Toshiba SDV-592 DVD Player / VCR Combo

What a surprise, this one was. I became curious over the concept of an Upconverting DVD player which is a rather exclusive HD market item, combined with of all things an dated Video concept the traditional VCR. The idea plays out well and does offer a combined unit, for a good price.

First, I was really pleased at the player, of which my review of the Toshiba SD-5970 only gave it a descent score due to picture quality, the poor thing was slow, and lacking any other qualities. Poorly made and weak in areas Toshiba was strong. Now this I figured was the same player just in a combo unit. It may well be, specs are similar, but somehow it just works better. It retains the nice picture quality of the cheaper Toshiba single disk UPconvert player while seeming to actually function with a more solid feel First let me explain what UPconverting or Scaling is and what it can be used for.

To quote myself, this explains best I can easily what it will do for you and your TV.

" WHAT IS SCALING, UPCONVERTING UP-conversion? This is an ability to increase resolutions beyond the 480i and 480p, of present standard DVD players up to 720p, 1080i which the effect equals a 3x sharper picture on and only on a HDTV.
Thus making your DVD look near to the quality of a HD broadcast show. Like HDTV the newer movies, and shows seem to fair better at this. While not true HD it sometimes looks as good or even better. UPconverting in almost all cases, requires either a HDMI or DVI port on the back of your TV. Please make sure and check for that. "

HDMI is the format of the future, allowing a PURE digital signal to be sent from the DVD to the TV. Both audio and video are carried thru this with excellent results.

That aside back to this player. The body is silver, looks nice, BUT PLASTIC CITY HERE, no heavy structure, no solid feel. Toshiba ??? Where are your solid players?

Now the remote......... well, here again like the SD-5970 it's sibling, the remote lacks, has poor response and overall is hard to use, despite the larger than normal buttons? Another area Toshiba once excelled at was remotes.

And the picture , first let's take a look at the fact this is also a VCR, to use that, one has to connect not with the HDMI output, which offers a high quality picture, you can only use the traditional RCA or coaxial plugs. Nothing there. The VCR does work fine, has average functions, and is quite generic.

1. Dubbing on the VCR from DVD is fine, unless it is copyright materials.

2. VCR offers Timer with 8 Events within 12 Months

3. VCR is 4 Head Hifi unit.

What that totals out to is an average VHS player.

Now the DVD which offers HDMI UPconverting abilities, has some descent specs, as well as when playing appears to have
a good color range and some degree of black PLUGE, which means the player can separate colors of black and ALLOW more details.

What I find odd, is why this a combo unit does seem to work much better than the exact same thing in a single disk unit, the opposite situation is almost always the case. the advantage here is if you do need a VCR or want to save space, then this by far, is a better choice. IT IS A BETTER choice period, than the Toshiba SD-5970. This version is ALSO less moody than their other UPconverting player.

The quick and easy here, is while I did say it saves space if you want or need a VCR also, the simple fact is if not compared to other UPconvert players, you have extra bulk here, and quality not on the level of Samsung, and for sure not Denon nor Panasonic. What makes it worthwhile is it's price and picture, which the later comes in at a very good level.

Just do not expect the player to respond quickly, as most nor expect anything special in the area of picture adjustments. And with the added VCR you do not even come close in price to the single disk, Toshiba UPconvert player, which is best avoided, and much cheaper is the Samsung DVD-HD850, and it is a real winner in this price range.

BOTTOM LINE HERE IS, this is as Good as it gets for Toshiba in the fast growing UPconvert field. It seems to be a far superior to it's sibling product. There is the VCR which plays well. There is a slowness in the player. A lack of remote response. The HDMI connected to a HDTV, offers an very nice picture while in DVD mode, expect nothing close out of the VCR. Another additional Plus,is the Audio on the unit sound does well, and offers good quality, another MAJOR MINUS, is this player seems to not want to play many formats at all. I tried a DVD-R and a DVD R both not working with the unit I have. So whatever is listed at Toshiba's site, just assume it will play rented or bought copyright DVDS, this is NO universal player.

Buy this only from a dealer, MAKE sure it has a warranty!
Buy this only if you have under 200.00 to spend on a VCR & DVD player and want the UPconvert ability, and are in REAL need of a VCR. The only possible other advantage is space if one is in a tiny metro apartment.

The reasons I am recommending it, are only due to picture quality of the DVD being used with a HDTV and the PRICE point has now dropped from 200.00 and can be found as low as 150.00. Not bad for any combo unit. However as I said, if you do not need the VCR buy the Samsung DVD-HD850, at now the same price. It just offers so much more with the player, and the picture is more adjustable, as well as the unit more solid. Durability was rated low because of over use of plastics making it a risk in any stacked Home theater, and prone to easy damages.



TOSHIBA IF YOU ARE LISTENING!! , please put some metal back into the unit, and some thought into a remote, and what happened to your Navigation Controls, which offered so many picture adjustment options, people paying this price deserve those. If you can make your player a bit more responsive your UPconverting more stable, you have something here unique! Maybe firmware could help a bit. But again let's have some feel of quality back. Plastic is fine in moderation, not in the whole unit!

I called it's sibling Toshiba product a MIXED BLESSING due to the extreme plus minus factors, this unit " exceeds " the SD-5970 in that same description. The whole Toshiba experience has left me somewhat mystified. Usually a product is either bad or good, not such variations of both.

The Player was tested on the following for a period of 48 hours. Non stop for heat and picture decay, and did well there. In 3 days of hard use, it was still playing. Off and on, was not effected, it was slow to start with.

SONY 50" HDTV Grand Wega LCD a Hitachi 60" LCD a Sanyo Widescreen 30" CRT HDTV. It was also tried on a SONY 27 & 32" CRT Wega 4:3. The DVD did best on the HDTV models, and the VCR on the CRT Tubes.

The player was also tested with a DVI to HDMI converter and converting cable , with no loss of audio or video quality.

Readers, other items that may interest you are:

Panasonic DVD-S97S - HDMI
Denon DVD-955S - DVI & HDMI
Denon DVD-755S - DVI
Samsung DVD-HD931 - DVI
Samsung DVD-HD841 - DVI
Samsung DVD-HD850 - HDMI
Toshiba SD-5960 - HDMI
Toshiba SD-5970 -HDMI
TOSHIBA SD-5980 -HDMI " A MUCH IMPROVED UNIT JUST RELEASED! "
Samsung DVD-HD941 - HDMI
Toshiba SD-V592 DVD-VCR Combo - HDMI
Denon DVD-1910 - DVI
Denon DVD-2910 - DVI & HDMI
Denon DVD-3910 - DVI & HDMI
LG LGDVB418 - HDMI
Norcent DP-501M - Component Connection