Toshiba SD-5970 DVD Player

My second upsampling DVD player for review. See also my reviews of the Samsung 841 (http://www.epinions.com/content_178440343172) and the Denon 2911 (http://www.epinions.com/content_178441522820).

As with the Samsung, this player produces a picture somewhat better than a standard progressive DVD player with 480p output, but it is unclear that the upsampling produces much benefit over just a 480p progressive output -- when the DVD connects digitall to a good TV with decent upsampling. Essentially I can't tell the difference between digital 480p and 720p going to my TV. However, it seems to be worth using the digital hookup - HDMI for this player.

As with all upsampling DVD players, the upsampled signal is only available on HDMI (with HDCP), and the component output is limited to 480p analog output. This is a restriction imposed by the DVD licensing bodies to "close the analog hole" to protect the content. If you have an older HDTV without HDMI (or DVI with HDCP), you'll only get 480p, and you might as well not bother with an upscaling DVD player at all.

The remote control is poor. The controls are unintituive, and some important functions are buried in the menus.

I have the identical black-level problems with this DVD player as with the Samsung - some DVDs have shadows and dark content that just all fades to black. It can be recovered with dramatic tweaking on the TV contrast and brightness, but shouldn't be necessary. It happens with both digital and analog connections, and with 480p and 720p resolution. It could be the DVD itself, not the player - it is hard to tell. Especially when two different players behave the same with the same content.

I didn't test SACD or DVD Audio, but the standard movie soundtracks via toslink optical digital connector sound exactly as good as any other player with digital sound connection (unsurprisingly). (Note that another copy protection limitation prevents SACD and DVDA from (unencoded) digital output, so you'll have to hook up analog 5.1 connections to your receiver to enjoy these media. The alternative is to find a receiver with HDMI inputs; in theory at least, the high-def audio can be output on HDMI with HDCP, and presumably a suitable receiver could decode it to analog, but in early 2005 there certainly aren't many of these receivers available!

Build quality is typical for a sub-$200 player. Lots of plastic and cheap pressed metal. The Samsung 841 is much nicer for a similar price, with a clean brushed aluminum front panel.