Toshiba SD4990US DVD Player

Pros: 1080i, Ability to Fine Tune Picture, Plays DivX. BEST Economy UPconverting Player. PAL, BARGAIN!
Cons: Does Not Do 1080p.

This for me has been the BEST of the Toshiba UPconverting DVD players to date. It's IMPROVED OVER EARLIER units in many ways. REASONS to BUY: 1. Plays Any DVD, DIVx to European PAL formats, all the normal DVD and - RW. I found it to run ...

Pros: When powered off all lights are off; I like a completely dark room.
Cons: DVD player can freeze, can't get DVD out. High pitched whinning during some operations.

I got Toshiba model 4990 DVD player yesterday (31 Mar 2006). I have a couple of problems with this model: 1. It makes a high pitched whinning sound during some operations. I have never heard a similar sound from any DVD player before. 2. DVD ...

Pros: Cheap price
Cons: Numerous issues, worst being random freezing.

After reading largely unfavourable reviews, I still went ahead and purchased this player, primarily because of it's inexpensive price. Well, as with lots of things, I got what I paid for. The build quality is definitely on the flimsy side, but normally ...

Pros: Great picture even at 480P - Easy set-up and menus - Lots of FX.
Cons: Freezes, locks-up and pauses in 720 or 1080I. Poor customer support.

I purchased this DVD player as an upgrade to another Toshiba player that I never had any problems with. When I got it, my Main TV was a 32" High-Def Samsung CRT which didn't have the necessary HDMI input, but I was soon to be upgrading that to a 52" ...

Pros: Its cheap, but apparently you get what you pay for.
Cons: Everything about our experience with this product has been negative.

We bought this product in late 2006, it stopped working about 4 months later. We called Toshiba customer service, as advised in the manual, and after trouble-shooting, we were advised that we had a bad machine and that we could send it to Toshiba for an exchange in 7-10 days. We sent in our machine, and after a few weeks go by, we called to check the status. Apparently they weren't going to tell us, but turns out Toshiba is going through a product roll-over and they are not planning on replacing our machine for 2-3 months. We consider this unacceptable and asked for a refund instead, but we were refused. Throughout the process, we dealt with inaccurate information and impolite agents.

Pros: Slim design, very good performance, low price
Cons: Too many bugs, cannot rely on player to work each time. Frequent freeze-ups

Like other postings, mine would freeze and then become inoperable. While it did not happen all the time at first, it got progressively worse. So I contacted the Toshiba America 800# and they were quick to offer their replacement program.

You get a new or re-built depending on stock on hand. I think they are having real issues with DVD up-convert products. Hopefully the replacement has fixed soft or hardware and is not just another time bomb.

Hope you all saved your receipts and boxes on this one!

Pros: Good, sharp picture
Cons: Every DVD played had one or more freeze frame segments

I have had 2 separate SD-4990 DVD machines with the same problem (vendor let me exchange the first for the same problem in the second). Every DVD I have played has had at least 1 period of freeze framing on both machines. The machine will just go into a pause for up to 20 seconds and then it will resume playing. Putting aside factors for bad or dirty DVD's I can't imagine why this machine is so likely to freeze frame. It either has no tolerance for the most minor errors of DVD's or does not buffer enough content through error correction to "jump over" these speed bumps.
This DVD player is junk and should be avoided. You will get very frustrated very fast.
Only good thing is the HDMI sharpness and color rendition. Of course that doesn't matter if your DVD's always stop and start.

Pros: May work great in 480p mode.
Cons: Does not work in 720p or 1080i mode.

Took home the Toshiba SD4990 today, I already had the HDMI cable ready to go.

Hooked up to my HD set (720p w/ HDMI input, obviously) and expected to be WOW'D by the picture. Wait? No picture?

Sorry, gotta use a different input FIRST to see the setup menu, then change the input to "HD" so I can use the HDMI out.
Scheese, what a pain. But I get out an extra component cable I have and hook it up. Ok, I can see the menu FINALLY. Set it to "HD" output, and it looks great. Change to HDMI, no problem. Looks great. Now, to change the output mode to 720p. Change the mode, and the screen blanks. Nothing, nada, just blank. Hit the button the remote that is to change the mode from 480p to 720p to 1080i.... Nothing...

Gotta restart the DVD player, hit the button to change the output mode (resolution) over and over. Finally I can get it back to 480p. But by then, who cares?

WHAT A PAIN!

Returning it tomorrow...

Stay away!!!

Pros: works great
Cons: non

True does need firmware upgrade, doubt toshiba will be supplying one as unit has been archived by manufacturer, anythow since i only paid $40 for it at a discount store why not take a chance. went to toshiba website, download firmware and created update disc. power on unit and incert disc, replied start update and could hear disc reading, disc stopped reading after a min or two. update message still on screen, gave it a couple of minutes, popped out disc, power off/power on put in move alien, palyed perfect, tried a divx movie, perfect again, no features lost and picture is graet through HDMI connector. ooops forgot to mention the firmware used was for thd sd-4000 which is available on toshiba site.

Pros: HDMI Output
Cons: Locks up, won't load DVDs, unreliable

Purchased for use with LCD TV in the kitchen. I've used it twice - and will probably take it back to the store. For no reason, the player just doesn't work. It tries to load DVD and DVD doesn't load. It just emmited a horrible whirring sound - after I powered it off, like it wasn't off. So I hit power again and it stopped - I powered it on again and it worked fine. If I take this one back it will be the second time I've returned this machine to ABT electronics. The first one didn't work at all. Incidently - I purchased the Toshiba SD-K860 for $59 at Costco and haven't had any problems with that machine.

Pros: When the unit plays the picture and sound are of good quality.
Cons: Freezes during DVD play. Overtime it will not load disks. Does not play all -R

I received the my first SD-4990 unit as a gift and after 2 weeks of flawless operation it began to freeze randomly during DVD play. Eventually the player would not even load DVDs. Plays some -R discs but not all.

Toshiba sent me a new unit and the same problems occurred after a weeks time.

So I am currently waiting on my 3rd player but I am not optimistic.

Pros: good picture for the price design isn't bad on the outside not sure on inside
Cons: needs physical override to eject disc needs instructions to reboot player's software

The picture at 1080i is great. The whining noises didn't bother me that much - sounds better than the cheapy divX player I had previously BUT at least that machine ejected discs when I pressed the open button. I haven't been able to take out a divX disc that I put in - it suddenly froze just like the first reviewer said. I decided to unplug over night - after a frustrating half hour. Still shows same thing on machine the next day. I'll probably have to return it today.

Pros: Great Video Quality, Plays all formats, Expands widescreen fit full 16:9 in progressive mode.
Cons: Terrible build quality. Remote - no tactile, visual button differentiation. No upconversion on component video.

Purchased 4/7/06. Returned 4/10/06. From Best Buy.
Played 5 disks great, then, like the other reviewer, I got a disk stuck in the player as well. Had to disassemble unit to remove disk. Once open, found the disk mechanism to be the cheapest, flimsiest piece of plastic I had ever seen.
The whole player couldn't weigh more than 1.5 pounds.
The remote has no visual or tactile button differentiation, and it's not 'universal'.
No upconversion on component video output.
Had a few 'pauses' when playing Divx video.

The Video quality at 720p and 1080i is great, even slightly better than the LG LDA-511 that I purchased to replace this unit.

Can not recommend this player. Get the LG LDA-511 or the Pioneer DV-588AS.

Pros: Great quality picture. Good menu.
Cons: Unreliable for the price.

I purchased the SD-4990 at a sale and the first time I had the issue of the DVD Player not turning on, not ejecting the dvd, and the popular black & blue screen when using the HDMI output.

After I exchanged it, I had the same issue with HDMI output at 1080i on my Toshiba 52HMX85......

Called up Customer Service and they are going to exchange the DVD Player once again..... :(

Update:
It looks like the issues I faced with HDMI was with the 52HMX85. The HDMI works perfectly now (after the 3rd exchange), and the DVD player is silient.
The problem I have now is when playing a dvd, or divx, it will pause once during the movie. The pause takes about 5 seconds and the movie starts playing again.

Also, the menu system is great.