Toshiba SDV-592 DVD Player / VCR Combo

I have a Toshiba DLP television (52HMX94) that I wanted to get the most out of without going to crazy on spending towards a DVD player. An upconverting player is what I was looking for. My TV has 2 HDMI inputs so I wanted to utilize one of these ports for a digital signal. At the same time I wanted to save space on my TV stand by having a DVD/VCR combo player.

Toshiba solved all that for me with this DVD/VCR combo player.

The player puts out a great picture especially when upscaled to 720p or 1080i. Even the VCR portion puts out a nice picture, much better then I expected on a 52 inch TV! The picture through HDMI looks great, colors are vibrant and dark scenes look great. I haven't had any dithering or pixel problems yet which is great, even during some fast moving scenes I watched. Through component the picture looks great as well, my wife can't tell the difference. To be honest, I have a hard time as well but with some movies I can see a slight difference.

Along with the HDMI output this player can also output through Component, S-Video and composite. Another nice feature (which I think most DVD players now have) is the ability to output digital audio through either coax or optical. Some players only have one way to send the digital audio out.

The player has your typical menus and modes and is fairly easy to operate.

The HDMI and resolution buttons are on the player only, which doesn't make much sense but also doesn't bother me too much. I have it set now and don't plan on changing it in the future so it's not a big deal.

The remote is decent, with the buttons I use the most in easy to find places when the room is dark. The primary buttons (play, stop, etc..) are large and glow in the dark.

It has played everything I have thrown at it so far. DVD's, DVD R's, and CD-R's. Along with these formats: DVD, VCD, and SVCD.

Sometimes it takes a little long for a DVD to load up but it isn't a huge issue, just longer then normal. My only other complaint would be that whites through HDMI seem very bright, I adjusted my TV to correct this though.
One other issue is that the picture is shifted to the left through HDMI, this is a problem with the TV I believe and am working with Toshiba to correct it.

UPDATE: The picture being shifted to the left is because of the DVD player. I'm working with Toshiba to resolve this, hopefully a firmware update will be issued. They have had other calls about this as well so I'm keeping my hopes up that they fix it because I really like this player.

Update 3/9/05: It seems that the problem is with the upconversion process, because it happens when I upconvert a non-copyright protected DVD. The Toshiba rep I worked with was the supervisor in that area, his name is Andy. He tested this and verified that is was indeed the DVD player. I haven't heard back from them about a firmware update or other fix and I don't expect to. But I'm happy enough with the picture the player gives me via component cable and 480p, it will do just fine until HD-DVD players come out.