Video Asylum

Posted by David Anderson on December 28, 2004 at 09:44:49

I just got a 27" HDTV for Christmas, and I'm now thinking of getting a better DVD player to take advantage of it.

Consumer Reports (which my brother likes, but which I regard with some suspicion) recommends the Toshiba SD-3960 specfically for a good picture mated with HDTV sets. Another review confirms the good picture, but says the audio is lacking.

Consumer Reports says NADA about the quality of the audio outputs. It seems not to matter to them.

I'm not really interested in getting into surround sound right now. I've frankly been very happy with two channels driven by my upgraded little Dynaco SCA-35. With its power supply upgrade, it can actually produce some impressive bass driving efficient speakers. (In fact, I've heard some surround sound systems that sound very muddy to me.)

So, I was thinking--if the cheap Toshiba DVD player produces a very good video signal, would it be practical to buy it for the video output and then, possibly, connect a D/A converter its digital audio output? It has a coax digital audio out. If so, what should I look for in a D/A converter for a DVD output?

Or is there a budget player with a good balance of video and audio performance? I can't afford a Pioneer Elite right now..... ;-)

Thanks,
David A.