Toshiba SD-420E/S Review

Overall Rating

Picture, sound, MP3, built-in DD5.1 decoder, styling, CD-R/RW compatible, navigation controls on player, NTSC-to-PAL 50 conversion.

Not much: disc tray a bit noisy; loses the Toshiba 210's Time Search function for Video-CD, although it works for DVD.

This is my first review, so apologies if I miss something, and I haven't tested half the features so far.

I got this Toshiba SD-420E DVD player from the above site as they offer it as a multi-region player, and also as an option you can buy it 'VCR-friendly' (i.e. Macrovision defeat).

I went for the latter option, at £219 including carriage, to be able to record Region 1 or Region 0 discs to tape. It works well in this respect and gives me back a sorely missed feature from the Samsung 709.

What I've tried: playback/recording of Region 2, Region 1; Video-CD on CD-R and CD-RW discs.

I haven't tried MP3 playback, Audio CD playback, or the built-in DD5.1 decoder yet; if I get a chance I'll add comments to this review as I test these features.

Overall, I'd say this is a great player, with no compromises on quality to obtain the features I wanted in one player. It has fun features like the Blade Runner-esque picture zoom, a built-in DD5.1 decoder, great picture and sound, and thanks to DVD Magic, Multi-region and VCR-Friendly. I'd say, get one.

Members' Comments onMark_L.'s Review

• Mark_L. on 16th Feb 2003

  Following up my review, which seems to have had the table of compatibility with standalone players removed - here is a more complete list: Working fine: Toshiba SD420, Pioneer DV535, Philips DVD Q50, Sony DAV300S, Sony DVPN5405, Sanyo HVDX1E combi-VHS/DVD. Working, but with hesitation as disc is first read: Samsung 709, Alba 104, Acoustic Solutions DVD551. Not working: Sony PS/2, LG 4710, Wharfedale 750. I notice that two readers marked my review as 'unhelpful'; I would appreciate comments as to why, since I thought I'd given ample detail on the recorder.