this one a look.

Like to fella below, I got my SD1200 at mobshop.com for 160.00 delivered to my door. I think they have recently gone up on the price a little.

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Excellent picture qaulity without color saturation, zoom feature, and price. Above average CD qaulity via analog. outs.

Remote is the cheapest and worst I've ever seen, audio/video outputs are clumped together on the back panel so it's hard to use thick qaulity cables, no toshlink output.

I'm going to make this review short and to the point.

This is an excellent DVD player if you do not have a Dolby Digital/dts decoder. The picture quality is superb, but I felt that D.D/dts movies sounded compressed compared to the other players above, especially the Pionner's. I figured that it might have something to do with the audio/video outputs being so "clumped" together on the back panel. If you look at high end CD or DVD players, the manufacturer will usually separate the audio/video section as much as possible.

I felt that although this payer sounded a little bright as a CD player, it's overall sound was very good via analog outs. However, it really lacked on D.D/dts tracks via digital coax.

This may be the best player on the market for someone who wants a DVD player strictly for video quality, and doesn't eventually plan on building a D.D/dts system.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic A-120U, Pionner Elite DV-05, and 525.

Great picture and sound. Excellent value.

Funky shaped remote w/small buttons.

Went to the local Best Buy and to the best of my ability compared the Toshiba SD1200 against the new Sony DVP-S360. Luckily, both players were hooked up to the same 27" Sony Trinitron monitor, so it was easier to compare them. Picture wise, I felt the Toshiba had a slightly cleaner or crisper image than the Sony, very hard to tell however, could have just been in my head. I can't tell you which one sounded better because I don't think I would have heard the difference in the store(besides, they were only hooked up to the trinitron). One thing I noticed immediately was how noisy the Sony's player mechanism was, I could hear it clearly in the store. The Toshiba's was just audible if you really listened for it. The Sony did have a better remote and price, however it just didn't seem on par with the SD1200.

Took the Toshiba home and hooked it up to my home theatre and watched The Matrix. The picture was great and so was the sound. This is my first DVD player and after experiencing it, I will never go back to the VCR again. I recommend this player to anyone that wants to get into DVD without busting the bank.

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Great picture

Remote's tiny buttons and non-intuitive layout

This is my first DVD player although I've installed dozens of DVD units in computers for customers.

No problems with any commercial CDs I've played so far. It doesn't like recordables but it states that in the docs.

I'm running svideo into a 32" GE TV and the picture is crisp and clear, the wide-field stereo is impressive.

For a little over $200 from Sears, it's a great unit. Tape is for suckers.

picture quality.

box construction. REMOTE leaves ALOT to be desired

like the gentleman below i compared the Toshiba SD-1200 against the new Sony DVP-S360. i actually bought the sony first. wasn't happy then bought the 1200. and have been side-by-siding them for a week.

on my mits 40 calibrated tube tv the toshiba blows away the sony with it's picture quality. i do think the sony had a better sound quality but not by much.

i'm very disappointed in sony's newest entry level player. question? i've been told at best buy and i've seen on the net that the toshiba version of component video doesn't play well with generic component video TVs. the Good Guys folks say that that is hogwash. any comments?

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Sony DVP-S360

Picture quality, quiet operation, "name" brand, price.

Lack of optical output, but this is entry level. Remote buttons small.

I can add little to what others have said, except to agree that this is a great value in a DVD player. First movie was the Matrix. Expected some problems, but nothing to my untrained eye. After several movies later I am now spoiled by the quality of the picture and my VHS is gathering dust.

I am connected with Monster Cables to my S-video input on a ten year old Toshiba 27". I started looking today for something larger. With the letterbox things do get small on a 27". Still, the DVD picture is worth it!

I was looking for an inexpensive way to get started with DVD, but to not short change myself on quality. This player fits the bill for me. If you are someone that can appreciate having what you need an not tons of features that are seldom used, you will like this player.

If the optical output was there, or maybe a larger remote, I would give this unit straight fives. Still, if you are looking for quality and price this is it.

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First DVD player.

Quality throughout; great video and audio, with flawless playback of numerous rental DVD's. Great customer support.

Size of remote; some of the remote features aren't very user friendly.

This is a very good player that will perform well, at reasonable cost. I tried out similiar models from Samsung and Panasonic, and ran into some quality problems with both. I then researched DVD players on the web, and decided to go with this model from Toshiba. There is really nothing I can find wrong with the player, and the quality of the machine is superlative. Toshiba also enables you to enhance the black; I find that with that feature enabled you can stay at home and experience the same rich colors and great picture as in the movie theatre.

Although the remote control is rather small, and some features could be improved upon, it is still serviceable. As a bonus, it has a four level zoom feature which, even if seldom used, is a neat feature not available on similiarly priced models.

Finally, Toshiba has a great reputation for excellence in design and quality when it comes to TV's and VCR's. This DVD player seems to be cut from the same bolt of cloth.

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Samsung 611, Panasonic RU30