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PLAYERS OF THE MONTH
TOSHIBA SD-110 £180
As one of the pioneers of DVD and with a well earned reputation for
top-quality home cinema products Toshiba has tended to shy away from the
cut-throat pricing at the budget end of the market and stick with mid-range and
high-end players. It would have been a
good strategy, except that consumers have now got wise to the fact that you
don’t have to pay top-dollar for great performance from DVD and Toshiba was in
danger of missing out on a significant slice of the action, which is where the
SD-110 comes in.
At £180 it’s about as close to a budget-price player as Toshiba gets
but there’s been no compromise on design or performance. It looks like a
quality product, the slimline case and smart cosmetics could easily belong to a
much more expensive product. The features list has some genuinely useful items,
like a good assortment of trick play functions and picture and sound controls
with adjustments for setting brightness, contrast and 3D spatial sound. There’s
also a multi-mode zoom with a ‘shrink’ setting, though we’re not exactly sure
what that’s good for yet…
One other unusual feature is a set of component video outputs. This is
the preferred video connection system for NTSC recordings. Sadly it is only of
interest if you have a suitably equipped TV or projector, and watch ‘Region
Free’ discs or have the player ‘chipped’ to play Region 1 movies. Like all Tosh
players this machine is not handset hackable and chipping invalidates the
warranty.
Don’t loose any sleep over component video, on Region 2 discs the best
quality can be obtained using the player’s RGB and S-Video outputs, and it is
superb! The wide contrast range reveals loads of rich detail in dark and gloomy
scenes, colours are sharply defined and it has no trouble whatsoever rendering
delicate shades likes skin tones. It really shows up in moody movies like Seven
and Batman And Robin, the picture appears to have extra depth and it picks out
textures in background and shadows that most other players will ignore.
It sounds every bit as good as it looks. The analogue mixed stereo
output has very low levels of background hiss and big set-piece Dolby Surround
effects have plenty of impact. The coaxial bitstream output is also very clean
and CD audio replay is close to the standard of a mid-range hi-fi component.
A classy looking, high performance player that’s not going to break the
bank, check it out!
SPECS
Video output composite/S-Video/RGB/Component
SCARTs 1
Audio output analogue mixed stereo/coaxial
bitstream
5.1 decoders none
EXTRA FEATURES
Region 2, PAL/NTSC replay, multi-speed replay, 3-stage picture
zoom/picture shrink, 4-mode picture control, 2-mode 3D/Dialogue sound control
Contact: Toshiba (01276) 62222, www.toshiba.co.uk
FOR
Outstanding performance at a budget price from a top-name brand
AGAINST
Region one replay only possible after chipping
IS IT WORTH IT?
Definitely, a superb player from a name you know, at a price you can
afford, shame about the region lock, though…
RATING
5/5
ALBA DVD-113 £100
Normally you’re excused for being a little wary of ultra-cheap AV products but
we reckon the Alba DVD-112 is a real bargain. Available from your local Argos
store for under £100 it may not be the handsomest player we’ve seen lately but
you do get an interesting assortment of replay speeds, a 5-scene marker,
picture zoom and a snazzy on-screen display.
More good news, it will play Region one discs straight away, no need
for hack codes or chipping. Control layout on the remote handset is not too bad
though some of the buttons could have done with being a bit bigger.
Picture performance is mostly good, it makes heavy weather of subtle
shades but it does a very fair job of extracting detail from darker scenes.
Colours are bright and vivid and this really comes across in animated movies
like Shrek and Toy Story 2. Analogue sound is fine with no more than average
amounts of background hiss and digital soundtracks emerge in pristine condition
from the bitstream outputs. Audio CD replay is on a par with budget and
mid-range hi-fi equipment.
It’s not going to win any beauty contests but at that price, who cares…
SPECS
Video output composite/S-Video/RGB
SCARTs 1
Audio output analogue mixed stereo/coaxial &
optical bitstream
5.1 decoders none
EXTRA FEATURES
Region 2 (see text), PAL/NTSC replay, multi-speed replay, picture zoom,
5-scene marker, SCART cable supplied
Contact: Alba 020 8787 3111
FOR
Low price, decent performance and all region replay
AGAINST
A bit of a lump
IS IT WORTH IT?
Yes, an honest to goodness bargain, no frills, but who needs them…
RATING
4/5
GOODMANS GDVD-125, £160
On paper this looks like quite an attractive deal. The GDV-125 is
housed in a smart-looking box with a trendy (but irritating) red-lit panel,
there’s a passable set of trick-play modes, it has 3D spatial sound, a picture
zoom and it can play MP3 files. All region replay can be easily enabled; for
the record the trick is to press Setup on the handset, select Custom and press
3333 to reveal a service menu with region code settings.
Unfortunately picture quality is not that hot, colours look a bit muddy
and gloomy scenes are poorly handled with dark backgrounds breaking down into
pixellated mush. It shows up clearly in the perennially dark Seven and
interiors in space flicks such as Phantom Menace. The sound output is not too
bad though. Background hiss on the analogue output is quite low and the
bitstream channels are pin-sharp. Audio CD and MP3 replay are both
satisfactory.
Disappointing video performance takes the edge off an otherwise quite
well equipped and respectable looking player,
SPECS
Video output composite/S-Video/RGB
SCARTs 1
Audio output analogue mixed stereo/coaxial
bitstream
5.1 decoders none
EXTRA FEATURES
Region 2 (see text), PAL/NTSC replay, multi-speed replay, 3D sound, MP3
playback, 3-stage picture zoom, glow-in-the dark handset buttons, SCART cable
supplied.
Contact: Goodmans 023 9239 1100
FOR
It’s region hackable with some potentially handy features like MP3
replay
AGAINST
Indifferent picture and sound performance
IS IT WORTH IT?
Not really, you can get better performance for less
RATING
3/5
JVC XV-S57SL, £250
The highish price on this rather elegant mid-range model is justified to some
extent by the on-board Dolby Digital decoder and a fair crop of convenience
features. These include plenty of trick-play options, Chapter Digest, which
generates a set of thumbnail sized preview images of what’s on a disc, picture
Strobe and some useful extras such as
‘3D Phonic’ spatial sound and ‘Theatre Position’ picture adjustments.
Picture quality is well up to the kind of standard we expect from JVC
with a clean, well-balanced image, good colour fidelity and the ability to
capture fine detail and textures, even in poorly lit scenes and shadows. The
built-in Dolby Digital decoder earns its keep and delivers a rich and dynamic
soundfield. The analogue soundtracks are only marginally less dramatic with tolerable
amounts of background noise and it makes a fair fist of replaying audio CDs.
Maybe not the most exciting DVD player in captivity but it performs
well, looks good and you know the name
SPECS
Video output composite/S-Video/RGB
SCARTs 1
Audio output analogue mixed stereo/coaxial &
optical bitstream
5.1 decoders Dolby Digital
EXTRA FEATURES
Region 2, PAL/NTSC replay, Dolby Digital decoder, dts output,
multi-speed replay, scene digest, strobe, 3D Phonic pseudo surround, 3-stage
Theatre Position picture control, picture zoom, multi-brand TV remote
Contact: JVC 020 8450 3282, www.jvc-europe.com
FOR
Good picture and sound some worthwhile extras and it looks the part
AGAINST
A touch pricey for what it is
IS IT WORTH IT?
Just about, the JVC name inspires confidence and AV quality is good
RATING
4/5
REOC A5 £140
The Reoc A5 is exclusive to Safeway Stores and is the ‘step up’ model
to the very agreeable budget-priced Reoc A3, (currently selling for just under
£100). The extra £40 for the A5 buys a built-in Dolby Digital decoder,
otherwise the core features are pretty much the same with MP3 replay, 3D sound
and picture zoom etc., though strangely this machine has fewer trick play
options and enabling all region replay (a doddle on the A3) is a bit of a
palaver. In fact you will need a PC with a CD burner, to create a special hack
disc, if you’re interested details can be found at http://reoc.keyservice.co.uk/a5/home
Picture quality on the S-Video output was quite poor on our sample, the
other video outputs managed only mediocre picture that did gloomy scenes no
favours whatsoever. The analogue stereo and 5.1 channel audio outputs were all
satisfactory, audio CDs and MP3 tracks were also okay with no more than average
amounts of background hiss.
Sadly the moderately interesting feature list doesn’t make up for
lacklustre performance and complicated region code unlock hack.
SPECS
Video output composite/S-Video/RGB
SCARTs 1
Audio output analogue mixed stereo/coaxial
bitstream
5.1 decoders Dolby Digital
EXTRA FEATURES
Region 2 (see text), PAL/NTSC replay, Dolby Digital decoder,
multi-speed replay, MP3 replay, 2-stage picture zoom, 4-stage 3D sound, volume
control, SCART lead included
Contact: your local Safeway store
FOR
You can pick one up while you’re doing the Saturday shopping…
AGAINST
Very ordinary performance
IS IT WORTH IT?
No, try the A3 instead
RATING
3/5
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Ó R. Maybury 2002,
0103
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