Toshiba SD-5970 DVD Player with HDMI

Amazon.com Product Review

Toshiba's surprisingly affordable SD-5970 single-disc DVD player is a must for videophiles: the player upconverts DVD-Video content to high-definition resolution (either 720p or 1080i). Further, the sleek component offers a cutting-edge High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) so you can make a direct digital connection between the SD-5970 and a compatible HDTV or HD-ready TV/monitor. The player spins DVD-Video movies, of course, and also handles recordable CDs loaded with MP3 or WMA music files and discs filled with JPEG digital photos, letting you make the most of your digital media.

The SD-5970 is outfitted with 10-bit/54 MHz video DACs (digital-to-analog converters) and ColorStream Pro progressive-scan component-video outputs for seamless, flicker-free images when viewed through high-definition and HD-ready TVs. Progressive scanning, referred to as 480p/720p for the number of horizontal lines that compose the video image, creates a picture using a minimum of twice the scan lines of a conventional DVD picture, giving you higher resolution and sharper images while eliminating nearly all motion artifacts. For compatibility with traditional SD (standard-definition) televisions, the SD-5970 sports composite- and S-video outputs.

HDMI is a lossless, uncompressed, all-digital audio/video interface supporting standard-definition (SD), enhanced definition (ED), or high-definition (HD) video, plus multichannel digital audio--all using a single cable. It transmits all ATSC HDTV standards and supports up to 8-channel digital audio, with bandwidth to spare to accommodate future enhancements and requirements.

The SD-5970 also performs 3:2 pulldown reversal. DVD mastering introduces a common distortion when adjusting 24 frames-per-second movies to 30 fps video; 3:2 pulldown digitally corrects this distortion. Conventional composite- and S-video outputs bring compatibility with nearly any television.

Digital picture zoom is an interactive DVD feature that lets you select and magnify an area of a picture you want to zoom in on. Enhanced digital processing during moving video or freeze-frame playback produces high color fidelity and resolution, even when you're zoomed in. You can also use this feature to expand letterbox-only films to full-screen (4:3 aspect ratio) dimension.

For audio, choose from 2-channel analog audio outs or either of 2 forms of digital-audio output, optical or coaxial, for transmitting discrete, multichannel surround signals--either Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS 5.1--to a compatible AV receiver/surround processor and speaker system. Listening in surround sound puts you right in the middle of the action, whether you're playing an action movie, a concert video, or a period drama. Not set up for surround yet? A special 3-D Surround circuit simulates surround sound from any 2 speakers.

What's in the Box
DVD player, remote control, remote batteries, a user's manual, and a stereo analog audio interconnect/composite-video cable.

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review

(69 customer reviews)

52 of 61 people found the following review helpful

Absolutely wonderfull!, November 15, 2004

Tampabuyer (Tampa, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Toshiba SD-5970 DVD Player with HDMI (Electronics)

In 3 months, I've been through 1 Harman Kardon dvd22, 1 HK dvd31, 1 Sony upconverter dvd, the upconverting Samsung 841 (absolute garbage), and the Toshiba 5970 one so far is the best one I've had hooked up to my Sony HD 34" XBR960. The HK22 had beautiful color, great audio processor (Wolfson), but no upconversion and won't play SACD's. The HK31 had the same and did play SA's, but no upconversion. Sony had poor colorand no HDMI cable (they're $120 everywhere), Samsung was trash-grainy picture w/ artifacts, extremely poor audio and unresponsive remote. The Toshiba has beautiful color, flawless picture in upconversion, beautiful audio completely equal to the HK's, comes WITH the HDMI cable, which the Sony and Samsung did not. The 5970's looks even matche my HK AVR630 receiver! This product is worth twice what I paid for it and is cheaper than the Samsung @ Circuit City and BestBuy.

Superficial as it is, unattractive remote--but I just programmed the Toshiba's codes into my...Read more

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

Does not play DVD+/-R discs!, October 24, 2004

Rick Schilling (Denver, Colorado United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Toshiba SD-5970 DVD Player with HDMI (Electronics)

Do yourself a favor and bypass this player if you are planning on using dvd recordable discs. I bought this player yesterday and will be returning it today. It states in the manual that it can handle recordable dvd's, however when you go to use the player, it is an entirely different story altogether. You will notice that there is frequent pixelation and hanging up when watching recorded video. As far as handling store bought videos, it does great. Another negative though is the fact that, as another reviewer pointed out, the player doesn't remember where you left off when stopping a disc. The video starts over from the beginning. Movies also begin with subtitles enabled and you have to shut them off manually each time you go to watch a movie. Not a great product in my opinion.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

Definitely the best "bang for your buck", February 11, 2005

Kricket (The Windy City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Toshiba SD-5970 DVD Player with HDMI (Electronics)

If you're anything like me - you know that spending even one penny over $200 for a DVD player is just ridiculous - especially with the upcoming release of HD-DVD and BluRay just around the corner.

Anyway - I did a lot of research on the "reasonably priced" upconverting players for my new HD set and pretty much came down to the Samsung HD841, the LG DVB-418, and the Toshiba SD-5970.

After having read the poor reviews on the HD841, I decided to try out the DVB-418 - that was a BUST. The picture quality on the LG was just terrible - grainy and washed out. The LG didn't even pass the first "4 Shades of White" Test on the THX Optimizer. In fact, my old NON-progressive scan DVD player looked MUCH better. I quickly exchanged it for the Toshiba - and I'm not looking back...

For the price, the Toshiba is great. It comes with an HDMI cable (which is at least a $30-100 value in itself) that works great. (And don't buy into the whole "Monster cables are...Read more

Toshiba SD-5970 DVD Player with HDMI

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