Customer Reviews

Toshiba REGZA 47HL167 47-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

As a result of learning more than I ever needed to know about LCD TV's because of work, when it came time replace my Soyo 32" LCD, I knew I was in for a tough decision. I bought this 47" Regza, and made a wise decision.

The color on this set is very good and the picture looks great. My Xbox 360 games look fantastic (though the Colorstream component inputs receive 1080i, not 1080p from it). HD sources look incredible (always check the nature channels and sports channels to see how motion/colors look). SD sources look the way they should.. SD. I'm definately going to invest in a 1080p upconverting DVD player because the the 47" screen exposes the DVD format for what it is. I would imagine that an HD-DVD/BluRay movie would look incredible on this TV. HD content downloaded and played from the Xbox 360 looks very good.

The TV has 3 HDMI inputs, which is very useful assuming that we will see more HDMI source devices in the future. All of the inputs allow for easy access, even when wall mounted. My Harmony 880 remote was friendly with this device and worked without any custom manipulation (getting it to work with the input changing on my Soyo was a nightmare).

I've seen enough LCD panels to know that this this Regza 47" has a fantastic picture and superior color reproduction. At this price point, the TV is a great buy. Also, there have been reports of a greenish tint in greys/blacks on the 42" Toshiba LCD's. I have *not* noticed this on the 47" and watched content that would produce the issue if it existed.

Amazon's white glove delivery service was great and 4 days ahead of the projected delivery date.

Overall, this is a great TV at a great price.

I am pretty happy with the Regza 47HL167 that I purchased a couple of months ago. I read the 2008 Consumer Reports Regza review and agree with it for the most part. Overall, the TV can be an excellent value, and possesses picture capabilities that exceed several other more expensive brands. It has plenty of inputs for various devices and is easy to operate. It has a severely limited viewing angle that should be considered carefully by some potential buyers and that is the primary reason that I cannot give it a "five star" rating. I would probably recommend the Samsung LNT 4661 based upon reviews. It has "as good" or better picture quality and a better viewing angle. A comparable Sony will cost at least $400 more than the 47HL167 and you may not notice any difference in picture quality.

The picture quality is very good with Standard Def DVD's, and excellent with High Definition PC video files and Satellite TV broadcasts. I do not have Over The Air TV or a HD/BluRay DVD player connected, but would assume the picture quality will only improve with the higher quality content offered by the latter. However, almost always the picture fades significantly as you move past the 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock positions (with the TV located at 6 o'clock), or 135 degree points if you prefer. For those with a shallow viewing distance and wide room, I recommend that you steer clear of the 47HL167. The limited viewing angle is very noticeable to me and was cited by Consumer Reports. Imagine my surprise that hardly any Amazon reviews mention it.

The colors are very vivid and the 47HL167 has numerous adjustments to help each viewer satisfy their own preference. The blacks are very good and I recommend that you ignore concerns about the black quality of LCD versus Plasma. Assuming that the Plasma TV offers a darker black as some have noted, it is marred by the fact that Plasmas will reflect light from darker screen shots. In fact, the displays at the major retail stores illustrate this phenomenon very readily with multiple TV's broadcasting the same scene. The LCD TV's show no glare from lighting what-so-ever. All of the Plasmas show reflection from the store lighting during dark scenes. I suspect that those who have encountered problems with "Green or Blue Push" have not adjusted the settings to their liking, or might possibly have defective sets. I have not noted any "color issues", though the 47HL167 does have setting modes labeled "Cool, Medium, and Warm" which can render the overall color in the direction of blue or green. Also, the picture does not suffer from artifacts or distortion of any kind. Fast moving action scenes are rendered without flaw. No dead pixels have been observed. The screen is easy to clean.

The sound quality is fine. Bass and Treble can be adjusted and the unit also has three separate adjustments for Surround Effects. For movies I turn to my Stereo system to provide sound, but for most broadcasts I find the TV speakers suitable. I prefer the Bass setting at a very high setting and observe no distortion or muddiness that a poorly adjusted subwoofer delivers.

The 47HL167 is very affordable though you'll see it listed as high as $2,100. There have been several special sales on this TV, so keep an eye out, your wallet in your pocket or purse, and you'll likely save money. Best Buy was discounting the unit to $1,299 when I purchased. So I took their sales ad to Circuit City for a 10% price match discount and three-year, no-interest financing. It set me back $1,279 instead of the Circuit City price of $1,499 at that time.

The 47HL167's remote control works fine for me. It is larger than any remote I have used in the past, but that does not seem to cause any significant problem. The buttons are white and silver and the remote a dark color, but you won't be able see the buttons with the lights turned out. The remote seems very well built judging by the feel when pressing the buttons. I use the remote to operate my Dishnetwork Satellite DVR and Sony DVD player and was able to find the codes and program the remote by simply looking in the 47HL167's User Manual. The remote does not have the "commercial skip" function that comes in very handy with recordings or "paused" TV. I have not tried to use it to control my HP PC DVD player or Media Center software. The "picture size" button is a necessity for adjusting the screen ratio, which I will expand on later. Before purchasing an expensive learning remote, make sure it has this capability.

The TV has several inputs including the noteworthy three HDMI inputs. You will not want to use the Composite or S-video inputs, if you care about video quality. I observed very poor quality with S-video connections to a PC, DVD player, and Satellite DVR. Obviously, this TV is built for digital connections and I would highly recommend using DVI or HDMI cables over analog, to include Component cables. There was a marked increase in color quality when I swapped from Component to DVI connection to my HTPC. For those Home Theatre Computer owners who plan to use DVI adapters, beware that you may lose access to other HDMI inputs. The HDMI inputs are close together and the width of the DVI male connector and corresponding adapter will block the adjacent HDMI input(s). I recommend using a special cable that transitions from a DVI connector on one end to HDMI on the other. It will cost only a few dollars more than an adapter.

Also note that the 47HL167 will need about 15 seconds to power up, if you have it in the power saving mode. I have encountered trouble when switching to my DVR before the TV is fully powered up. Switching to the input too quickly sometimes brings up a blank screen and a loud pop is emitted from the speakers, when trying to switch between inputs to correct the problem. At this point you'll have to shut off the TV. An alternative is to put the TV on a power mode setting that starts it more quickly, but prepare for a higher electric bill, since the TV will be using power continuously. I suspect that the issue may be caused by the DVR since the problem is absent when selecting other devices.

I would like to make a few comments for those that are looking to purchase a Widescreen High Definition TV and need a few pointers to decide. I highly recommend the avsforum website for those who want to delve a little into the issue. Though I may occasionally refer to the 47HL167, my comments do not reflect any shortcomings in the Toshiba Regza necessarily.

Foremost, the new HDTV's can render beautiful pictures so that even a self-proclaimed audiophile such as me is spending far more time viewing than listening these days. However, there are some aspects to HDTV viewing that will be disappointing for some. Expect to live with black borders on the screen or a stretched and distorted picture. There are numerous screen "aspect ratios" though you will commonly see 16:9 and 4:3 listed. The latter ratios are referring to screen size, not the format of the source (TV, DVD, etc..) displayed on the screen. Most of the Widescreen DVD's at the rental shop or sold in Amazon are formatted in "Letterbox" (roughly 2.35:1) and display black bars at the top and bottom of the 16x9 screen. "Full Screen" format (1.33:1), ironically, displays black bars on each side of the 16x9 screen. The 47HL167 has three Theatre mode settings which stretch and/or crop the picture and fill the screen, but I personally find the picture almost always to appear distorted and prefer the black bars. Widescreen formats such as 1.66:1 through 1.86:1 are used with quite a few HDTV broadcasters and a few DVD's, and will fill the 16x9 screen very well.

The trickier issue is the formatting of Television broadcasts that change depending on the program that you are watching. For example, a few channels, such as Dish's "the History Channel HD" and Channel 46, broadcast some programs in a widescreen format which display black bars at the top, bottom, and both sides. Other programs on the same channel are formatted in "Full" and 16x9 ratios.

As I said, the 47HL167 has three "Theatre Wide" settings as well as Native, 4.3:1, Full, and Natural. Switching between the size modes is quickly accomplished by a single remote button. Unfortunately, the "Pic Size" menu lingers a little longer than is needed. The TV also has an auto aspect ratio setting which which rarely ever adjusts to the right screen ratio. However, when altering the original ratio with any particular setting, the picture loses clarity and people/object proportions are not correct. Though I am averse to these alterations, three of my coworkers don't mind at all the effects on their 32" and 42" screens. Yet, they didn't even notice the black bars on their screens until I pointed out that stretching and cropping is the only way to eliminate the black bars. In fact, a coworker who had owned her Sony 42" LCD for over two years, approached me a week after our conversation, and confessed that, when watching the movie Dances with Wolves, she saw "black bars" for the first time!!! So judge for yourself, and keep this in mind when determining what screen size to purchase. The 47" screen is the same height as 36" 4x3 screen. The size drops dramatically when watching "Letterbox" movies, with a screen height closer to a 27" 4x3 screen. If you're sitting eight or more feet from the TV and want that big picture effect during movies, then a 46" should be the minimum size screen.

In summary, I highly recommend the Toshiba Regza for those that view the TV from within the limited viewing angle and plan to watch DVD's and High Definition content. If low price is priority, the Olevia and Vizio are fairly competitive. If picture quality is most important, but at a cost under $1,800, then Samsung may be the better choice.

I have this TV about a month and I am very happy I purchased it. It is not from amazon.com though. After researching and reading reviews about LCD TV and made up my mind to buy it from amazon.com, but found out the price was increased about 70 dollars within an hour. I contacted amazon.com's customer service, and they informed me that they can't reduce the price, but rather can refund the price difference, if the price of this TV would be dropped within 3 days after the purchase. So, I decided to buy it from another dealer about their previous price.

Anyway, this is my first LCD HDTV and I am very impressed by it's picture quality when watching local OTA HD channels which are broadcasting in 720P( or 1080i). I don't think there are any OTA HD channels have 1080p out there yet. Colors are vivid and images are crispy. I connect it to my Philips Divx player and upcoverted it to 1080p, playing DVD looks great.

I am not sure what the previous guy is talking about when connecting his Gefore 7600 GS video card to this TV. I have the XFX Gefore 7600 GS video card in my computer as well. I connect it to my TV via DVI->HDMI cable(Generic one) with 1080p resolution, the picture quality is flawless on my TV. It is clear as on my 22" dell monitor. When I play HDTV recordings in mpeg2 format from my computer, picture quality on this TV is amazing and impressive. The Geforce 7600 GS does output dim color images for video playing, but that's your video card user settings. If you set it back to default, it looks great. There is nothing to do with the LCD TV display.

I also connect my PS2 to the TV via component cable. Pictures are much clear than using the composite cable. I almost use up all the inputs, one HDMI for my computer, one for my Philips Divx player; two component inputs are for my PS2 and DVD player. I will try the Wii which I just bought today on this TV when I get the component cable.

The sound quality on the TV is somewhat below average. I noticed this from other reviews before I bought this TV. LCDTV's picture quality is my first criteria. Sound will be routed through receiver. There is a stuck pixel (always white) near the left bottom corner on my TV, but it's not a big concern for me, either, since we won't notice it in a normal watching TV or playing game's distance. It's not the same as you are facing your computer monitor. I think LCD TV manufactures have some acceptance level of stuck/dead pixels for big LCD TVs.

Overall, it's a great TV and definitely worth of the price. This TV's price has dropped more than $100 since I bought it a month ago. It's not good for me, but that's very good news for the people who are thinking to buy it.

Like many others on this site, I first purchased the 47" Toshiba Regza TV from Amazon when it was priced in error for $1295, via Office-Depot. However, I was very surprised to see a name-brand TV being offered for such a low price, and monitored the transaction closely. I realized soon enough that the 42" TV was being shipped out by Tech Depot (a subsidiary of Office Depot). I quickly contacted TechDepot, who had already shipped the TV, but was able to get the transaction canceled and had the TV returned before it got to me (for no cost). I was offered a cancellation of this order, and the chance to purchase the correct (47") TV for cost-price (plus tax) and with free shipping (over $100 value). So, I took that since this was still a really good price for the Toshiba Regza 47", which can cost almost $2000 online with shipping and taxes. All in all, the Tech Depot support guy I was in constant touch with, was the most helpful rep ever (sorry for the long story, but seems like others' poor experiences warranted a detailed explanation).

Everything aside, this TV is mind-blowing. I've compared it to the Sharp Aquos 46" with 4ms response time that a friend owns, and plus numerous ones in stores. The TV is packed with every feature and every kind of audio/video input (and output) you'd possibly need. The 1080p video is crystal clear and better than the Aquos (I have compared video from my Sony Playstation 3 that does full-HD 1080p). Video is sharp, brighter and richer (even with an indoor HD antenna that I'm using - no more paying for basic cable!). I won't get into technical specifications, although I've done some really good research before buying (i'm a computer engineer and a nerd :P), and my other choice was to get the Samsung 4665 46" TV (which is really popular). However, for a (very slightly) bigger screen and much lower price, I'm more than happy (ecstatic, rather) with the Regza.

The one-and-only shortcoming that I have found with this TV (which does not matter to me) is the lack of Picture-in-Picture. The remote has full-function and can control a compatible DVD player as well.

The 47HL167 arrived right on time and the shippers were great. The unit was in perfect condition and fired up without a hitch, however I did need to switch over the output resolution on my Moxi DVR to high definition to get rid of a blurry picture. Once I did that, it was great.

The only reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is because the remote is less than what I would expect from this level of TV: It's not a learning remote. However, Toshiba finally included the codes for the Moxi DVR (I have a 26" Toshiba LCD that doesn't support the Moxi commands) so it's not that bad.

Update 10/15/07: I just spent the weekend watching football in HD on this TV followed by the Bourne Supremacy. Wow! It was fantastic. If I could figure out how to change the rating to 5 stars, I would.

The HD picture on this Toshiba is like looking through a clean window at the world outside. The 1080p DVD picture (thru an upconverting player) is also consistantly impressive. The features of the set and the remote are useful and convenient (for example, when the DVD player is switched on, the set aotomatically switches to the DVD input mode [optional setup choice]). The only feature lacking is PIP or TwinView, and considering the favorable pricing of the set, I can live without it.
The swivel base (included) is convenient. In short, I recommend this HDTV to anyone who doesn't need PIP.

I purchased this before Thanksgiving because the Samsung LNT4661 was not available and I got a good price on it at Sears with price matching. I won't go into all the gory details but only the highlights.

Pros:

-Very attractive styling
-Nice remote with channel favorites menus
-Easy list mode for adding and deleting channels quickly
-Sharp image

Cons:

-Green shift!!!!!! Look up on other forums for this model. It has a reputation for a slight green tint or shift on darker parts of the scenes. I spent many days trying to make fine adjustments but to no avail. Some people without a critical eye may not notice it but once I noticed it, I noticed more and more. Even my spouse (who is does not have a critical eye) complained

-PC input (VGA) limited in resolution to 1280x1024
-HDMI with computer video limited to 1920x1080 @24hz! Does anyone know of PC card with DVI out that supports this mode?
-NO USB port

Considering the price and Amazon's price today of $1199, this tv might be a keeper for some people, but untimately, I couldn't stand the green shift in the picture and returned it. Then I purchased the Samsung LNT4661 and I'm not looking back. The Samsung definitely has more natural and accurate picture colors.

An excellent product at a great price. I appreciate the excellent delivery service as well. I viewed several LCD TV's and felt this picture was best. I have not been disappointed. It is easy to install and the user functions are easy to understand and execute.

I decided I needed an HDTV and went to the local store to view them. I was rather scientific about it, I went down the row and compared the pictures on each one and rated them. This search included plasma, lcd, sony, samsung, lg, toshiba, etc. I then looked at my sorted list - and to my surprise the top two TV's were both 47HL167 - unbeknown to me there had been two on the wall.

Now, I have a theory that the store can easily sway buyers to different TV's by playing with the color/sharpness/tint settings but this TV looked great. It was brighter than the others - this was particularly evident when looking at grass. The Toshiba showed a bright emerald green grass while the others were more of a darker pine green that didn't seem as clear to me - but others might disagree as it is a matter of preference. So I fully believe this TV is as good as the other brands.

I ordered off Amazon because it was significantly cheaper than the local stores. (The TV was delivered by Electronics Expo - and I got a 42" by mistake. While annoying, they fixed the problem promptly and politely - so I guess that's a good test of a store) Installation to the Peerless ST650P (a great deal on amazon also, you'll pay twice as much in a store) mount was easy - a bit heavy for one person but I managed.

The TV takes about 4 seconds to turn on, which is a bit annoying. The picture on HD is great. Non-HD can be a bit disappointing because the screen is big enough to show all the imperfections in the broadcast. But I suspect more HD channels are on the way. Overall I'm happy with this TV.

I purchased this around Christmas moving up from a smaller Sharp Aquos LCD and was concerned about some of the comments regarding 'Green Push' mentioned both here and on AVSForum. Using my HD Dish Network receiver and several HD-DVD players (all connected via HDMI) i have not noticed anything out of the ordinary - perhaps the green push issue is limited to analog inputs? Blacks are black and colors are spectacular! If anything images are too sharp and turning down the 'sharpness' setting results in a cleaner picture with less artifacts. This TV offers a myriad of adjustments i am still playing with. In summary this is an excellent set which delivers a fantastic picture and above average sound (if your not using a separate receiver).