Toshiba 42HP83P 42-Inch TheaterWide HD-Ready Plasma Flat-Panel TV

by Toshiba

Product Details

• Item Weight: 156 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 154 pounds
• Shipping: This item can only be shipped to the 48 contiguous states. We regret it cannot be shipped to APO/FPO, Hawaii, Alaska, or Puerto Rico.
• ASIN: B0000E2SJD
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #363,408 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Note: Toshiba 42HP83P 42" TheaterWide HD-Ready Plasma Flat-Panel TV is no longer being manufactured. You may want to consider purchasing the newer Toshiba 42HP84 42" TheaterWide HD-Ready Flat-Panel Plasma TV instead.

With its 16:9 widescreen, portrait-thin chassis, full high-definition resolution, and picture improvements for sub-HD sources such as VCRs, cable boxes, and non-progressive-scan DVD players, Toshiba's 42HP83 42-inch plasma television is primed for both movie and sports fans.

With a plasma screen you get vivid colors like you've never seen before, extremely wide viewing angles (wider, even, than LCD screens), and easy placement due to a plasma monitor's slim size--the 42HP83 is a mere 4.9 inches deep, perfect for desk or wall mounting (a table stand is included). Brightness tends to be extremely uniform across plasma screens, which are also impervious to the picture distortion and negative color balances that afflict CRT monitors when placed in close proximity to lighting or sound systems. The set's amazing specs include an LCD-shaming 1,000:1 contrast ratio, 340 cd/m2 brightness, and 1,024 x 768 resolution.

Heading up the great features is CrystalScan HDSC, which coverts all signals--including 480p--to full 1080i resolution. Frame, line, and pixel doubling are all used to create progressive, full-frame images from standard interlaced signals (such as composite-video signals from DVD players, VCRs, and camcorders). The process reduces jagged-line artifacts for a smoother, more natural image. Selectable 540p, for those who want to display a progressive-scan image from a progressive-scan source, is available via the handy onscreen menu.

HD Dynamic Contrast continually analyzes picture information and enhances those parts of the picture with the most detail information which results in a sharper, deeper, more film-like images. The 42HP83's 3D Y/C (4 MB, 10-bit) digital comb filter further enhances resolution by removing blurred edges between colors and reducing dot crawl (tiny, moving dots of color along a sharp color separation in a vertical line, as in a depiction of a character's striped T-shirt).

A pair of ColorStream HD component-video inputs provide the ultimate picture quality from high-resolution component-video signals, like those from DTV set-top boxes, progressive-scan DVD players, or satellite receivers. Other connections include a direct-digital DVI input with high-bandwidth digital content protection (HDCP), three each composite- and S-video inputs, and a composite-video output (with both fixed- and variable-level audio outs) for use with a VCR or surround receiver.

HD Window multiscan 2-tuner POP (picture-on-picture) accepts 480i, 480p, 720p, and 1080i signals and can even display two different-resolution signals simultaneously. The split-screen function lets you adjust the size of the POP boxes and will even let you view both 16:9 and 4:3 images at the same time. The set's seven MultiWindow system makes it possible to see the main picture while viewing your favorites or doing a channel scan in seven smaller boxes.

When hooked up to the IR output, the supplied TheaterLink IR dongle lets you operate up to six video components by simply pointing the remote at the TV screen, even if the components are hidden away in cabinets or out of view.

Cinema Mode (3:2 pulldown) circuitry identifies original film-based content from DVDs, then reassembles the frame sequence to more accurately reproduce the original 24-frame-per-second material. Four TheaterWide picture modes enable full-screen viewing of varying widescreen movie formats, while color temperature control provides three selectable temperature settings for achieving an optimum white balance.

What's in the Box
TV, table stand, remote control, remote batteries, IR dongle (for use with set's TheaterLink IR capability), user's manual, and registration/warranty information.

Product Description

2/8/200615-19-32...

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Defective Product and Customer Support Stinks, May 29, 2004

By 

P. Palmer "PPalmer" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Toshiba 42HP83P 42-Inch TheaterWide HD-Ready Plasma Flat-Panel TV (Electronics)

First the good:
-the picture quality is good, the colors are rich.

Now the bad:
-the speakers produce distortion
-you cannot save settings associated with different inputs. This means every time you switch from one type of feed to another (watching a movie on DVD to watching regular TV via the satellite), you have to change the relevant settings. This gets to be time consuming and tiresome.

Now the unacceptable:
From the day I purchased this TV I have had sound synching problems. Sometimes the sound is off by as much as a second. My experience with Toshiba Customer support is very similar to the experience other reviewers have had: Toshiba tech support arranged for a local shop to examine the TV. They reported the problem to Toshiba and nothing has happened. I have had the TV almost two months now. Worse is, every time I call Toshiba to check the status, they cannot tell me anything, not even when they expect to repair or replace the TV.

My hoped for outcome from this will be that I will be able to return the TV and I will then purchase another brand, probably the highly rated Panasonic TH-42PA20U

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Defective product--don't even think about buying!, May 23, 2004

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Toshiba 42HP83P 42-Inch TheaterWide HD-Ready Plasma Flat-Panel TV (Electronics)

We loved this TV for one month. Then a bright red line appeared from the top of the screen to the middle. Toshiba tech support arranged for a local shop to examine the tv. The repairmen determined that the line was from a failed circuit board. They said this "happens all the time" on Toshiba plasmas, something I never noticed in doing my due diligence on this product before I bought it. So here is a warning for anyone thinking about buying this or any other Toshiba plasma. Try another brand! By the way, since Amazon refuses to accept returns on any large tv, if you buy a lemon (like I did), you could lose thousands of dollars. You should not even consider ordering a large tv from Amazon. JUNE 11 UPDATE: after waiting 2 weeks for a service call and another 6 weeks for Toshiba to get the parts to the repair shop, the repair crew was unable to fix the problem. Toshiba now says it will send me a new set, but they can't say when this will happen. JUNE 16 UPDATE: Although Toshiba promised on June 11 to promptly replace my defective tv, today it said it had no idea when this might happen. Meanwhile, we have an unwatchable tv. For $5000, I expected customer service to be considerably better than this! Don't make the same mistake, buy any plasma tv other than a Toshiba. JULY 7 UPDATE: Finally, we have a new plasma tv and are rid of the old one. We should be glad, but we're terrified about having to deal with Toshiba's terrible customer service if the new one is defective, too.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Started off beautifully, but after 1 month...., September 27, 2004

By 

Michael B. Gobble "Mr. Opinion" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Toshiba 42HP83P 42-Inch TheaterWide HD-Ready Plasma Flat-Panel TV (Electronics)

Bought this TV at BestBuy. We loved the features, picture quality and the overall design of the TV. Everything was great until about day #29 when the screen was all white when we turned it on. After several tries we got it to work. After 3 days of phone tag we fiunally get to talk to our sales person, manager of the department, and he tells us we are 2 days over the 30 days and he won't do anything for us. Long story short we point out that it was 30 days from the day it was delivered and they agreed to take care of it. After another week we finally get a repair man out and he says we need a new circuit board. So now 4 days later, we can barely get the tv on now and no word on when we are going to get the part. By the way it is discontinued. Buy another TV! I wish we would have bought the Panasonic and will if we end up having to replace this one. Also, it is BS that you have to buy a warranty, but I will buy one to just to protect my $5000 investment.