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My review of the differences between the Toshiba 3109 and 2200.

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My review of the differences between the Toshiba 3109 and 2200.

Old 05-25-00, 04:07 PM
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Up above it the new Toshiba 2200 that replaces the Toshiba 3109 which is down below.



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Up above again is the dvd remote control to the Toshiba 2200. Down below is the remote for the Toshiba 3109.


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If I had to pick one dvdplayer to be with for 10 years, hands down I would pick the 2200. Note, the performances for these two players is truly spectacular! No skipping, just flawless play hour after hour, month after month.

There are some differences performance wise, but as for the looks...these players resemble each other quite a alot. I mean both have dual trays for flawless human body manuever, when your sweet behind is all too comfty on your home theater throne. You don't have to get up to play the second disc of The Ten Commandments. That's right, you can load both discs into this beautiful player(s). (Note, you cannot play both at the same time, you can only access one disc, stop, then access the other)

I've owned the Toshiba 3109 for 10 1/2 months. The first day I bought it I was in heaven. Panasonic's A-300 model dvdplayer just made my life miserable with it's faulty playing abilities and loads of amount of skipping. I saw the light, hence, Toshiba 3109.

To make this review short, the Toshiba 3109 never gave me problems. I got my hands today on the Toshiba 2200 thanks to my best friend who so happens to get me a spectacular deal. Trade my 3109 for the 2200!!!

Should I get rid of it? How will Matrix perform? The 3109 has that dreaded cursor on the menu options and you sort of have to count in you head when the cursor is going to light up to make your selection once and for all. Also the Toshiba 3109 plays with you in the sense that you have trouble making this player fluently play The White Rabbit Special Feature. Whenever it wants, the Toshiba decides to show The White Rabbit on it's own. Go figure. By the way folks here's a trick tidbit, when you see the first White Rabbit scene, just as it's about to end, hit skip, and you are watching the second scene immediately, you skip on and on till the end and you just watched all the special scenes of The White Rabbit Special Feature.

How does The Matrix perform on the 2200? Like any other great flawlessly played dvd movie. The cursor blinks 1/2, but it does not choke like the Toshiba 3109 player does. The selection of The White Rabbit feature? Smooth as ice! Perfect.

The menu setup is identical to the Toshiba 3109. Equal. So that's stays the same. The design of the player is more attractive than the 3109. The time display (the litte window on the front of the player) has bigger numbers and are not smaller than the 3109. The back inputs of the 2200, the audio and video analog inputs are gold and the coaxial digital input also, just like the 3109. 2200 also has an Optical digital input as well. Both of these players have the Dolby Digital decoder built-in.

I also noticed that the length of the 2200 is like 1 inch smaller. Like I said I find the 2200 more attractive. It has nice contours at the front making it more sleek.

Weird. The 2200 looks like it displays more vibrant colors than the 3109! Not by a mile, but I detect a difference. Perhaps it's because of the so-called 520 lines of resolution? I honestly don't know, but my Tomorrow Never Dies (Silver Cover version) looks so damn good! (Note: Tomorrow Never Dies still has that camera angle logo pasted on the screen when it comes up during movie playing) The Matrix, keanu, all the actors look more vibrant with more well done a bit more of standout colors. Honestly, I don't know what gives.

Noticed that when you "Zoom" with the 3109 the "Zoom" logo stays on the screen? On the 2200 is stays for 2-3 seconds then it breaks out to I don't know where. Cool.

Now let's talk about remotes. Both remotes are entirely different unlike the dvdplayers which which both share a striking resemblence. The remote for the 3109 has an advantage over the 2200 and vice-versa. The Toshiba 3109's remote absorbs light, hence it lights up in the dark, making it easier for you to see and access the buttons on the remote control.

The remote for the 2200 does not have light absorbing buttons. It's plain black, plain. On the remote of the Toshiba 3109 you slide down the bottom panel and you have a cute set of buttons. On the 2200 you open the small panel identical and similar to a "cell phone." The batteries are not hidden like the 3109 remote.

Which remote do I like the most? Hmm..I will go with the 2200. Why? That glorious small thumb fitting joystick in the middle. The 3109 has a pad like a Nintendo 8-bit controller. Flat, big. though pretty ok to access dvd movie controls. The joystick on the 2200 is only used to access the controls on the dvd movies, not to skip, rewind, reverse or jump here and there. To enter the special feature on the dvd movie with the thumb fitting joystick, you press it in, like some of Pansonic's remotes. Nice. Another surprising feature about the 2200's remote is these two added buttons, fast forward and reverse rewind. Isn't that cool? That way like many times as I often do when I want to fast forward, I wind up jumping to the next chapter. But thanks to these new button additions on the 2200 remote, that little mishap is gone for good.

I end this review here and say that the 2200 has a great advantage and for it's price, it's a steal. Toshiba really is superb when it comes to dvd video quality and sound performance! The Toshiba 3109 and 2200 almost look like twins, but there are certain differences that give the 2200 the great edge. A purchase that can be made blind folded without worrying about a bad performance.

Toshiba 2200: Firmware version 1.5 February 2000

Toshiba 3109: Firmware version 1.0 April 1999

P.S: After further inspection and playing more dvd movies on the 2200 like Bladerunner, Antz DTS, etc..I just see a big improvement with the video quality over the 3109! It's like Toshiba added some sort of video enhancement inside this player?

Added tidbit: The dvdlogo that is pasted on the front loading tray is purple. The 3109 is Teal.

-sonic
<small>

















[This message has been edited by sonic (edited May 26, 2000).]
Old 05-25-00, 05:00 PM
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Thanks for the review, I'm sure this will interest a lot of us.
One correction: The Toshiba 3109 does not have a built-in DTS decoder, but it will output a DTS encoded digital signal.
Old 05-25-00, 05:17 PM
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MichaelBlanton

Hey you are right! I did not know that..oops. I noticed on the 2200 the logo says "DTS Digital Out". Cool.

Thanks for bringing that up. I revised my review to add that and also to add that "Coaxial" digital input on the back is also gold.

-sonic
Old 05-25-00, 06:01 PM
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Thanks for the great comparison!

I just returned my 5 day old DVD player for the Toshiba 2200.

The 5 day old player didnt play Tommorow Never Dies, that's why I returned it. Never had a problem playing discs with other players, but this one (Aiwa) can't play one of my favorites.

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Old 05-25-00, 06:05 PM
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Nice job sonic!

It should also be pointed out that the fast forward/rewind buttons and the chapter skip buttons are one and the same on the 3109 remote, but the 2200 has seperate buttons for these features. A definite plus.

Looks like they still don't have a disc eject button on the remote though.

Thanks for the review.


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By the way, that camera logo can be turned off by setting OnScreenDisplay to OFF in the Setup menu's Display settings section. I think that's the way it's supposed to work and not a flaw with the Toshiba or the disc; it indicates an alternate angle (if there aren't any alternate angles then it's a problem with the dvd.)

[This message has been edited by Blade (edited May 25, 2000).]
Old 05-25-00, 07:16 PM
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Blade

Thanks! I revised it again. I also added more praise to the 2200 as far as dvd video quality. It is more of better video quality than the 3109. Really turned out to be a GREAT player from Toshiba.

Also I knew about the turn-off option at Setup for the removal of the camera angle logo on screen. Thanks though!

-sonic
Old 05-26-00, 02:59 AM
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Are you sure the 2200 decodes DTS? I've heard from many people, it only decodes DD. I have a DD ready reciever, but decided against the 2200 because it couldn't decoder DTS. Maybe I'll have to rethink things.
Old 05-26-00, 03:07 AM
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dfcc

My apologies. This decoder stuff is quite confusing for me. <small>

[This message has been edited by sonic (edited May 26, 2000).]
Old 05-26-00, 10:02 AM
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Great review, Sonic. However, the 2200 does NOT have a DTS decoder built in. It will pass the DTS signal on to an outboard decoder.
Old 05-26-00, 11:12 AM
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quote:<HR>Originally posted by Laredog:
Great review, Sonic. However, the 2200 does NOT have a DTS decoder built in. It will pass the DTS signal on to an outboard decoder. <HR>


Judging by Toshiba's site, I'm going to have to agree with Laredog on this one.

You have to go with the 4205 to get DTS decoding built in.

Have you checked out the DVD Text function of the 2200 yet? And does it still forget disc settings as soon as you change discs?


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Old 05-26-00, 12:26 PM
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quote:<HR>Have you checked out the DVD Text function of the 2200 yet? And does it still forget disc settings as soon as you change discs?<HR>
Blade I'm not sure. I mean I never messed with that on the 3109..so I really can't say. I could try it out though.

I also removed the part of the DTS decoder being built in because this is confusing me.

-sonic

Old 06-07-00, 05:01 AM
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Sonic,

My Panasonic 110 just died on me, it was 16 months old. Too many skips, I'm not going to bother with the repair. So going by your great words for the Toshiba 2200, and it's great affordable price @Buy.com (freeshipping!) I went for it.!

I hope it's reputation lives up to it(knock on wood!)

Gotta love DVD!

-Carl, I'm an addict


Old 06-07-00, 07:43 PM
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Carl Spackler

Let me know when you get it. Please share your opinion here in the forum ok?

I know it's a spectacular and flawless player. I am extremely happy. The picture is just TOOO fantastic. I love it.

-sonic
Old 06-08-00, 09:45 PM
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Just don't try to Abyss SE's special features... haha...

Other than that... it's more than great!
Old 06-09-00, 11:16 AM
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Sent my Toshiba 3109 to the shop to get Firmware 3.0 installed. Should fix all the problems. Just my two cents.

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