Toshiba SD-1700 DVD Player

The SD-1700 is definitely the underdog of the DVD player arena. Make no mistake, it is a quality player, but this is the player you by for your Mom to watch DVD's with.

I actually received the 1700 as a prize for a contest I was in and at the time I didn't have a stand alone player since I was piping DVD from my PC to the Television.

The 1700 is fairly small being about half as deep as most other players. On the front are the power, eject, and basic playback buttons. On the rear are three video out types: RCA (composite), S-Video, & Component, and two audio outputs: Composite Stereo & Coaxial Digital. There is no Toslink (a.k.a optical) output on the unit which could pose problems if your equipment has only optical or if your coaxial is in use by another device.

Picture quality is sharp and colors are bright even when using the composite video. I did have to adjust the colors using the built-in menus while connected via Component video because the flesh tones where a little to "pinky" though this could have been an issue with my particular set.

The remote is a decent size and fairly well laid out. IT lacks universal functionality and backlit/glow-in-the-dark buttons. The "first setup" feature is a nice addition allowing you to configure the player to your setup without having to dig through a manual for all the settings. The display is bright and easy to see from across the room and the disk tray doesn't feel as though it will snap off when you put a disk in (it is a little noisy though).

One final note is that Toshiba's drive technology is superior as sometimes there were movies that would freeze and hang other players that played without issue in the 1700. That says a lot for their quality of workmanship.

If you can find one for $50~60 dollars, I would say to pick it up as a spare player but for near $100 I just can recommend spending that much on this beginner class player.