Toshiba SD-3006 and Pioneer DVL-700 DVD Players.

Manufacturer: Toshiba America Consumer Products, Inc., 82 Totowa Road, Wayne, NJ 07470; 201/628-8000; Pioneer Electronics (USA), Inc., P.O. Box 1540, Long Beach, CA 90801-1540; 800/746-6337

Prices: Tohiba, $700; Pioneer, $1,200

Source: Toshiba, manufacturer loan; Pioneer, reviewer purchase

Reviewer: Howard Ferstler

Unless you have been living in a very remote area indeed, you no doubt realize that the DVD has hit the streets in a big way. To celebrate our magazine's encounter with this new audio-video format, I opted to check out two very differently oriented players. However, I decided to test them a bit differently than usual, because both have already generated a fair amount of commentary, and another round of technical findings would merely be gilding the lily. What we need to know is whether DVD is really worth the money, if it is really better than the LD (we can assume it is better than video tape), if it will be with us a reasonably long time as a consumer format, if the players make good CD players, and if DVD is really user friendly.

DVD Technology: So, what is this new format? Well, first off, the DVD has three major advantages over the previous champion, LaserVideo.

First, and this will mean plenty to a lot of us, it is small -- CD sized. Anyone who has had to store a lot of LDs will appreciate this. (If, as audio-only enthusiasts, you have not had to fool with LD storage, try to remember what shelf hogs your old LP collections were -- or still are).

Second, it holds vastly more video and audio data per side than the large-disc analog format. While a CLV LaserVideo disc (LD) can contain no more than 60 minutes of video and audio on a side (CAV versions can only hold 30 minutes), the DVD can hold over 130 minutes of full-motion A/V program material per side with single-layer encoding and can add nearly 110 more with dual-layering (which encodes a second layer below a semi-transparent first layer), and double the total again if both sides of the disc are used. (The second layer in a dual-layer disc cannot quite hold as much as the first layer, for technical reasons).

Third, and for me this is THE major advantage (even if high-end enthusiasts with deep pockets sneer at the very idea of it all), DVD software is and promises to remain a whole lot cheaper to obtain than LD software, and the players will be cheaper, as well. This fact of low cost will ensure that DVD should be around for a fair number of years.

The storage-capacity advantage means that nearly every popular movie ever made can be played without an annoying flip-over, and even a really long program can be contained on one side if dual layering is employed. Even when a program is so long that it requires three sides (something like Ken Burns' Civil War, for example, or The Winds of War), the ease of use of the DVD is self evident. Assuming that software producers take advantage of the dual-layering feature, this is certainly good news to anybody who has had to manipulate a stack of 12-inch conventional LDs during a really lengthy presentation such as Gone With the Wind, Ben Hur, the director's cut of The Abyss, or the CAV edition of the Star Wars trilogy.

(I should note here that two releases I checked out, The Wild Bunch and Stargate were divided up between two sides, rather than dual-layer encoded, leading one to believe that, for now at least, software manufacturers are reluctant to use this aspect of the technology. I assume that this is because of the potential for excessive production rejects. Interestingly, while Bunch, at 145 minutes, will not fit on a single layer, Stargate at 122 minutes, will. However, the latter was still split and put on two sides, probably because the total program, which included performer biographies, trailers, and previews, exceeded the absolute 133-minute, single-layer maximum. Still, the movie could have been put on one side, with the extra goodies on the other. Go figure).

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

A feature of DVD performance that many will appreciate, at least with movies shorter than two hours in length, is the availability of widescreen ratios on one disc side and a 4:3, pan-and-scan ratios on the other. (The former can often be player-configured to either a letterboxed format, for reproduction on 4:3-ratio TV sets, or to 16:9 anamorphic -- with the latter often expandable clear out to all four screen borders by the internal circuitry in a wide-screen TV monitor). If you have a 4:3-ratio set and want a full-screen image, you watch the 4:3 ratio side of the disc and the picture will fill the screen and you will get a panned and scanned presentation. If you want to see the whole, wide-screen image, you can flip the disc over and watch the letterboxed version.

Initially, the format was going to be set up so that both WS and P&S images were on the same side (utilizing the dual layering), but none of the discs I have seen have done that. Maybe this will come to pass later, particularly as longer movies are released in both WS and P&S, but production costs, and the desire of software manufacturers to keep consumer prices low to get the new format launched as rapidly as possible, may limit the amount of dual layering we may be seeing. That's OK, because the WS on one side and P&S on the other arrangement I have seen so far has not given me any problems. All I watch is widescreen, unless the original movie was 4:3 to begin with.

Current digital video discs make use of MPEG-2 data reduction and the players employ shorter-wavelength (read: Smaller size pits to scan), red-lasers instead of the infrared versions used with LD and even CD players, although DVD combi-players automatically refocus their lasers to track CDs. (Not recordable CDs in some cases, which will not play on DVD players unless they have separate lasers for DVD and CD). This gives them video performance somewhat superior to analog-video discs. Indeed, the comparisons I made with the two players under test here and the four LD players I had on hand (one of which was the LD section of the Pioneer player being reviewed), indicate that although LD is great, DVD is better -- sometimes subtly so and sometimes clearly so.

I had toyed with doing a "pro" and "con" section on DVD for this report, but for the life of me, while all the "pros" apply, I cannot come up with any serious "con" arguments. Yes, it does work to best advantage, given its abilities with wide-screen material, if you obtain a wide-screen set (although letterboxed images on standard sets still look excellent) and it does require obtaining a 5.1-channel sound processor for the best sound. And of course, you will have to purchase new discs, but at least the players are combi types that also play audio compact discs -- and the two I reviewed performed very well as CD players.

The conversion will cost money, but let's face it:. Any highly superior new system (witness the CD back in 1983) is going to require an initial outlay for new hardware. At least many of the first DVD players we are seeing are not outrageously expensive like the first CD players were.

DVD technology has nearly everything going for it. It allows multiple sound tracks (in multiple languages and allows multiple subtitles in a variety of languages, as well), surpasses all but digital-video master tapes in picture quality, is nearly as easy to store as the compact disc (the storage box is a bit taller than a CD box), offers multiple aspect ratios, is a more viable ultra-high-quality medium for convenient rental propagation than the analog LD, and is ready made for integration with the new generation of Dolby Digital surround processors, preamps, and receivers. Unless they are constrained by serious budget limitations and must opt for standard video tape and tape-rental stores for their collections, anyone starting out on a pursuit of the best in home-theater video quality would be crazy to not opt for the DVD as a primary choice.

Features and Foibles -- The Toshiba: I chose to test the Toshiba SD-3006, because the cheaper SD-2006 was not available at the time I requested it. The latter lacks some of the features the more expensive player has, most notably the "component" video output (which offers a slightly better picture than S-Video), but for all practical purposes (according to Toshiba) it operates and performs equally well as the 3006. Also, remember that most monitor-type TV sets have only "composite" or "S-Video" inputs, anyway. The back panel of the SD-3006 has a switch that allows you to select either the "component" video outputs or "S-Video/composite" outputs, but not both simultaneously.

Anyone who has operated a laservideo player should have no trouble hooking up and operating the Toshiba player. It has the above-mentioned video outputs, plus a variety of audio connections. The latter includes two pairs of left/right channel analog jacks (each pair is identical, even though the Toshiba manual does not indicate this and shows each set being used somewhat differently in the hookup illustrations), plus a PCM/AC-3 digital output for connection to either an AC-3 decoder (which cart be freestanding or built into a receiver or surround amp) or to an outboard PCM DAC.

This coaxial output and the analog outputs are controlled by an AUDIO SELECTOR switch on the back of the cabinet that selects either "AC-3 (Analog OFF)" or "PCM (Analog ON)." If the former is selected, in spite of the nomenclature, AC-3 and PCM signals will both be output at the jack and no signals will appear at the analog-audio jacks. If you are playing a DVD, its AC-3 signals will appear at that jack and you can route them to your processor. If you are playing a CD, the PCM signal will appear at the jack and you can route it to an outboard DAC in your processor the same way, if it has one. Many good surround receivers or surround processors accept both data streams at the same input and will differentiate the signals and properly decode them internally. My Yamaha DSP-A3090 works this way.

If you select the "PCM (Analog ON)" setting, things change a bit. An AC-3 data stream will not appear at the jack, although PCM-digital signals from CD source material will. Also, with CD sources, the analog jacks will supply decoded signals that have been run through the SD-3006's internal DAC. With DVD material the analog jacks will supply matrixed Dolby Surround or straight-stereo signals that have been converted from 5.1-channel, AC-3 by the player's internal circuitry. You would use the "PCM (Analog ON)" setting if you were hooking the player to a surround processor that did not include an AC-3 decoder.

Most users, certainly those with AC-3 processors, will opt for the "AC-3 (Analog OFF)" setting, and will be content to use the outboard DACs in their surround processors to handle CD playback. If your processor can handle AC-3 but does not have a DAC for compact-disc playback, you will have to reach around to the back of the cabinet and throw that switch every time you want to change from DVD programs to CD material. I think the switch should have been on the front, but given the way most outboard AC-3 decoders work, most people will be happy to set it and forget it.

Note that this player has no optical-digital (TosLink) output at all. This can be a problem with some processors, because they may not have coaxial-digital inputs for every digital source. My Yamaha DSP-A3090 only has a coaxial-digital input for CD, with all the other digital inputs (there are a fair number of them, including the one for DVD) requiring TosLink connectors. Fortunately, the Yamaha has a feature that allows you to internally route and listen to the coaxial-digital input while watching any video source by merely pushing a few buttons on the remote. Thus, the processor could handle the Toshiba's digital signals. This omission of a TosLink hookup is odd, given that Toshiba was responsible for the design.

The front panel has a nice readout and that is fully informative when doing CD playback. In addition, more comprehensive programming and playback information also will be transmitted to the TV screen. While this is not necessary for CD playback (or desirable, because it is silly to have to turn your TV on to listen to a CD), it is very handy when viewing DVDs. The on-screen menu system allows you to do a large variety of programming options with relative ease, once you have perused the operator's manual thoroughly enough to get a handle on the operation of the controls on the panel and on the remote.

The remote was workable in normal room light, but some users (those who watch front-projection sets with the room lights turned off) will miss the inclusion of a backlight function, because some of the keys are hard to identify in the dark. The remote has a sliding cover to keep probing fingers off lesser-used buttons while groping for the more heavily used keys. The remote is a programmable model with a selector switch at the top with DVD, TV, Cable (cable box, I assume), and VCR functions.

In conjunction with the remote, and in addition to the more mundane functions such as "play" "pause" "stop," "fwd" (scan), and "skip," the player offers the usual spate of exotic DVD-playback and picture manipulations and functions, including slow motion, title or chapter location by means of a screen menu, picture size (4:3 ratio, letterboxed, or 16:9 widescreen), camera angle (which will not work unless the people who produced the disc encode the data on the disc itself), and etc. Those with an inclination to play with their systems while movies are showing will have a ball with the remote.

The front panel sports Toshiba's new titanium/plastic look. The control buttons seemed a bit too space-age for me, and the plastic/chrome look of the drawer edge detracted from the otherwise elegant impression. This minimalist design might look OK in some installations (say if all your other gear is made by B&O, for instance), but it looked stylistically out of place in mine.

The operator's manual illustrates several ways to install the player in a variety of audio/video systems, although the explanation of each hookup's advantage was sometimes vague. For example, the diagram showing how to hook up the "component" video connectors also pictures an audio hookup that employs only the analog-output jacks. In the illustration, the AUDIO SELECTOR switch was set to "PCM (Analog ON)," meaning that 5.1-channel playback was not possible.

In actuality, assuming you have an AC-3 decoder, for best overall performance you would set the switch to the "AC-3 (Analog OFF)" position, and use the digital hookup. Nothing in the diagram indicates that this option is possible with a component-video hookup. Most of the other illustrations are more straightforward, although the Dolby Pro Logic Surround hookup also misleads, by indicating that the analog outputs must also be employed with it. That is not always the case, because the coaxial-digital output, if the AUDIO SELECTOR is set to "PCM (Analog ON)" will also transmit a Pro Logic decodable, PCM signal that can be handled by a good processor. I realize that a multitude of hookup options are available, and that Toshiba could not illustrate them all but the ones they do include in the manual give the impression that the player is less flexible than it really is.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Features and Foibles -- The Pioneer: The Pioneer DVL-700 is very different from the Toshiba player in one respect: It will play LaserVideo discs in addition to DVDs and CDs. (Physically, it resembles some earlier Pioneer combi-players that have a CD drawer installed within the LD drawer, although it does not have a jog dial). This function will mean a lot to those of us with already own 100+ LD collections who do not want to add still another piece of hardware to their equipment rack. (In my case, I do not have the space to do so).

Consequently, one reason I purchased this player is that it was easy to install it as a replacement for an older Pioneer combi-player, which was then moved to my smaller A/V system (The smaller system already had a still older player, and that unit was moved into my living room, to supply LD program material to the 27-inch set installed there). No radical equipment-console shelf-adjusting was required.

Another reason involved my small collection of AC-3-encoded LaserVideo discs. None of my older LD players have AC-3 capabilities and the DVL-700 allows me to have an instant audio upgrade for those discs. I suppose it would have been just as economical to purchase a much cheaper basic DVD player like the Toshiba (or even the still cheaper SD-2006) and then sell off the dozen or so Dolby Digital LDs in my collection and replace them with DVDs as replacements showed up. However, in spite of the potential picture-quality improvement of DVD (see below), I really have a kind of paternal attachment to those LDs and was reluctant to dump them when most are so new. Maybe later.

Anyway, the Pioneer, in addition to its LD capabilities, also has a few other notable characteristics that set it apart from the Toshiba, although in most respects it matches the other player in terms of DVD and CD functions and adaptability. For one thing, the remote control is much more user friendly when the lights are turned off, although many of the command buttons it contains duplicate the operations of other buttons. (This is probably a result of the lack of hard and fast data regarding what functions DVD would have during the initial period of design; the lead time in the player's engineering phase required that all contingencies be prepared for). The control is shaped and button-configured in such a way that after a bit of operator-manual reading and training it is possible to finger your way through the commands in the dark without making a huge error -- such as accidentally shutting the player off while, say, probing for the screen "display" button, which can be done easily with the Toshiba control when working in the dark.

Like the Toshiba, the Pioneer has a sliding cover to keep probing fingers off lesser important keys while hunting for more important ones. The slide cover hides a "random-play" button that works with both CDs and LDs. (I am trying to think what Judge Dredd would look like if run in that mode; maybe it would improve the movie).

Another thing I liked about the Pioneer involves its digital outputs. In addition to having a coaxial-digital output like the Toshiba (actually, it has two of them, for PCM/AC-3 and PCM only, plus an AC-3 RF output for AC-3 with LDs), the Pioneer also has a TosLink connection, which makes it much easier to interface with the DVD input of my Yamaha DSP-A3090. Like the Toshiba, the player also has two pairs of analog-audio outputs, a composite-video output, and an S-Video output. Unlike the SD-3006, it does not have component outputs, but my monitor, and most other monitors in available, could not accept those, anyway. The Toslink output will automatically deliver either AC-3 or PCM (depending on the source material) to an outboard surround processor, without having to flip any switches.

Although still more busy with superfluous information than I would like (a characteristic of nearly all Japanese audio-video operational booklets), I felt that the Pioneer's manual did a bit better job of handling the "how-to" than the one that came with the Toshiba. At least it hooked up with my brain a bit better. This is particularly impressive, when you consider that the Pioneer manual has to explain every function that the Toshiba's manual does, plus the additional LD commands. No doubt this thoroughness is a result of Pioneer's years of experience with explaining LD-player use. Like a lot of Japanese equipment guides, there were a lot of footnotes scattered about, many of which were important. Read every line in those manuals -- and I suggest you highlight the important info with a felt-tipped marker. Reading Japanese operational manuals almost mandates the use of a highlighter.

The manual is not perfect, unfortunately. (This is new technology, remember?). Figure 3, on page 45, shows what is supposed to be a hookup that will resort in "better sound quality." This consists of a drawing that pictures only the analog-audio outputs being connected to a surround processor. Clearly, this will not result in sound that is as good as, let alone "better" than, what will result from hooking the digital output to an AC-3 input. Nor will it appreciably improve PCM sound compared to what you will get when the digital output is hooked into an external DAC for playback of standard (non-AC-3) LDs or CDs, although it will probably not make it any worse, either.

In addition, during the set-up procedure, I ran into a snag that only a call to Pioneer eventually solved. (Well, I actually discovered the solution myself, but the call to the company was necessary to see whether the player was malfunctioning -- it was not). If you own an DVL-700 yourself, or plan to purchase one, read what follows carefully.

On page 24, under "Software set-up for wide TVs," the manual instructs you on how to configure your player for either a 4:3-ratio TV set or a 16:9-ratio, wide-screen model. This includes adjusting it so that it will accommodate wide-screen material either in letterboxed form (for 4:3 ratio sets) or as an anamorphically squeezed image, designed to be expandable to full width (and by default, height) by circuitry within the wide-screen TV set itself.

Unfortunately, the instructions tell you to (1) insert a disc, (2) press the "Enter" button, (3) press the "Aspect" button, and then (4) press the up/down buttons to select the desired mode on the screen menu. However, doing this got me nowhere. The menu did not appear on the screen. Instead, you should install a disc, hit "Enter," and then hit "Stop." Once stopped, you can access the menu and change the screen ratio using its icon guides.

Pioneer has informed me that its players were actually on the market before any of the DVD software was, and that because of that the company was not sure exactly how the software manufacturers were going to encode their material. Consequently, the written instructions do not exactly match the software requirements. So much for being the first kid on the block. I assume that Pioneer will insert addendum sheets in future operational manuals.

Another problem involves subtitles. Software coding is such that whenever a disc is inserted in the Pioneer, subtitles will automatically appear on the screen. They may be in either English or French, or if the disc can accommodate it, whatever other language you had previously selected during the setup procedure. It is easy to delete them -- just hit "Subtitle" and then "Clear" while the disc is playing. However, the next time you play the disc, it will display subtitles all over again and you will have to go through the same clearing procedure. Not a demoralizing job, but tedious.

The solution is to hit the above two keys while the disc is playing, and then immediately hit the "condition" memory button. That will tell the machine to leave the subtitles off when this specific disc is played at any time in the future. Again, this anomaly, something the Toshiba did not display, is a result of the player being designed and marketed before disc software codes were finally decided upon. Toshiba apparently had an information edge on Pioneer during the design stages of their respective players.

Performance Comparisons -- Toshiba vs. Pioneer: Right off, I have to say that with DVD software, the Toshiba produced a marginally sharper picture than the Pioneer did. The difference was nearly impossible to see with standard programmaterial, but with the resolution chart that came with the Delos DVD Spectacular demo disc (see below), the Toshiba player did a better job at the finer end of the scale.

Both players were superior to LD, however. This mostly showed up in background areas in stationary scenes. In some case, I could see that a brick wall behind one of the characters on the screen looked sharper and better defined on the DVD version than on the LD version. In street scenes, signs in the background were slightly easier to read. DVD pictures also displayed more contrast (which partially explains the increased subjective sharpness with wall patterns), and the LDs I used for two of my comparisons, The Glimmer Man and Lethal Weapon, both had more of a bluish cast than the DVDs and often looked a tad washed out by comparison. I'm not saying that the LDs looked bad, please note, just that they were not quite as snappy and three dimensional as the DVD versions. Good as DVD is, the format is no reason to trash your present LD collection and replace it ASAP with DVDs as soon as they appear.

The Toshiba and the DVD playback mode of the Pioneer also responded much more quickly to commands than any of the LD players I had on hand, particularly when it was necessary to cue to a chapter on side B of the LD. However, the LD players were just as easy to work with in terms of control flexibility, and the screen menus that popped up when delivering DVD commands were not helpful in a revolutionary way. Indeed, some of them were a pain to navigate. DVD's big performance advantage for most of us will be its better picture.

I should note here that the Pioneer was an exemplary LD player. It has a three-line comb filter and that prompted me to hook it to my Sharp XV-H37U video projector via the same S-Video hookup I used for DVD. The Sharp only has a two-line filter. With some TV monitors, those with a better comb filter than the DVL-700 (this is unlikely to be the case) it might be better to hook up the composite cable.

Music lovers should also be aware that both players operated well as CD players. If you are paranoid about the internal DACs in either, the digital outputs allow you to use outboard DACs.

Summary: I ended up purchasing the Pioneer, but not because it delivered a better DVD picture than the Toshiba. By a very small margin it did not. (The sounds produced by both players were subjectively identical). However, the remote control was a bit more user friendly (important in my usually very dark home-theater room when watching motion pictures), I preferred the styling of the Pioneer, and I also liked the fact that it had a TosLink outlet that simplified connecting it to my Yamaha processor. Nevertheless, the main reason was that I also wanted a really top-quality LD player (with AC-3 capabilities) in my main home-theater system and the DVL-700 filled the bill When I get another advance on my allowance from my wife, maybe I will get something like the Toshiba to replace my CD player and back up the Pioneer as a DVD player. I have no doubt that the SD-3006 (and probably the SD-2006, as well) would be able to replace that device quite effectively, as well as provide top DVD performance.

Addendum -- Dolby Digital For Music: Much has been said in the high-end press about the substandard sound of the AC-3 coding system. (DTS proponents have also been energetically pointing this out, although the few blind comparisons I have heard about have been inconclusive). Some have said that although DD audio will be OK for films, where the ability to reproduce explosions and flyovers means more than the ability to reproduce the subtleties of music, it will not be a proper medium for audio-only recordings.

To put my ears to the test, Delos Records recently loaned me a prototype disc containing a number of audio and video tests, plus three musical productions. One was a Dolby Digital transcription of solo-piano music and the other two were recordings of (what else?) the 1812 Overture. One was done in Dolby Digital and the other was a PCM transcription put there for comparison. (Let me say here that I really have to steel myself to listen to any recording of the 1812 dear through to the end).

However, while Delos acknowledges that the prototype is in need of further editing (for example, could not access one of the menu items at all with either player under test), I can say now, after listening to this "preliminary" material, that: (1) Dolby Digital can do a fine job (possibly a subjectively "perfect" job) with musical program material in terms of tonality, low distortion, detail, and transparency, and (2) that 5.1-channel audio is probably the wave of the foreseeable future for anyone who wants to get closer to concert-hall realism in a home-listening environment.

So, if this recording is the wave of the audio (as well as video) future, get me a surfboard right now. -- HF