Split personality player

Author's Rating:

Pros: Cheap, progressive, excellent video playback & de-interlacing, high "secrets shootout" rating

Cons: Second version of player is horrible, probably cannot purchase the original version now

The Bottom Line: 
If you are fortunate enough to find the original player with the Toshiba chip, BUY IT! Avoid the player with the Vaddis chip.

Author's Review
Unknown to most consumers is the fact that there are two versions of this player in existence. This is why you will read reviews praising this player for a robust mechanism, excellent user interface, and advanced options. Then, you'll read reviews stating *exactly* the opposite. How can this be? It seems impossible that people are actually commenting on the same unit.

Well, they're probably not. The first version of this player incorporated a Toshiba chip which produces excellent video, includes several advanced menu configurable options, and provides extremely robust and rapid disc reading capabilities. The second version swapped out the Toshiba chip for a Zoran Vaddis chip which is also heralded for excellent video rendition; however, there have proven to be several problems with the implementation, mostly revolving around disc reading errors, layer changes, and other hiccups.

I actually purchased the second version of this player based upon the excellent review from hometheaterhifi.com (secrets shootout). After evaluating the unit for myself, I experienced excellent video rendition when the player was actually able to play the disc. Layer changes were indicated on-screen by "play"(horrible idea)and almost every DVD I tried in the player had at least one hiccup. Often, the player would completely freeze (Shrek 2) and would not recover.

This experience was not unusual at all actually. A thread on avsforum.com was started which eventually shed light on this issue. It can be found here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=40d572a013b82bb49a6662c4a098ac29&threadid=457837&highlight=SD3960

Needless to say, I promptly returned the second version of the SD-3960 after learning the truth and was fortunate enough to find an original version at a local Sears (bottom of the stack, lol). The salesperson had no idea what I was doing desperately sorting through every single box looking for any indication that the unit was an original version with the Toshiba chip. It was actually quite humorous. Thankfully, I found an original unit as confirmed by the mfg. date glued to the rear of the unit.

After using this unit for 8 months, I can say I have not had a single problem with it. I have never experienced any type of playback difficulty, even with the very same discs which caused problems in the second version player. During the first 4 months of usage, the player must have averaged at least 6 hours of play time per day due to my 3 year old. For the $50 or so I paid for it, it is an incredible progressive player and an amazing value. I was also able to find a second player locally that was an original version.

This "review" was not necessarily written to evaluate the SD-3960. It was written to shed light on a very confusing situation created by Toshiba. I hope this, along with the *very* enlightening thread at avsforum.com clears up the confusion with this player.