Toshiba SD-350e OR Samsung Dvdhd950

kingtj

Established Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2005
Messages
514
Reaction score
29
Points
157
Location
Coventry
Hi,

Looking at these dvd player's to go with lcd screen, connected via dvi.
Can get the Tosh for £79 delivered from play.com & the Sammy for £120.
If i get the tosh i think i'll need to get a hdmi to dvi lead (incl with the sammy)

Which would be the best buy ?
 
If its on price then what about the Samsung 850 which is approx £90 and comes with all the leads. PQ wise its the same as the 950 from what I've read the difference being 850 does not handle SACD and DVD audio which to be honest is not worth the bother anyway given the availability and price of these discs.
 
Go for the Tosh...PJ
 
Why the tosh, was just wondering because i was considering the 850 over the tosh as it has an optical out, the tosh350 only has digital audio output over coaxial. Is pq better with the tosh?
 
Also has anyone done a test to see whether these budget DVD upscalers do a better job than something like a Z3/Z4 proj? I suppose the main problem for this comparison is that not all the DVD players offer 576p over HDMI(AFAIK, I don't own one yet) you would have to switch to component to allow the projector to do the scaling, but then your not really isolating the scaling aspect of the process.
Any opinons would be good to hear but I guess the projector central reviews will clear this up a bit more. I know people don't always agree with there reviews but they usually go into a decent amount of detail.
 
Samsungs (745,945,850,950) are pretty good for the money (check out the many many positive threads on this Forum). Don't just take one word on the issue look around.

The catches are - manual selection on PAL/NTSC, blacks could be a little better but you need to spend quite a bit more for better.

:smashin:
 
paul_mowbray said:
Why the tosh, ...

Because I'm unimpressed with the Samsung 745. The pic is too soft. The Tosh did well in a recent review I read, but there again so did the 745!!...PJ
 
Fair dues, I guess the only way to know for sure is to use your own eyes with it hooked into your own system, there are so many variables with these things but appreciate your comments.
 
PJ, do you find that your projector does a better job of scaling the image to 1280x720 than a 100quid DVD player with an upscaler? Again, display system dependant but wondered what your experience was?
 
I wouldn't recommend the 950 if you want a good piccy :(
 
Nic Rhodes said:
I wouldn't recommend the 950 if you want a good piccy :(

I would disagree, but then again thats what these forums are all about :rolleyes: I'm running 1024x768 anamorphic out of the scart via scart to component splitter (which isn't documented in the manual) and I get a fantastic picture (direct from component RCA output which many of you including me have seen is no way as good), sharp, good detail and the colours are great, would def recommend it for the money.
 
paul_mowbray said:
PJ, do you find that your projector does a better job of scaling the image to 1280x720 than a 100quid DVD player with an upscaler? Again, display system dependant but wondered what your experience was?

I can see no difference, though I have to admit I tend to mainly let the DVD player do the upscaling - I always use 720p.

I was never happy with the Samsung PQ on any res. Also I wasn't too impressed when I found out they deliberately make the component output look poor to make the HDMI/DVI output seem better...PJ
 
so is the SCART output bypassing the dumbing down caps in the component RCA line?
 
Nic Rhodes said:
so is the SCART output bypassing the dumbing down caps in the component RCA line?

I haven't tried but I think I read the SCART is bypassing the caps...PJ
 
paul_mowbray said:
Also has anyone done a test to see whether these budget DVD upscalers do a better job than something like a Z3/Z4 proj?
I've used a Samsung HD850 and a Pioneer 575 with my Z3 projector. The Samsung through HDMI and the Pioneer through Component.

The Samsung was far superior through HDMI than the Pioneers component. Absolutley clear which was the better picture.

This may well be down to the Z3's component stage which others have commented is particularly poor.

In summary, I'd recommend the 850 over HDMI and would also recommend any Z3 owners currently using component to try a HDMI player to this projector.
 
PJTX100 said:
I haven't tried but I think I read the SCART is bypassing the caps...PJ

The scart does bypass the snubbing capacitor.

PJTX100 said:
I can see no difference, though I have to admit I tend to mainly let the DVD player do the upscaling - I always use 720p.

720P i'm afraid is only marginally better through scart as the frequency response is still not that good. However 576P, 768P and 1080I on the other hand is very good and you will notice a big difference. If I where to output 720P i'd have to use hdmi with my HD950, but my plasma is 1024x720 so 768P is great for me.
 
leeboy22001 said:
The scart does bypass the snubbing capacitor.
OK thanks.


leeboy22001 said:
720P i'm afraid is only marginally better through scart as the frequency response is still not that good. However 576P, 768P and 1080I on the other hand is very good and you will notice a big difference. If I where to output 720P i'd have to use hdmi with my HD950, but my plasma is 1024x720 so 768P is great for me.

I tried all res's on the 745 but none gave me the sort of detail that the 575 was giving via component. The Oppo does give me the detail I was hoping to get with the 745.

Just one other point, by the looks of it you are saying that the Samsungs also upscale through SCART as well as component/DVI/HDMI?...PJ
 
getting a good picture out of the 950 shouldn't be this difficult :(
 
OK, thanks for your reply's.

I'am edging towards the Tosh, but if i get it i will need a hdmi to dvi cable.
This is inc with the Sammy.

Found these:

http://www.avlink.co.uk/detail.php?m_id=1030

http://www.lindy.com/uk/catalog/14/04/02c/index.php

http://www.futureshop.co.uk/profigold-pgv1102-dvi-to-hdmi-cable-2m-p-199.html

http://www.astarsolutions.co.uk/pro...vi cables&OVKEY=dvi hdmi cable&OVMTC=standard

As the Tosh is only £79 i don't want to spend a fortune on the cable, but like wise i want a fairly good one.
What do you think of the above ?
OR has any one got other choices ?

Thanks
 
PJTX100 said:
I tried all res's on the 745 but none gave me the sort of detail that the 575 was giving via component. The Oppo does give me the detail I was hoping to get with the 745.
You've probably done it, but have you increased the sharpness settings in the setup?

PJTX100 said:
Just one other point, by the looks of it you are saying that the Samsungs also upscale through SCART as well as component/DVI/HDMI?...PJ

Yes the sammy does also upscale via the scart connector
 
kingtj said:
OK, thanks for your reply's.

I'am edging towards the Tosh, but if i get it i will need a hdmi to dvi cable.
This is inc with the Sammy.

Found these:

http://www.avlink.co.uk/detail.php?m_id=1030

http://www.lindy.com/uk/catalog/14/04/02c/index.php

http://www.futureshop.co.uk/profigold-pgv1102-dvi-to-hdmi-cable-2m-p-199.html

http://www.astarsolutions.co.uk/pro...vi cables&OVKEY=dvi hdmi cable&OVMTC=standard

As the Tosh is only £79 i don't want to spend a fortune on the cable, but like wise i want a fairly good one.
What do you think of the above ?
OR has any one got other choices ?

Thanks

Wouldn't spend over the odds on hdmi to dvi cable, unless you are using lengths of 10M or so as very cheap cable will probabyl give you picture drops-outs. I've used http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/endecaSearch/partDetail.jsp?SKU=4895654&N=401 from farnell and was great. Don't forget this is digital transmission, not analogue, so don't get fobbed off with expensive cable saying it will improve picture quality... it won't.
 
I believe the Tosh and the Samsungs share the Zoran 7 chipsets so I guess performance should be similar. Which one looks best and is better built could be the simple decider !
 
leeboy22001 said:
You've probably done it, but have you increased the sharpness settings in the setup?

On the 745? I never managed to find a sharpness setting on that player.

leeboy22001 said:
Yes the sammy does also upscale via the scart connector
OK interesting I may give that a whirl sometime...PJ
 
PJTX100 said:
On the 745? I never managed to find a sharpness setting on that player.

Thats interesting. I've now looked at all the manuals for the HD745, HD850 and my HD950, and the HD950 is the only player that has a quality picture setting under display setup! can control black level on/off is in all the other models, but on the HD950 you can also adjust brightness levels, colour saturation levels and sharpness levels! So sounds like theres a few more features added to the HD950 other than it being black, its display colour and the DVD-A/SACD support!
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom