 Excellent TV for the money, but with some shortcomings. |
| Review Date: January 22, 2008 |
| Reviewer: What's in a name?, Washington, D.C. |
So, you are thinking about buying a new TV, but what to choose? If you are wanting a flat panel TV, you can get either a plasma or an LCD. Plasma can be cheaper, and can give a better picture (at the same price point), but plasma weighs more, uses more power, generates more heat, and can burn images into the screen and ruin the TV (which matters if you view things without distorting and/or cropping the image to fit your screen; if you are spending all this money on a HDTV, do you really want distorted or cropped images?). So, I decided for an LCD.
The Pros of this TV:
This is an excellent TV for the money. It is the newer version of the 42HL67, which was a "Best Buy" in Consumer Reports, at the price of $1150. It has a better viewing angle than most LCDs, and it is capable of producing a superb picture, once you adjust the picture (unfortunately, the presets leave much to be desired for this, so I recommend getting a setup disc to properly adjust the various settings). Most of the picture settings are bad out of the box, though the tint adjustment is perfect right out of the box (at least mine was). You will need to adjust the settings separately for each input. Although that makes it more trouble to set-up, this is actually a good thing, because you may need different adjustments for different sources, and this way, once you properly set it up, you need not readjust when switching sources to compensate for differences in your sources.
The fact that it is only 720p (actually 768p, but let us not quibble) instead of 1080p is only going to be a problem if you sit very close to the screen. Otherwise, it gives all the resolution one can see (if fed a good HD source). And, of course, it gives all the resolution of the source for all non-HD sources (e.g., DVDs, etc.), and 720p HD sources. It is only less than what is possible with 1080i and 1080p sources (though it will accept such signals and convert them to its resolution).
The over-the-air tuner works fairly well, better than other HDTVs that I have tried. It even has a nice signal strength meter to help one adjust one's antenna. If, like most Americans, you live near a local HD broadcast, you can watch true HD without spending more money than what it costs to get this TV and an inexpensive antenna (I have been using my old antenna that was not designed for HD, and it works fine--and the TV is in my basement!!!--you, of course, should not expect to be so lucky if you put your TV in your basement, but you might be).
All sources look pretty good on this TV, though obviously you will see shortcomings of sources that are less than HD. Analog TV is much worse than 480i digital, which is worse than HD, but, still, it is better with these inferior signals than other HDTVs that I have tried. You will see differences between well made DVDs and poorly made ones. You will be disappointed if you have unrealistic expectations about what it is possible to do with less than ideal sources, but, otherwise, you should be satisfied with the picture you can get with this TV.
The Cons:
The owner's manual is poorly written. Really poorly written. Many of the controls have no real explanation for what they do! This is one of the worst manuals I have ever seen for electronic equipment, and there are a lot of poorly written manuals out there.
The so-called "universal" remote that comes with the TV does not work on my equipment, even though they are in the list of brands it is supposed to control. It should control my other equipment, but it does not. And since the remote is not a "learning" remote, there is nothing to be done about it. If it does not control your other equipment after trying the settings in the manual, you are simply out of luck. So, don't count on the remote controlling anything other than the TV itself, though you might be lucky and it might control your DVD player or some other device.
It could use another aspect ratio control to properly view non-anamorphic widescreen DVDs without distortion or cropping (it has one choice that can almost do this ["TheatreWide 2"]; it is generally with minimal cropping which, contrary to what the manual seems to suggest, does not appear to distort the image [I used a test disc with test patterns to see what the various aspect ratios really do]). For undistorted and uncropped 4:3 sources (i.e., the old NTSC or "conventional" aspect ratio), one uses "Natural" (which is also the setting to watch widescreen broadcasts; being "Natural", it keeps the picture in the aspect ratio that it already is). For viewing anamorphic widescreen DVDs undistorted and uncropped, use "Full". Of course, if you like to fill the screen with a distorted and/or cropped image, there are selections for you as well.
This TV, unlike all other HDTVs that I have used, cannot properly handle PAL signals (it simply chops off the bottom of the picture when fed a PAL signal, and the TV says it is receiving a 480i signal instead of the 576i PAL signal). (For those of you who don't know what "PAL" is, this probably won't matter, but in case you are curious, PAL is one of the formats of video used in many other countries which is on some DVDs, video tapes, and other such sources made for foreign markets. If the DVD or video tape is made for the U.S. market, even if it is a foreign film, it will NOT be in PAL, so you need not worry about this when shopping at most stores in the U.S.) In my case, I am thinking about buying an upconverting DVD player to deal with this issue, so that I will not be throwing away lines of resolution by converting to NTSC and then sending the image to this TV. If the TV were not otherwise capable of an excellent picture at its price point, this would cause me to return it, but since I can get an upconverting DVD player to deal with this issue, I think it will be okay for me, and can work for some others who want PAL capability, though if one needs it in the TV itself, one will need to look elsewhere (though good luck finding this kind of picture quality at this price).
Overall, the TV is excellent for the money, and its shortcomings are minimal, considering the price and overall quality. I think most people will be happy with it, and given what else is available, I think it is the best at its price point. It is certainly the best I have seen at its price point.
Edited to add (17 September 2008):
The preset settings out of the box, "Sports", "Standard", and "Movie" are all way off the NTSC & ATSC standards for proper picture. If you doubt this, I recommend buying a setup/test disc and adjusting the controls according to it, and then comparing these settings (saved as "Preference") with the three presets mentioned above. With a particular picture, there is, for example, supposed to be a certain amount of color, and having more or less than the right amount is not in accordance with what it is supposed to be. Of course, a particular person may not notice a slight difference, or might even prefer the picture to be off instead of the correct amount, just as people may like to adjust the bass or treble in their audio to suit their tastes (rather than reflect exactly what is recorded). The same idea applies to all of the other picture parameters. Too bad Toshiba did not make their "Standard" preset actually conform to the standards of broadcast television. Ironically, "Movie" is closest to being correct, but it is far enough off that I strongly recommend getting a setup/test disc and adjusting the set properly. If, after watching it a while with it set properly, you decide that you prefer improper settings, you obviously can readjust things to suit your particular tastes, so you will only be out the cost of the disc and the time and trouble to set things up properly. But many people, I think, will find themselves happy with the correct settings, if only they were able to do the adjustments (which, again, require a setup disc). If you want an inexpensive disc, you can go with the Sound & Vision Home Theater Tune-Up available at Amazon.com.
I might also add, the TV is excellent FOR THE MONEY. It is not the best TV ever made, but it is great at its price point, which was just a little more expensive than lousy off brand TVs, but giving performance more comparable with sets costing hundreds more. I am still very happy with my purchase, and now have an Oppo DV-983H DVD player which deals extremely well with my PAL issue mentioned above. The Oppo is also easy to make region free, and is widely regarded as being the best DVD player ever made.
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A Stunning TV for HD content and DVD's
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| Review Date: January 6, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Mr. Sal, OR United States |
I bought this TV from Amazon on 12/29/2007 at about 4 PM CST.
It included "White Glove Delivery" in the total price. I received the TV on 1/4/2008 (6 days after ordering it). I called the shipper on 3 different occaisons to monitor the progress. "White Glove Delivery" in my case involved bringing the TV into my living room and taking it out of the box. I saw clearly on the shipping documents that the shipper was not to plug it in, hook up the stand, etc. However, I did inspect it for physical damage prior to signing the paperwork. It was clear that the shipper had been very careful handling this TV.
The TV would not fit into my entertainment system (my miscalculation) so my son and I had to dismantle some cabinetry and set up a credenza like substitute for the TV to sit on. It powered up nicely and I connected basic cable, DVD recorder(component), DVD player(S-Video), PS2(component), and a GameCube/N64(same switchable composite connection). The TV found lots of channels that I could not receive on my Sony Wega- including 12 High Definition channels!
Let me summarize the performance based upon a 5 point rating scale:
Standard Definition 2.5
Some stations look OK and some stink. The fact that I have analog cable may have something to do with it. My basis is my Sony Wega that I rate as a 3.5 (It has one of the best SD pictures).
DVD 480i 4.0
DVD 480p 4.5
1080i and 720p HD 5.0
Since I get all the major networks in HD I am not watching as much SD as I used to. My PS2 looks very impressive with games that support progressive scan and widescreen. A very enjoyable experience.
Overall, this is a fine TV and I'm glad I went with the Toshiba. I almost bought a 42" Panasonic plasma.They had convinced me that the "burn in" issue was a non-issue. However, the glare on a plasma can be horrendous and it is not totally cured with anti-glare coatings. This Toshiba has zero glare. There is an 8 foot fully lit Christmas tree directly in front of the TV about 18 feet back. You can see a perfect reflection in the shiny bezel but nothing on the screen surface. Quite impressive. The viewing angle on this particular model is very good with no noticeable change in picture quality from all spots in my living room. I took Consumer Reports word on this and they were right. |
Great TV
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| Review Date: March 22, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Jesse A. Turney, Huntsville, TX United States |
Toshiba REGZA 42HL67 42-inch 720p LCD HDTV
We have been thinking about buying a new television for months. We did our research and checked with Consumer Reports and decided to go with the Toshiba. Amazon had the best price. The picture is great. We have a home theater system and it was easy connecting the the various cables up. The picture is awesome. We are still working out the kinks of our preferences for picture. We had bought a progressive scan DVD player about 5 years ago and the DVD's look great. The gaming is awesome. I can play games now without having my glasses on. As usual, Amazon did a great job in processing and delivery. We ordered on March 15 and the tv was delivered on the 19th. You can't go wrong with this television. |
Toshiba REGZA 42HL67U 42" LCD HDTV AWESOME
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| Review Date: January 10, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Fast Eddy, Little Rock, AR USA |
This is an EXCELLENT television, especially when ordered from AMAZON Llc. They ship IMMEDIATELY and the Eagle delivery system is fantastic. I had cautioned my wife to make sure there were no signs of damage and told her to ask the delivery people if they could open it up to make sure there was no screen damage, etc. etc.
Well, when EAGLE arrived (ON TIME) they brought the TV in, opened everything up to make sure the order was COMPLETE (even accessories). And they took all the huge packing materials with them and cleaned up any debris that was around. FANTASTIC SERVICE !!!
Had TV for month or so now and picture is excellent (using COMCAST cable box). Connected my DVD/VCR combo via HDMI and you can't believe how much better that picture is than with standard video cables.
Again, if your order of ANYTHING comes from AMAZON Llc, expect it much quicker than they say - EXCELLENT SERVICE !! |
toshiba thumbs up
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| Review Date: February 15, 2008 |
| Reviewer: buckynh2, salem n.h. |
| the toshiba regza 42hl67u lcd hdtv. has been everything we were told it would be. it is easy to operate. great for watching movies and sporting events. also in our case our family room has many windows and lots of direct sunlight. we get no glare at all on the screen. we are very satisfied with what we got for the price we paid. |
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