Toshiba SD4960? (1 Viewer)

[JasonTil]

Saw an advertisement for this player today, DVDAudio, SACD, BASS MANAGEMENT!!!!, Progressive. All of this for under $200.

Anyone heard about or seen this one? If so, where can I get one?

 

[MuneebM]

It uses the Vaddis V all-in-one deinterlacer and video DAC. I have the older model, and the first Toshiba model to actually use the Vaddis V chipset, the SD-5700. The SD-5700 is ranked at 40% in the Secrets Shootout, but the description of the SD-5700 review indicates the low score is deceiving and the player really deserves better. I think the picture quality is excellent with the SD-5700 and I assume the SD-4900/SD-4960 would be ranked even higher considering Toshiba corrected the chroma upsampling error. For the price its a great player and I'm sure you'll be more than satisfied.

If you want a player higher ranked in the Secrets Shootout then spend another $100-200 and go for the Denon DVD-910, or one of the highly recommended but discontinued models: Panasonic XP30, Panasonic RP82, or Denon DVD-1600.

 

[Jay Blair]

When Toshiba announced this player at CES, I think they gave a release date of June. The SD-5960 with HDMI is supposed to be out this month.

 

[Shawn Hoffmann]

I am also looking into the Toshiba SD-5960, but before I picked it up I wanted to see if anyone knew if this unit does the video upconversion to 720p/1080i resolution via the Component video output or only the HDMI video output. I know with the Samsung DVD-HD931 only does this via the DVI video output...

Thx for your time...
Shawn

 

[JohnnyG]

MuneebM, curious how you know what chipset this model is using??

Here are Toshiba spec sheets for the models discussed here:

http://www.nbtelectronics.com/pdf/SD4960sell.pdf
http://www.nbtelectronics.com/pdf/SD5960sell.pdf

 

[MuneebM]

JohnnyG, my bad, that was a false assumption on my part. The SD-5700, 4700, 3750, 4800, all used the Vaddis V. I was under the impression that the newer 4900s also used this chipset, however, about 3 weeks ago a friend and I opened up his 4900 and discovered it uses a MediaTek chip and not the Vaddis V. I don't know what the 4960/5960 use and I won't be making any more assumptions, but it could possibly be a MediaTek chipset. If anyone knows, please inform us.

By the way, anyone know how the newer MediaTek compares to the older Vaddis V? PQ looks pretty much the same to me...

 

[Paul.S]

Jason:

Hopefully this thread can stay focused on the 4960; there are several 5960 threads already.

This issue is thoroughly vetted in this AVS thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...highlight=5960

Short answer: upconversion is passed only via HDMI, not component.

Thanks for the .pdf spec sheet links, JohnnyG.

Love the Gladiator stills sig, MuneebM.

Anyone please post if they see an online or print mag review of the 4960.

-p

 

[Paul.S]

Anyone seen the 4960 in person or spied any reviews, print or online? -p

 

[Paul.S]

Well, early word on Pio's 578A uni is less than stellar (links below) so that redoubles my interest in the 4960.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=406104

http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/v...b6b732f0825ea4

I'm curious about whether the 4960 is going to do native DTS decoding.

-p

 

[Paul.S]

Bump.

Anyone seen the piece? A review?

-p

 

[Paul.S]

Bump.

Anyone seen the piece? A review?

-p

 

[Paul.S]

Still nothing?!? -p

 

[Paul.S]

Seems like this player didn't come out last month as announced at CES?

-p

 

[AndrewErickson]

Target.com has the SD4960

 

[John Geelan]

Be advised that the new Toshiba's including the 5960's have had their problems. Very cheap looking and also have loading problems.

Here's a note from Toshiba to stores:


Action Item
Pull All Toshiba SD-5960 DVD Players
Immediately pull all Toshiba SD-5960 (sku 6304091) DVD Players and place them in the warehouse for a sendback. This includes all sellable boxstock as well as open-items and display models.

Toshiba has confirmed that there are software issues with the product currently in our stores. They will re-ship our DC's new products within a few weeks. If any units sold to customers get returned send those individual units back via the Devo return process and get the customer into another model or a new 5960 if the new updated products have arrived by then.

The issue with the current product is that the DVI connection/software in the DVD player is not calibrating/recognizing the DVI input on some Tv's. New models received in a few weeks will be fine.

Until then, pull all 5960 products from your sales floor and place them in the warehouse with a note attached stating "DON'T SELL - SENDBACK".

Your Inventory teams will receive return shipping information shortly.

Thank you, HT. Bus
Date: 04/27/2004 1:54:32 PM
__________________


It may be worth to wait on a Toshiba.

 

[Paul.S]

Andrew, I didn't find the 4960 at Target.com after an admittedly cursory search. Do you mind posting a link?

John, thanks very much for that info. That may very well explain why it would appear that the 4960 has been delayed. It's more than a little disappointing that a DVD Forum/format leader such as Tosh is apparently having such a significant DVI-related problem on any of their players in general, and perhaps on their first uni in particular.

-p

 

[Paul.S]

John:

Upon thinking about this further, I'm not sure that the message you posted makes complete sense to me.

First of all, what's the exact source of that message and how did you come across it? I surmise you work for an electronics retailer?

One of the reasons I ask is the message's date: April 27, 2004. When I was more actively checking AVS Forum threads re the 5960 about six weeks ago, this supposed DVI issue was never mentioned.

It wouldn't be the first time that a manufacturer or "product specialist" poorly phrased a description of a technical problem, but I'm not sure this makes sense on its face. I could be wrong as I know little technically about DVI, but what 'calibration' is necessary for a TV to recognize an inputted DVI signal? Not unlike RCA, I assumed DVI was 'plug-n-play.' Could be wrong and, again, it could just be poor wording.

Finally and most importantly, the sell sheets for the 5960 and 4960 say nothing about DVI. The 5960 has an HDMI connection, but it's not my understanding that either player features DVI. Again, this could simply be a mistake/misunderstanding on the part of whomever wrote the message you posted.

Which brings me back to my question about its source . . .

-p

 

[Paul.S]

AndrewErickson and John Geelan:

Any response to my post #s 15 and 16, respectively?

It's remarkable that the 5960 recall over an HDMI/DVI issue seems to have so resoundingly impacted the rollout of the 4960 (to the extent that the 4960 rollout even really happened--the low level of response here and on AVS Forum re the 4960 would indicate that this player never hit the streets in a substantial way).

-p

 

[AndrewErickson]

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html...sin=B0001XLS4S

 

[Paul.S]

Thx, Andrew. Gotta love some search engines: search for "SD-4960," no hits. Search "SD4960," and it comes up.

Searching for the latter actually returns two hits: one listing is designated "web only" and another which is not.

Has anyone actually seen this unit fairly recently in a b&m Target?

-p