Comments for Toshiba XD-E500 DVD Player - Benchmark at http://www.hometheaterhifi.com , comment 1 to 9 out of 9 comments http://www.hometheaterhifi.com Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:42:48 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/dvd-players/557-a-secrets-dvd-player-review.html#comment-2084 My uncle got an xde-500 soon after they came out. We tried it on our 60" Pioneer plasma and we were very impressed. The picture was much sharper and more detailed than the previous toshiba upconverting player we have. Now, a year later, since prices have come down, I bought one for my family, and I swear the picture is not as sharp/detailed with this one. It still looks good, sharper than the other toshiba upconverting player we have, but I'm just not impressed with the sharpness and detail like I was with the first one we tried a year ago. Back then we used a 4 ft hdmi cable. Now I'm using a 12 ft hdmi cable. Could that be the difference? I doubt it. I think Toshiba changed something in the build. Also, I noticed this new one does a very poor job deinterlacing (I get less flicker setting it to 1080i and letting the tv do the deinterlacing than setting it to 1080p/24). With the first one, I didn't notice any flicker in any mode. I also own a Toshiba dvd recoder who's clock runs fast and can't keep the correct time. Toshiba's quality is not very good in my experience. - Pete Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:46:55 +0100 http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/dvd-players/557-a-secrets-dvd-player-review.html#comment-1785 I was sitting on a rainy day and saw on TV was the Matrix on TNT. I got out my old copy of The Matrix. I got to chapter 19 and it started to trip up. Weird first there minor green blocks they disappeared and the lip synch was way off. Then it skipped to the next chapter for 2 minutes then it went to the default XDE screen and wouldn't play. I figure the authoring was off and the flags tripped up the player. Why flawless to chapter 19 and then the collapse? - Jim Moore Wed, 22 Apr 2009 02:36:09 +0100 http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/dvd-players/557-a-secrets-dvd-player-review.html#comment-1647 I'll try and look into that. Though my BDP-S550, and Oppo player both automatically defaulted to 1080p as well as my XBOX 360 and PS3. - Brian Alvarez Sat, 07 Mar 2009 17:01:18 +0100 http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/dvd-players/557-a-secrets-dvd-player-review.html#comment-1640 The article says: 'Strangely the XD-E500 in auto mode chose 720p as the output resolution. My Panasonic TH-50PX60U 50” plasma actually supports 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, and 1080p60. Why the Toshiba defaulted to 720p is baffling.' Most HDMI-equipped displays include an Extended Display Identification Data block (search EDID on Wikipedia for all the techical stuff). This specifies that various resolutions that the designers of the display think it can handle, and sets a default. Generally, HDMI source devices with an 'Auto' resolution setting read that default resolution and sets the output to match. The Panasonic TV has a resolution vertical resolution of 768 pixels. Chances are Panasonic has set its default EDID entry to 720p60. - Stephen Dawson Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:00:18 +0100 http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/dvd-players/557-a-secrets-dvd-player-review.html#comment-1601 I have one, as well as the Panasonic BD35 Blu-ray player. I think the BD35 is brilliant, but I find on many well encoded DVDs the Toshiba is not far behind. I have both players set to 1080p (the Toshiba 'defaults' to 1080i on my 768p Panasonic 42PX60 set to cinema) On good DVDs the sharp mode is brilliant, but can be fooled. The 'off' mode is also very good, and beats my Denon 1730. - W. Glover Wed, 25 Feb 2009 07:56:32 +0100 http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/dvd-players/557-a-secrets-dvd-player-review.html#comment-1595 Plenty of people are ecstatic about the xde feature in the reviews on amazon.com... go figure. Apparently there are still lots of people out there who think that in-store "torch mode" is the way movies should be viewed. - Kieran Coghlan Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:21:32 +0100 http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/dvd-players/557-a-secrets-dvd-player-review.html#comment-1589 i have this players hdmi output feeding an optoma projector.xd enhancements definitely worsen the resultant image.this is very disappointing and toshiba need to re- examine this feature which is poor when in use. i also tried it out on a new 1080p samsung 40" lcd tv with same results. with xd features "off" though it is very good indeed as per the excellent review. sound is also very good with plenty of depth/clarity. if toshiba cannot greatly improve the xd feature then they should bin the idea altogether as at present it does nothing but ruin a good picture. i differ in my appraisal in that i just couldnt see anyone being happy with the xd enhancement in operation. the player though is still easily worth the money in my opinion. - stuart elliott Tue, 24 Feb 2009 09:45:28 +0100 http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/dvd-players/557-a-secrets-dvd-player-review.html#comment-1582 The Oppo in my comparison had better depth and subtlety to the image. The Oppo looks more film like and a bit softer. The Toshiba, even with the XD-E500 sharp mode OFF was slightly sharper. - Brian Alvarez Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:07:38 +0100 http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/dvd-players/557-a-secrets-dvd-player-review.html#comment-1580 Isn't this only the second player ever to score 100% on the Secrets bench test? Impressive, indeed. Other than music playback and component video where/how else does the Oppo beat it? - Kieran Coghlan Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:36:25 +0100