Alternatives to Toshiba 520?

S

scook17

Guest
I was looking at getting a Toshiba 520 DVD player, but have just noticed it doesn't support DVD-R disks. I'm interested in the following features:

Multi-region
Component Output
Coaxial Digital Output
Play DVD-R disks
Good quality video and sound (5.1)
Priced up to £300.

I have a Toshiba 56" rear projection TV with doubly digital 5.1 surround sound built in. What alternatives are there to the 520 which can provide the above requirements?

Kind Regards,
Shane Cook.
 
Hi Shane,

I think there are two options:

Limit 9900SE
Philips 963SA

Do a search on them on this forum. Now both of them have 'faults' reported on them, I wouldn't worry about that too much as long as you can return them. In good human tradition there will be many more happy users than users with faulty ones just because people don't bother to report good things and only ask for help when it goes wrong.

So remember both players have outstanding reviews and problems reported....The choice is yours.

Regards,

Jean-Paul
 
Shane

Just upgraded from a Tosh 520 to Philips 963SA - Not sure if your TV can accept prog scan input but with a pj there is no comparison. The 963 is in a class well above that which its price would suggest.

DD/DTS sound via Dig coax to my Denon 3802 is excellent - better steering of effects and overall it just is more dynamic somehow.

Having said that you can get a 520 for about £200 - 963 is 50% more expensive and seems a lot (if you don't need Prog scan) for DVD-R compatibilty?

Cheers
 
It seems manufacturers charge a premium for SACD products, a feature which has no interest for me. The Phillips player looks nice (read a review at http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/Details.asp?RelatedID=3126), but I could only find one for £345 which makes it £145 more expensive than the Limit 9900SE coming in at around £200. For that price, you could add another £50 and get a DVD recordable. I'm therefore leaning towards the Limit 9900SE.

One question though. If I have a standard TV, does progressive scan help? I have a 100Hz TV, but it takes the standard 50/60Hz PAL/NTSC signal via RBG, S-Video or Component.

Kind Regards,
Shane Cook.
 
If your TV doesn't accept progressive scan (not simply component) - and very few do, then this feature is redundant.

Of course if you upgrade to a pj in the future then the philips is currently in a class of its own.

The Philips is still an excellent player when used with a CRT or RP TV - £308 inc vat & delivery from www.robertsons-online.co.uk.

If you can't use progressive scan then I wouldn't buy the limit player - get a Tosh 220 or Pioneer model - Check specs etc at leconcepts.com for a player that does DVD-R if this is important to you.

Cheers
 
Just had a thought - The Pioneer 656A is a very well thought of award winning player - Does DVD-R and is about £300.

Having said that - Why not a Tosh 220E - A friend has one - its an excellent picture and has component out for your Tosh TV and plays DVD-R - About £120-£130 Multi region - Bargain

Also plays MP3's

(You can spend the rest at Play.Com on DVD's!!!!)

Cheers
 
Well, I picked the Toshiba 520 because it had all the features I wanted, plus it had a number of 'gizmos' to sharpen up and produce an excellent picture. The Phillips one does as well, so I was quite impressed with it. With a 56" screen, you notice noise and poor source video quality much more, so good quality picture output is important.

However, SACD is not something that's important to me and the Toshiba 520, with very similar specs is selling for £200, so one might think that Phillips should be selling their top end model for a similar price.

I'm a bit surprised the Toshiba 220 plays DVD-R disks, as the 520, a higher model, doesn't. Looks like Tosh messed up here. I have a Pioneer DVD-R writer for my PC and want to put my mini-DV tapes onto DVD-R to play in the player downstairs. My existing (old) DVD player also doesn't play DVD-R disks, so this is one of the main reasons for upgrading.

Kind Regards,
Shane Cook.
 

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