The other day when we went to rent a video from Blockbusters, we were told by the end of 2004 they would not be selling or renting any more VHS movies. Every Company would only be producing DVD players.
We went to the London Drug Store’s electrical department and looked at a Samsung, Sony and Toshiba DVD players. They were all in the same price range, from $150.00 to $300.00 CAD.
The Toshiba SD1600 was on sale for $99.00, so we decided to buy it.
The sales person told us that it any DVD’s would work on all TV set that were less than 2 years old. He also said that the Toshiba had fewer returns, and the least number of repairs. Neither my husband or I are electrical experts, and we have always had good information and service from London Drugs.
The sales person told us about the 3 electrical outlets, (red, white and yellow), and he showed us how to hock them up. In our case we could use either the back or the front of our TV. He also tried to sell us 4 more connections, that would enhance the picture more. We decided to try to use the ones that were included with the DVD Player, and forget about buying the extra ones.
We have a 1 year guarantee, that we didn’t have to send any cards back to the Company, to prove we bought the DVD. It was done automatically when we paid for it.
The box and the player were flat and light and easy to bring home. When we opened the box there were two complimentary CD’s that were included with the price, (Mickey Blue Eyes and All Good Dogs Go To Heaven). The batteries were also included and we didn’t have to worry about put them in.
Hooking It Up
My husband took out the instruction manual, (44 pages in English and the same number in French), and read what he should do.
He decided to hook it up at the front of the TV, in case it didn’t work. He attached the 3 lines, by matching the colours. We put in one CD, and turned our controller on and watched one of the CD’s.
We thought our expensive TV had excellent colour, but the DVD was even better. It reminded me of the Sony Beta tapes.
Video Settings
We haven’t tried them all yet, but there are over 400. We have used the slow motion speed, the backwards & forward, high resolution filter, a 4 power zoom picture, 540 horizontal line resolution, a parental lock, a time search, multi-languages, (I saw French, Spanish and German in addition to English), a DTS compatible, a dolby digital and an icon based on screen displays.
Audio
This has an analogue audio out put. The sound is clear and you almost feel that you are watching the movie in a theatre.
Disc Types
This is a single CD player, that you can use any disc on. This means you can also play you CD music albums.
We have a burned on our computer, so it didn’t matter to us, that this model didn’t have one.
What I Like About It
Everything is controlled by the remote control. You can pause, re-run a part of the movie and adjust the sound.
There are no ripples that you sometime see, when you are watching a rented VCR tape.
After we have watched the movie, we can see the out-takes, personal interviews, and scenes that were cut.
It is nice to not have to rewind your film, after you watch it, because it automatically goes back to the beginning.
What I Don’t Like
We like to tape TV movies, or shows that we can’t watch at the time they are shown. With any DVD player you can’t do this.
The Company
Toshiba’s home base is in Tokyo, Japan. The have opened plants around the World
They make a lot of things and their web site can be found on this link:
https://toshiba-europe.com
Please Remember
Never throw out the box or the receipt, until the one year guarantee is over.
My Conclusion
So far we are very happy with this Toshiba. The price was reasonable and it works as well as the more expensive players that some of our friends have.
If you are going to buy a new DVD player, I hope you’ll consider this Toshiba.
Thanks for reading my review.
©LL2004