 Very impressive |
| Review Date: April 21, 2009 |
| Reviewer: M. Bentley, Mansfield, OH United States |
Ordered on Monday night and received on Thursday with FREE shipping from TigerDirect! The box showed a weight of 50 lbs which is pretty light for a 47" flat panel. The picture and colors are really excellent. I'm too cheap to spend $300 on a Blu player but Time Warner HD and standard DVD's look very nice. Can I say the image is better then an LG, Sharp, Samsung etc?? I think with any one of those brands, I'd probably be saying the same thing. Toshiba quality is hard to beat and I really wanted the USB/SD card slot for showing pictures. I've played MP3's from my thumbdrive and even viewed some AVI files. The JPEG picture display from my memory stick was excellent but their 'browser' seems to be a little buggy because now I'm having some trouble trying to get it to recognize the image files again.
PROS:
Not too heavy
USB/SD card slot (for JPEG, MP3, AVI etc)
4 HDMI
Swivel stand
Beautiful colors & picture
CONS:
may need a firmware update for the picture browser
this is not a 'narrow bezel' model
6-1-09: I'm a bit disappointed because the picture viewer from an SD card or USB flashdrive still does not work. I've contacted Toshiba and they say they are 'still working on it'. If you go into the store to buy one of these, take a thumbdrive (or SD card) and test this out first. |
Toshiba Back in The Race
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| Review Date: April 30, 2009 |
| Reviewer: HowardM, Virginia |
I purchased this TV from Amazon last week. Shipping was fast, less then a week (including the weekend). The TV was well packaged, but shame on Toshiba for not making it one of those boxes where you basically lift the top of the box off the TV and its just sitting on the bottom base of the box for easy removal.
The TV itself is amazing looking. I actually went to Best Buy and checked it out before ordering, and it was sitting in-between a bunch of Sony's and Samsung's and I actually thought the picture looked better then both of those brands. Though its hard to tell at these retail stores since they usually get paid to hook the expensive TV's up to a Blu-Ray player and the cheaper TV's up to the cheapest cable/source they can find.
So far I've used my Xbox 360, my Blu-Ray Player, my Wii and Digital Cable on this TV and everything so far looks awesome.
There is no lag at all while gaming. The TV has a mode for gaming, but honestly I couldn't tell it made any difference because the games looked great on all of the modes.
HD Cable looked great, watched some hockey, no ghosting or jittering at all. I've never owned a 120hz LCD let a long a 240hz, so I can't compare the two, but its definitely better then the old 60hz LCDs.
I only own 1 Blu-Ray movie (Beowulf) but watching it on this TV connected to my Sony Blu-Ray player it looked amazing. Regular DVD's upscaled on this player to 1080p also looked amazing.
Standard cable looked ok, Toshiba claims Resolution+ up scales regular TV to higher quality, but I'm not really convinced. Though I really haven't watched enough standard def to truly judge.
The TV is very light, I think it weights about 50 pounds with the stand. I love the swivel base and the connections all seem to be layed out nicely, I also like that it has both a USB and SD slot on the side. The deep lagoon border around the bezel is interesting it almost gives it a 3d look, I think it would look a lot cooler mounted on the wall, but mines just sitting on a stand.
My only real con about this TV is the size. Its a 47 inch but the bezel is large, bringing it almost to 52 inches when measured horizontally.
I've only had this TV for 3 days now, but I can honestly say it looks like Toshiba has finally gotten back in the game and launched a nicely priced and highly competitive TV to the market.
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Excellect TV and value
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| Review Date: June 8, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Joe D, Raymond, ME |
I'm a little puzzled by some of the comments appearing in other reviews regarding the TV's size and bezel width. I don't know what other folks are measuring, but the Lagoon style framing is not particularly wide and the TV measured with a tape measure is 46" outside to outside horizontally, the diagonal is 47" viewing area.
As a TV plugged into an HDTV cable box, the unit came up and set up in a couple of minutes on component or HDMI connection. The image is very bright, clear and colors are vivid. The CrystalCoat high contrast screen coating does a great job of killing reflections even in a room that has a good deal of natural daylight sreaming in through lots of windows. On HDTV, the screen is completely filled with no odd bars, lines or other distractions.
I've added a Sony 589W DVD and sound system with wireless rear speakers. It was inexpensive, but the wireless rear speaker sound is clean, no problems with other networks and other devices in the house degrading sound. Where Sony likes to ignore equipment manufactured by other companies, the Toshiba easily connects to and controls the Sony receiver. When watching DVD's or TV the combination of the two perform admirably.
My TV was manufactured in March and had a firmware bug that triggers the quick set up dialog box every time the set is powered on. The work around is to disconnect the cable box, connect cale directly to the TV and let it auto program channels. After this, the TV will start without the quick set up prompt. I called Toshiba and they sent a firmware update on a USB drive that plugs into the TV and auto updates the firmware and also fixes the problem.
Consistent with other reviews, delivery took literally a few days by general freight, the package was in perfect condition as were the contents. We are very happy with the product and Amazon.
If there is one thing I would like to see added to the product, it would be an optional extended warranty. I know other companies offer these types of products, but there would be more peace of mind if offered by the manufacturer. |
Excellent TV, Great Value
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| Review Date: July 8, 2009 |
| Reviewer: James A. Lawrence, Washington, DC |
Having purchased a 32" Samsung 720p LCD TV previously, I was all set to purchase another larger 1080p 120Hz model for our newly-renovated basement. Decided to do some cost comparisons, and found this TV on Amazon at a great price. Had everything I needed and more and was several hundred dollars less then comparable Samsung and other higher-end models. I grew up with an old Toshiba picture tube TV, which lasted many years, so I was not concerned about quality. Amazon contracted sale out to Crutchfield, which has great customer service. The delivery guy (who I believe worked for a Crutchfield sub-contractor) was delayed by mechanical problems with his truck and ended up having to work overtime on a Friday evening in the pouring rain to deliver my TV. Another company might have had its driver reschedule the delivery, but when the driver arrived he said that he knew I was waiting and he didn't want to disappoint me. How great is that?
I've had the TV for about a month now and no complaints. Picture is great (especially with an HDMI cable purchased from Amazon for only $0.22 -- do not pay full price for these cables at a big box store!). CNET review said the black levels were "subpar", but go and look at the comparable TVs side by side in a store and tell me if you can really see a difference. Nintendo Wii also looks great, though not sure I notice any upgrade with the "Game" picture mode feature. Understand some of the complaints about the high-gloss screen and bezel design, but I think these features actually make the TV look great when you hang it on the wall, and for basement viewing there is almost no glare. A lot has been made about the 240Hz refresh rate effect of this TV. I was told by numerous people that since I like to watch a lot of sports I shouldn't go for anything less than 120Hz. I figured 240Hz would be twice as good. To be honest, I've done a comparison with my old Samsung (32" 720p 60Hz), and it's difficult for me to see a real difference when watching baseball, golf, basketball, etc., so that's something you'd want to consider when thinking about the price increase between 720-1080p and 60-120-240Hz TVs. The true difference I notice is in the brightness and crispness of the picture. And, although I don't watch a lot of standard def cable, there is noticeable difference with the new TV -- Toshiba really does a great job with this upscaling feature. One little annoyance was that there's some kind of bug that causes the setup menu came up every time you turn on the TV, but that's a very minor quibble, and Joe D's June 8, 2009, review tells you how to fix this problem (thanks Joe!).
Overall, this is a great TV at a great price. As another reviewer said, it's nice to see Toshiba back in the game.
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Quick'n Dirty
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| Review Date: May 8, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Bryan Thomas Witkowski, |
I saw this TV at a local dealer. It was setup right next to Sony's XBR6 46" TV. By comparison the picture quality is very similar. If you disagree with this, you live in a fantasy dreamland where spending more money will magically make your TV watching experience better (at the expense of your new found inability to sleep at night). Sony is the crowned king of HDTV, specifically in their ability to upscale smaller signals (480i, standard definition). While I found the picture quality to be arguably the same as the Sony, the price was not. This TV costs about $400 less than a 46" XBR6.
So, I bought this and took the chance on a TV that has relatively little information on the net about it (i.e. reviews from CNET etc). I bought it primarily for internet video streaming and playing a standard signal (480i) - with the hopes of one day upgrading to full 1080p in the future. The related feature in this TV is Toshiba's "Resolution +". It looks way better than standard def that I've seen on other TVs. Period.
Another concern I had was the 240hz effect that is NOT true 240 frames per second. There is 120hz with a back-light flicker effect that is supposed to help eliminate motion blur. The salesman did not offer a demonstration of this feature before I purchased the TV. So, I created my own: Using a computer as input through a component cable, I set up a windows screen saver - scrolling text. You can toggle this 240 clearview on and off to see the difference. I am happy to report that there is in fact less motion blur with the feature enabled. If you pay $250-$300 extra for a feature you had better be getting your moneys worth. I think having at least 120hz is right for the price. I cannot say whether the additional 240 clearview that this tv performs is anything to really shout about.
Beyond that, the quick'n dirty is that the picture quality is top notch for this generation (especially with a standard def signal). There are a number of features which make this TV a good buy. I consider those to be icing on the cake really. In summary:
PROS:
Top notch picture quality for the 2008 generation of LCDs
Top notch upscaling of standard def signals.
Plenty of connectivity and many fun features like the USB and SD card.
- NOTE: this TV will play DIVX movies (yah you pirates know what i'm talking about) straight from the USB input.
Very easy to use setup and menu.
Price is much lower than the name-brand alternatives.
CONS:
Glossy Screen
Thick Bezel trim
Bezel has this kinda ugly white pattern on it - who ever decided to add this needs to quit their job... ya you know who you are. |
BUY A POWER FILTER!!!
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| Review Date: January 31, 2010 |
| Reviewer: M. vick, |
First, Amazon and One Call have been great and I continue to buy from both.
FYI #1
If you buy ANY HD TV you need to get a good power filter/ surge protector!!! I didn't and found out 3 days after plugging my 47in Toshiba 240 clearscan in that I should have. We turned it off on the 3rd night and it wouldnt turn back on. After doing some research I found that most of the service calls techs make on these tv's are power supply replacements. The three days the tv worked it worked great though. Someone plugged a guitar amp in accross the room earlier that day and i think that it may have had something to do with it. I spoke with 2 techs in the area and both said it would be the power supply and that they are very touchy. They also said a stage one power filter/surge protector (power strip type) would be fine and that the old ones can get weak so buy a new one when you order your tv.
I didnt do a lot of warranty research when I bought the Toshiba so I'm not sure what the other brands are like but it's worth looking at the replacement part shipping times. Toshiba ships ground 3 to 7 day delivery. It's been almost 2 weeks and I have yet to see the tech w/ my new part.
Do your homework.
Keep your old tv (for a while).
Keep ALL boxs and packing for 2 or 3 months if you can.
AND..... BUY A NEW SURGE PROTECTOR!!!
At the moment I have a 98lb $1200 reminder that not doing my homework can still get me in trouble. lol
Happy Hunting :-)
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Great TV for a great price!
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| Review Date: May 16, 2009 |
| Reviewer: J. Borders, Hawaii |
| I searched around and has narrowed it down to a Sony or Toshiba. This TV has met all my expectations. Several features that I really like. The effect of 240 Mhz motion flow. Also the TV up converts regular cable pretty well. The last feature I really liked is it compensates if you the TV goes to commercial that is a lot louder. For the price you can't beat the picture and features. |
Great Looking TV
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| Review Date: October 13, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Ray, VB, VA |
I have wanted to get an HD TV for a while. I spent a weekend looking for one and saw this at a local store. I compared it to Sony, Samsung, LG and others and thought it had the best picture. The colors are better - clearer and more true to life, and it's a lot less blurry than most TVs on the shelf. It provides a much clearer picture than regular or 120 TVs for less than true 240. Football, action movies and TV shows all look great. I don't know how it would compare side by side with a true 240, but I'm not worried. It was on Amazon for less than the one store I found that carried it, so I ordered it. And it's even cheaper now. The reviews I found online, such as CNET, were all favorable.
Delivery was free and took less than a week. Though the company Amazon had delivering it almost didn't deliver it. I waited the day it was to show up and it never came. I searched my order for delivery company info, Googled them and called the local office. They had a driver bring it out at about 7pm, but if I hadn't called, it would have been a few more days. That is the first problem with Amazon shipping I have ever had, but the first time it has not been USPS/UPS.
The box isn't the cool, easy, lift off top. But since it isn't real heavy, unpacking wasn't too bad.
The TV is beautiful. The picture is great. I love the extra inputs. There are plenty for different connections. I can connect my laptop via HDMI and the picture quality is crystal clear. I had some problems with the remote at first, but I think it was just getting used to how it worked. What functions were active on what menu or setting.
I also purchased an LG Blu Ray home theater (LG LHB977) and they work great together. The LG has an extra HDMI input so my cable routes through it, simplifying the surround sound. And now that I have HD cable, I am more amazed at the picture quality. The Toshiba sound is great, but of course, not surround.
The TV supports plugging a USB device like an external hard drive into it and playing movies and videos from it. That function works very well. I have not tried using an SD card to view pictures.
I have had it for about 1 1/2 months and still love it. The LG Blu ray is pretty nice too. No complaints on it. Plus my wife likes the TV, so that is a great bonus. I love the TV and highly recommend it |
Excellent TV but . . .
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| Review Date: August 3, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Miss, North Little Rock, Arkansas USA |
| I agree with all the positive reviews here, but if you need to use closed captioning, you might want to read Freiwil's review of the 46-inch Regza at Toshiba REGZA 46XV645U 46-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV, Black He is correct in saying that you have to use the cable box's closed captioning option because CC is not transmitted through the HDMI cable. I called Toshiba to confirm this, and the rep said this is true. I really hate that because the TV has many CC options for font, size, and so on that are not available via cable TV. Also, others have mentioned a set-up issue (the set-up screen occurring every time you turn on the TV) on sets built before a certain date. The Toshiba rep admitted this is a problem, but she mailed a card to insert in one of the slots on the side to update the firmware and avoid this problem in the future. For the price, this is an excellent buy. The technician who set up our TV said that he thought the Sanyo top-of-the-line had gotten around the problem with CC. I hope Toshiba can do that! However, the higher end Sanyo we priced was $1000 more than the Toshiba. |
Great picture and color
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| Review Date: May 31, 2009 |
| Reviewer: John D. Leggett, |
| I went to best buy to actually compare the latest generation Panasonic and Samsung Plasmas. I saw this TV and it really stood out as by far the best LCD color and picture. It is a crapshoot in the stores with funky lighting, inconsistent video sources, and callibration but this is what I saw. Much better than the Samsung LCD and LED tvs and the Sonys. In fact, it was better than the Samsung plasmas. The only thing that matched it was the Panasonic two top plasmas - the U series was about even and the G series plasmas had the best picture in the store, with the possible exception of the Pioneer Kuros, but it was just slightly better than this TV and the Panansonic has a cheap plastic looking frame design. I came home and had to look up the Toshiba, as I had never seen it mentioned in the reviews of ConsumerReports, CNET and HDGURU, my typical "advice" sources online. Off angle viewing seemed very good as well. There was no sound on, so no idea on that and I couldn't tell on the glare - not as good as the Panasonic G series, but at least equal to everything else I saw. |
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