DVD video shoot-out : Toshiba SD-4109X vs. Sony DVP-S330

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No, this isn't very fair in terms of price or features. I had recently bought the cheaper Sony 330 ($300) thinking that i wouldn't be watching that many movies. Boy, was i wrong. On my new Mitsubishi Gold 55", it looked great and i've already started a small collection of DVD's almost overnight. My girlfriend bitched the whole time about spending the money on the TV and DVD player, but she is now a believer in "big screens & little discs". I can already foresee more friends coming by to watch movies.
I decided to check into a CD / DVD changer, as i am in the process of "cleaning house" and trying to simplify several of my systems. If the DVD changer performed well enough on CD's, it would do double duty for both movies and music in that room. My main concern was video though, as i already have a decent CD player in that system.
After looking over several changers, i picked the 6 disc Toshiba 4109. For the price ($450), it looked like a good deal. It has a built in 5.1 surround processor, uses a 24 bit / 96 khz sampling rate and also has an HDCD decoder built in. I brought it home and let it sit for a few hours, just to let it reach room temperature. Hooked up the Toshiba and proceeded to watch a movie with my girlfriend.
When all was said and done, we both commented that it was grainier looking than the less expensive Sony. This was kind of strange to me, as the Sony was running via the standard RCA video output and the Toshiba was running at component level ( feeds colors individually to the TV ). The Toshiba should have killed the Sony.
Just for kicks, i hooked the Toshiba up to the standard rca video output and we watched a few sections of the movie again. It definetly had less grain and looked sharper, but the Sony was still better. What next ???
Thinking that the different cables might be affecting the performance of the two units, i switched them. I was using the factory supplied cables that came with each unit, but they were definetly different.
The results ??? NO different. The Sony won in every VIDEO aspect. I was not overtly concerned with audio, although both appeared to be nearly identical FOR MOVIE VIEWING PURPOSES. As it is, the Sony is also 24 / 96 but i don't know if it is HDCD compatible or not.
So now what ? I'm taking the Toshiba back Sunday morning and picking up a 3 disc Pioneer ($360). I'll keep the Sony here to compare it against, as it provided the best picture of the two so far. If the Pioneer bails out, i'll probably end up going to the 5 disc Sony model ($540). I'll let you folks know what i end up with. Anyone else have similiar situation happen to them ? Sean

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Topic - DVD video shoot-out : Toshiba SD-4109X vs. Sony DVP-S330 - Sean 01:15:04 12/12/99 (3)

Re: DVD video shoot-out : Toshiba SD-4109X vs. Sony DVP-S330 - Mike 11:21:24 12/12/99 (1)

Re: DVD video shoot-out : Toshiba SD-4109X vs. Sony DVP-S330 - Sean 23:47:34 12/13/99 (0)

Re: DVD video shoot-out : Toshiba SD-4109X vs. Sony DVP-S330 - Estes 06:05:57 12/12/99 (0)

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