Home > Consumer Reviews > Toshiba SD1700 DVD Player

I didn't want a DVD player to double as a CD player, or to hold up to 5 DVD's... the single tray here is fine, after all, I watch one movie at a time. I just wanted your basic DVD player with the standard features. This SD1700 by Toshiba delivers excellent picture quality (500 lines of resolution). Standard features like the necessary S-Video output, Dolby Digital and DTS output and various special effects... Zoom (up to 4x), slow motion, multi-language capability (if available on the DVD), and 3 speeds of fast forward & reverse (2x, 8x, 30x). The only special effect I personally haven't been able to use is the "multi camera angle"... I have about 50 DVD's and none of them offer this multi angle. The Toshiba is a sleek black box and the remote is easy to use with the push buttons well positioned. If you're looking for a basic unit to play your DVD's on - this is the one. Great player for the price.

After reading all the reviews about this DVD player and other compairably priced one's (130-230) it was a toss up between this model SD1700, the RCA RC5240P or the Panasonic RV31K. I went out to a local electonics store and compared all three on the floor and then took home the SD1700 and RV31K (picture quality on both was exceptional) and would return the loser. The toshiba played the Matrix with out a hitch, while the panasonic paused three times, test two involved DAS BOOT, even on VHS this movie has exceptional sound on an ordinary set of speakers, on DVD format the sound is awsome only if the player can properly process it and send it to your receiver. The toshiba did great for it's price, while the panasonic sounds slightly better than tape. For the price the toshiba can't be beaten. I will admit that there are other players out that offer more bell's and whistle's, but check out their reliablity and customer reviews. I personally have played 103 dvd's on this set and have only had one pause (the dvd was dirty). Give this dvd a try, it was made to play dvd's, not to be a jukebox (it does play cd's). It is a great intro or bedroom dvd player and you can't beat the price.

I bought this player earlier this year as a Father's Day gift for my dad. After spending a lot of time researching DVD players here and in "Consumer Reports", I found that Toshiba was highly recommended as one of the most reliable, trouble-free brands on the market. I stand by that opinion 100%. Although some people have gotten defective units, or have perhaps not cared for theirs carefully enough, this unit has been cared for properly, being kept in an entertainment system cabinet, and I've had ZERO problems with it when I use it. I have a Sony® Playstation 2® for myself, and even with the current DVD Driver version (Version 2.10), some of my discs cause it to choke up and it will refuse to play them. That is not the case with the Toshiba. All of my "problem" discs run with ZERO difficulty, and play exactly as they should. If you're looking for a RELIABLE, quality player at a fair price, you can't go wrong with this Toshiba model. If you're one of the unfortunate individuals that got a bad machine, TAKE IT BACK AND EXCHANGE IT! You shouldn't be experiencing the problems you're having, so get another one. I GUARANTEE you won't be disappointed if you get one that functions as it should.

I would go for the Toshiba SD-1600 (also available on Amazon.com for the same price), instead of this one. The SD-1700 is basically the same unit as the SD-1600 right down to the buttons on the front panel, except for 1 major difference. Whereas the 1700 has a 4-speed FF & REW shuttle function over the 1600's 3 speeds, the 1600 has 550 lines of horizontal resolution as opposed to the 1700's 500. Having to decide between the trade-offs, I would have to place the 1600's superior resolution over the 1700's extra speed shuttle function. There have also been complaints by 1700 owners of failure problems (mostly crashing and skipping) after 6 months. What really bugs me is how the engineers took an exceptionally sound unit (the 1600), changed a couple of things around, release it out onto the market under a new model name, only to have unsuspecting owners discover later that they've ended up with a lemon- all because of insufficient testing by the manufacturer. BUY THIS model only if you prefer 1 extra shuttle speed + unreliability over higher reliability and better picture quality- which is what DVD is all about in the first place.

After reading many, many Amazon.com reviews we knew that a true test of a DVD player was the ability to play THE MATRIX without skipping or stopping. We initially bought a Sony DVP S300 and it kept skipping at certain parts. Returning that one, we then tried the Panasonic RV31 but it was even worse...it refused to play ANY portion of THE MATRIX. We then bought the Toshiba SD 1700. What a difference! It handled THE MATRIX with no problems AT ALL. If you're wanting to buy a great DVD player for little investment...look no further.