Ok, so I picked this up last night because it was all Best Buy had as far as HDMI players. I had read many poor reviews about the 5960 and 5970, and figured this would be no different. Boy, was I wrong! Now I'm not much for giving detailed reviews (I'd rather spend my time watching movies), but here is a very, very quick rundown of this newly remodled unit.
First things first, Toshiba included an HDMI cable!! I had bought a Monster Cable Ultimate HDMI Cable for $149. I did some swapping between the two and found no difference at all, honestly!
Second, the remote has range! At least 14 feet which is what my bedroom allows for testing. Response time on the remote is nothing like what I read about on the previous models' reviews. Now it could be a tad faster, but nothing worth complaining about. It even has an HDMI button you can press to switch between 480p, 720p, and 1080i.
Third, the video quality is great! The Incredibles never looked so good! Liv Tyler on Lord of the Rings never looked so good! Even Jenna Jameson never looked so good, or her three girlfriends!!
Oh, and they all sounded awesome too!
And finaly, the MENU for the setup is easy and user friendly. There are a lot of abrevieations so you initialy have to go to the manual to find out what they mean.
Overall this is a great "gap filler" while we wait for HD-DVD players. I'm sure you might get a bit better quality and more options from a high price DVD player, but at $149.99 this is a bargain, especialy since there is a HDMI cable included!
I know my recomendation here isn't yet worth much, but I'd recomend you at least try it. It really seems like a big improvement from what this model used to be. I think Toshiba was listening to all the complaints everyone had!