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Toshiba SD2805 5-Disc Carousel DVD and CD Player

Toshiba SD2805 5-Disc Carousel DVD and CD Player

List Price: $229.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A single star for this, I think not. Can't complain...
Review: A [$$$] carousel player? It can't be true! Well, it is and so far there are 3 of us with this player. One guy loves it, and says that the picture quality is a lot better then his old dvd player. Another person just doesn't care. But here's my detailed review:

1. Remote isn't that bad unless you have big hands. I wear large gloves, and it's fine. Direct Disk Access would be nice though.
2. Disk swapping is indeed slow. It's about 5-10 seconds and you do notice a 1.5 second of repsonse time before it does anything.
3. The drive is picky about disks. I've seen posts about how the dvd player has died. This has happend to me with a rental dvd that was scratched up. If you were spoiled by Pioneer DVD, then you will complain about every DVD player under the sun. This thing gets stuck easily when you fast forward at 100x. I recommend to use a dish detergent and warm water and gentle clean the disk, and dry with soft lintless cloth and try again. But avoid using the 100x scan if you are renting. If your player does 'hang' and get stuck (where power won't even work), then just unplug the power cable, wait for 5 seconds and plug it back in. Most likely the entire system is single board driven, and once one part of the system gets confused, everything goes down the tube. I haven't tested a badly scratched CDs though.
4. I'm in a midst of making a wedding vcd. And I noticed that some higher frequency cuts makes this bleeping noise. Well, if you are a vcd lover, this player probably isn't for you.

A single star for this, I think not. I think for a price, 4 stars. If the power button over-rode everything, it handles a scratched disks better, and there was a direct disk access, it would've gotten a 5 star from me. I have a Pioneer 440, and that plays everything I throw at it, but Pioneers are known for that.

On that note, I think Toshiba could've made this thing a bit more compact, and also the case is really flimsy. Make sure you do not drop this thing.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: What more can you expect for [the price]!
Review: I've had this for about a month now, tried playing several major DVD movies, and haven't had a single problem so far. Was annoyed at the supposed lack of direct disk access from the remote, but that went away thanks to another reviewer. This unit definitely plays CD-RW, despite what a previous reviewer has mentioned (have four of them loaded up in my unit), but the lack of random play and the un-useful menus for the MP3 feature is a bit annoying. Picture quality is excellent, and audio is amazing. Can't complain for a first time purchase. Definitely targeted to first time ppl.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Buyer Beware!!
Review: I received the Toshiba SD-2805 last night with the outer box tape cut open (shame on UPS!) The inner manufacturer's box looked fine, though, so I unpacked the unit and set it up. Two immediate problems: 1) It played only 75% of the DVD's I tried, (all of which work fine on my other player) and, 2) It played only mp3 files I had downloaded: none of the files I had made on my own computer, of any size, using the software specified in JVC's own manual (Easy cd-Creator). Also, the sound of the files it did play was hissy and far inferior to how they sound on my Kenwood DV-505, which has played every mp3 file and DVD thrown at it in cd quality sound. (All the mp3's play great on my portable Panasonic as well!). What a rip-off!!... Either it's an mp3 player, or it's not! To distribute and sell incompatible software is cheating the public, for sure. If it doesn't work with some files, tell us in advance so we can make an informed decision. If not, throw it out with the other garbage! As a follow-up, Amazon sent UPS to pick up the player when I requested a return for this defective unit, but charged me a 15% restocking fee! This is abusive! It's not my fault, but I have to lose $15.00? I'll never trust them again, nor should you.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: died during playback
Review: Unfortunately, I have to reiterate what another reviewer's experience was. I placed a disk in, it played it for an hour or so and it seemed to be working well. Suddenly, the picture froze and that was it. It would neither play that disk again nor any other. I will call Toshiba and ask for an explanation and, armed with that information, I will decide whether I will seek a refund and shop for a different player or whether I will request a replacement to give this dvd player another try.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Dissapointed but....
Review: It only played dvds...I guess I got a defective one...I keep getting "Disc Error" on all my cds...BUT...I get to return it...and replace it with the same model hopefully not defective...wow amazon is cool...(this review is authentic...)

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Great player.... on most DVDs
Review: We loved, loved, loved our first DVD player, a Toshiba that worked flawlessly, except on one scene of one particular disc which was damaged anyway. But we wanted a multi-disc player, so when we found this Toshiba at a very reasonable price, we jumped. It actually plays the damaged disc flawlessly, and purports to play CD-Rs (which our old player wouldn't) and MP3s (which is a feature I haven't tried, mostly because I'm not really interested (I hook up my iPod to my stereo instead when I want to hear MP3s over my big speakers (which I don't usually...))).

Overall, it's a great player. The DVD playback is flawless, picture and audio-wise. And CDs sound great, too. I haven't tried the MP3 functionality or the CD programming features; I mostly use the system to watch movies. We use component video to connect directly to our Sony WEGA 32" TV. It's phenomenal. Star Wars and Lord of the Rings both look perfect, better even than in the theatre, though they are smaller. Funnily enough, the high picture quality reveals the flaws in the transfer of The Matrix, which is unfortunate, since I love that movie, but that's probably more to do with our TV than the DVD player.

The remote is comfortable and attractive, much better than Sony's remotes. However, the most important button, PAUSE, is one of the hardest to find by touch. I like to watch movies in the dark and even when I have the lights on, I still don't want to have to look for the pause button. Take a note from Tivo, guys, and make the Pause button the most prominent and easiest to find by touch! My other complaint about the remote system is that although it is possible to access any disc via the disc skip button on the remote, I would like button on the remote to behave the same way as the button on the machine, i.e. I should be able to skip immediately onto the next disc by pressing it multiple times instead of waiting for one to load. I guess that's a personal preference issue.

A word to the wise: don't pick up the player and tilt it with discs inside. They will fall out of their trays and wrack you with worry as you hope none of them break when you open the tray to correct your mistake. None of my discs were scratched or broken when I did this. It's a stupid mistake, but learn from my experience!

Besides the disc jumble, installation is a snap. Every output you might need is on the back, including fiber optic for the audio, which I recommend (although our Sony receiver doesn't have a fiber-in for the DVD, and I have to use the CD setting, what's with that?), component video, PCM audio, and RCA audio and video. Component video is king for analog sets, and I recommend that route if your TV supports it. I haven't checked out the PCM and RCA outs perform.

So what's bad about this player? My remote quibbles are minor annoyances. But here's the problem: for whatever reason, it just will not play some DVDs. I started noticing the problem when we bought the new Beauty and the Beast special edition DVD for our daughter, two months after we got the player. I got as far as the menu, but the movie would never start, or the player would behave erratically. Since then, I've noticed about 30% of Netflix movies cause the same problem or won't play at all, which is what my copies of The Princess Bride and 2001 do. I have to resort to watching those on our old DVD player on our smaller, bedroom TV. Even Star Wars hangs up every third time I watch it or so. I don't know if the B&B DVD caused the problem or was just the first indication. All I know is that I feel cheated by the whole thing, since I'm well beyond all the warranty and exchange periods now. Buyer beware!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I agree, stop the whinin'
Review: For 99 bucks, this is the deal of the season. Good solid brand, quality features and fantastic playback. Pay 59 bucks for the APEX and then you can cry.............

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: It Has Direct-Disc Access Capability!
Review: Contrary to the editorial review which states, "And because there's no direct-disc access from the remote, you must hit "disc skip" repeatedly to go from disc one to disc five", this player does have this feature. To accomplish this function, you must perform a 2-buttons combination move by pressing the "Disc Skip" button and then immediately press the numeric button corresponding to the disc you want to access.

This player is nice and capable except for the weaknesses in the MP3 area that have been mentioned in the previous reviews. And also I have to agree that the remote could have been designed better.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Good price, but died quickly
Review: I bought this DVD player because of the super-low price. But, alas, better to have expensive and functional than [inexpensive] and dead. This player lasted--lemme check--25 minutes. It froze in the middle of a movie then simply refused to read any DVD after that...

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Stop crying it's 99 bucks
Review: For the unhappy reviewers. What do you want for 99 bucks? It's a great 99 dollar dvd player. Good for a teenager. If they complain about the lack of some features you can tell them to go out and get job so they can buy a better one.


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