Toshiba SD-2300

With the SD-2300, Toshiba is sending a NUON-enhanced DVD player in the market that is clearly out to kill the competition.

The back of the player is clean, featuring a non-removable power cord and the output connector panel. A quick look at the connector panel of the player reveals that Toshiba has been saving a bit of money on this model, giving the SD-2300 plain RCA connectors. No gold plating or other high quality pieces are found here, which isn’t really surprising given the price range of this particular model.

A second look reveals an even bigger surprise, the entire lack of an optical output for the digital audio bit stream. A digital audio connection is only made possible through a coaxial connection, a solution that is much less desirable than a fiber optic link.

Once ready, we get to witness the superior image quality of the player, which is immediately noticeable. Unlike some players I have seen, the SD-2300 creates an image that is extremely vibrant and rich in colors, yet always neutral in tone and extremely well defined. Image contours are always razor sharp and blacks are simply... black. Without any noise! Evaluating the image quality of the player with some reference discs of varying material, it quickly becomes evident that Toshiba still has some of the best MPEG-2 decoders in the market.

Never does the player introduce digital artifacts and not once did I notice the player emphasized existing compression artifacts. The image is always pleasing and entirely devoid of video noise. Combined with the 10-bit, 27MHz video DAC that the player houses, the level of detail is incredible - especially if viewed through the component outputs - with a flawless color balance and faithfulness that is remarkable. The picture never appears muddy - not even under the most challenging circumstances - and the level of detail is always well maintained by the player.
Edges, while sharp, never appear emphasized, always making sure the player reproduces the image that comes from the disc exactly as it is, without adding any information or degradation to it.

Without wanting to sound too nitpicky, there is one thing I found slightly distracting with the SD2300, as well as the SD6200 that I also had available for test. Toshiba has changed the layout of their remote controls for all DVD player models and has practically swapped the Chapter forward and fast forward buttons. As a result I constantly found myself skipping chapters when in fact I only wanted to fast forward. I know it is a minor quibble, but after having used an older generation Toshiba player for so long, I just couldn’t get used to the new layout. To make general navigation through menus easier, the remote control also features a joystick like controller. Unlike the typical arrow up or down keys, such joysticks truly help to make navigation faster and less tedious. The “Enter” function is activated by pressing down on the joystick handle, also a procedure that is ergonomic and works extremely well.

The SD-2300 has a well designed on-screen user interface that is much more modern-looking that in previous models. Using beautiful 3-dimensional icons, the system gives you access to all the setup information and options the player has to offer. Switching from 4:3 mode to 16x9 widescreen output is a matter of a few seconds only, as is turning on DTS output. All in all, the user interface is slick and works extremely efficiently, clearly making the SD-2300 a next-generation player. However, with this next-generation feel comes a bit of bloat, as many current players, sadly. Gone are the times of instant response, where you press a button and the player door opens or the PLAY function is activated. Everything takes a little, which can be quite distracting at times. While I understand that with new generations new feature sets have to be implemented in modern consumer electronics, the question remains, does it have to be implemented in such a sluggish way? This is not a fault of the Toshiba player only, but can be noticed in new players across the board, even in high-end players in the $1200 segment.

And to make sure it remains that way, Toshiba seems to have put a very good firmware update plan in place with the SD-2300 player. On their website you can obtain detailed information about current versions and SD-2300 firmware upgrades.

Layer changes are handled very well, although the typical pause is still evident. Here once again comes my plea to all hardware manufacturers to finally install enough memory in their players to make seamless layer changes and seamless branching a reality.

Toshiba’s SD2300 is the second NUON-enabled DVD player that hit the market. It is a noticeable improvement over the Samsung N2000 in my eyes, and has managed to integrate NUON-technology absolutely transparently. Without the bells and whistles, the player holds its horses, until otherwise requested. Insert a NUON-enhanced disc, like 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment’s “Bedazzled” or any of the NUON games, and you will quickly realize that there is much more under the hood of this unsuspecting player than immediately meets the eye. Combine that with the players fabulous video and audio quality, and you have one of the most solid players in the market. For its suggested retail price of $399, my verdict is clear. There is no better player in the market with the same price tag!