Toshiba SD-4990 Vs. Phillips 5960 Upconverting DivX 6 players!!

Originally Posted by disgruntled1

IMHO, the Philips 5960 is fundamentally flawed due to the following scenario....

- You are using the HDMI output with resolution set to 720p or 1080i resolution.
- You are playing a 4:3 DVD.
- Your TV does not let you select Normal (pillar-boxed) aspect ratio for 4:3 pictures received via HDMI at 720p or 1080i resolution. AFAIK, most HDTVs fall into this catergory. At least the Sony and Samdung RPTVs do.

The result is that for a 4:3 picture via HDMI the picture is always stretched horizontally. Most other HDMI upconverting DVD players, such as Sony and Panasonic, have a setting (Normal or Full) that lets you choose how to deal with 4:3 DVDs in case your TV won't let you.

As for PQ from the Philips 5960...its not too bad but not spectacular. HDMI seems to be a little better than component. I think the Sony and Panasonic upconvert players are a bit better though. Other nitpicks about the Philips 5960: the remote sucks, no open/close button on remote (but pressing the stop button for 2 seconds opens/closes the tray), no digital optical output, pressing play or eject on the unit doesn't power it on, the thing is so light that if you press a button on the front panel the whole player moves. Another shining example of the cheapening of CE that is so prevalent nowaday.

P.S. It plays PAL discs on an NTSC TV just fine and there is a working region-free hack posted on www.videohelp.com

Originally Posted by anandxxx

Has anyone done a shootout yet? I bought the Toshiba, but returned it after 29 days and 23 hours. Now I have the Phillips 5960. And I hate A-B'ing stuff so much that I didn't do rigorous tests on upconverting or DivX playback (my main concern) with either one. But I can say that the upconverting on the Phillips is ass. My HDTV does better with a 480P signal. But you CAN view pictures (slowly) in 1080i, which is pretty cool. I actually FORGOT to try the feature at all on the Toshiba (I don't really care about upconverting, anyway).

I'm most interested in the DivX/XviD/what-have-you playback. The Toshiba did pretty well. It played more than the Phillips DVP642 (or whatever, the earlier model), but not TOO much more. The new Phillips also plays more than the previous Phillips, but still not everything. It still doesn't play QPEL (although it plays a few frames at a time, then pauses, then plays a few more, AND it can actually play smoothly in fast-forward mode).

Also, the Toshiba is about 20 bones more. And HDMI cables are a total ripoff. That is all.

This is pretty scattered, because I wrote it in a hell of a hurry. Anybody more detail-oriented have anything SUBSTANTIAL to add to the debate, unlike me?

Maybe I'll just get the Phillips DVP3040 (DivX 6, no upconverting)...

Originally Posted by toolazyforalogin

I am in the same predictament here.....the Toshiba SD-4990 vs the Philips 5960 - I'm on the fence....I currently have a Philips 642 and it plays everything I've thrown at it.....pal/ntsc - divx xvid vcd etc.....the one thing that I CAN'T STAND on the Philips 642 is that you can only FF at 8x - does anyone know how fast you can FF on either the Toshiba SD-4990 or the Philips 5960 - for me....this is the dealbreaker......

In addition the 5960 has USB input so I can throw divx files on a jumpstick w/o the need to burn a RW disc everytime......the problem is that some users on videoh$%lp claim the DD 5.1 doesn't work? Can that be true? idk.....

Thanks for the help. It's much appreciated.

Originally Posted by toolazyforalogin

I am in the same predictament here.....the Toshiba SD-4990 vs the Philips 5960 - I'm on the fence....I currently have a Philips 642 and it plays everything I've thrown at it.....pal/ntsc - divx xvid vcd etc.....the one thing that I CAN'T STAND on the Philips 642 is that you can only FF at 8x - does anyone know how fast you can FF on either the Toshiba SD-4990 or the Philips 5960 - for me....this is the dealbreaker......

In addition the 5960 has USB input so I can throw divx files on a jumpstick w/o the need to burn a RW disc everytime......the problem is that some users on videoh$%lp claim the DD 5.1 doesn't work? Can that be true? idk.....

Thanks for the help. It's much appreciated.

Originally Posted by Jim McC

Is it true that the 5960 stretches 4:3 DVD's and you can't avoid it? If so, I'll pass on the 5960.

Originally Posted by dr0s

If your DVD is encoded as 4:3 (or letterboxed in a 4:3 window), and you use an upconverted resolution, then indeed it automatically goes into stretch mode. This is very common among inexpensive players, for those that avoid it look for a pillarboxing mode (such as the Oppo 970 has).

That said, there is a way to avoid the stretching on the Philips, namely use 480p instead of 720p or 1080i. This takes one or two pushes of a front panel button. You of course lose any advantages of upscaling for such DVDs, but the quality difference is often minimal on 4:3 material (like old TV shows). - DR

Originally Posted by toolazyforalogin

I continue to use 1080i but put my tv on 4:3 mode instead of 16:9 and nothing is stretched.

Originally Posted by dr0s

I can do this on my set too, but it cuts some of the image off at the sides (not as much as 4:3 clipping of a widescreen image, but a nonnegligible amount), so I prefer on such films to just go back to 480p. - DR