Toshiba sd330e

[mobily]

Hello all,

After reading many magazines it would seem that this dvd player is extremely well thought of. Since it can be bought for about 80 pounds from some places this is great news for consumers who can have a top quality home cinema setup for less than the price of a season ticket to Leeds Utd (I know what I'd choose!)

Since such a quality player can be purchased for such a low price, how come some dvd players are sold for over 500 pounds? Is the difference in quality that much noticeable that it's worth an extra 400 notes.

I aren't getting at people who do spend that amount, as I would love to be able to do so! It just intruiges me as to the differences between the budget player and the high end player. The same also for amps, cd players and speakers.

James

 

[Pollywoggle]

Depends on what you are used to and what the rest of your kit is like. Some people say that a dvd player is a dvd player but higher priced players (usually) have higher quality components that when bulilt together produce a very high quality image and sound. This becomes important when you also have a high quality display and better audio equipment. Obviously you have to be sensible and not be taken in by hype or flashing lights or features you wont use.
I had a 32" Sony Wega and Tosh100e and was perfectly happy with that. Then I bought a Hitachi plasma and started to notice blocky artifacts I couldn't see before. Then I bought a Denon 2900 and hey presto all was lovely again except my credit card.
The tosh 330 is an excellent player but the Denon's audio and picture output is another dimension if your other equipment can make use of it. And so on up the scale to dvd players costing thousands that match topnotch amps and projectors. The £35 jobs from Asda are excellent in many ways and all that many people will ever need.

 

[mobily]

Hello Polly,

I tend to agree with you. The majority of people will never get a television any larger than 32". Projectors and plasmas are directed at people who are really home cinema enthusiasts. I myself find the area intruiging, however there is a limit to how much I would spend on a setup. I can see how easy it is to catch 'upgradeitis' and constantly look for ways to improve the system you have. I think we all have that feeling deep down that no matter how good our system is we can always get that little bit more from it.

I have only just entered the world of home cinema and considering hi-fi seperates, and I now know I shall be always thinking where my next upgrade will be coming from.

Still, at least I can stop watching Leeds to fund my new addiction!

Thanks,

James

 

[Boozyuzi]

Just to let you know that the Tosh 330 is only £67 here + free delivery.

http://www.digital-point.co.uk/

 

[bonzobanana]

The Toshiba 330 has a real crappy dvd loader. Slow, troublesome and not particularly compatible with a wide range of media. Its picture is superb and beats many top end players of a year or two ago but its not perfect by any means and its easy to find players with better compatibility, functionality and even performance near the same price level. At the budget end I prefer the Panasonic SE35. The picture may not be quite as detailed but its cleaner and the player is nicer to use and supports more media and formats.

 

[potshot]

I have got a sd330 and if you use the component video out it has an outstanding picture for the price. I think it is a bargain and it will give a DVD player that is more expensive a run for its money. And how good your picture is will depend on your TV. And as for plasma tv's I wouldn't touch one yet there picture is not up tp scratch. I have a 36" toshiba picture frame 2 tv that has a component in connections and I am amazed how good the picture is from this cheap dvd player. I am not one to buy budget components normally and I tend to go for mid to high end products. This dvd player came with the tv so I would of never of bought it. Really surprised me.

 

[Desperado]

i had a Toshiba Sd 330 i thought it was ok but nothing Special

now got the Pioneer DV 737 and i have to say its almost 3 years old but it puts the Tosh 330 to shame

 

[Kane D Williams]

330 also £67 at Richer Sounds, so I have been told. Very good player for that sort of money!

 

[dbg32]

Personally I found the picture was far too dark with my Tosh 330 via RGB on my Panny PS5.

Swapped to a Panny P75 player and the picture is fine now.

 

[Ian182]

Mobily,

Don't stop supporting Leeds now - we need all the support we can get !
Its possible to combine an LUFC season ticket AND a home cinema you know........

Ian.

 

[Bursar]

I use my Tosh 330 with a Z2 via S-Video and it's great. I'm still waiting to get the Z2 on the ceiling, and then I'll run a set of component leads to it.

I knew it was region free when I bought it, but I also found out last weekend that it's perfectly happy with RCE disks as well when I watched SWAT.

So now I'm even more chuffed with it. Only downside to it is that it's silver. If it was black, then my up would truly overfloweth.

 

[jasper_mccrea]

I had one running a PTAE100, and with a 90" picture, I was well pleased, no problems at all with the picture.

But as bonzobanana notes, it is crappy otherwise. Chapter skips, menu loading, all that sort of thing is slow, slow, slow.

 

[Tesla]

You can get a black SD330. I dont know where though.

I think play.com used to have them.

\\Chris

 

[Dr.Magus]

Sorry for jumping on the thread but i just bought one of these players this morning. Now i've connected it via component video with a component video lead and audio lead but when i switched it on nothing happens. The display on the player says 'welcome' but nothing happens on my tv. Anyone know what i'm doing wrong?

 

[bonzobanana]

You need to set it to s-video output if I remember rightly to get component output. The composite port should be working by default so connect that at first to your display (possibly using one connection of your component lead) then select s-video on the toshiba and put the component lead back. This solution assumes your tv/projector has a composite phono port somewhere on it.