HDCD

Construction
Confusing Documentation

HDCD Output:
For those who are interested in HDCD, use the Bitstream for DVD-Audio and the analog outputs for CD/HDCD audio...

Direct from Toshiba Technical Support
"Thank you for your e-mail regarding our DVD-Video players. In reply, the 20-bit enhanced HDCD signal is only passed on the analog stereo outputs. HDCD encoded CD's sound better because they are encoded with 20-bits of real musical information as compared to 16-bits for all other CDs.

Basic control with the remote is very easy to figure out without using a manual.

Purchased in June and am very pleased. For a while, I was experiencing brightness variations on all DVD's. I reconfigured my cabling, and this has gone away. Obviously not a problem with the unit. I did not think that a second tray would be of much use, but once I realized you can change one while the other was playing, I realized that it definately is a worth-while convenience feature.

I've had this player for about a month now and I'm very satisfied with its performance.These are the highs:
1. HDCD on HDCD's (I have Beck's Mutations and it sounds great).
2. The zoom feature (I only use zoom 1).
3. The dual tray system (very useful).
And these are the lows:
1. No CDR capability.
2. The remote control (It's uncomfortable and ugly).
3. The dual tray system (yes, because apart from being useful it is very cheap).

In a general dvd category I would give it 3 stars for quality, but in the sub-500 category it deserves nothing less than a 5 for price/performance & features.
So in average my rating is...

I bought this unit, as I'm sure many others did, for it's price and features. However, I'm now on my second 3109 in four weeks and may go to a third unit. It's connected to a Toshiba 32 inch tv via component video connections.The first one, bought from computersbynet.com ($316 delivered, actually arrived overnight), played audio cd's fine (no cd-r, though), but consistently failed to play rental dvds. Curious if the discs themselves were suspect as they had no scratches or visible imperfections, I took one to a local Best Buy and it played fine. So the player was returned--computersbynet was quite accommodating with this. And since they were out of stock, they just agreed to refund my money. I bought the second one from OneCall for $335 delivered. This one seems to play rental dvd's fine; I've had a couple of pixelization problems but it ultimately plays through them. Audio cds sound wonderful, especially HDCD types, as they did on the previous unit. However, when I scan between tracks the player makes a rather loud "clicking" noise (in addition to the normal beeping) that sounds like a relay powering the motor or something. There are two clicks per track advance. Worse, this actually causes a popping sound to come out the speakers if I'm using the analog outputs (optical out sounds noticeably bright). So whatever the source of this clicking, it makes its way into the audio path. The previous unit had no such problem. Also, I've noticed during several dvds (GI Jane, Armageddon, Contact) that it inserts a lot of blue lines when a bright spot is shown on a dark background. I've put this on a different television and reproduced the same problem, so the source is the player. I never noticed this on the first unit either. It also has problems with vertical lines getting wavy, as others have posted. Still won't play cd-r's.

Build quality of this 2 pound unit is obviously poor. If it didn't have HDCD decoding, I would get a different one. I'll stick with this model though, as I still believe I've just had bad luck with two units. But if HDCD isn't important, I'd recommend another player.

I've had the 3109 for a couple of months. Have it hooked into a Toshiba 50 inch TV via component interconnects and into a Yamaha V995 receiver for audio. Have not had a problem at all. My wife really likes it (she especially likes the zoom - I like the letterbox - minor domestic squabble) I own a doz or so HDCDs and really like the sound via the 3109 decoding.
I'm letting the 995 do the decoding of DVDs so I'm not qualified at this point to say how well the unit performs there.
I can't find any faults, the wife thinks it's grand, got a few free DVD rentals with the deal - what more can I want?
From A@B Sound here in Edmonton (southside) for those western Canadians that care. Decent price with a bit of "dickering"

I have had the 3109 for 3 weeks now and it is an excellent deal in Home Theater especially if you have an AC-3 ready receiver or preamp to accept its input. The sound quality of the player is very good on CD's, quite a bit better than the 20-bit Denon that I had been using for the past several years. Voices are much warmer and imaging not only has better focus but better depth than the Denon I had before. The AC-3 processing is very good and the picture quality is superb (especially through the S-Video connection).
For the price, it can't be beat. Don't pay more than $360.

Well I've had ths unit for a week now and all I can say is WOW!!! It's reproduction of video and sound format is superb. I wasn't sold on its ability to play cd's at first but today it sounded much warmer than previous auditions. This is a great plus. I suppose it may just need some "burn in". As stated in previous critiqes, it is an extremely light machine. That is not to say that this is bad. Sony's 550 weighs approximately the same as the 3109. They are in the same class I would suppose. A gentleman was doing this machine a great injustice by comparing it to the Sony 7700. If you want to compare machines to Sony's 7700 take a look at Toshibas SD 9000 and/or SD9109. Please don't compare a $499 DVD player to a $1399 DVD player. All in All this is a great machine. I find that the remote performs its job quite well and I don't have a problem navigating with it. Toshiba's done it again I give it 5 speakers.

I got it (3109) two weeks ago and here is what I like about it:The dual tray is very handy; the best option 2nd to Sony's 5 disc tray. I have the Pioneer 414 also and I think the Toshiba picture is very similar if not the same as the 414's (s-video output). The 3x Zoom feature on the Toshiba is great. Sometimes I use the zoom, at x2, to view wide screen format movies on my regular Mitshubishi 35" TV -- the sharpness is still good and you get a larger view. The audio quality is better than the Pinoneer 414 (using flat EQ settings and no DSP effects). I sense the Toshiba has better fidelity due to the HDCD circuitry.
As far as CDR support, I am 100% sucessfull with using "BTC" brand gold/light green CDRs. I burned a Video CD from my home Video (Hi-8) and it looks good (VHS quality picture). I have tried other CDR brands: TDK, SONY, VERBATIM, HP, SAMSUNG, APPOGEE, IMATION, Generics silver/silver and they all failed to work in the Toshiba 3109 (the Pioneer 414 supports most if not all CDRs I have tried. This is because it have dual laser and an Auto Gain Circuit.) The 3109 has only one laser and use dual focus to work on both DVD and regular CD. No mention in the manual that it will not work with CDR.
In summary, the features that I most like is the dual tray system. Second is the extended fidelity audio and 3x zoom option. Almost forgot, the 3109 came with coupons for 5 free DVD rental with 5 rentals, 1 free DVD with 1 purchase, and 15 free rentals from an internet store.

This message is for Eric from the posting below, or anyone that has delt with the Web Super Shop Store. As noted from Eric 2 reviews below, this product (the Toshiba SD-3109) was listed for 285.99 or so at www.theweb-shop.com. After reading nothing but rave reviews from around the way, I placed my order yesterday at this site. It would seem that these prices, at least the DVD prices BLOW, and I do mean BLOW away any prices I have seen anywhere. I was a little scared about placing my order. I am just looking for someone that has had some sucessful dealings with this company. Eric, did you place an order there? Did they send a confirmation email? Did you get any idea of a time frame of when the thing would ship? Thanks for any help anyone can provide on this matter.
Mark

Just picked up the 3109 from the Good Guys yesterday for $369 since I was waiting to receive it from Cameraworld of Oregon for about 3 weeks now (Cancelled my order yesterday!!!) and OneCall wanted $399 + S/H, so I might as well get ripped off at the Good Guys.Tried the HDCD sampling CD and the sound quality is exceptional, Checked out the 5th Element DVD,and the picture and color qualities are really good, the DD sounds are excellent.
My system: Denon AVR5700
Tannoy M5 front
Tannoy S6LCR center
Tannoy M2 rear
Paradigm PDR12 sub