Toshiba 6915 DVD Audio/SACD CHANGER Review/Prelimary.. (1 Viewer)

[Shane Martin]

I went to Best Buy tonight and low and behond there it was.... The much talked about Toshiba DVD 6915 5 disc Carousel DVD-Audio/SACD Changer.

While I can't give any first impressions yet(the wife has the TV room filled with her friends)..

I can say this much so far:

1. It only has Optical out :frowning:
2. The bass management in the manual is vague. In fact all it lists is Small/Large. No Crossover points are discussed.
3. It won't output both progressive and composite at the same time.
4. Remote sucks
5. Plays WMA, Mp3, DVD-R, +R, RW but no DVD RAM.
6. Price $179. I'm not expect much here for this price..
6. No HDMI/DVI out and no upscaling

Things I'll learn:

1. How it handles layer changes
2. How it sounds(subjectively)
3. How it looks
4. Chroma bug or no?
5. Crossover point for Bass management purposes
6. If it has issues playing some DVD-Audio discs: I need help here with what disc I should try..

Anything else anyone wants to know? I'm your guinea pig. If it works great, I'm keeping it. If it doesn't then it goes back. I'm pretty unsure about this decision but its a one of a kind right now and the only one in Tulsa. I figured I needed a progessive dvd player and wanted universal capabilities so why not? IF I hate it, it goes back.

I will report back later, let me know if you got questions..

 

[gene c]

I went to the BB in Union City Ca today and they don't have it yet. I have been waiting for this one but I'm re-thinking things. None of the things in the "so far" column bother me including the remote (I'll use an all-in-one), but all the things in the "I'll learn" column worry me. I can't remember which discs gave the Pioneer 563 fits (I think "Tommy" was one) but I'm sure someone will tell you. At $179 I wouldn't expect too much either but it has to be good enough. If it's not then maybe the Yamaha 1500 or the Samsung (forgot the model #). It might be helpfull to know what it's replacing and how much you liked the old player. I'll be looking for your review. Enjoy.

 

[Shane Martin]

Ok More thoughts as I play:

Old player: Sony 530D. Non Progressive
TV: Mitsubishi 55413 HDTV via component
Receiver: Sony 444ES with analog outs for Hi-Res

So far:
Sacd sounds good. Unknown crossover point yet.
Remote: Still sucky. I have a pronto though
Changer noise: very little
FFWD and RWD: Unknown yet. That part is kinda clunky.. Still learning though
Display: It can fade away almost to nothing.
Color: Silver but its more like Grey. Its pretty nice but nothing special
Video: No chroma bug I can tell. I'm still learning though so who knows yet.

Stay Tuned: So far No objections. I'm going to put it thru the ringer with my discs and see how it really handles layer changes. I doubt it will be worse than my previous one. PQ is OUTSTANDING. I can get my friend to loan me his RP82 to compare if I might. He might want a changer too

I do need DVD-A suggestions though.

FWIW, This is the only one in Tulsa. They might get more. This still had the Fedex crap on it May 2004 build date.

Fire Away if you have questions. We can learn together!

 

[Shane Martin]

Ok I went ahead and played with SACD last night. I still don't know what the crossover points are yet. I am impressed with what I heard. I was hearing it pretty low volume last night so I won't make any definitive statements. SACD is here to stay though and I can say that much. What I did here was very nice.

The remote sucks though. I may be able to work around the issue I found, I may not. When playing an SACD, it automatically switches to that menu(not bad). However when I decide to stop an SACD, it won't stop unless I eject the disc. I can pause no problem. I just can't "stop" it. I haven't perused the manual much so maybe its an operator error. It should be simple though I would think.

Chroma Bug: I'll find out tonight. I popped in Gladiator and Toy Story and marveled at the differences I was experiencing. I was not seeing any color smearing at all. Everything had a sharp look to it but not overly so.

 

[Dan Driscoll]

Shane,

Thanks for the comments.

Right now you are comparing it to an interlaced player and I'm not sure how valid or fair that comparison is. I'll be very interested in what you think of the picture quality after comparing it to the RP-82.

 

[Shane Martin]

Updates:

Here is what I've found so far today:

1. The stop button thing is fixed. You have to hold down the button to make that function work. If you tap it, it will move the arrow down(if you are on a menu).

2. Chroma bug: I'm not seeing it on Toy Story 2. I've studied it hard and looked at the Secrets test several times.

3. Bass Management: I've got a call into Toshiba to find out.

Layer Change coming up next

Hopefully I can compare the Rp82 against it too.

 

[Carlo_M]

Thanks Shane! I'm debating between this and the Yammy DVD-S1500. I just DL'd the overseas manual for that one (link is in the 1500 thread) and will now look for this one online.

Do you know if it does DSD to PCM conversion for SACD?

Thanks!

 

[Shane Martin]

Carlo,
Toshiba even doesn't have a copy of the manual. Their customer service lady while nice couldn't help me much as she didn't have a manual nearby. It's poorly laid out anyway.

I have no idea.

Hopefully with this holiday weekend coming up I can play with it more and run it thru the ringer.

I've found one glitch and its odd. On Superbit dvds(I only have Das Boot and Lawrence of Arabia), the DTS spinning disc trailer pops up before the movie starts like normal however it jitters and goes slow thru this sequence and I get no audio. However when the movie starts all is normal. DTS sound and all. Since it only affects like 2 discs and doesn't render then unplayable its not a huge deal but its a bug that I've found. I'm wanting to playback some variant material to really test this things like:

Dvd -R
Dvd +R
Concert dvds

So far its handled animation w/o a hitch and Gladiator as well.

 

[Fernando Saa]

I'm looking into buying a universal player. thanks for the info Shane! now I'm subscribed to the thread.

 

[Shane Martin]

Well the one I had crapped out.

It would play DVD -R, Dvd +R just fine.

I popped in a DTS disc and tried to see if it would act up again on the newer trailer. Well it freeze framed thru it then when the movie cued up it kept dropping the audio out like crazy. Then when testing it with my Last of the Mohicans disc it froze up and gave up the ghost. I had to take the cover off to get the disc out then return the player.

No more in T-Town nor anyplace close so my run-in with Toshiba is over for now.

It could have just been the unit I had, it could have been issues with the player who knows.