
Toshiba SD-3980 DVD Player
Progressive Scan - MPN: SD3980
Rated
out of 11 reviews
Description: Toshiba's SD-3980 gives you a crisp, clear picture with DVD movies, and great sound from your CD collection too. You can even enjoy personalized MP3 mix discs. The stylish, super-slim design is perfect for space-challenged areas, like dorm rooms or bedrooms. And if you have ... read more Toshiba's SD-3980 gives you a crisp, clear picture with DVD movies, and great sound from your CD collection too. You can even enjoy personalized MP3 mix discs. The stylish, super-slim design is perfect for space-challenged areas, like dorm rooms or bedrooms. And if you have a home theater system, you can hook up the SD-3980 to hear DVD movie soundtracks in exciting surround sound. minimize
Jythra
from MI
Member Since Nov 2005
View Member's
Profile
| Reviews
User has 1 Month of experience with this product

Strengths:* True DTS & Dolby Digital Audio Outputs (Coaxial though)
* Sequential & Component Video Outputs for enhanced Picture Quality
* Quick scanning of DVD/VCD/ACD/MP3/WMA/JPEG Discs
Weaknesses:* No Optical digital output
* Monochrome LCD display
Posted Dec 27, 2005 - Installation and set up are quick and simple. Remote is designed user friendly and contains most of the Player features and compact.
I am noticing good color streaming & picture quality compared to my old Cyberhome CH-DVD 300 Portable DVD player. The ColorStreamPro technical feature will be an added advantage if you activate Progressive Scan when connected to a digital TV.
Audio quality is pretty good on my 5.1 channel Kenwood Home Theater system. Ofcourse, I have deactivated the DTS/Dolby features from the player as I have them on my Digital Receiver.
I had a difficulty one time in playing JPEG CD recorded with 5 megapixel pictures. But it is able to play 4 megapixel digital pictures without any difficulty.
The specifications says it cannot play DVD+R/+RWs but I have not tried them yet.
Overall it is a very good product with reliable scanning of most of the discs and disc formats.
100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful , unhelpful, or inappropriate?
go4fan
from MN
Member Since Sep 2005
View Member's
Profile
| Reviews
User has 1 Day of experience with this product

Strengths:Plug & play operation, quiet motor, progressive scan, excellent component video playback (ColorStream), works well as an audio player (mp3/cd). Very solid unit at the $60 price range.
Weaknesses:No optical audio output, no DivX/XviD playback, slot loading reliability?
Posted Oct 27, 2005 - I installed this dvd player in place of an older sony. First thing I noticed was the slot-loading system. While it's cool, hopefully it won't be a problem in the future. This unit delivers excellent quality at around $60 USD. In comparison to the Philips DVP-642, the colors look more accurate, much more vivid. It is also noticably faster at loading discs than my older sony. It doesn't pack playback for other formats such as XviD, DivX, etc. I do like having that on the DVP-642. I do feel like this is more of a solid unit though. If you need a basic, cheap dvd player, this is your unit. It's worth a few bucks more than the others for the reliability of Toshiba's name.
100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful , unhelpful, or inappropriate?
trinhl
from MD
Member Since Oct 2004
View Member's
Profile
| Reviews
User has 7 Days of experience with this product
Strengths:Great as a DVD/CD player, light, slim and good price.
Weaknesses:DVD/CD tray is thin
Posted Dec 1, 2005 - I owned the 3960 previous model and it works well overall. I decided to buy another Toshiba. This 3980 is very similar to the 3960. The layout just slightly difference, remote slightly better and bigger. So far, it works well, pictures and sound quality are great.
100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful , unhelpful, or inappropriate?

Weaknesses:tray is so thin. u need to dvd very carefully
Posted Nov 26, 2005 - What's wrong with it? It works for me, November 26, 2005
Reviewer: BoolaBoola "Nutmegger" (New Haven) - See all my reviews
I'm not quite sure why so many people are bashing Toshiba DVD players. I was reluctant to get one because of this. But then I heard that they have unusually good sound quality. And a big boxer had them on sale dirt cheap. Also, they have WMA play capability. So give it a try I did.
I don't see anything wrong with it. The remote seems loaded with features, including many I don't have on my other DVD players. I hooked it up with SVHS and am getting a very clear picture, including in zoom mode. And finally I am getting a DTS signal to my amp, unlike another brand that claimed to have DTS.
The sound quality on CDs and DVDs through the analog out is excellent, as is the digital out through the coax cable (no optical - so what). WMA playback is good, but I wonder if it could be better.
I have had no problems with it freezing on any discs, including DVD-R, DVD+R and DVD+RW.
A plus is that it has all the basic controls on the player.
A minus is that there is no resume.
A plus is that it seems you can get out of the copyright warning early with the skip button.
As to the fast forward, it can scan up to 100x. And it can do several steps of slow scan, with very clean motion.
It gives you the option of a wide variety of information on screen, including the bit rate, a feature I haven't seen since Sony's first DVD. And you can customize the picture settings for output.
It is small, but it does not seem to be heating up excessively.
Of course, the test will be with time. Will it keep working?
I can't help wonder whether this issue has been overblown, as so many of the other ones don't seem to hold up
100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful , unhelpful, or inappropriate?
Posted Nov 8, 2005 - I've had this DVD player for about 6 weeks and am very happy with it. I pretty much just use it to play exercise videos, but it is easy to navigate. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a basic DVD player
100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful , unhelpful, or inappropriate?
jj69
Member Since Apr 2005
View Member's
Profile
| Reviews
User has 11 Days of experience with this product

Strengths:Low price, surprisingly good sound quality for the money when used as an audio CD player, coax digital out for use as inexpensive transport, space inside cabinet for modifications and upgrades.
Weaknesses:Makes annoying snapping sound through outboard DAC when a CD is inserted. Mediocre build quality, flimsy disc tray, 10 cent switching power supply. Clearly designed as a disposable unit.
Posted Dec 6, 2005 - This unit has created a lot of buzz on the audiophile bulletin boards as a giant killer CD player (or transport via the coax digital out). It does sound quite good as a CD player, but I've experienced some minor issues using it as a digital transport. When a CD is first inserted, it makes an annoying loud snap through my Museatex DAC (note that this does not happen through the analog outputs). Not sure what is causing it, but it could well be the receiver in the Museatex and not the Toshiba after all. As a transport, it does sound damn good for the money, but it doesn't hold a candle to the Museatex transport. Of course, the Museatex cost exactly 35 times what I paid for the Toshiba. I'm sure minor mods (i.e. cap upgrades) could make a major improvement in its audio performance, but the wisdom of upgrading this unit is debateable considering its overall build quality. Used stock, consider it a damn good budget CD player or transport with the ability to play DVDs thrown in for free. Its video performance on DVDs is more than good enough for my purposes, but I'm not a demanding videophile.
100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful , unhelpful, or inappropriate?
charliehc
from FL
Member Since Nov 2004
View Member's
Profile
| Reviews
User has 20 Days of experience with this product
Strengths:Easy to use and setup
Weaknesses:Physical length of unit
Posted Jul 10, 2005 - Nothing to do but plug it in and tutn it on. Only problem may be the unit's length if cabinet space is tight. Works great and was a warranty replacement for an older unit that couldn't read some DVD's. Their Customer Service was outstanding.
75% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful , unhelpful, or inappropriate?
mkgill
from MI
Member Since Dec 2005
View Member's
Profile
| Reviews
User has 1 Day of experience with this product
Strengths:Easy to set-up, good quality, compact.
Posted Dec 14, 2005 - I only received it today so I can't specify yet all it's strengths and weaknesses.
The packaging however was damaged when I received it and I was meant to be giving it as a gift.
0% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful , unhelpful, or inappropriate?
Posted Dec 1, 2006 - Well, I like it. It is cheap and working well. I bought it almost a year ago. The only thing to keep in mind is to clean it every month or more often depending on your use. Lense cleanser (CD) is helpful. If not cleaning, one day you'll see "Bad disk" or "Incorrect disk". You know what to do!
Have fun..
Did you find it helpful , unhelpful, or inappropriate?
coachari
from NY
Member Since Jan 2006
View Member's
Profile
| Reviews
User has 2 Days of experience with this product
Strengths:Slim, works well, good price and value--
Posted Jan 5, 2006 - All though this product does not come with a lot of bells and whistles, it does its job well, looks good, and plays our dvd's well. We needed an additional unit but did not want to pay a great deal for it. For under $50, this unit has the right combination of quality and functionality for us. Well recommended.
Did you find it helpful , unhelpful, or inappropriate?
Strengths:Excellent Picture
Weaknesses:Plays DVD-R only.
Posted Jan 6, 2006 - Easy installation. Excellent picture. The DVD player plays DVD-R only. Connect to amplifier and speakers for full surround sound effect. Thin design fits in tight spaces. S-Video cable not included.
Did you find it helpful , unhelpful, or inappropriate?
|
Comments - Post a comment