I just recieved the player yesterday from www.consumer-direct.com and had a great time watching my first DVD movie. That's where the fun ended. When I switched to the second disc movie the player said a disk error. I took the disk out and cleaned it. Same result. I tried it with another movie and some cd's and it wouldn't even detect anyting. It would just say insert disc like i had put nothing in at all. My friend also bought one with my advice and his wouldn't even eject the first time he turned it on. I feel this may be a problem with consumer-direct because of the good reviews this player has had. I am going to return it and get a new to see if it was just a fluke. 5 stars for the performance and manual, 1 star for quality and durability.

I have had this unit for almost a month, and I'm choosing to return it. I have not had disk read problems (well, it doesn't read my CD-Rs), but I have had sync problems and odd, random disk skipping. For instance, on Judge Dredd (my roommate was watching it, not me!), in chapter 4, there's a shot of a fortress on a mountain with a caption giving the location. Suddenly, the shot plays again, but this time it's the French version, with a French title. THEN it skips to the credits! No change is shown on the front display. Using scan gets you through the problem area. Two other players I tried the disc on did not have this trouble.
That's the most bizarre example. Overall, I like the features of the player. It's loaded. But component video, DTS outputs, Dolby Digital decoder, oodles of zoom features, and no REVRERSE STEP? No remote buttons dedicated to scanning? No continuous play between the two trays? Silly omissions. And, hey, if it can't reliably play DVDs, all the features in the world won't help.

Oh, and at the risk of sounding like a lemming, the remote DOES suck.

Have my DVD player for about 2-3 weeks now. So far, it's been great!! Picture quality is superb on a Sony 31" TV. Have not noticed any problems with sound or video. Remote is adequate. If my player does not develop any problems in the near future, then this is a great player.

What a piece of crap.........I'v never seen a cheaper piece of sh** in my life....this thing weighs less than the remote that came with it.......If Radio Shack made on Optimus DVD player, i would buy it before this thing...HDCD on a piece of junk like this, how pointless.....I could go on and on and on........

3109 is a great little unit. I actually returned it for the Pioneer DV-414 b/c it wouldn't play CD-R's (needs dual pickup, which Pioneer has.) However, the Toshiba was excellent in all other respects. Great DVD picture-virtually identical to the Pioneer's, and the HDCD encoding is excellent-my Grateful Dead HDCD's sounded superb. I was hearing things I had never heard before! The problem is there are so few HDCD's out there. Overall, this is a great bang for the buck. And if you have some HDCD's, get it. It sounds so much better with the HDCD processor. However, if you record CD's, don't buy it b/c it will not play them

I purchase the 3109 3 monthes ago at Best Buy, with a price match from another store. Normally I am against buying the extended warranty but with the P.M. savings I felt it was a good Idea. So Far I have had ZERO problems with the player, EXCELLENT picture & sound, remote is usable but not well designed and the duel tray while nice is also a bit annoying when changing movies(auto starts the 2nd movie). Overall I am very happy with the SD 3109. Would also suggest looking at the Panasonic 410 unit which has DIVX feature and sold for $499 a few monthes ago and is now in the $250-299 range, probably would have been first choice but didn't want DIVX and PRICE was higher. I recommend buying a current DVD movie to try out machines. BUG'S LIFE is GREAT for video and audio and spend an extra $50 on a multi-unit remote with backlit, you'll love this player even more.

Please disregard "Lee's" posting below. Someone left the latch key off the playpen again. First he doesn't even mentioned if he owns the SD3109 or was dissatified with it and then returned it. He also doesn't say if he auditioned something better in detail...
But we all know he has a commanding knowledge of gutter English...

I've had the Toshiba 3109 for about a month. Got it on Ubid auction at a price of $289, and this seems to be the price it goes for. Do not pay more. It comes around so often.A great DVD player. The clarity is excellent, it hurt my eyes at first because it was so sharp. I have it hooked up to my 32 inch Sony via a Monster S-Video Cable, and I have found this to be most pleasing to my eyes. The sound is awesome as I have it hooked up to a Onkyo TX-DS575 (AC-3, DTS) receiver via a 75 ohm digital coaxial cable (Monster interconnects). Just for reference, the speakers are the Energy Take 5 HT speakers which I also rated 5 stars. The DVD player has given me absolutely no problems, and has been a great addition to the household. Even the tiny details of the gold connections in the back just add to its careful design. One of the best for the money paid, no doubt.
5 stars.

Judging from your website, I guess people either love or hate the SD-3109. I love it! Bought in early july (at a price that embarrasses me-Best Buy),no repeat no glitches whatsoever. I am amazed at the combined picture and sound quality. Many people at this site have critized the "build quality" and "light weight" of the player. I don't understand this. After this bonehead once disconnected his Yamaha 5-cd player to move to a new house and put it under his arm, I found it necessary to remove the cover to recover the discs. I was astonished to find 1) a drive motor about the size of my thumb, 2) an electronics card actually about the size of a playing card, and 3) lots of plastic! Wake up, people, this is electronics! You don't measure the quality on a scale! It is what the unit can do. Toshiba and others are still sorting this technology out, and we should thank god that at least there is a decided format such that we don't go through the dreaded vhs/beta thing all over again. I have seen two more SD-3109's put in use (my dad and a coworker) with NO PROBLEMS WHATSOEVER. I also have two Toshiba DX-7 video recorders that have been going strong for about 15 years. I'm glad I bought what I got. This "lip-sync" problem scares the heck out of me (mentioned by others made by other manufactures). Although I did not do a lot of comparison shopping, I consider the SD-3109 crisp in picture and sound output and user friendly. I DO think that some users may have a problem with heat. My unit sits atop the aforementioned Yamaha CD player and they are never both on at the same time. I consider the unit to be rock solid and never see any "artifacts" (if I knew what one was, apparrently I'm not seeing them!) Use an S-video cable. If your TV does not have this feature, you need a new TV more than you need a DVD. If you are a rock video fan, get "stevie nicks, live at red rocks (Colorado). Dazzeling video, sound, and Stevie Nicks is pretty easy on the eyes. The close-ups will blow you away. Thanks from Dave.

Great features, you can't beat the features/price like this one!