Toshiba SD9200 effect on different TVs

[RobCurran]

Reading a review in audioreview.com and a poster placed this comment about the Toshiba SD9200. Can I get this translated into good ol'boy english?

"This is a fine DVD Player when used in conjunction with a 16:9 widescreen television. It's sturdy and well built, its audio performance is absolutely first rate, and the quality of the images it produces in 4:3 or anamorphic mode is also top notch. Unfortunately, the heavy artifacts produced by this player when downconverting anamorphic DVDs for a 4:3 TV without anamorphic squeeze have really spoiled it for me.

I bought this unit for use with a Toshiba 61HX70 4:3 HD-capable RPTV, which features component inputs with progressive scan capability, and a "16:9 vertical compression mode". The specifications of these units, their common manufacturer, and their similar positions in that manufacturer's product line suggested to me that they'd be a good match, and I was looking to get into DVD-Audio, so the SD9200 was an obvious choice. Bad move.

Unfortunately, and apparently like all Toshiba 4:3 RPTVs, the vertical compression mode of the 61HX70 only extends to HD material, so there is no "anamorphic squeeze" to reproduce the effect of a 16:9 widescreen set. The SD9200 in this application is therefore forced to "downconvert" the anamorphic signal to allow it to display properly on the screen. This involves a 25% reduction in vertical resolution. There are apparently different ways of accomplishing this, all of which involve certain compromises. Toshiba units are at one extreme. They simply drop every 4th line of text. The solution they have chosen preserves a maximum degree of image sharpness, but also introduces a correspondingly large number of line artifacts and other undesirable artifacts into the picture. (Sony DVD players make a different compromise, sacrificing sharpness to minimize artifacts.) On the 61" screen of the 61HX70, these artifacts are really magnified, and the result is a picture which is frequently marred by ugly, obtrusive and annoying problems such as shimmering, moire, and diagonal lines that look like candy canes. The impression is worse with images wider than 1.85:1, where there are even fewer lines of resolution to deal with."

This is the deal. I currently own a standard Sony 32 inch TV. In the future, I will upgrade to some large screen HD-RPTV. So what kind of TV is he saying I should say clear of???

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A/V AMP: Yamaha DSP-A1

DVD: Toshiba SD9200

CDP: Denon DCM-370

MAIN: Klipsch Heresey II

CTR: Klipsch KSF-C5

REAR: Infinity SM-65

(crap)

SUB: Infinity BU-1 (crap)