80 of 80 people found the following review helpful:
One of the Best 2009 LCD HDTVs for the $$$, Better than a Samsung LN40B650
My Toshiba 42ZV650U Review:
*Picture quality is excellent! No 'ghosting', 'flash lighting', or 'clouding'. My panel has no dead or stuck pixels. Color reproduction is excellent with vibrant (but realistic and not over-saturated) colors. Black levels are very good, blacks are not a light gray with this screen, the black is actually pretty close to actual black (there...
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
Nice picture, but it reflects way too much light
I spent a lot of time researching TVs, but apparently, not enough:) Overall, I like this TV. The picture is great. However, the screen reflects way too much light. When the TV is off, or in dark scenes, it looks like a mirror. We got this set because it's supposed to have a good viewing angle, which was a concern I had. It does have a good picture from a wide angle,...
This review is from: Toshiba REGZA 42ZV650U 42-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with ClearScan 240, Black (Electronics)
My Toshiba 42ZV650U Review:
*Picture quality is excellent! No 'ghosting', 'flash lighting', or 'clouding'. My panel has no dead or stuck pixels. Color reproduction is excellent with vibrant (but realistic and not over-saturated) colors. Black levels are very good, blacks are not a light gray with this screen, the black is actually pretty close to actual black (there is some very minimal light bleed of course- it is a LCD). This is especially true with the lights on. Bioshock looks awesome! The 240hz effect really looks great too with basically no 'jitter'. Pans and zooms are smoothed with no added blurring. Resolution+ (aka SRT) also makes a huge difference for non-HD sources. My Gamecube looks much better on this TV then the older Sony 42" LCD it was connected to, much less artifacts and jagged edges that are smoothed down better. DVDs also look great, even older films. Watching Trinity and Beyond: the Atomic Bomb Movie (I highly recommend this wonderful documentary BTW) with it's digitally restored archival film footage of atomic bomb tests are absolutely spectacular looking.
*Sound quality is surprisingly good (considering you can't even see the speakers), and I enjoy using the Dolby Volume feature to quiet the transition from quiet show/ TV movie to a loud commercial (HELLO BILLY MAYS HERE!!!). The volume no longer decides to double itself when commercials are on! The speakers put out a fair amount of bass considering their size- they don't sound 'small' or 'from the bottom of a barrel'.
*The remote control is nice. I can control my Xbox 360 DVD player and Comcast cable box (Motorola) in addition to the TV after programming the remote. It is also not cheap feeling with solid buttons (I wish the buttons would light up though) and a sturdy build. The IR pass-through feature on the TV looks useful for people who keep DVD players and the like out of sight behind a cabinet, but I don't use it as my AV components are all visible.
*Media player looks functional but limited. I can see myself looking at digital photos on the TV from a SD card / USB Flash, but the functionality is too basic. Video playback looks interesting but I encode my videos in h.264 (for iPod/iPhone) - and that is not supported (as far as I can tell). Maybe Toshiba will offer software updates or the ability to add additional programs in the future? I will just use my Xbox 360 for these features, and in time I will build my own Mac media center computer.
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I chose this LCD panel over the Samsung LN40B650 40-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV with Red Touch of Color panel (my next choice after the 42ZV650U) because it's overall picture quality (color, contract, brightness, black levels) is better, 240hz smoothing effect is great, Resolution+ up-conversion majorly helps with DVDs and other SD content, excellent audio quality/features (no more loud commercial transitions), and the design is more attractive (I don't like the Touch of Color Red personally). Oh yeah, and the 42ZV650U is about $400 less on Amazon compared to the LN40B650 (or $700+ less, excluding tax, than a local retailer as of early May 2009)! The Toshiba 42ZV650U is a real winner in my book!
I purchased this HDTV from Amazon May 1st, picked up at Pilot Air Freight on May 4th. It would have been delivered on the 6th within a 4 hour time frame but it was more convenient for me to pick it up myself. My biggest concern was shipping, as it is electronic and large - thus fragile. Shipping was super quick, free, and the TV appeared to be handled well in transit as the box was not beat-up. I am very happy with my Amazon purchase!
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This review is from: Toshiba REGZA 42ZV650U 42-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with ClearScan 240, Black (Electronics)
I bought this TV online after going to Best Buy and taking a look at it. I didn't want to buy a TV without seeing it in person first...and not having to pay sales tax was a big plus as far as getting it online ;) It was ordered 6/5/2009, and it was delivered in perfect shape on 6/12/2009 (way to go Amazon!).
I was blown away when I went to see it at Best Buy, and I'm still blown away by the fact that there's one downstairs in my living room. The contrast is amazing: I just finished watching The Empire Strikes Back, and I was shocked to see Vader's mask and cape actually being totally black!
I also bought a Blu-ray player the day this TV arrived, and I got The Dark Knight (one of the new Batman films) to see how it'd look. In short: it was amazing. The color was crisp and the response time being 8 ms made no discernible difference to me. I was thinking that might be a downer in scenes with a lot of quick motion (Dark Knight was a good tester for that), but it was not a problem. It was just as clear on the fast-motion fight scenes and the flyover city-view panning as it was on the slower scenes with just dialog. I was impressed. 120Hz is just beautiful (silky smooth)! I believe the TV also emulates 240Hz, but I didn't really notice that if it was enabled; I figure that not a whole lot of stuff out right now makes proper use of 120Hz, let alone 240Hz.
One reviewer knocked the aesthetics of the TV, and I have to respectfully disagree with his assessment. The pedestal stand with which it comes is perfectly sized, and the charcoal-gray bezel looks good. The lit "Toshiba" at the bottom-center of the bezel is a nice touch, and it can be disabled in the settings if it becomes bothersome. I like it as a good power-on indicator.
The menu system is well-thought-out. Amazingly, it actually made sense when I was casually playing around with it. I was able to customize the picture settings to my liking without getting into the manual...and when I did get into the manual (just to see what it was like), I was surprised to find that it was actually well-written and easy to understand. I was expecting something that had been machine-translated from Japanese, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that was not the case...or else the folks at Toshiba have made a darn good machine translator.
All in all, I think this was a very good buy. You get more screen size and better features for less $$ than other brands, so it's a no-brainer. I know I initially had qualms with not getting a well-known brand like Sony or Samsung, but I can say without reservation that such concern has no basis in reality.
For those who want a quick up-or-down on this TV: two thumbs waaaay up!
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This review is from: Toshiba REGZA 42ZV650U 42-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with ClearScan 240, Black (Electronics)
I was a little hesitant about buying toshiba since I was always a samsung fan and the toshiba tv's never seemed to match up in picture quality. I am happy to say that this tv turned that thought process around for me. Thus far I have had no issues with the TV and the picture looks amazing. When comparing with other models this one outclassed the samsung b650 to me but the b750 did seem slightly better. Though when considering the b750 was $600 more than what I payed for this set and 2" smaller I can easily say this was the best bang for my buck tv by far.
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This review is from: Toshiba REGZA 42ZV650U 42-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with ClearScan 240, Black (Electronics)
I swore based on many online and magazine ratings to only purchase either a Sony or Samsung LCD TV (same manufacturing anyways). I never really considered the Toshiba Regza line until I saw it on display at an architectural exhibit. The colors and detail were absolutely stunning. Despite what CNET described as not that good, the darks were actually really visible and even more so because Toshiba added a more detailed color tweaking menu for the videophiles out there. The menu is VERY simple to understand - and my particular favorite navigation part is the ability to switch inputs so quickly using the left/right toggle buttons.
The sound quality is amazing. There are many built in options here as well. Dolby sound, surround, etc. The speakers are so well hidden and yet sound great.
Other features I love are all the HDMI inputs, an SD Card slot (we can watch slide shows from people's cameras), and the USB port (WOW you can watch DIVX movies, listen to MP3s etc from an external drive!!!)
I haven't really given the Clearscan 240 feature a chance yet because I'm waiting for the football games on sunday, but I'm very happy so far with the 120Hz smooth performance. Again, excellent value for all the features you get.
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This review is from: Toshiba REGZA 42ZV650U 42-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with ClearScan 240, Black (Electronics)
The Good: I bought this TV set after much research and viewing every set I could online and at the stores. This set beat out Samsung and Sony models in its class, and was hundreds less. This set has great audio speakers that adjust to loud volumes such as commercials. Black levels are great. Colors pop. Skin tones are spot on. This set is more "tweakable" than others. You can elect to have antiblurring without dejudder. I looked side by side at several stores to compare this model and it is superior to Sony and Samsung pq. Bigger is better. I don't have room for a 46 inch and this 42 inch beats out the 40 inch sets.
The Bad: I was unlucky and my set had two dead pixels right out of the box. After two months, I got a second set, exact same model. The second set had audio lip syncing problems on one channel and buzzing sounds once a day. The dead pixel set had no audio problems. I ended up keeping the dead pixel set. The fine print under the Toshiba warranty says if you get one dead pixel or 100 dead pixels, it is not covered under the warranty. I can't see my dead pixels unless there is a white background and I look for them. This set is perfect in many ways, except not pixel perfect.
It was a bad experience to start out with, to have two sets, the same model with problems.
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This review is from: Toshiba REGZA 42ZV650U 42-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with ClearScan 240, Black (Electronics)
After studying LCD TVs for months, I decided to go with this model (from Beach Camera via Amazon) and could not be happier. I'm not a videophile so I can't speak to all its nuances, but I can say it has a beautiful picture, works great with my Tivo HD and Panasonic BD 60 Blu-Ray player. I was a little concerned about the glossy screen because it's in a windowed room with a slider but as soon as you turn it on I just don't notice any reflections. Delivery was quick (2 days) and setup was easy. In every way I'm thrilled with the set and Amazon.
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This review is from: Toshiba REGZA 42ZV650U 42-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with ClearScan 240, Black (Electronics)
I spent a lot of time researching TVs, but apparently, not enough:) Overall, I like this TV. The picture is great. However, the screen reflects way too much light. When the TV is off, or in dark scenes, it looks like a mirror. We got this set because it's supposed to have a good viewing angle, which was a concern I had. It does have a good picture from a wide angle, although I believe many others do as well. There is so much glare, you'd think it was a plasma. Also, for some reason, many of the TVs I looked at including this one have a very high gloss frame. This also reflects a lot of light. I have no idea why they wouldn't use a flat black for the frame. It's really annoying that it reflects any light in the room. I don't use the TVs speakers, so no comment there. So bottom line, is that it's a nice picture, but there is a real glare problem if you have any light at all. My advice when you're looking at them in the store, is to turn the TV off, and see how much glare there is.
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This review is from: Toshiba REGZA 42ZV650U 42-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with ClearScan 240, Black (Electronics)
This tv provides very good features for the price, HD viewing is excellent, out of the box picture quality settings are good, sound is surely better compared to other lcd's, I haven't tried gaming yet, but connected the PC to it and the quality was still good. No clouding, flashlighting and watched sports without any motion blur. The bezel looks good and the screen can be considered shiny but definitely not more than the sammy ones. At night with all the lights out the movies are awesome, black levels look good to me but I am no expert. As the other reviewer said, it is comparable to the b650 and you should take a look at this before you select any other new panels.
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This review is from: Toshiba REGZA 42ZV650U 42-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with ClearScan 240, Black (Electronics)
I have tried, and took back several of the newest 120hz LCD's from Samung, LG, and Sony. I was not sure of getting this Toshiba, and was going to just wait until the LCD technology got better. Which TG it just did! I don't know what Toshiba is useing for a processor inside this new unit, but it handles film/video conversions excellant! There are no jaggies, no motion blur, and most important... Absolutley NO JUDDER!! Pans are smooth as silk! The video tuning menu has every option to keep any ISF guru happy! You have access to all of the standard controls plus every individual color of the color spectrum for individual color tuning. There is also a feature called Resolution+. This is one of a few HDTV on the market that has a built in up-conversion chip for standard video. Most of all, it works great. Adding clear tight hard sharpness with no artifacts. My PS2 has never looked so good! A big differance between setting it "on" vs "off". The LG, Sony, and Samsung i tried didn't have a feature like this. So what ever resolution you had plugged into them was displayed as is. So 480I, and 480P signals were just 480I and 480P. Which is the way it is for Resolution+ set to "off". As for the black on this set. No need to worry. It is pure black. Of all of the LCD's i tried, this one has the deepest shade and richest color. I am going to predict that the 42ZV650u is going to be a HOT item for a long time, as it sets the benchmark on just how fantastic an LCD can perform. I cannot say enough at how good everything looks on the 42ZV650u when compared to other brands. Hands down, this is the best LCD on the market right now. If you shop around, you can find these selling for less than $1,000.00. A complete bargain for the quality and features that you get!
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This review is from: Toshiba REGZA 42ZV650U 42-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with ClearScan 240, Black (Electronics)
I ended up buying this tv at Best Buy (they matched the price that Amazon provided) 2 months ago. The image quality is great!
I am a bit confused, I thought that the Xbox 360 was not able to produce 1080p resolution (I have the white one with component connections), but the tv says otherwise?
The only other issue was with the sound(why it only rates 4 stars from me). When I first bought the TV I was using its speakers. After an hour of playing a Blu-ray movie the sound would sometimes start freaking out on me. I would start hearing echoes and robotic type noises that got progressively worse. When I would turn the TV off the Blu-Ray player would also turn off so i would have to wait 3-5min before resuming my movie. After rebooting, everything was fine. Once I hooked up the surround sound system I have never had any problems.
Once reading the manuel, I learned that the Toshiba logo can also be turned off, it got annoying sometimes during films.
Beware surround sound users, some receivers downgrade the image quality. You will also need to buy another HDMI cable (Blu-Ray player to receiver, then the other cable from the receiver to the tv) and make sure they will support 240hz!
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