Home > Consumer Reviews > Toshiba SD-1200 DVD Player

I got this player just a week ago and love it already. My father already had the older Toshiba SD2109 (the previous model- the SD1200 is the breand new replacement), and it seemed good, so I followed those reviews; see those for more detail if you want, just note the improvements in this model.

The SD1200 has the same good points as the SD2109, but adds VideoCD and CD/Video Text capabilities. I was even able to play some old VCD2.0 tour videos from China, they worked great, no glitches! Played Matrix fine.

Video quality is superb, both on S-Video output and of course component- SV had a little less color saturation than component. Dolby Digital sounded great!

Note that this player has some important features vs others: let alone the low price and quality!

! + the price- only $230-250 for ALL the features you'd want in DVD! Don't pay more!

+ outputs both Dolby Digital and DTS- compatible w/ all movies then. (does not decode, but no biggie- put that in your receiver, not dvd!)

* Note it only has coax digital audio out, not toslink optical. Make sure your reciever is compatible (my JVC RX888 is great.) Will output dolby digital, dts, PCM digital audio out. Has regular RCA analog also. You can select options & which to output via remote.

+ has all video outs: component, S-Video, and composite. Note some others like Sony SVP330 do NOT have component out, only svideo!

+ plays videoCDs (unlike SD2109).

+ has slow play mode (1/2, 1/4, 1/8) as well as fast fwd/rvs scan. (doesn't seem to have reverse slow.) Other players only have "pause/step", what's the point of having a random-access disk w/ great slow/freeze frame picture, if you can't play slow to see big explosions in detail? :->

+ has a nice interface, eg onscreen- good, unobtrusive, usable menus overlaid on the video. Can also change most options on-the-fly w/ buttons on the remote, eg subtitles, audio select, etc. with minimal text on the screen- good for changing specific things quickly w/o distracting from the movie.

All menu options are easy to understand, eg no "cool looking" but unusable interface (JVC555 was kind of hard to use in that respect.)

- Remote buttons are a bit small, and play/pause etc. are not "highlighted" or bigger, so you have to look at the remote (no backlight.)

+ dimmable display on the player, if you don't like distracting time counter etc. in your stereo rack.

+ resume-from-stop mode, eg stop, then optionally resume from where you were. You can also input exact HHMMSS to go to, and zips there immediately.

+ screen saver for long pause, to not burn out your new big-screen projection tv :-)

otherwise all the comments for SD2109 also apply. I haven't noticed too much noise (disk tray/rotate) playing disks, seems quiet. Nice build eg tray is solid opening/closing. Small and light, but heavy on features and performance!

I've heard this and SD2109 are not compatible w/ CD-Rs, though, I've played some "mix" discs a friend made for me, and seems to work fine. Not sure if they are CDR or CDRW or what, but they do work.

Highly recommend this player. Get it.

As most of the reviews indicate, this is a very good DVD player at a bargain price. I auditioned players from Samsung and Panasonic in the same price range. Although both of those brands performed adequately, each was deficient in at least one critical area. The Samsung had a tendency to randomly skip over seconds worth of movie; this was true of every DVD disc I played in the two-day period, ranging from recent sci-fi (Lost In Space) to an old classic (Casablanca). The Panasonic was considerably more in price, had more features on paper, but it's performance was not up to the task. Although it had no problem playing the discs, the video quality was not as impressive as even the cheaper Samsung. In addition, at least one of the remote functions seemed to not work (VSS, to enable the virtual surround sound feature). Finally, in order to change settings you have to locate the proper icon (which are almost as intuitive as ancient hieroglyphics) from a series of display menus. Those items not accessible from the display menu have to be accessed through an "action" button.

So finally to the Toshiba. I went to Amazon to read customer reviews, and noted that this Toshiba was both the top seller, and also garnered the most positive reviews. Satisfied that this component had potential, I went to a local Best Buy and asked the sales person his recommendation. Without hesitation he recommended the Toshiba for it's top performance at a very reasonable cost. While there are other models out there with seemingly more bells and whistles, this unit will play movies flawlessly, and has the most useful features for the average consumer. Finally, Toshiba has a reputation for designing and manufacturing top-notch home electronic components. This DVD player is no exception to that rule, and furthers Toshiba's reputation as a leader in home audio/video components.

The only slight I can find with this model is the size of the remote buttons; for the average male, the buttons are much too small and close together. But once you get past that small inconvenience you appreciate how good this player really is.

As a lover of all things audio-video, I must say that the Toshiba SD-1200 is one fine machine. I personally own an older model SD-500 sony from two years ago, a Toshiba 2008, toshiba 3108, and a creative labs dvd player for my pc, and I must confess that the toshiba SD-1200 is a great player. The color reproduction from the toshiba is outstanding, and I have always felt that toshiba dvd players produce a brighter, more vibrant color scheme than any other DVD player that I have seen. The definition, and black level detail in the Toshiba SD-1200 is better than any other DVD player in that price range. The only thing that is not as good as it could be is the players in-player letterboxing. If you are like me, you watch your movie on a standard 4:3 tv which means that when you are watching an "anamorphic" dvd, the player must convert the picture to be displayed on your tv. The Toshiba SD-1200 has a tendency to add wavy edges to scenes that contain parallel lines that are close together. For example, in the movie aliens, the floor of the fortress they are in has many closely spaced metal divisions that can tend to look like liquid metal when the camera slowly pans over the surface. Having owned or seen many dvd players in this price range I know that this is a problem for all dvd players, but the Toshiba SD-1200 handles this problem the best. The only players that can letterbox well are the $600 and up players, so this should not be a knock on the Toshiba SD-1200. The audio outputs provided great sound when I fed them into my dolby digital/DTS receiver, but the omission of an optical output may upset some people. All in all, I think that the Toshiba SD-1200 is a great deal for the price and offers great audio, and video performance.

This thing has a noticebly better picture than my sony digital satellite sytem, even when using composite cables. The refresh rate is great. The black level expansion does wonders for some movies that have too much brightness. It makes them seem more cinematic. But for dark movies, the blacks will blend with dark blues. I don't know how I could live without the zoom feature. It allows you to convert any widescreen movie to 4:3. All I can say is that the picture will amaze you. My dad could even tell a huge difference and he was all the way across the room.

Sound: The sound is crisp, clear, and explosive. I haven't hooked up the player to a surround system yet. The N-2-2 spatializer didn't have much affect on my TV's stereo speakers. But anyways, this thing sounds just as crisp and clear as the movie theater.

Other comments: The remote is not logical. The play buttons are on the very bottom of the remote, which is uncomfortable. The remote also has a somewhat weak signal. You have to point it at least a few feet from the sensor. But the remote works and I don't think anyone buying a $250 DVD player can be picky about a remote. It gets the job done fine.

The unit is lightweight physically, but its performance is reliable and solid.

I have had no problems playing any discs.

There is no optical digital output for Dolby Digital, but the coax digital output is supposed to be better.

I've heard that the component video output is awesome, but I've personally never used it.

The drive does make some noise when going from menu to menu, but its not very loud when playing a movie.

You can completely turn off the digital display panel, but the red power button stays on. This is still cool.

The instruction book is easy to use.

Check for cheap prices online

THIS HIGH QUALITY UNIT IS MADE IN JAPAN. Don't buy cheap, inferior players.

I've had this player for a month, and this is an excellent machine considering the price. In fact, within its price range, I would rate it at 5 stars.

Pros: low price, handles both Dolby Digital and DTS, has both component and S-video outputs, plays even "difficult" discs like The Matrix without any problems, excellent audio and video quality.

Cons: remote is not as intuitive as it could be, the only digital audio out is coax (no optical output) so make sure your receiver can accommodate a coax input (or willing to buy one that can), can't play CD-R discs, S-video and coax digital cables not included, menu access only from remote.

For a DVD player under $300, the SD1200 is unbeatable.