Picked up a DVD player..........................

The device is a Toshiba sd105. Cost £25 approx works picture as good as my digital cable.
I had a quick look inside the surface mount boards have a number of quality components 'Muse' cap and small silmics ? There's a small what looks like a switched mode psu. Case is cheap and plastic has dig out both bitstream and PCM, video-s and phono r,g,b,audio L R, plus a scart.
The cd quality is respectable but nothing special

Now the question is I know next to nothing about DVD so is this a turkey or last years wonder model ? I can find anything much on the web, though I got a user manual from the Tosh web site.

Second Question is the video-s a better connection than the scart ?

Had the thing playing through the X-DAC on both music and film .....sound quality vastly improved.

Anyone got any tips or suggetions for improved performance. {other than the obvious cable changes and the normal cd type tweaks}
I await your prognostications !!

 

I always lead to believe S-VIDEO was better, I am not sure why though. I think the main difference between cheap DVDs and high end ones is the sound (aka the dac) so if you have got an external one you should be fine with it. My mates got the SD110 and the picture qulaity on that is very very good. For £25 for have a bargain I think.

 

Your X-DAC does 5.1 ?

 

No ........not 5.1, and it won't take the PCM setting but I've stereo [when set on two channel internally in the DVDp]

I'm pretty damn pleased with it at the moment for films.

I'm using a Lucas for surround sound via Beyer DT911's very involving !

 

Another Tosh DVD into a MF DAC

As mentioned already, sending a 5.1 signal through the DAC is a no-no! Nasty clicks! But you can set the DVD to send a downmixed stereo mix through the DAC with good results.

I've always been led to believe that Scart is the best choice (unless component is available on both DVD and Screen).

Not familiar with the sd105 but as i'm sure you're aware, Toshiba are well regarded for their DVD players!

 

tosh dvd players always have component outs, so thats the best in terms of picture quality
scart is next, but only through RGB, which this dvd player will output
s-video is after that
then crappy composite

 

I was wrong then :$ :JOEL: :newbie::shame:

 

yes

some people do prefer s-video over scart though. MOst of what i've read points towards rgb scart though.

As Rory (BA you know) says, component is best, but not many tv will have it. Saying that I think Toshiba does on some of its tvs. It tends to be MOre the norm in plasmas and such

 

BA ?.......bleedin Arts, or as we used to say buggered arround[for three years]. I hate to admit to having a bloody silly certficate [Bsc.] but I got mine when only the [so called] top 2% did it. Unlike now when everyone has one ! [not that thats wrong in itself]

Thanks for the info.....I had an idea that the toshes were'nt half bad.

Yes nasty popping noise took me a bit by suprise the first time !

Pic quality is good on scart and better on RGB I'll have to play with the settings.

 

Yes little Tosch DVD's can be made to sing well, we have a sd220, that will easily match most £800 players, plus play dvd's and it has component video out
a 220 at richers is £59, mods about £150, and makes a passable stab at cd's too. WM

 

First up - cheers Peter (Zanash) for the loan of the cassette deck. Top bloke :green:

LOL when reading comments that SCART is better/worse than RGB/S-Video blah blah blah. Here's why...

A SCART socket isn't a signal standard in its own right, it's simply a convenient connector for getting lots of different signals into and out of various bits of video equipment. SCART can carry crappy composite, or better quality S-Video or best quality RGB signals plus the stereo audio and some timing and communication signals.

What signals go through a SCART lead depend on what the source can generate. A standard VCR will only ever give composite video. Most Sky receivers give composite and RGB (switched via the settings menu), and most European DVD players can send composite, S-Video and RGB via the SCART.

Component isn't a ratified signal standard for use in a SCART connector - it's usually carried by three phono connectors confusingly colour coded Red Green and Blue.

So, whats best then? What difference there is between RGB and Component is academic at this level. Choose which ever your TV supports to get best picture quality - for most of us that's RGB. S-video is next. A separate S socket provides a slightly superior electrical connection than S via SCART but again there's very little in it. Bottom of the heap is composite.

 

Hexy, I use component out on all my DVD players, my point was, the little tosh can be made to produce half a decent picture for little outlay, even if you use scart. WM

 

SCART can also carry component video, as it does on Arcan's players, Loewe TVs accept component through SCART too, so thats what I am using, Component via SCART...

It is the best connection, better yet with separate cables, then RGB, then S-video, last composite...

 

I'm not quite sure you're correct there. SCART can carry an RGB signal and most DVDs and TVs send/accept this and there's a lot of debate about whether it's better or worse than component. I personally find it very hard to tell the difference but component with 3 separate (red, green, blue) leads is technically the best, especially with cables using BNC connectors (instead of RCA).

I have a Tosh SD220D with component outputs and a Tosh TV with component inputs. I was using that connection but I now prefer to use RGB SCART as it's so much more convenient (the TV switches automatically to the SCART input whereas it doesn't with component) and I really can't tell any difference in quality.

Michael.

 

LMAO! How lazy?

"so much MOre convenient" just because you don't have to click one button on the reMOte!!!

A leader in the school of laziness indeed!

:notworthy :notworthy

 

Well, you have to press it FOUR times The component input is EXT4 so the 'EXT' button first goes to EXT1, then EXT2, EXT3 and finally EXT4. It really is a pain in the butt. If I can get the auto switching with no perceptible loss in quality then what's lazy about that?

Michael.

 

Just because you have a lousy TV and DVD...

My Loewe does accept component through SCART, and also changes automatically to it, if I configure it that way... :MILD:

 

oh! you should have said! four whole pushes of them buttons! Youch!

Nah, I know what you mean. Even little things can become a pain in the a$$ after a while. Oh how I lustafter a reMOte control for my amp!

Just out of interest, if you were stood next to your kit and had to change volume, source, or tv channel, would you do it manualy? Or walk over to the reMOtes? With my stereo amp i've no choice, but with tv, processor etc I often notice MOself walking to other side of room to get the reMOtes!

 

I knew that Loewe TVs did something non-standard with their SCART cables - still, it wouldn't be as good as proper component with 3 separate cables

The auto-switching is a feature of SCART, nothing to do with lousy or good TV I think pin 19 on the SCART cable tells the input device to switch to it. I don't think there are any TVs that auto-switch into a non-SCART input.

Michael.

PS MO!: if I'm stood next to my kit and want to do something I do it manually if possible allthough on the TV in particular, a lot of functions have to be done with the remote. On that subject, I always thought it was a bit silly to have a remote eject button...if you have to walk over to pick up the CD/DVD anyway then what's the point?

 

thats to allow us to eject the media from the comfort of our chair whilst allowing the girlfriend/wife to changes the media for us without worrying about which button to press
micheal couldnt you change the order of the inputs in the service menus so ext 4 is the default?