CUBE/Toshiba -- let's hope they have a win in a Toshiba recordable. There's a review of the top of the line Toshiba DVD player (SD-9000) in the September issue of Audio magazine, pp. 50-55. The player costs $1100, it uses a Zoran Vaddis II chip (licensed to and made by Fuji), and the review is NOT COMPLIMENTARY.
Excerpts from the review:
"slow motion... quite jumpy in reverse..."
"I noted some instability in the midrange gray scale..."
Using a test disc, "the blocking at any given bit rate seemed to me to be more apparent on the Toshiba SD-9000 than it did on my reference Sony DVP-S7700."
The distortion plus noise level (THD+N) "is nothing to write home about in a top-of-the-line player. Undoubtably the increase in distortion at high signal levels also gives rise to the punko quantization noise figure, which is one of the poorest I've measured in the past few years."
"The Toshiba SD-9000's video performance failed to live up to the hoopla..."
"However, when I find player after player that is dead accurate vis-a-vis luminance, chroma-burst, and sync levels, it's bothersome to find a pricey, top-of-the-line model that's off the mark."
"Well, I guess I've rather chewed up on the SD-9000. I dare say most people would be very glad to have it. I just think that in this price range, one has a right to expect more. Not my first choice for a top-of-the-line DVD player."
So Toshiba, is it time to ditch Zoran???
Me, I'm happy with my CUBE-based $300 Samsung player with its own 10 bit video D/As and 24 it audio D/As. |
