Toshiba SD-3900 Progressive-Scan DVD Player Review
Toshiba SD-3900 Progressive-Scan DVD Player Feature
- Progressive-scan ColorStream component-video output for ultimate DVD picture quality (with an HD or HD-ready TV)
- Optical and coaxial digital-audio outputs pass Dolby Digital and DTS surround (to compatible AV receiver and speakers)
- MP3- and WMA-CD playback; JPEG photo viewer displays digital photographs and slideshows on your television
- Offers 3:2 pulldown, black-level expansion, multiple picture settings, 16x picture zoom
- 3D-DNR (digital noise reduction) reduces random noise in video CDs, poorly mastered DVDs, and zoomed images
Get the most from DVDs and CDs with Toshiba's SD-3900 single-disc DVD player, whose ultimate progressive-scan ColorStream component-video outputs produce seamless, flicker-free images with high-definition and HD-ready TVs. Built-in MP3 and WMA (Windows Media Audio) decoding let you compile music on a PC and listen to it on a stereo or TV, and you can even watch customized digital-picture slideshows using recordable CDs filled with standard JPEG image files.
Whether your living room is currently home to an HDTV or you're merely thinking of "someday," the SD-3900 stands ready to deliver the full potential of DVDs. Progressive scanning, referred to as 480p for the number of horizontal lines that compose the video image, creates a picture using twice the scan lines of a conventional DVD picture, providing higher resolution and sharper images while eliminating nearly all motion artifacts. The SD-3900 also performs 3:2 pulldown. 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. The "expanded" mode in the player's black-level setting produces richer, deeper black tones in every image. PLUGE (Picture Line Up Generation Equipment) delivers black as well as below-black signals to a television.
A set of left/right analog-audio outputs channel audio to Dolby Pro Logic receivers and stereo televisions. Both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel surround-sound signals can be routed through the player's digital-audio outputs (one each coaxial and optical) for direct connection to a full-featured audio/video receiver. The player's internal digital-to-analog converters work at 24-bit, 192 kHz resolution to ensure optimum sonic quality from a range of digital program material. Playback options include video 3D-DNR (digital noise reduction), powerful 16x picture zoom, dialogue enhancement, Spatializer simulated surround (for two-channel listening), and parental lock.
CONSUMER ALERT: This television receiver has only an analog broadcast tuner and will require a converter box after February 17, 2009 to receive over-the-air broadcasts with an antenna because of the U.S.'s transition to digital broadcasting. Analog-only TVs should continue to work as before with cable and satellite TV services, gaming consoles, VCRs, DVD players, and similar products. For more information, call the Federal Communications Commission at 1-888-225-5322 (TTY: 1-888-835-5322), or visit the commission's digital-television Web site at: htttp://www.dtv.gov.
