Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)(UPDATE Jan 27th, 2011: There is a firmware update available now to fix the freezing issue. I am updating so others can benefit. As I have returned my player I will not be able to post reviews about the new firmware.)
(UPDATE Jan 20th, 2011: I returned the Blu-ray player. Amazon was amazing with their service.)
(UPDATE Jan 5th, 2011: There are still no firmware updates available. I have also updated this review in various sections below according to my experience with this player.)
I think Toshiba should be happy that they get one star out of this unit from me!! This is a very poorly designed 3D blu ray player. The software of this player is in such bad state that if you try and tweak around a little, it will freeze on you. And once frozen nothing will work. (As other reviewers have also stated, not even the power button.) The only way out is to unplug the unit. The freezing issue is so frequent that it makes this unit almost useless. Lets me give you a brief on what my take on this blu ray 3D capable player is:
Remote: (UPDATE Jan 5th, 2011: Forgot to mention before, no backlight on the remote as well. Another thing I have noticed is that the remote has a very short range and sensitivity is poor.)
Little confusing with the menu button. Too many of those are present and you have to kind of remember which one will do what. Apart from that there is no mute button on the remote. Everything else looks fine and easy to use. But again if the unit freezes you have to jump out of you cozy couch and unplug the unit as the remote won't work in that scenario.
Playback: (UPDATE Jan 5th, 2011: Didn't encounter playback freezing after that one incident. But 8 out of 10 times the player won't come back from standby. I have to keep unplugging the power cord to get it started.)
Yes, it will play your DVDs, Blu-ray etc very nicely and won't freeze during playback. The only freezing issue I faced during playback was after pressing the rewind button while a DVD was playing. (Although, this only happened once out of may be 10-12 times I pressed the rewind button and other buttons during playback.)
WiFi:
This player has a built in WiFi which is nice. And also the setup was easy. But the sad part is it drops signal every now and then. (May be another software issue or a poor hardware) Also, after dropping signal it freezes sometimes.
Net Connected Apps:
If you can get around the WiFi issue (May be by placing your WiFi right next to it or using an ethernet cable.) then you can try the net connected apps. There aren't many but the high hitters are present. I first tried the Pandora app. And yes, it freezes again :( .... I had to try at least 3 times to get my Pandora app going. I finally bailed out of it after another freeze on my 4th try. But it was not completely unsuccessful. It does play music from Pandora and has all the things one need (like search and radio stations that you have already created etc). Next, I tried the Netflix app and it freezes right there. That was too much to take and I completely bailed out of the Net Connected apps section!!!!
Setting Menu:
The setting menu is nice and easy to tool around. But the freezing problem is existent there as well. The player froze at least twice within 5 mins when I was tooling around.
Speed and response to command:
It is slow to respond when you hit a button. But one can live with that if other features are set right.
Load up speed (for DVD and Blu ray):
Not bad. I wouldn't say it is great but I think it would be hard to find another player with better speed.
3D capability: (UPDATE Jan 5th, 2011: I tested the player's 3D capability and when it plays it plays well. I do not see any issue with 3D playback from the players end.)
I am still waiting on my 3D capable TV to come. This player came within 2 days of my order so I am sitting with this player and my old TV (with no 3D capability). The TV will arrive in next few days. And if I am not utterly frustrated with this player I might give it a try for 3D and update this review accordingly.
To sum it up, if you are only going to put a DVD/Blu ray disc in the player hit the play button sit back and watch the movie then you might be fine. If you intend to press any button other than play, think again before you waste your time with this player, especially those who want the Net Connected Apps and setting to work fine.
Now, all the issues I have mentioned, I believe are because of a very poor software. So there is a slight likelihood that Toshiba might give a firmware update and do away with the freezing problem. Until then this unit is useless. (And yes I did check if there is an update available at this time, but there wasn't any)
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