Customer Reviews

Toshiba 62HM196 62-Inch 1080p DLP HDTV

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Toshiba continues to make some of the best TV's on the market and this one is no exception. A few notes for people looking to get the older models (XXHM195); this model and the 196's all have the improved/new lamps so the problem the 195's experience will not occur with the 196's. That's one reason I waited for this 'round' to come out. The 196's also have 2 HDMI inputs which is crucial as HDVD and Blu-Ray come into fruition. With this TV handling 1080p I am 'set' for the next decade re: picture quality since HD DVD is 1080i but Blu-Ray is 1080p and I foresee Blu-Ray 'winning' the war in the long run.
My 42" Toshiba resides in my living room while this big boy is in my "Man's Room". For now, bought a Toshiba 6980 HDMI upscaling DVD player and it works flawlessly. I run it through my Denon AVR-987 (which is the SAME receiver as their AVR-2807) since the receiver has 2 HDMI inputs and HDCP compatible (also needed for 'future' video).
WARNING for ComCast customers: their HDMI PVR cable box does NOT support HDCP receivers so another good reason to get a TV w/at least 2 HDMI inputs - one for the Comcast 'box' and the other for the output from the receiver (where everything else is connected).
Why don't I use the CableCard feature you ask? - It's $6.99 and the current TiVo doesn't record in HD so for $9.99 I'll take the HDMI output HD PVR that records 2 shows at once. Plus - this cablecard is not 2.0 compliant which means if I ever want to watch VOD you CAN"T without a box. (Yes, the new TiVo Series 3 will support CableCard 2.0 but at $600 estimated pricing - not worth it and yes, Comcast WILL have a Comcast TiVo PVR by the end of the year but I don't know the specs yet but it will be powered by TiVo software!)
And yes, the current Comcast PVR pales in comparison to TiVo and does not work 'that' smooth..
Any questions? Feel free to email me. I shoot straight from the hip.

I researched my new DLP tv for months before coming across information for Toshiba's launch of this new Toshiba 62HM196. I scoured the web and new exactly what I was looking for. Dollar for dollar it was the best value out there. It tested very well and if you research on the web you'll find information of it being tested against other tv's in this price/size range. The tv was delivered fine-shipping was great. Unfortunately can't say the same for the tv. It was delivered to me at the start of September,06. Never worked out of the box. I had also bought new surround sound (Infinity) and a new receiver Onkyo SR-604 (Deck and speakers are really nice). I was setting everything up-so happy it arrived before the football season. "Oh my Patriots on the big screen-doesn't get any better". Well TV turned on fine--then the blue light on the front started blinking and wammo within 2 minutes the nice colors turned to purple, black and white-blotches everywhere-couldn't make out a person on the screen. TV is still in the shop. I spoke to a Toshiba manager of "TV" customer serivce-I could have asked what color the sky was and I would have gotten-verbatim, a line read directly from their manufacture warranty-they were like robots and could care less whether I was a satisfied customer. The Toshiba certified technician that came to my house to look at the tv said, "Oh boy you got yourself a lemon, there are too many things wrong with this tv to list." I had to take multiple days off from work for tech people to come to my house to look at the tv and to pick it up. It is still at the shop and Toshiba finally told the technician that it needs-they believe- a new mother board--it'll take "around" 3-10 business days to ship--then it will have to be worked on--got no confirmation from the Toshiba technician when they could do this once they receive the part...bottom line is Toshiba customer service is very poor and I am still without the tv that I ordered with no idea when I am getting it back-and if it will even work like I expected it too. Stay VERY clear of this Toshiba 62HM196 tv and Toshiba. If you buy it, make sure that the company you buy it from will take it back and REPLACE it if it doesn't work as expected. Otherwise all the risk is on you and trust me--working with Toshiba has been a nightmare--they will gladly sell you a tv and could care less if you are satisifed. That's not a risk I will take again-live and learn.

UPDATE: The Toshiba certified repair company got back to me today 10/02/06, told me my Toshiba 96HM196 needs a new "Digital Sine Module" for the repair-He spoke with Toshiba-they DO NOT have avaiable yet this part for repair-he said the tv model is so new that parts are not yet available-TV came out in June 2006--that's 4 months ago. Toshiba is selling TV's with no parts to repair them--what does that tell you about how much they care about a happy customer?! I asked for a timeline and he had no idea of one. I called Toshiba and spoke with the manager. He said he has no idea of a time frame and could not talk about options to solve this problem until they recieved a copy of my sales receipt--then at that point he would talk to the parts department about "options". I asked, "What are these options?". He said, "I can't get into that until I get a copy of your sales receipt". I scanned it and emailed it to him--well to the open customer service mailbox. See, he doesn't give out his company email address or his direct phone line, so into the general public customer service email it goes. Now I am suppose to wait for a phone call from the parts department which he said I will receive by tomorrow 10/03/06. Do yourself a favor and DO NOT do business with TOSHIBA. Ask youself, is it worth this aggrevation?

UPDATE: Toshiba parts department was suppose to call me back to give me a timeline of when the part to repair my TV would be available. They never called. I called back to Toshiba customer service. The customer service person would not give me his last name. I asked to speak with the manager I spoke to yesterday. He said he is unavailable (When I got off the phone my finace called into the same number asked for the manager by the name I gave her and wammo..he took the call-he was obviously avoiding my call). I asked when the parts department was going to call me. He said, "Let me check your file...oh it says they called this morning and left a message." I said I didn't recieve any call--I had my cell phone with me at my hip all day. I asked for the person's name in the parts department who had called me and their contact information so I could call direct--he wouldn't give it to me. I asked if I could speak with that person now--"oh he is not at his desk I can try and leave a note to have him call you back." They were beyond rude. I asked them since there is no part to repair my tv what are you going to do for me. Got no answer. I ended up having to hang up when he said, "ok have a good day." that was it..no resolution or any options given just a sarcastic remark. Well I got my retailer on the phone he promised to return my money when he has receipt of the tv..which he says should be tomorrow. I've kept the name of the retailer out because up till now they have at least returned my calls and been simpathetic. Toshiba has not and has been evasive as can be. I don't know how they can do business this way. The retailer offered to ship me a new Toshiba 62HM196 tv..I said no thank you I'll take my money back please. I'm buying a new Sony XBRII and going to pay the top dollar through a retailer that will give me a grace period and take it back if it malfunctions out of the box. This expereicne with Toshiba has made me furious. Never again will I purchase their products and I'll pass this word to anyone considering electronics that I speak too. We work too hard for our money to give it away to a company that doesn't respect and honor our business. Say NO to Toshiba!

I find it interesting that the reviewers either gave one star or five, however, so far an even split. I purchased this TV about 3 weeks ago and so far I'm pretty impressed. Mind you everyone who reviewed the Samsung here at Amazon and there were more than 30 gave it 5 stars. I read my first reviews in "Consumers Report" which listed this Toshiba as their number one choice. I buy alot from Amazon but the sale was from Amazon "through" Tiger Direct and to be honest Tiger just offered the better deal Direct. I'm having mine hooked to a Satelite System soon so I will post an up-date. First they say the down fall is the bulb. I've read that the bulb life is much better in the 96 as opposed to the 95 but time will tell. To hedge my bet, although I almost never get the extended warranty even Consumers Report suggested for a DLP TV it "might" make sense. T/D had a 2 year warranty that took effect after the one year manufacturer for $150 so that gives me 3 years for less than the price of one bulb. Delivery was free and again it was Eagle and although some have had there problems mine arrived in one week and the guy (with my help) put it right in the den, so I was very pleased. The picture with my up-converting DVD player is great. I didn't do a side by side but the picture seems top notch. I like the 2 HDMI inputs. I run the DVD in the one and will run my Satelite into the other. With the "Optical" sound out to my amp I don't have to switch anything to keep the sound going. The on board speakers are okay but who gets a set like this and doesn't have a system with a sub-woofer? Plain old cable while not HD is still pretty good compared to a SDTV. The TV was fairly easy to set up and the remote was a breeze to get both my receiver and DVD player to work with it so that is a big plus. For south of $2000 with a 3 year warranty and placed in my den I find this to be a pretty groovy deal, maybe even peachy keen. Tis odd that the few reviews are either love it or hate it but that is just the way it is. The whole Theater Wide thing is cool with the push of a button you can change how the picture fills the screen. Most movies I leave the way God intend......I mean the Director intended it but usually fill the screen with the SDTV and that can be done with minimal distortion should one choose or leave in it's native format. With an upconverting DVD player one can watch movies in 1080i (not 1080p) not sure if there is that much difference myself 720p kind of looks the same to me as my DVD player switches between these with a push of a button and they both look pretty good to me.


[edit] 720p versus 1080i
Some United States broadcasters use 720p60 as their primary high-definition format; others use the 1080i standard. While 720p presents a complete 720 line frame to the viewer between 24 to 60 times each second (depending on the format), 1080i presents the picture as 50 or 60 partial 540 line "fields" (24 complete 1080-line fields, or "24p" is included in the ATSC standard though) which the human eye or a deinterlacer built into the display device must visually and temporally combine to build a 1080 line picture - in CRT type display. To get all 1080 interlaced lines to appear on the screen at the same time on a progressive high-definition display, the processor within the HD set has to weave together both 540-line segments to form the full-resolution frame. It does so by holding the first field in its memory, receiving the next field, then electronically knitting the two fields together. The combined fields are displayed at once as a complete 1080p frame. The main tradeoff between the two is that 1080i may show more detail than 720p for a stationary shot of a subject at the expense of a lower effective refresh rate and the introduction of interlace artifacts during motion. 720p is used by ABC and ESPN because the smoother image is desirable for fast-action sports telecasts. Fox Broadcasting Company uses the tagline "the nation's finest high-definition standard" in advertising its 720p programming.



The proceeding was added just to give some factual prosepective but clearly 1080p has the bragging rights. So if you compare Sony, Samsung and Toshiba I don't know just what would be the BEST. Again, since "Consumers Report" liked this one it was my first consideration between the 3 brands I'm not sure that one is so much better than the other that I wouldn't pick the best price. At the time of purchase the Toshiba had the best price/warranty and free delivery so that's the way I went and as weird as it sounds seems like a reasonable choice. Seems to have lots of connection options and I really like the 2 HDMI plugs. It also has an RJ45 to hook to your "network" me I got a "cross-over" cable and will most likely just show photos from the laptop but who knows. I will return after I live with my Dish for a bit but I would say any decent 60 plus inch HDTV for under $2000 although not cheap is clearly better than the 2005 prices.

Okay due to the whole LOS I get no DISH Network-upgraded Charter, took 3 service calls to get the cable card(?) but that seems to work fine and hey HDTV is pretty cool when offered. Mind you Charter just lost our Local Channel 4 in HDTV for "some" reason" gee and SUPER-BOWL will be on, oh, gosh darn that very channel? Now I have found a rather annoying quirk shall we say. There are three "setting" Sport, Movie and Preference. These all have the factory settings, designed to sell the TV on the showroom floor. Mind you, I like the overly bright, overly green "Sport" setting for football. However, bear this in mind, should one set up the Preference setting either by eye or using one of them there fancy setup disc and then click on the Sport or Movie settings and make "ANY" adjustment what-so-ever then THAT becomes your Preference and all your original (Preference) settings are lost? Click back to Sport or Movie and they are at the original factory setting?? Puts some meaning into the phrase "don't touch that dial".

I purchased my Toshiba 62HM196 62" TV from Amazon and received it about 10 days ago. I thought a DLP TV would be a good mix between quality and price, and it does have a great picture. I have Dish Network with the HD package, and the visuals are ususally stunning.

I also purchased a PS 3 and some Blu-ray movies so I could watch in 1080P. When setting up the playstation video to 1080P, the screens goes black and after 30 seconds reverts to the old resolution. The best this TV can put out with an HDMI input is 720P or 1080i.

I called Toshiba and spoke to customer service and he confirmed what I already had found out, in HDMI or component settings, 720P or 1080i are the best you could do. I asked how Toshiba could get away with putting 1080P on the box, when you can't watch anything in 1080P. I was told that the coax Ant1 input can output to 1080P, only problem is nobody broadcasts in 1080P over the air yet.

Not real happy with Toshiba right now, should have done more research and not believed Amazon's description.

I buy most of my items based on Consumer Reports recomendation and this is the Highest rated TV by them. The price was very good and delivery by Amazon.com (electronics Expo) was prompt.

The picture quality, as Consumer Reports review said, is outstanding for HD, SD broadcast and for DVD playback. In fact, picture quality is far superior than the LCD HDTV, Plasma HDTV and Samsung DLP HDTV that I have seen. Sports in HD from local CBS channel shows simply stunning! I have paired it with Sony upconverting DVD Player (excellent performatce), Terk indoor HDDTa antenna (great reception of local ATSC, HDTV channels) and Direct TV and so far I am very happy with this purchase.

This was my initial jump into the HD TV experience and I am very pleased with it so far. The TV was delivered, coming cross country, in a week and was easy to set up (once the stand, purchased separatedly, was assembled). I upgraded my Dish TV sattellite to include the HD channels and have also purchased a HD DVD player (Toshiba HD-A2). I've calibrated the TV by "feel" as the HD DVD Essentials (on order from Amazon) hasn't yet shipped. The picture is excellent and everyone who has seen it has been impressed.

[...].

This TV is stellar when it comes to features and picture, but it is decietfully labled as a 1080p television. What they fail to tell you is that the only input on the TV that accepts a 1080p signal is one of the coaxle connections. Niether of the HDMI inputs on the TV can accept a 1080p signal; they top out at 1080i. 1080i is the same resolution, but if you are planning on watching cg movies or games or fast moving action do not buy this tv. It is an excellent picture for a decent price, but it is border-line false advertising. I have been a loyal customer for Toshiba(3 laptops and this TV), but it seems my faith in them has been sold out.

I had the Samsung 56"Samsung HL-S5686W which is a piece of garbage. When I moved it to plug in a dvd player the whole set woobled due to it's cheapness. Even the screen moved. BestBuy had me return it and try another Samsung(same model)as they thought the one I had was a lemon. That Samsung had the same noisy, pixely, smeared picture in SD, HD, and with DVD's. It was a mess.

I then got this Toshiba and WHAT A DIFFERENCE! CLEAR picture, great sound, quality made set.

Consumer reports rated this set as Excellent in BOTH SD and HD and I agree with them. DVD's with my Oppo DV-981HD DVD player look almost like HD DVD. I am that impressed. Get the Toshiba. Better Processors, Better Picture, Better made, BIGGER picture, Better set.

After installing the TV and reading the manual, this TV does not accept 1080p signal. It says so in plain letter in the manual. I think Amazon needs to change the designation in the item title. The TV was returned to the seller.

We bought this set for $1699 about a month ago. Arrived in 5 business days from Tiger Direct. 5 stars for Tiger Direct.

Because of the seating arrangement in our family room I wanted a screen that was at least 60" wide. I had plenty of room for a rear projection set (it's only 18" deep) and didn't feel the need to buy a flat panel to "keep up with the Joneses".

I've worked in broadcast television for over 30 years and I could not be happier with the picture quality. That big consumer magazine that doesn't like their name to be used rated this set #1 in picture quality for HD, DVD, and SD, over all the plasmas and LCD TV's. I agree! 720p and 1080i look equally good. There's enough range in the picture settings that I was able to get a good home theater look using my Video Essentials DVD (instead of the super-saturated, super-bright, overly-sharpened pictures that you see in the stores.)

This has a nice complement of input connectors, I'm using less than half of them at this point. Ant 1 (QAM/NTSC for Cable), Ant 2 (ATSC/NTSC for OTA-Off The Air), DVD into one of the component inputs, VHS into one of the composite inputs. I'm running fiber-optic cable from the TV to my home theater receiver to get 5.1 sound. My next DVD will probably be HD/HDMI and this can handle it.

I've not noticed the rainbow effect at all and since this sits 17-18' from our couch I've only heard the fan when the sound is down and I walk past the set.

Being able to put thumbnails of your favorite channels across the bottom of the screen that are QAM, ATSC and NTSC has come in handy when we want to switch from HD OTA, to HD Cable, or SD Cable. Nice feature!

I also like the TV Guide On-Screen free service that comes with the set.

The only negative: Our old set had dual tuner PIP, this does not. It has POP (side by side) but your choices are limited as to which sources appear in the left or right side. You cannot, for instance, watch Ant 1 and Ant 2 simultaneously, even if one is using the QAM tuner and one is using the ATSC tuner. Since I can't deduct a half star for that I'll have to deduct 1 star.

We didn't get the matching stand. Since the Toshiba stand is narrower in the back, like the TV, you don't have much space. We bought a generic 22" deep x 63" wide glass and gray metal stand for about $200 at Best Buy. It's a little big (18" x 58" would have fit better) but it looks great and has a lot more room.

Overall I'm very happy with this set and would recommend it. You can spend a lot more money for not a lot better picture with Sony, Panasonic, and others. I'm running the lamp at the lower brightness setting so hopefully I don't have the lamp issues that other 62HM196 owners have had. (EDIT March 24, 2009 - Two years later and still running strong, still love the picture)