Review on 📀 Toshiba SD-4960: Ultimate Universal DVD Player for CD/DVD-Audio/SACD/MP3 Playback by John Ruelas

In his review, Peter Toshiba gave poor marks for picture quality in component mode. I was disappointed at first too, but I think maybe the block in St. Petersburg wasn't set up properly. My old Panasonic DVD player will output component and S-Video simultaneously, but this unit doesn't. If you put S-Video, there is a component signal, but terrible. You need to go into the setup menu and select the component output, either interlaced or progressive. Once you've made your choice, you'll get a good component signal, but not S-Video. I still wasn't happy with the image quality, so I experimented. The black level was set to "on". I turned it off and finally got a great picture, better than the Panasonic it replaced. However, I still have a few small things. I tested DVD-Audio (Hotel California). Interestingly, the menu selection is different when playing on this device. With Panasonic, I opted for DTS or Dolby Digital Surround. At Toshiba this is "surround sound" or "stereo sound". The Panasonic was connected to my receiver with an optical digital cable. It plays any format normally. Toshiba should play both but I don't know which one it chooses. I selected DTS from the menu so I guess that's it. The signal does not come out of the optical output, I have to use the analog 7.1 output. Sound quality is good but differs from my receiver's DAC (tested with stereo CD playback). I'm still waiting for a few SACDs, so I'm abstaining from a general opinion. I also bought a device to play video CDs recorded in SVCD format. Panasonic only played VCDs. I'm using ProShow Gold and a disc that plays fine on other players has audio dropouts when played on Toshiba. I have some more experiments to work around this problem. I hope this doesn't break your back. Conclusion: Advantages - Very versatile (DVD, SACD, DVD-Audio, Photo CD, JPEG, etc.) - Slim design - Excellent picture quality - Great price, nothing beats SACD/DVD - audio combo. Cons - Either/or S-Video/Component output, not both - Poorly written manual - Confusing remote control and menus - Skipping audio on photo CD (not fully analyzed). I would buy it again. Doug