has anyone tried this unit out? just saw it this morning at the Costco in the SF Bay Area.

it's pretty darn cheap (not sure i'm allowed to list the price but it's less than half the price of the Panny S77) and has HDMI output along with upsampling.

i haven't sen too many favorable comments on other Toshiba upsamplers, but for the price, maybe this unit is ok for occasional movies on a "secondary" HD set?

I almost bought it but decided to look here first. Is a cable included?
Gene

I bought one today, returned my third LG LD-511

I haven't played around with it much but I can tell you -

Remote works great (not backlit however)

Puts out 480P via HDMI which is important to me since I'm using an Optoma H27

I'll be comparing this to the Oppo which is due to arrive in a few days but the Toshiba is less than half the price.

MUCHO - are you putting this into an ED display (hence, the 480p output)? definitely will look forward to your comments.

anyone try this outputting 720p or 1080i to a 1366x768 (or something similar) display?

Did some more testing. The 480P out from the HDMI cable is important because I'm using an H27 which is a EDTV projector but apparently puts out a better sharper picture with a digital imput. (Plus there is only one set of component imputs)

There is an annoying bright blue light on the tray that stays on all the time. It is easy to turn off in the service menu, but when you turn off the player it resets to the "on" position. Annoying - not a deal breaker.

You have to manually change the settings in the service menu depending on the disc you're playing for 4:3 or 16:9. Not a big deal.

Picture at 480P is great. I don't have a lot to compare it to, just the LG LDA-511 I used to own. I would say its equal.

It passes my "Lord of the Rings Test". Stupidly all three LG LDA-511 players would not play my retail extended version LOTR DVD. (A total deal breaker :D)

Sound quality is great, once you change it to bit stream in the service menu for digital out. When I say great - I mean sounds good to me. My entire audio setup was only $200 (Logitech Z5500 on sale at Dell)

Plays Divx Xvid files no problem, but it doesn't read them as fast as the LG 511 does. Also - you have to manually change the aspect raito to get the right sized picture (See above)

According to the manual it plays CD-R and DVD-R discs and I tried both. I don't have any CD+R or DVD+R discs to try. The manual doesn't mention it supports these type - it may or may not.

Later today I'll compare to the Oppo but I'm guessing at 480P the PQ will be the same. I'll try to figure out how I can compare the upscaling feature on both later...maybe take them over to a friends house.

Meanwhile - I had a great time watching the superbit version of Black Hawk Down last night.

thanks MUCHO.

anyone out there try this out on a HDTV. i guess i could try it ouf the group, but i'm leaning towards just biting the bullet and getting the Panasonic S77 since it so universally praised and i've conversed with a few S77 owners who have my Aquos who are very pleased with the combo.

On a similar thread, someone said that the 850 is identical to the 4980. Price diff about $55. Seems odd.

And someone said the component output was very good. My Z1 pj should be able to take advantage of the simple 2:1 scaling from 1080i down to its native 540p. So I think I'll try it.

AN HDMI cable can be had for about $6 (monoprice) or try pricewatch.

AN HDMI cable can be had for about $6 (monoprice) or try pricewatch.

I forgot to mention this comes with a HDMI cable. I haven't taken a look at it as I already own a HDMI to DVI cable that I'm using so I can't comment on its quality.

Alright - been busy so it took me a while. I tried out a few discs, picking ones that were not of highest quality to see if either DVD player could make a difference. I also played several DIVX XVID files and compared.

Bottom line is - at 480P there is no difference between the Oppo and the Toshiba. I'm sure when you're upscaling there is a big difference. My quest for a DVD player has ended. If you just want a 480P DVD player that has digital (HDMI or DVI) out along with the ability to play DIVX files and don't want to break the bank while doing so - they Toshiba SDK850 is the player you're looking for.

Oppo is going back.

thanks MUCH. gman - did you end up trying this out with higher upsampling rates (1080i)?

On a similar thread, someone said that the 850 is identical to the 4980. Price diff about $55. Seems odd.

That would be disheartening if true as the 4980 has fairly miserable reviews. I was hoping Toshiba would have addressed the 4980's deficiencies with this new model. If all they did was rebadge it for Costco and drop the price then at least they made it what it's worth, $79.00 instead of $139.00. I'll do a bit of research to see if this is true.

thanks MUCH. gman - did you end up trying this out with higher upsampling rates (1080i)?

No. I don't own any display capable of doing more than 480P. Anything I put through my H27 gets resized to its native resolution.

Has anyone seen one of these in a Detroit-area Costco yet? I tried to find it on their website, but came up with nada.

Hello anyone else having this problem?
Toshiba 850 problem playing dvix and mp3's on dvds
on cd-r's no problem only on dvdr's
is there a fix or is this the final word?
on page 51 in the owners manual
It's recommended you record same files in a cd-rom or cd-r?

thank you for you help
toymon :)

I picked up the SD-K580 today from my local Costco. Was able to make it region free using the procedure posted at videohelp.com for SD-4980. I am connecting it to my TV using component output (TV doesn't have HDMI). From the limited amount of time I have been playing with it, below are my experience:

- PQ at 480p is much better than the PQ of Philips DVP642, though not as good as my HTPC output using Radeon 9600 Component output

- I am able to play various DivX, Xvid, and VCD files I have , on both DVD+R and DVD-R media. Some of the files that either refused to play or played back very jerkily on the DVP642 play fine on the K580. I have not been able to figure out how to get external subtitle to work, or confirm if external subtitle is supported.

I will continue to play with it, but so far I am quite happy with the performance. Now it would be awesome if someone can figure out how to disable HDCP so that it can upscale/upconvert via component output.

The name 'SD K-850' would suggest a samsung hd-850 rebadging.

Can an owner of the Toshiba player confirm by comparing with the Samsung ?

Just picked up the sd-k850 at costco on sat. Plugged it this amand dissappointed. Started of with a verbatim DVD-R...wouldn't load. Tried a Star Wars 1 Widescreen Commercial disc ---no load...pissed off..called Toshiba. Told to unplug power and reset. Then Star wars loaded. Tried my DVD-R agin ..no load.

Here's the point...appears much more finicky than any of the other players in the house..even the $39 cyberhome in my daughters bedroom. I don't want a player that may or may not work and has to be continually reset.

I did try the 720p and 1080i on my philips 32" HDTV lcd though...and it was nice..just not nice enough to worry about if it will play!!!!

Any thoughts on why it won't play the DVD-R are welcome.
I did get one of my DVD-R's (not Divx-just video) to work, funny thing it is was made on the same computer and same recorder as the others that don't work and the disc is the same mfg...verbatim..

Hmm. . . Shaunieo, I don't have the problems you experienced at all. Weird . . . does it make a difference if your burnt DVD is finalized or not, i.e. does one play better vs. the other?

They're all finalized and play fine on all the other players I have...guess I'll return it and wait for a few months...

shaunieo,

unfortunately, i can't help you and your experience with the Star Wars disc is worrisome, nevertheless,

on your philips 32", did you see a noticeable improvement in picture quality in going from 480p to 720p/1080i? (everyone else here has only posted about it working well at 480p)

ie, how good does this upsampler work?

thanks!

Derek, I don't know if you saw my post in another thread about this model, but I could not detect a difference between 480p/720p/1080i on a 32" Sharp. Admittedly I did mostly quick tests of specific scenes I wanted to compare on vs watching an entire movie, but I just did not see much, if any, difference at the upscaled resolutions. Maybe the upscaled were slightly better, but it seemed to be more the power of suggestion to me. To me it was no better than my old interlaced Sony player (which has much better build quality). Maybe 32" is too small of a screen to notice a difference.

hmm...that's disappointing Jim.

i guess i really should just bite the bullet and buy the Panny S77 that everyone raves about. that being said, i haven't seen it myself.

what i have seen was a $600 Denon upsampler (same chip as the Panny) at my friend's house on a 32" aquos and there was a noticeable different between 480p and 720p/1080i (i couldn't see any real difference in the latter -- it was subtle) which were both better than their old cheap 480i Sony player.

who knows what i'll find with the S77, but i guess i need to look elsewhere than this cheap Toshiba.

thanks.

Derek, You can always just try the Toshiba and then return it to Costco if you don't like it. Don't necessarily take my word as definitive. I haven't seen the Panny S77 myself, but I can't help but think that I'd be happier paying more for a better built machine. For point of reference, I'm used to a nice Denon 2200 on our other set so that probably has set the standard for me.

Derek87, some people would argue that the upsampling beneifts vary greatly from tv to tv. Do you think it would be beneficial for you to borrow your friend's Denon and test it on your tv set first before you jump through the hoops? If you also have an Aquous then forget it <grin>.

hi bitpoh,

thanksfully, i have an Aquos too since my friend lives about 1000 miles from me! :)

anyway, i just bit the bullet and ordered the S77 from Amazon. i already kick myself for missing the $10 buck off sale a few days ago, so i jumped today before they got rid of the free shipping sale (not normal for products like this one)

enough said since this is after all a Toshiba thread!

JimSD: the Panny is ok as far as build quality goes, not as well built however, as my six year old Panasonic RV30 which still keeps going strong on our non-HD set. The Denon's are nice (i liked my friend's), but for my uses, it's too much to spend on this set. our home theater is currently on our older 36" CRT which will eventually be replaced in a few years with something better and hopefully, if titles become available, some sort of HD player.

anyway, thanks for all the discussion and comments.

Has anyone tried to play a JPEG file in the 1080 mode to see if it shows full resolution.

I tried it with a Cyberhome player and the results were stunning, my digital still camera pictures were in full 1980x1020 on a 37" LCD display.
However the Cyberhome player was a piece of junk so it went back.
BTW I used the HDMI connection.
Regular DVDs were just slightly better than a Philips with RGB output 480p

I think that this upscaling is not worth the trouble unless one uses the JPEG feature. Depends on the scaler in the display of course, if it's lousy then upscaling will help.
Gene

Derek, let us know how the S77 pairs up with the Aquos when you get a chance to play with it a bit.

Has anybody gone through one whole DVD movie without any freezes? I'm on my second SD-K850, and they all have the one-time freeze for five seconds that happened anywhere during playback.

Yeah - I noticed that. I'm not sure if I have made it through a disc without it...

Oh - in my case anyways - I haven't found a disc or divx file it won't play.

Yeah - I noticed that. I'm not sure if I have made it through a disc without it...

Oh - in my case anyways - I haven't found a disc or divx file it won't play.

guys, this isn't a layer change is it?

(in spite of already ordering an S77, i'm still interested in this player for friends and family :) )

I was thinking the same thing -- layer change.

guys, this isn't a layer change is it?

(in spite of already ordering an S77, i'm still interested in this player for friends and family :) )

guys, this isn't a layer change is it?

(in spite of already ordering an S77, i'm still interested in this player for friends and family :) )

Could be. I'm not too experienced in these matters...

Frequently the layer change will be somewhere between 1 hour and 1 hour 20 minutes into the movie. Is that about where you are noticing the delay? Some reviews will list where the layer change is, but not too many it seems. DVDReview.com has a page with layer changes times but it is really old. You could check that page and see if you have any of the DVDs they list the time for and see if that's what you are experiencing.

I'm having frequently problems with the 5 second pause on mine as well. Seems to be layer changing but can't tell for certain. Mine is going back to Costco; it isn't worth the interruptions.

Rob

I haven't had any problems in my short use.

What do people mean when they say "service menu", is this something extra or just the standard settings menu ?

The main thing I have noticed is that the sound out of the optical out is relatively quiet compared to my VCR, and TIVO's and old DVD player.

Tony

can anyone confirm whether this unit has multiple aspect ratios?
I currently have maxent 42 which does not allow you to change aspect ratios through HDMI.
Thanks.

Does anyone know what chipset this machine uses and who makes it for Toshiba. It seems to be made by a different OEM supplier than other Toshiba machines. It is made in China not Thailand.

OT, but i was asked by Jim to get back to you guys.

i love my Panny S77. for details, visit the Panasonic S77 thread or the thread on "how to calibrate your Sharp LCD" on the flat panel forum. else, you can PM me if you'd like.

now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

All Toshiba DVD players and the Toshiba D-VR4 DVD recorder/VCR combo use the Zoran Vaddis chip. The stand-alone Toshiba DVD recorders use the Toshiba chip. The stand-alone Toshiba DVD recorders are the only DVD machines to be made by Toshiba. The others are outsourced.
Good to see you're still alive walt, and keeping your outsource crusade alive and well. Why did you delete over 400 of your own posts? They were filled with fascinating and educational information that I believe should be preserved for future generations. Its like going into the Smithsonian and purging half thier files. Maybe you can reinstate those posts somehow.

can anyone confirm whether this unit has multiple aspect ratios?
I currently have maxent 42 which does not allow you to change aspect ratios through HDMI.
Thanks.

Yes. It does - although - not as many as say the OPPO.

Got mine today at C*&%$o. The wife has me painting this weekend. Listened to JP, with supplied HDMI interface, connected to the new SONY KDSR60XBR1 displays. Now I have The Lost World in. Not ONE glitch, KILLER image, and Sony's VD sound is sweet. :)

I am a new member, though I've viewed this site for a while. I've got a Toshiba 65H14 TV. I have a Panasonic DVD-F84. I was disappointed when I made the switch from regular TV to HDTV. I thought it would be clearer. I've had my TV adjusted by a pro and that helped. One thing I'm starting to realize is that I can see the film emulsion and that looks poor. I don't why I never see this talked about. I can really see it in dark scenes or scenes in the sky. The dark scenes in the picture Elizabeth are bad for this. So in my quest for a better picture I bought a HDMI DVD Player. I have the Toshiba SD-K850.

I hooked it up and I noticed that the image is slightly clearer. For example in Shreick I can see the stubble on the face of the prince clearer than with component. The colors are also better. What's worse is the jaggs. I have a No Doubt video and there is a scene with a wrinkled curtain in the background. In component it looks just fine, but in HDMI it has different colors that jitter in the wrinkles as the camera zooms. It's the effect that we got rid of when we went from composite to component. In the beginning of this video there are words around a picture that keeps changing. Every time the picture changes the words jitter. The words are part of a menu.

I also bought a Samsung HD755 at Target. Same thing as above but the words aren't affected by the changing picture. One thing about this player is that you can't switch from HDMI to Component without it incorrectly changing it's component output to composite and the picture becomes grainy and red.

Does anyone else have any comments about what I'm seeing? Would a better DVD player have all the benefits I'm seeing using the HDMI output and also not have the jaggies. By Jaggies I mean the stripes you see on a checkered shirt

Hello,

This is my first posting to this forum so please be gentle. :)

I recently purchased the Toshiba SD-K850 from Costco.

I connected a 12 foot HDMI cable that I purchased from the player to my Pioneer HD set and all I get is a blue screen. I have and continue to use this same cable with my Direct TV HD receiver and it works fine. Any suggestions?

As well, I used the shorter HDMI cable that came with the Toshiba DVD player and it works fine. Does the length of the cord make a difference?

Thank you for any suggestions that you may have.

Bill

It does sound like a bad cable since the cable that came with the player works fine.
try www.monoprice.com for good low priced cables that work.

Hello,



I connected a 12 foot HDMI cable that I purchased from the player to my Pioneer HD set and all I get is a blue screen. I have and continue to use this same cable with my Direct TV HD receiver and it works fine. Any suggestions?

Bill

Maybe change the settings of the dvd player so the output is hdmi...i always forget also

I bought one yesterday at the Costco in Livonia, MI at 96 and Middlebelt. It was $80 as others have said. I have been looking for a DVD player that does DIVX. I have an other Samsung 30" Tube HDTV that doesn't have DVI or HDMI, just to components. The component output in progressive mode looked great with LOTR return of the king. I don't think the scaler works through the component output. The player does come with the HDMI cable which looks like a standard quality cable (about 3-4 feet long I think), better than the cheapy composite a/v cable anyhow.

Has anyone found a hack to get scaling through the component output?

Can anyone confirm what audio inputs it has. Optical and digital coaxial?

is there macroblocking enhancement with this player. I don't think it uses Faroudja chip.

I bought one yesterday at the Costco in Livonia, MI at 96 and Middlebelt. It was $80 as others have said. I have been looking for a DVD player that does DIVX. I have an other Samsung 30" Tube HDTV that doesn't have DVI or HDMI, just to components. The component output in progressive mode looked great with LOTR return of the king. I don't think the scaler works through the component output. The player does come with the HDMI cable which looks like a standard quality cable (about 3-4 feet long I think), better than the cheapy composite a/v cable anyhow.

Has anyone found a hack to get scaling through the component output?


Since people are saying this may be the same player as the Samsung 850, maybe try one of the Samsung hacks posted at videohelp.com?

MAJOR ISSUE HERE...
The pic is a great improvement...BUT...the scaling is NOT 16:9 but 16:8ish, meaning the picture is flattened top to bottom a bit...

I've set it up for 16:9 / HDMI @ 1080i...there's no option for HDMI in setup, only component vs composite...and chose the former...

The tv is Toshi's 46H84 with the pic set for "natural" i.e. no zoom/stretch...

my old DVD player, the Toshi 3960 has perfect ratio of 16:9

Anyone notice this or is it mine alone...

thanx for all replies...

Bought the Toshiba 850 at Costco last weekend. The upscaling to 720p using the HDMI cable to my Westy 32 HD LCD looks great. Much better than the component connection. Plays most of my DVD collection including DVD+ and DVD-. But..... its has trouble playing my DVd+ 8x which are burned at 2x speed. It freezes and pixelates about every 15 sec. I am disappointed because even my cheapo Apex players can play these disks. Anybody else had the same problems? Any fixes or should it go back for a different player. I am thinking about getting the LG 511 or the Panny S77 instead.

Thanks for your replies!

Bought the Toshiba 850 at Costco last weekend. The upscaling to 720p using the HDMI cable to my Westy 32 HD LCD looks great. Much better than the component connection. Plays most of my DVD collection including DVD+ and DVD-. But..... its has trouble playing my DVd+ 8x which are burned at 2x speed. It freezes and pixelates about every 15 sec. I am disappointed because even my cheapo Apex players can play these disks. Anybody else had the same problems? Any fixes or should it go back for a different player. I am thinking about getting the LG 511 or the Panny S77 instead.

Thanks for your replies!

I just watched a 6x recording on 8x DVD+R and it worked fine...via component, not HDMI since my VAIO records @ 480p and HDMI won't auto-scale it correctly (see above post by me) and component does...haven't tested if component is better here than on my older model

Right now I have the Toshiba 4980, the toshiba 5980 and the Cyberhome upscaling player that I am comparing.

The 5980 has a beautiful picture at 480p, much nicer then the 4980 and the cyberhome at ANY resolution. However, it doesnt support Divx and has trouble with some +R media. I also dont have the remote for it, so I cant switch it to 720p or 1080i but as I said, at 480p the PQ is better then the others, so I am hoping the upscaled picture is even better.

The 4980 is really lacking in PQ. No matter what output it is set at it looks pixelated, grainy. The cyberhome looks better then it actually (but the cyberhome has its own problems other then PQ).

If anyone here has a 5980 and this new SDK850 I would love to know what you think is better. If this player offers the great PQ of the 5980 along with Divx playback, I would be very happy. I am probably going to pick one up tommorow to ad to my comparison collection, but in the mean time I figured I would see if anyone actually had compared the two.

EDIT: I just saw a pic of the SD-K850 and it looks IDENTICAL to the 4980. This makes me have little hope of it having good PQ, as it is most likely the same innerds as the 4980 as well.

I've found that the 8X DVD-Rs I burned at 8X have some skipping issues - like 7-8 times a movie. I tried burning the same media at 6X and the improvement is signifigant - maybe 1-2 times a movie which I could live with.

I did have the player sorta die on me - it could play DVDs but could not load menus - so I returned it to Costco and bought another - this one is working like a champ so far.

In both I have had they do 16:9 perfectly. However - in both I have to select the correct aspect ratio.

PQ is outstanding and I could see no difference at 480P through digital connection between the Toshiba and the $200 OPPO so I returned the OPPO.

So far has been able to play every DIVX file I have thrown at it no problem.

Hmm, well if this was the same unit as the 4980 I dont think anyone would say the PQ was outstanding.

I guess I will pick one of these up tommorow at costco to see for myself. As long as I can return it without a problem, its no big deal to me.

Hmm, well if this was the same unit as the 4980 I dont think anyone would say the PQ was outstanding.

I guess I will pick one of these up tommorow at costco to see for myself. As long as I can return it without a problem, its no big deal to me.

Well - I don't know anything about what a good PQ is - I do know people here are in love with the OPPO - and from my perspective there was zero difference between the OPPO and Toshiba using digital out at 480P.

I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the PQ.

I would suggest that some of you try to do some tests with the Toshiba. You may want to start with the THX test to see if it passes blacker than black and whiter than white. I don't think that it has motion adaptive interlacing? and I wonder how it will work at 720P or 1080i. Previous Toshiba models have not passed some tests. It all depends how critical you are. It is funny that people talk about using 480p when the reason to buy a player like this is to use upscailing. That is the beauty of the Oppo.

I think maybe there is a tiny bit of improvement over the 4980 now, after comparing them. However, if anything, maybe it is just a firmware update. These things look identical, the remotes are the same, the setup menu is the same, etc.

In a few minutes, I am going to take them both apart and compare the hardware inside.

Honestly, the 5980 is the only toshiba player that is somewhat impressing me, but the lack of Divx support and the fact that I cant see how it preforms while upscaling since I dont have a remote, are still leading me to look for alternatives.

I just hooked up the Cyberhome CH-DVD 655 again, and I think its PQ is better then BOTH the sd-k850 and the 4980, but it has trouble reading some discs and cant play some DVD menus, so that alone makes it unworthy of keeping, since all my backups, and Divx movies on DVD+R will be useless.

Goanna

If your happy with the Toshiba and just want DIVX try the Toshiba SD-6980 it will play just about anything you can throw at it. But I doubt you'll find it at Costco for under a $100.00, at least not this year.
I just tested with it the THX optimizer from Pearl Harbor, it showed all the whites and blacks. This was using the HDMI output set to 1080i to an Optomax H57 DLP projector.
I compared this unit to the Pioneer 855, and the Pioneer had problems with the H57 , so it went back. No upscaling on the Pioneer either.

Nice, thanks for the recomendation Ultramag, maybe I will check that out. I didnt see it on Toshibas website. It seems they dont keep up with adding new products to their site.

It is funny that people talk about using 480p when the reason to buy a player like this is to use upscailing. That is the beauty of the Oppo.

How is it "funny"? You have your reasons for buying a DVD player - I have mine. I own a H27 projector and it puts out the sharpest picture with a digital input. It is a 480P projector. Do I need to go on? Whats funny is your assuption.

Goanna

Try the Toshiba.ca website, I'm sure its on there.

www.toshiba.ca/web/product.grp?lg=en&section=2&group=4&product=5273&category=

Maybe its only available in Canada?
I picked mine up at the local electronics store.

I did not mean to insult you Mucho, I just feel that the main reason people buy upscailing players is to use 720p or 1020i. I do undersand that you like to use the digital output and you have a point. I probably made a poor choice of words.

According to the manual it plays CD-R and DVD-R discs and I tried both. I don't have any CD+R or DVD+R discs to try. The manual doesn't mention it supports these type - it may or may not.

What the heck is a CD+R?

What the heck is a CD+R?

I'm not sure - since I don't own any. I believe there are CD -R and CD +R but maybe its actually CD R- and CD R+. Slightly different format is all I believe.

I did not mean to insult you Mucho, I just feel that the main reason people buy upscailing players is to use 720p or 1020i. I do undersand that you like to use the digital output and you have a point. I probably made a poor choice of words.

Yea - I'm proabably a wee bit touchy on this particular topic since I went through 4 different brands of DVD players trying to find an inexpensive one that had a digital out signal. :D

I'm not sure - since I don't own any. I believe there are CD -R and CD +R but maybe its actually CD R- and CD R+. Slightly different format is all I believe.
I don't think CD+R exists. There is no such thing.

I don't think CD+R exists. There is no such thing.

So why did you ask?

So why did you ask?
Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something.

But also to get you to admit you didn't know either.

I had this player for about month. I bought it from Costco, but I had problem with remote. Frequently it did not respond when I pressed the bottons. I thought the battery is not good and changed couple times since it was doing the same thing.

In one of the case I could not playe my DivX file which plyed perfectly in PHillips DVP642. I returned Toshiba and bought Phillips 5900 from Costco Internet. It is similar to Toshiba or DVP 642 but there is no QPEL or GMC limitations. I did not have any problems yet. I have this about 10 days now..

I would like to hear from other people if they had comparison with the new Phillips upsclaing DVD player...

This player have that UGLY blue light on the tray?, i had a Tosh 4980 for a few days what a POS!!, when using HDMI the audio would have a loud screech from my plasma when watching DTS, returned it fast to sears.......junk!!
Had a LG 511 for a month, returned that too, this upconvert stuff is all hype and not worth it!!
Back to my old faithfull philips 642.......

Well, I just ordered the SD-6980 from onecall.com and hopefully it will blend the very good picture quality of the 5980 with Divx playback (and SACD/Audio DVD :D). Even if the PQ is not as good as the 5980 I am just going to keep that one as long as there are no major bugs. I have been through 4 different players this past couple of weeks, 3 of them Toshibas. Hopefully Toshiba #4 will be the keeper :D.

Goanna

All I can say is I'm happy with my SD-6980 so far!
When are you going to get yours in?
It will be interesting to hear your impressions.

I plan to finish the ceiling in my basement this friday, just in time for Christmas. I'm only listening in stereo right now, as all my speakers are in storage. My goal is to get all the surround channels hooked up before Christmas. Because I just happen to know that Santa will be leaving me some DVD-Audios under the tree to try out on Christmas morning. :D

It's supposed to be here by the 22nd, so I will have it before christmas! I got it form onecall.com.

When it's all said and done, I think I am going to write up a nice review of all the Toshiba players, since I dissasembled them all, took pics of all the internals, and compared each of them. Maybe it will help others out so they dont wind up buying 4 different ones like I did, lol.

I'm having frequently problems with the 5 second pause on mine as well. Seems to be layer changing but can't tell for certain. Mine is going back to Costco; it isn't worth the interruptions.

Rob


Here's my 2 cents: I watched Episode III when I first got the player and the layer change was it's usual two-three second self; however, two weeks and several movies later I watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, for the first time, and that layer change (if it was the layer change) took around eight seconds (unacceptable). Curious as to whether it was a problem with the disc or the player I put in trusty ole Episode III only to find that now this movie,as well, had a noticable ~8 seconds long pause during a moment of the movie far to early to be attributed to a layer change. I brought the player back to Cost Co. and exchanged it for another. One more viewing of Episode III yielded a pause free experience (except for the layer change which was ~2-3 seconds in length).
So we'll see.

Has anyone figured out how to keep that @%^*& blue light off everytime you start the player up?

dave43, the way I did it was to cut two small pieces of black electrical tape and covered the two LEDs. There is enough clearance between the LEDs and the tray to accomodate the tape so it doesn't get caught. Now it's blue light free! :)

Well I am glad that this thread exists. Just bought one of these players from Costco for my dad. It is one of his christmas presents so I will not be able to evaluate it until xmas day. However, I will be testing out this units upscaling ability on his 34" Toshiba HD-CRT.

Hopefully I do not experience any of the problems listed here. These are troubling to me. Oh well, we'll see. :o

My Costco bought Toshi k850 played a DVD-DL recording without any blip, chirp, or interuption between layers...lucky I guess...

bought the k850 from costco. Having issues playing backup dvd's. it seems as though movies that are slightly more compressed have occasional artifacts and will sometimes jump. Not such a big deal, big is getting more annoying the more I use it.

I've tried costso's sony model and the phillips 642. The sony had strange horizontal lines going across the screen in progressive mode; so, I returned it. the phillips had great pq, never had any issues with highly compressed movies but everytime I play a back up movie, would always start with subtitles on and I'd have to turn them off manually. had to return that too.

So far I think the toshiba with 1080i has the best PQ but the sensitivity of the image jumping may force me to return it. anyone know of any way to fix this?

I don't know if there is a fix, but I will surely test this out for myself as I have a few backup DVDs and a 1080i HDTV. :(

Goanna

All I can say is I'm happy with my SD-6980 so far!
When are you going to get yours in?
It will be interesting to hear your impressions.

I plan to finish the ceiling in my basement this friday, just in time for Christmas. I'm only listening in stereo right now, as all my speakers are in storage. My goal is to get all the surround channels hooked up before Christmas. Because I just happen to know that Santa will be leaving me some DVD-Audios under the tree to try out on Christmas morning. :D
I got the 6980 Today and my first impressions are very high! I can say right off the bat that it is much better then the 4980 or K850!

PQ is great, memory card slots are a very nice feature. The player itself is larger then the others and is of higher build quality IMO. In fact, I have my LCD TV sitting on top of it with no worries.

I like that this one does not only 720p and 1080i but 768p as well. I have a TV with 768 native resolution.

I havent watched a full length movie on it yet, I will do that soon, but so far it is great.

The ONE feature I liked better on the previous two models was the Zoom. When watching a letterbox film on the 4980 or K850 the zoom would go in just enough to eliminate the letterbox, and it was a fluid motion. The zoom on the 6980 doesnt seem to advanced, just a normal Zoom feature like any other player has, plus you have to hit Zoom then Select, not just zoom, which is somewhat annoying, but an acceptable annoyance though.

Well guys, just thought I would post and update.

Hooked up the 850 to our 34" Toshiba HD CRT with the included HDMI cable. At first I wondered why the signal was messed up, then realized that I had to go into the menu and change it to component instead of composite. So far so good.

I tested out two of my DVD+R discs burned at 8x, and both worked just fine. Tested a JPEG CD-R disc of my sister's wedding and that worked fine too. Sadly though, most of my DVD collection is still up at college. The only ones I have here are Saving Private Ryan, Apocalypse Now, and a couple of concert discs. I will surely check out SPR soon, as it should be a decent test for this dvd player.

Also though, so far I am not pleased with the 1080i output. I do think that the PQ is better in 480p. I will check into this further also.

Happy Holidays everyone!

I know it was asked earlier in this thread, but has anyone figured out if it is possible to disable HDCP and allow the K850 to upscale/upconvert over component out? My monitor's one and only HDMI input is used with the STB. Thanks!

I used the DVD essential disc to test BTB over HDMI on my Panasonic Plasma. This player appears to clip the signal below that. So it should go back to costco soon.

it seems u g guys give pretty good feedback for this player. I'm just wondering if it comes with hdmi to dvi adapter cuz my lcd only has dvi input. Another is does ur tv have more than 1 dvi/hdmi input? the thing is i only have 1 dvi and its connected to my stb. So if i want to utilize the hdmi from dvd do i need to switch the cable back and forth between watching tv and dvd? is there another solution such as splitter or some kind?

Has anyone seen one of these in a Detroit-area Costco yet? I tried to find it on their website, but came up with nada.


I just got one from Costco in Auburn Hills, it's by BestBuy, in the north-east corner of Great Lakes Crossing Mall. Looks good so far, tried few DivX and played all of them.

I bought this from costco hooked it up to Syntax LT37HVM using a 10FT HDMI cable. So far the best player I ever owned, throw in any disc and this one reads without a problem. Tried all kinds of things like VCD, SVCD, Different versions of XviD files on CD as well as DVD+/-R/RW, DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+/- RW with movies on them and XviD files on them, MP3, JPEG, MPG etc etc, home made videos, original retail DVD's, copied DVD's. Every single one of them played without any problems. ONly once did the system hang on me and I had to remove the plug from outlet to reset. Picture Quality on the TV at 1080i is Awesome. NOt sure if I was lucky or only the ones who had bad experience with this player have posted here.

Purchased this at Costco last evening, hooked up to a Philips 32" LCD (also from Costco) and was initially impressed with the PQ. Upscaling to 720p looks really nice, played bits of SW:EP3, Riddick and Incredibles. I was going to test with the Oppo player later today and see how they compare side by side. However after trying various DVD's (pre-recorded, DVD+R, DVD-R), this thing is going back.

The major dealbreaker is the erratic reading of DVD+R media, DVD-R seems to be okay but since I've got many hours of home video dumped to both types, I cannot accept any player that balks. The Norcent craptastic player this is set to replace plays all of this media perfectly, as do the Oppo and Xbox360 connected to our main set. I don't believe it's a burn or media issue, these were discs recorded with three different DVD burners over the past year or two.

Blue light on the front is really bright and turning off in the setup menu doesn't appear to persist after powering down. This is a really silly bug albeit a minor annoyance overall.

I may just buy another Oppo but was trying to save a few $$ as this is for a secondary set in the bedroom. The Philips DVP5900l looks reasonably and states DVD+/-R as supported media types, time to hunt one down locally and test before spending the extra money on another Oppo (and raising my wife's ire no doubt).

The major dealbreaker is the erratic reading of DVD+R media, DVD-R seems to be okay but since I've got many hours of home video dumped to both types, I cannot accept any player that balks. The Norcent craptastic player this is set to replace plays all of this media perfectly, as do the Oppo and Xbox360 connected to our main set. I don't believe it's a burn or media issue, these were discs recorded with three different DVD burners over the past year or two.

I've got no DVD+R media to play but this player has started to annoy me - so - it may be going back. With DVD-R media it plays very well but sometimes, randomly, it skips. Initially I thought it was an error in my burning process but after investigating I've found its just skiping. By playing the same section several times it sometimes will skip, sometimes not, never in the same place.

So - I'm torn. On one hand its cheap and I was hoping this would tide me over for a couple years on the other hand a couple years is a long time to live with random skipping and pauses.

The blue light issue is not an issue for me - I just turn it off in a couple seconds every time I use the player.

So far, I love this player. I used to use a Philips DVP-642/37 as my secondary player for overseas and DivX discs. This Toshiba bests the Philips in every way. The biggest difference is in the PAL to NTSC conversion. The Philips managed to put out a converted picture that was both overly soft and yet still riddled with bad stair-stepping. My region 2 PAL disc of Prince of Darkness was practically unwatchable because of this. The Toshiba, on the other hand, played this disc as if it were natively NTSC. It even looked like it was doing proper film-mode (2:2 PAL) progressive scan. Very impressive!

I have not experienced the random 5-8 second pauses that have been reported here and elsewhere. I am hoping it is a manufacturing, not design, issue. But I've only had it for one night, and while my Denon 5900 is away for service, this player will be doing duty as the primary player in my system, so we'll see.

My only gripe so far is the funny way it handles DivX aspect ratios. If the player is set to output to a 4:3 TV, it maintains aspect ratios of any DivX file correctly, from 4:3 to 2.35:1, always creating the right sized black bars. However, when set to output to a 16:9 set, it scales everything to fill the screen, stretching 4:3 material horizontally, and 2.35:1 material vertically. The only cure is to set the player to 4:3 and use the television's aspect ratio controls. Hopefully, this can be fixed by a firmware update, although it is not clear if this player can be firmware updated via CD.

By the way, despite what the manual says, this player had no problems playing DivX files off of a DVD+R, and can handle bitrates much higher than the Philips 642. It also has support for long filenames (Joliet), which the Philips did not.

I do not have a set with DVI or HDMI inputs, so I am only evaluating this player as a 480p over component unit. But so far, I am extremely happy with this player for all of my region 2 and DivX needs.

(Note: This player is not region free out of the box. Use the same remote hack for the 4980 to unlock region codes.)

I picked the K850 up and I have had the 5-8 Second pause in Monsters Inc and Batman Begins.

In batman I went back and replayed the same scene in which the pause occured and it did not pause. It appears to me to be a random occurance.

Needing the turn the Blue light off each time you power up is just so wrong. If the software is so poor for the setup screen I imagine the Firmware must have issues possibly causing the random pause.

The unit is going back to Costco as soon as I get a replacement. I may try the Oppo.

Just bought the K850 on Monday at Costco.
Put in a Blockbuster rental and the machine wouldn't recognize the disc. They the disc wouldn't come out. My husband had to literally take the thing apart to get the disc out.
Also, when he put the disc in there initially, it gave off this horrible buzzing sound out of the TV. The "pieces" are going back to Costco this week.
I'm not getting another one.
We purchased a Toshiba DVD player years ago and always had a problem with it, never played rentals well.

I have had the player for two weeks now and have experienced none of the freeze-ups mentioned here in this thread. I'm either very lucky (which would be a first with me and electronics), or I'm not trying to do something the rest of you are.

My question is this: Has anyone had the freezing problem over 480p component? That's how I'm running mine. Perhaps the freezing points to something wrong with the scaler, and only affects those using the machine for 720p or 1080i HDMI output?

All I know is, for simply stunning PAL->NTSC conversion at 480p, I've never seen a better player (and certainly not for under $100). The DivX and XviD playback also bests my Philips 642 by a mile (so long as I remember to put the player in 4:3 mode).

I had the Toshiba sd-k850 for about a month. My initial impressions were favorable, and I had full intentions of keeping it.

However, after a while, I realized that it was freezing/pausing at random parts of the DVD anywhere from 2 to 8 seconds before continuing on. This freeze does not occur at the layer change, and is not at the same place each time.

The freezing problem was irritating enough that I began seriously to consider returning it.

Yesterday, the player lost picture output on the HDMI port- which sealed the deal.

It's not the TV, since I can still see the DVD logo at power up, but when the movie plays, it just flashes blue/blank. The other video outputs from the DVD was sill fine though.

So although the player gives really nice pictures on the HDMI output (when it is working), I won't be getting another one because of the playback freeze problems.

BZ

I had the Toshiba sd-k850 for about a month. My initial impressions were favorable, and I had full intentions of keeping it.

However, after a while, I realized that it was freezing/pausing at random parts of the DVD anywhere from 2 to 8 seconds before continuing on. This freeze does not occur at the layer change, and is not at the same place each time.

The freezing problem was irritating enough that I began seriously to consider returning it.

Yesterday, the player lost picture output on the HDMI port- which sealed the deal.

It's not the TV, since I can still see the DVD logo at power up, but when the movie plays, it just flashes blue/blank. The other video outputs from the DVD was sill fine though.

So although the player gives really nice pictures on the HDMI output (when it is working), I won't be getting another one because of the playback freeze problems.

BZ
Mine has been doing this too, (the freeze). I was concerned it might be my new TV, which would have been a major hassle because of its size and everything else is so good that I'd hate to have to exchange it. (It's a Costco.com JVC 70").

Thanks for posting this!

I just bought this one at costco, I'm having the freezing too. The only problem is, that this is one of the two players that I can use with my projector.

My projector seems to be picky about which player I connect to it. It could be the other way around but I dont know. I have an HP vp6320 projector. Any DVD player I connect to it gets down converted to 480p. I'm assuming is a HDCP hand shake problem. With this player I can use any resolution 480p, 720p, 768p and 1080i.

I will probably keep this unit unless the freezing becomes unbearable.

If any one know of the new upconverting DVD players that I can disable the HDCP protection so that I can use with my projector please let me know.
In the mean time I will keep this unit, but I rather get a better unit in the $150 range. I have a DVPNS975V player that I bought a year ago and this player only plays at 640480 in my projector, what a waste.

I took my 850 back and picked up the 860. No freezes (yet) and plays my "difficult" discs with no problems. Also no bright blue light just ugly old fashioned green leds.

So, has anyone found a hack to enable scaling over the component outputs of the SD-K850 or to disable the HDCP (same effect, I assme)? Had this thing for a while and never use it because it can only play 480p to my projector over component.

Thanks,
Joel

This is the closest thread I can find with the Toshiba SK860.

I, too am experiencing the skipping and pausing at random areas on DVD's.
Some on Blockbuster rentals and other times on DVD-R's. I have a Sony NS75H upconverting DVD player that plays back the same discs beautifully, no hiccups whatsoever.

However, the HDMI handshaking between the Sony DVD player and the Optoma HD 70 seems flaky at best.

The reason I got the Toshiba was to use the HDMI output, which works very well. I can consistently select 480p, 720p, and 1080i without any issues. The projector recognizes these just fine and output is terrific. However, the skipping and pausing from the Toshiba's DVD playback is killing me and makes the watching of movies irritating at best.

Does anyone have recommendations for a sub $200 upconverting DVD player that plays back DVD+R, DVD-R, and does not have ANY HDMI Handshaking issues?