Toshiba Blu-ray Disc Player BDX2100 - Blu-ray disc player - Upscaling

The BDX2100 is an updated version of the BDX2000 which my brother bought last year and recommended to me. This new model looks very good in a sleek black finish, and its also very easy to use. Setup was a doddle too although it didn't come with a HDMI cable (I used this one which is very good AmazonBasics 2M Quad-Shielded High Speed HDMI Cable [Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging]) and it was working within just a few minutes of opening the box.
In operation the picture and sound are both very good, and I really liked the fast start up time with this player which is a great improvement over older players. It has full 1080p playback too which means that it will give the highest quality picture if your TV is up to the job. On top of that there is a USB connector on the front of the machine so that you can connect storage devices such as flash drives, and that then allows you to view compatible files through your player such as DivX, MP3, WMA, JPEG, M4A and MKV files. To put it simply you can view photos, listen to music or even watch some types of video clips from your computer on your TV.
One negative point I've found is that it is slightly noisy in operation but to be fair it's certainly not noticeable when your film starts to play. The only other downside for me was that the wired in power lead is only about 1 metre long, which I found a little bit short but still manageable. However, at this price level I think it's an excellent Bluray player and I have been very impressed. Mine also arrived with a Lovefilm offer giving 12 months Bluray rental which is a bonus.

As I bought the Toshiba 32RV753B 32-inch Widescreen Full HD 1080p Digital LCD TV with Freeview HD I thought I'd take the plunge and get this budget/entry level Blu-Ray player. Here's my take on it:

This Toshiba was the cheapest Blu-Ray player I could find. I wasn't expecting much therefore. When it arrived and I unpacked it to find a rather slick looking player, light as a feather, and quite small as well...well not that deep I mean. Setting up was simplicity itself. HDMI cable into the back of the player, the other end into the Tosh LCD. I also connected a co-axial digital cable from the player to an old budget 5.1 surround sound system that I've used for a long time now (4 little sat speakers, centre channel with controls, and a woofer with the amps and electronics inside it).

The menu system is scratty, not well designed, and some of the options don't seem to have any explanation in the manual. E.g 'Deep Colour/ 30 bit, 36 bit, or off'. The manual doesn't elucidate either. In fact, the manual is ridiculously basic, and even the online one hardly differs. But back to the picture and sound etc.

Picture.

Standard DVDs

Standard DVDs are upscaled brilliantly! I am very, very impressed at the quality of the picture on ordinary DVDs, and as I have a number of them I am exceptionally relieved to find that I can enjoy them at an even better quality than my current DVD. I have the display setting on standard on the DVD settings, but I think it was set at Cinema by default, which I found a bit dark.

Blu-Ray Discs

Crystal clear, but still, I think a bigger LCD would show HD off more. Whilst I can easily see the differences, and they are very clear, when you get a busy scene the detail is pretty much irrelevant. Close up shots of faces, and objects on the other hand are lusciously detailed, but still don't in any way put the standard DVDs to shame.

Sound

The sound quality through the HDMI (Toslink cable from Toshiba TV out to 5.1 surround) really is excellent! I watched Red Planet the other night and the effects were bouncing around the room very nicely. Switching the 5.1 surround system to co-axial input made the sound richer and gave it more bass than with the toslink, but there is without a doubt more detail via HDMI and audio out via TV and Toslink to a 5.1 system. Both my wife and I preferred the sound like this, which makes the co-axial cable attached to the Blu-Ray player kind of redundant. This very much surprised me.

Extra features

Having been disappointed my the Toshiba LCD's limited USB media player functionality (it only displays photos) I was surprised to find that this Blu-Ray player plays MPEGs, VOBs, MP3s, JPEGS, DivX etc. In fact, just drop a Video_TS folder from a DVD rip onto a portable hard drive and plug it into the USB 2 port on the player and you can play your films from the caddy. Works via Flash drives as well. I am very impressed with this feature, and can't understand how this functionality can be included in an under £90 Blu-Ray player and yet a £325 TV only plays back photos.

There's a Regza-link feature that supposedly allows for interoperability of CEC compliant equipment, allowing control of them from single remotes, and standby features that shut all components off etc. I have not been able to get this to work properly at all. The Regaz-link icon appeared once or twice next to the DVD player input on the menu, but now it doesn't show and the standby feature no longer works. It's a badly described feature as it is, but it's even more annoying to have DVD feature buttons on the TV remote that can't be used because the player and TV don't seem to be able to talk to each other...and yet they are both Toshiba. But there ya go!

There is a LAN socket on the back of the unit as well. I connected it to my broadband router with a spare patch cable and manually set up the connection for my network. It connected first time. I then tried the BD-Live features on a Blu-Ray disc, and decided not to bother again. Tedious, useless, not something I care to do again. Annoyingly, the player's firmware cannot be upgraded via the Internet, even with a LAN connection. It's Disc or USB! Seems a bit daft.

Some things that I don't like

The menu system is just awful compared to any other equipment I have used. But it's a trade off I suppose..well. The settings aren't fully explained in the manual either, which is very irritating. Downloading eh online manual is no help either. The player is also noisy, but I have been told that this is a Blu-Ray thing. It also seems to take an age to load Blu-Ray discs (standard DVDs load normally). But I think most annoying is the high pitched whine from the player when it is on. I am still in two minds whether to keep it for this reason. However, sometimes it doesn't seem so intrusive and then all of a sudden it does again. Still undecided.

This is a budget player, but the picture quality on DVDs and Blu-Ray is excellent...and on upscaled MPEGS as well. The sound on DVDs is also excellent, but if you don't have a DTS decoder (I don't) Blu-Ray may sound awful. It does for me. Unless your TV has a good sound Blu-Ray audio is pretty much wasted...it'll be a video only experience.

I suspect that paying a bit more (which I didn't want to do) for another player would get your a it more, but at the price this is going for it is pretty okay. However, if, like me, this is your first foray into the world of HD and Blu-Ray be warned that your TV sound will have to be good if you want anything decent from your Blu-Ray discs. The Discs I have so far only have DTS audio tracks, and so you need a DTS decoder to appreciate the audio. Otherwise it's a downmix of the audio track, which is unimpressive.

I'll probably continue to buy DVDs with 5.1 audio tracks as the quality of playback on this player is excellent.

Hope this helps.

22/12/2010

Just a note regarding the Regza link not working. I bought another HDMI cable (a 1.4a HDMI cable) and replaced the Amazon frustration free one that I bought with the TV and Blu-Ray player and low and behold everything now works. Interoperability between DVD and TV is now fine etc.

I cannot believe there are so few reviews for this excellent Blu-Ray player. I can only guess that few people have bought it so far and not seen fit to give their opinion. Well, here goes. For those of you who are looking to get into the Blu-Ray market, maybe wondering what the fuss is all about and maybe wishing to build up a modest collection ... while still wanting something that will give good reproduction / upscaling of their current DVDs - LOOK NO FURTHER! I have had this for a few weeks now and my impressions so far have been very, very positive.

Bearing in mind it is a no-nonsense basic Blu-ray player aimed at the Blu-Ray novice, it does have some interesting features as well. Firstly, it is an attractive sleek looking machine and will look good next to your other equipment. It plays a wide range of formats already mentioned by other reviewers, such as DivX, MKV, audio with MP3 & WMA, and photos in JPEG. It has an ethernet port on the back for internet connectivity and, what was important to me also, apart from the DivX playback, was that it can play VCD and SVCD as well. I also like the Bookmark operation on the remote so you can review your favourite moments. Blu-RayDisc startup time I have found to be very good indeed, and this appears to be something many complain about of other brands.

The reason for 4 stars instead of 5? Minor negative points: USB slot on the front is uncovered which is convenient if you want to plug in a pendrive, but not so pretty if you want to play back from a multimedia hard drive - that would be better on the back. The initial disc startup is indeed a noisy clunk, but thereafter silent operation, and I do not find that a problem. One major negative point for me is that the power cable is very short and you may need to bear this mind when plugging it in in relation to your other electronic equipment. As other reviewers have remarked, a HDMI cable is not included but, then again, I would not have expected it at this price. Very few Blu-Ray players provide them anyway.

One final point: look around and see if you can get a cheaper, quality player from a big brand name. I doubt it. I had decided to get the Philips BDP3100/05 for around £100 when I saw this by accident. This is less bulky than the Philips and much better value for money. It is still a bargain at the moment and not to be missed.