Toshiba REGZA 42ZV650U-Feedback by Justin Haynes
One of the Best 2009 LCD HDTVs for the $$$, Better than a Samsung LN40B650, May 5, 2009
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.
—
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!
Click Here To See Price by Toshiba REGZA 42ZV650U
hdtvfeatures
source : Toshiba REGZA 42ZV650U HDTVFEATURES
