So you've got your snazzy new HD-Ready television but as of yet nothing HD to watch on it yet.

Our quick take

Compared to the Samsung DVD-HD850 DVD Player the Toshiba lacks out on styling, performance and price once you factor in that you don't get a HDMI cable in the box (these normally cost around £20).

However where the player does win out, is its support for the DivX format and if you are one of those people that downloads and saves content in the DivX format then the SD-360 will allow you to watch them on your television rather that being restricted to your computer.

If DivX isn't a necessity, unfortunately for Toshiba we would recommend you opting for the Samsung HD850. It might be more expensive, but the design and performance, including the fact you to get a HDMI cable in the box wins out.

Toshiba SD-360 DVD player - 3.0 / 5

FORAGAINST
  • DivX support
  • up-scales your current DVD collection
  • small and compact
  • Design is a little plastically for our liking
  • no HDMI cable in the box

While the SD-360 from Toshiba won't offer you HD-DVD quality images found on the next generation formats, it does promise to help you get the most from your current DVD collection in the meantime.

The system works by taking the current resolution and up-scaling it to better suit HD-Ready television screens using the unit's HDMI socket.

In practice this means that Standard DVD playback, which delivers a maximum of 576 horizontal lines of resolution, can be increased to either 720 progressively scanned lines, 1080 interlaced lines or even 1080 progressively scanned lines.

Of course you don't have to have a HDMI slot to benefit from the player's standard features (you just won't get the up-scaling) and the thin and compact DVD player supports the standard range of DVD player features, as well as, DivX, MP3 and JPEG format playback.

The design is basic if not a little plasticy, however the main annoyance we found was a rather large blue strip light at the front of the player that has the ability to light up the room when on.

This is not the first time we've found this overpowering light on a Toshiba product and it's one that is starting to get a tad annoying. If you are going for the full lights out, cinema experience at home, the last thing you want is a big bright blue light beaming in front of you and any would be buyer would do well to buy a thick black marker pen to colour it in on arrival.

To recap

If DivX isn't a necessity, unfortunately for Toshiba, we would recommend you opting for the Samsung HD850