Toshiba listened!! The SD-5980 is a solid HDMI player!

Halen · 04-28-2005, 02:47 PM

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!

Rich Malloy · 04-28-2005, 03:19 PM

Halen, I've got a Tosh SD-4900 that I use for multi-region and PAL>NTSC conversions. Do you happen to know whether the 5980 is hackable in the same way?

Halen · 04-28-2005, 04:21 PM

Sorry Rich. I just got the player yesterday. I really wouldn't know. Honestly I don't know much about hacking DVD players anyway. I'm sure someone else here could chime in if it is even possible on this type of player.

Again, sorry.

John S · 04-28-2005, 04:32 PM

I'll have to look at one.

Is the build quality any better than all the junk in this price range? Now that would be worth something to me...

I love my Zenith, but man, light flimsy trays, basic basic cheapo computer level drives / transports???

I'm just used to better equipment in general than these modern DVD players.

Halen · 04-28-2005, 04:52 PM

I'd say it's still kinda "cheapo" stuff. Although I'd also have to add that it is on the upper end of the "cheapo" stuff. It still is pretty darn light, and the transport is computer quality. But at this price range I'm guessing it's hard to find something built like a tank without sacrificing some major options.

Like I said John, it will fill in the gap from now until you purchase an HD-DVD player, which looks like a smaller gap everyday.

**HTF Ads**

John S · 04-28-2005, 05:05 PM

"Upper end of the cheapo stuff" Classic... Thanks for the review / impressions.

Kelly Grannell · 04-29-2005, 07:24 AM

I would LOOOOVE to buy a Toshiba (friends and family discount thingie), too bad I'm completely turned off by this brand.

My first gen and 2nd gen DVD players died after 1 month out of warranty, my protable 7" DVD player (the red coloured one) have to be replaced 4 times in 3 months, another lowest end DVD player from Toshiba also died within 3 months, they replaced it with a new one, then died again in less than a month, they replaced it again... I sold the brand new replacement on eBay immediately.

At the same time, my Panasonic DVD-A300 from 1997, Pioneer DVD/LD combo player (1998), Sony 550 (around 1998), Panasonic RV-22, 32 and RP56 (all more than 3 years old) are still going strong. I gave them all away (now I have a new set of DVD players, almost 2 years old) and they are still playing movies with no problem (at least according to the people I gave those DVD players to)

Their track record on my personal experience is worse than Samsung (my husband got his HDTV replaced more than 3 times in 2 years because they can't fix it, and in the end Samsung actually issued him a cheque for the price of that TV)

Halen · 04-29-2005, 08:26 AM

Dang Kelly, I guess it's a good thing you get a discount, huh?

I've been using this player everyday as soon as I get home from work (except for during Houston Rockets playoff games), I've seen "The Two Towers" & "Return of the King" back to back on Wednesday evening/morning. Not heating up problems so far. It is much too early to tell how it bode in the long term, I hope Toshiba redeems themselves a bit with this player.

dpippel · 04-29-2005, 09:42 AM

Secrets just posted their testing results for the SD-5980 HERE.

John S · 04-29-2005, 09:48 AM

Looks like a dang solid player for films (most imprtant to me).. Looks like a winner for the price.

dpippel · 04-29-2005, 11:02 AM

It's too bad that, according to the Secrets evaluation, the SD-5980 clips above white and below black informat