Toshiba SD-V55HT DVD/VCR Home Theater System From Toshiba
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Average customer review:
Product Description
The SD-V55HT combines the picture and sound advantages of a progressive scan DVD player, convenient recording and playback options of a videocassette recorder and a full-featured home theater audio package including multichannel A/V receiver and matching speaker compliment. ColorStream Pro Component Video Outputs are compatible with today's finest analog and digital televisions for delivery of stunningly colorful images. Acoustically matched speaker package includes five satellites and separate subwoofer. DVD-R/CD-R/CD-RW compatible playback ensures discs made with personal computers can be played back in the home theater system, too. JPEG Viewer enables a user to display digital photographs on a television set in the JPEG digital format.
Dimensions: 14.25" h x
3.50" w x
17.00" l,
35.00 pounds
Features
Features combo unit with progressive-scan DVD player, 4-head stereo VCR, AM/FM tuner
Plays DVD, CD, VCD, DVD-R, DVD-RW, CD-R, CD-RW, WMA, MP3, and JPEG discs
Composite and S-video inputs, coaxial digital audio output
Full surround-sound package with 5 speakers (60 watts per channel) and subwoofer
Main component measures 17 x 3.5 x 14.25 inches (W x H x D)
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Product Description
The SD-V55HT from Toshiba is a powerful home theater in a box, featuring a combined high-end DVD/VCR/receiver component and six speakers ready to plug in and play. Enjoy movies in multichannel surround sound, record your favorite shows, play CDs, and listen to the radio with the SD-V55HT. All you need is a TV to complete your home theater setup.
The SD-V55HT's main component is a complete audio/video receiver, a progressive-scan DVD player, a high-fidelity stereo VCR, and an AM/FM tuner with a total output of 400 watts. Each of the five individual speakers cranks out 60 watts per channel and the subwoofer features 100 watts of power.
The DVD player in the SD-V55HT utilizes Toshiba's ColorStream Pro progressive-scan video technology to yield vivid colors, clean resolution, and reduced onscreen distortion. Digital cinema progressive scanning, or 3:2 pulldown, reproduces your DVDs in theaterlike clarity.
The versatile digital picture zoom option lets you can take full advantage of that picture clarity through the ability to magnify a portion of the picture onscreen while in freeze-frame mode or even while watching a DVD in real time. The feature is great for spotting details in movies or even adjusting letterboxed movies to fill your screen. The SD-V55HT also features a wide array of DVD features, including multiple angle selection, a fast-scan option that allows you to fly through DVDs at up to 20 times the regular speed, and three slow motion speeds.
In addition to playing a full range of DVDs, the SD-V55HT plays CDs and MP3 audio files, so you can enjoy your favorite music. You can also view digital JPEG photos from CDs created in your computer with the SD-V55HT.
The VCR provides a wealth of features as well, including high-fidelity stereo sound playback and four-head recording. You can play regular VHS tapes as well as high-resolution S-VHS cassettes as well. You won't have to miss a favorite TV show on movie night, because the SD-V55HT lets you record television programs on the VCR while watching a DVD. You can also copy non-copy-protected DVDs onto VHS tapes.
The VCR in the SD-V55HT is very user-friendly. Its clock automatically sets itself to the local time, and it also logs all available channels into memory the first time you hook it up.
Make the most of your music and movies with clear, clean sound. The SD-V55HT features pure digital reproduction and includes Dolby Digital, Dolby ProLogic II, and DTS decoders to supply the SD-V55HT's six speakers with a rich, realistic surround-sound experience.
The SD-5915 features rear-panel composite audio and video inputs, as well as a S-video connection. The front-panel A/V composite input makes it easy for you to hook up a video game, camcorder, or other components.
What's in the Box Home theater component, five speakers, one subwoofer, remote control, owner's manual.
From the Manufacturer
The Toshiba SD-V55HT DVD/VCR home theater system includes:
Combines the picture and sound advantages of a progressive scan DVD player, convenient recording and playback options of a videocassette recorder and a full-featured home theater audio package including multi-channel A/V receiver and matching speaker compliment.
ColorStream Pro progressive scan component video outputs compatible with today's finest analog and digital televisions for delivery of stunningly colorful images.
Simultaneous DVD playback and VHS record for watching a DVD while recording a TV program.
Six channel audio/video receiver (60 watts x 5 + 100-watt subwoofer) with digital AM/FM tuner.
Acoustically matched speaker package including five satellites and separate subwoofer.
DVD-video/CD/Video CD playback. DVD-R/DVD-RWCD-R/CD-RW compatible playback ensures discs made with personal computers can be played back in the home theater system, too.
JPEG viewer enables a user to display digital photographs on a television set in the JPEG format.
Digital cinema progressive (3:2 pulldown)
Digital picture zoom
4-head/19-micron design
400 watts total system power
Full decoding of Dolby Digital, Dolby ProLogic II and DTS
WMA and MP3 playback
VHS hi-fi stereo
Simultaneous DVD playback and VHS record
Auto clock
Front A/V inputs
Auxiliary A/V input with optical digital
Universal remote with TV controls
Technology and benefits:
ColorStream Pro component video outputs: These outputs allow the video signal to be sent from the DVD player to a component video equipped interlaced or progressive scan TV. When this connection is utilized with today's HD-compatible sets, typical NTSC artifacts--like video noise, dot crawl, and flicker--are virtually eliminated, resulting in a low-noise, highly detailed picture with unequaled color purity.
Digital cinema progressive (3:2 pulldown): Delivers the smoothest, most film-like images to any progressive scan television, such as an HD-compatible one, and ensures maximum resolution.
JPEG viewer: Enables the display of digital photographs captured in the JPEG format. Simply load the CD with your favorite photos and create custom slide shows with a few simple clicks of the player's remote control.
4-head/19 micron head system: Offers superior slow motion effects over conventional 2 head VCR designs. Toshiba's 19-micron heads match precisely the width of the Sp and EP azimuths and read only the signal recorded on each azimuth (not adjoining tracks.) The benefit is significantly enhanced SLP and EP performance so good, it rivals the quality of tapes recorded in the SP mode.
S-VHS quasi playback: This feature will allow tapes that were recorded in a Super VHS deck to be played back in the Toshiba deck without a significant reduction in quality.
Full decoding of Dolby Digital, Dolby ProLogic II and DTS: Since all of the audio decoding is done internally by the SD-V55HT, you are assured that all of today's most popular formats are processed including the signature Dolby Digital, Digital Theater Systems (DTS), as well as Dolby's latest matrix surround system, ProLogic II--offering a full-band-width stereo surround output.
WMA and MP3 playback: Recordable compact discs (CD-R and CD-RW) with music stored in either the Windows Media audio or MP3 file formats can be enjoyed.
Six-channel audio/video receiver: The SD-V55HT packs a punch with 400 total watts of power. 60 watts per channel for all 5 main channels (left, center, right, left rear, right rear) and additional 100-watt output is reserved for the sixth (subwoofer) channel.
System designed speaker package: Acoustically timbre-matched satellite speakers ensure the smoothest sound reproduction within the sound stage. The subwoofer, with its dedicate low-frequency amplifier housed in the center unit, faithfully reproduces the low frequency information of today's finest digital soundtracks.
VHS hi-fi stereo: Delivers the highest quality stereo sound from tapes recorded with a high fidelity soundtrack. This provides the ability for the internal Dolby ProLogic II surround sound decoder to reproduce the surround sound content encoded on the tapes.
Auto clock: This feature ensures that your TV never blinks "12:00" again. A special data stream in your local broadcast source (where available) automatically sets the clock display and keeps it accurate - even when time changes to daylight savings and back.
VHS recordings from the DVD player: Provided the selected DVD disc has not been encoded with the Macrovision copy protection system, you can record DVDs to VHS without color distortion.
Customer Reviews
Packed with features, well worth the price. I have been shopping for a new stereo for the past 10 years. I have since moved into a house, acquired multiple televisions, VCRs, DVD players, but no home theatre system. Instead, everything ran through my television speakers. My shelf was loaded with an Xbox game console, a cable box, a low-end DVD player and an unreliable VCR. Spanning 5 shelves, there is no room for much else.
Then this system came along. My initial budget was $1,200 (About $500 for the receiver and the rest for speakers.) The Toshiba SD-V55HT is an out-of-the box home theater system packed with features to free up my shelf and upgrade my audio life. Priced at less than $300, this was an easy buy. I have had the system now for 2 months and I'm very happy with it.
The system comes with a VCR and DVD player and stereo receiver housed in one unit. The receiver has 5 different sound modes including Dolby Prologic II, Movie, Music, Matrix and 3-D Surround. In addition, there is also By-Pass which determines the type of audio is being received and handles it accordingly. It has one additional input in the back for my Xbox and another in front for the occasion when I want to hook up my video camera which I haven't tried yet.
The speakers are lightweight. At 60w each for the 3 front speakers and 2 rear speakers and 100w for the subwoofer, this system is ideal for a small room which I have.
The setup was a breeze. This is "stereos for dummies". Each of the speakers is color coded with a matching speaker wire. The manual helps you figure out how to get everything in the right place. The trickiest part is probably was getting my TV and cable box wired up properly, but essentially, its standard fare.
Once you are up and running, you can run the setup to tell the system where the speakers are to optimize the audio experience.
The system is silver and black with nice lines. The bookshelf speakers are short and small. It fits in well in my messy sun room without standing out.
The big win is the addition of a DVD player, MP3/CD player and a VCR in one unit. Everything plays great. I have no complaints about the sound but I upgraded from my television speakers.
I was a little disappointed that the AM/FM radio antennae are independent from the cable antenna. The package comes with a cheap loop antenna for AM and a wire antenna for FM. I pull both along the side of my entertainment console and then hide them both behind a clock. The reception is passable.
The remote is fairly familiar to handle the VCR, DVD player, MP3/CD player and radio. But you can't give up your other remotes. It doesn't handle the television or the cable box. This is really a bother since my TV is also a Toshiba.
The MP3 screen display unfortunately doesn't make good use of the space. The left half of the screen displays the track and navigates folders fine enough. The right have is reserved for manually assembling a play list which I will likely never do. I would have rather liked to see a full-screen with each track well displayed and this split screen only when I decide to build a play list.
The presets for the radio are a bit tricky. Each slot can hold an AM and FM station. This gets confusing when you switch to the radio and the wrong station comes up. I would have preferred that each slot is configured for one station and either AM or FM. A minor nit.
This plug-n-play system came with a DVD player, a CD and MP3 player, a VCR, AM/FM, cable and two other inputs. No doubt about it, at $299 this is a great price. Comparable systems lacked a DVD player, MP3 player or the VCR for the same price or more. One day, I am may still upgrade to the system of my dreams, but this is a nice step in the right direction.
Pros: Packed with features and well worth the price.
Cons: AM/FM seems like a poor add-on.
Bottom Line: Boat-load of features for a great price for a small room.
It's just OK I bought and received this unit and have had it about a week. It is OK for the price and a very entry level system. However, any video or audio buff will be very disappointed. This unit is average all the way around. The DVD player is a DVD player, nothing amazaing, the VCR works, the AM/FM radio works but the antennae and reception is way below average these days, the sound is OK and possibly a bit below average for this low end unit. Overall, for a 2nd system, a very small room, a child, etc this is a reasonable unit. For you main system there are many better options - seperating the VCR from the DVD home theater would get you a much better unit and then just pick up a low cost VCR. Nothing impresses me about this Toshiba. Its barely average all the way around. Owning a higher end Toshiba, this was a disappointment. The remote control color scheme and reflectiveness makes it very difficult to read, small buttons, confusing menu system, non-lighted remote. I give it 2 stars because it does play DVDs and videos fine. However, its radio, sound, remote, and menu's are way below average. Better off with a cheapie end Koss, Audiovox, etc unit.
This Toshiba replaces an older broken GO VIDEO unit for someone who required DVD/VCR. The GO VIDEO unit was several years old and was considered entry level low end at the time. However, it performed better than the Toshiba. The GO VIDEO lacked the CDRW, MP3, AM/FM, etc features common on today's current models though.
To sum it up, I would pass this unit by and either look at the lower priced units or seperate components and spend more money on a better overall setup.
Don't do it - never again Worked okay for about 18 months. Audio performance is weak but video was okay. Now nothing works, it just died. When you turn it on, it goes into "protection mode" and shuts down by itself. Even when it did run, it made a loud sweaking noise. Complete piece of crap.
