Toshiba REGZA Cinema Series 46SV670U 46-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with LED Backlight and ClearScan 240, Black Review
After sniffing out specs on new HDTVs we went to the store to try to compare screens (mostly between the Sharp Aquos, Sony Bravia, and Samsung - in that order.) In the end we decided this one had the best overall brightness and clarity. (This wasn't so easy to determine though because all of the stores feed crappy (relatively), and varying signals into the TVs so that it is difficult if not impossible to compare them. Why? I don't know.)
After using this TV for a month, I'm still very happy with it. Compare that to my experience with our previous HDTV, a DLP type Samsung. This TV starts fast (relatively) and the sound is good even from the built-in speakers. I'm much, much happier with the screen and general response time. Switching channels, turning on, turning off; these may sound like no-brainers but the Samsung DLP would sometimes take over a minute to start, almost as long shutting off, and even took tens of seconds on occasion to switch channels. Also this TV uses about 50% less power than the DLP and was about as low-power as anything in this size of TV we found (because of the LED backlighting it uses less lighting power.)
The main flaw with the Samsung came when it failed completely (green screen of death) after only a little more than two years of use. The problem appeared to be on the board that controls TV signal decoding. Because that problem is possible with any display tech, I'll just have to wait and see if this TV turns out to be more reliable/long lasting. For now it is an order of magnitude improvement over the Samsung DLP, and appeared to have better image quality than the current competition.
Some drawbacks that keep it from perfect scores:
1) There is a border around the screen several inches wide. Obviously the closer to edge-to-edge screen the better since the rest is just distracting away from the image.
2) (a complete surprise!) there is only one coaxial input on the TV. We have been using analog cable and HD over the antennae (airwave broadcast) for years. With this TV, it took us a while to figure out that we could still do this by buying a coaxial switch. Unfortunately that means that to switch from Antennae to Cable requires flipping the manual switch and then changing a setting from the remote control menu. This is tiresome so we have all but abandoned the cable channels completely (on this TV anyway.)
Non-issues: some complain that this TV is too thick (mostly compared to the Samsung model.) We don't wall mount, so for us this is a complete non-issue as you can't tell how thin it is in the entertainment stand. I suppose others might prefer the svelte look of the Samsung but there is something to be said about people who would buy a TV for the look of the case over the look of the TV image it produces (and the reliability of the product too given my previous experience with Samsung TVs.)
Toshiba REGZA Cinema Series 46SV670U 46-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with LED Backlight and ClearScan 240, Black Feature
- 1080p Full HD CineSpeed™ Display with Built In ATSC/QAM Digital Tuner for Over-the-Air and Cable-in-the-Clear Digital Tuning
- FocaLight™ LED Backlight with Local Dimming
- 2,000,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio
- ClearScan 240™ with New Backlight Scanning Technology
- 4 HDMI™ Digital Inputs (1 Side) with InstaPort™ and REGZA-LINK®2
Toshiba REGZA Cinema Series 46SV670U 46-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with LED Backlight and ClearScan 240, Black Overview
The New REGZA Cinema Series LED TV is the most advanced, most beautiful TV we've ever produced. Our advanced FocaLightTM LED Backlight System with Local Dimming, and stunning new Deep LagoonTM Design with Infinity Flush FrontTM, create the perfect combination of high quality and stylish appeal.
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*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Mar 10, 2010 22:07:05
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