Massimo N
Stunt Coordinator
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2000
- Messages
- 174
I’ve had my 57HX81 for just over a week (since September 28th) and I’m really impressed with the picture so far. I thought I’d give my review on the set after living with it for a while.
I’ve done the standard tweaks to the set:
-Set Contrast (45), Brightness (57), Colour (49), Tint (-12), Sharpness (50), Disable SVM (through Movie Mode) using AVIA. These are my DVD (HD component 1 input) settings. Other inputs vary slightly.
-56 point convergence
-Clean up minor geometry issues (very, very few)
-Overscan was under 5% all around and the picture was already centred dead-on
-Clean Mirror and lenses
-Mechanical and Electrical Focus (I was initially scare to do this, but it turned out to be very simple and straightforward).
-Eye balled grey scale (took out some blue and red out of the low end and blue out of the high). I used an article from Home Theatre Magazine a while back where they did a test on preference of grey scale. They have pictures of the ramps at different colour temperatures. I used this as a guide (I know a bad guide, but a guide none-the- less) so remove any blatant colours. I will have the grey scale ISF calibrated down the road.
Convergence: Only 1 grid to converge!!!! You only have to set geometry in the master 56 point grid, and the set will automatically do all modes for you. BLESS YOU TOSHIBA!!
Lens Stripping: Grey scale tracking across the screen is very good (by eye). I cannot see any blue or red contamination on either side of the set. I’m sure there’s probably some deviation in the grey scale, but since I don’t notice any by eye at this point, I don’t feel that lens stripping is necessary.
Herman-TLV Manoeuvre appears to be already done to my set. I’m sure one could improve on it, but I’m very intimidated by this procedure, especially without a colour analyzer.
I feel that sharpness should be set at 50. This goes against my experience with other sets I’ve owned. It appears that 50 is the OFF position. No artefacts are introduced, and the picture doesn’t artificially soften.
Duvetyne lining of cabinet interior. Next Project. I do get some internal reflections on bright scenes, and this will definitely reduce the reflections. I also noticed that although the interior is flat black, the brackets that hold the CRTs in place are stainless steel (I think). This could be my main reason for the internal reflections. This will wait about a month or 2 when the set is broken in completely, where I’ll do another cleaning and focus.
I’m currently seated 12 feet away from the set. I actually see myself bringing the set closer, maybe 10’.
I should note that with the adjustments I’ve made, each one alone didn’t provide a dramatic change to the picture, but the improvement after all the adjustments were made (collectively) you definitely noticed an improvement (not a huge improvement).
The picture is truly amazing. Good transfers really shine, and you quickly find out what DVDs you own that have good transfers and bad transfers.
Cable look o.k, but a good quality DVD transfer (Starship troopers, Magnolia, Hannibal, X-Men, Toy Story 1&2, Bug’s life etc) are very detailed,, very good colour saturation, outstanding contrast and balance.
Issues I’ve had with other sets (red push, aggressive SVM and edge enhancements, hot spotting) are non existent with this set. I should note that the angle of view on these Toshiba’s is quite good. You can literally still get consistent image quality off angle.
The anti-glare screen does still glare. I think I read in the press release that the anti-glare screen was to reduce glare by 50%. The TV is facing a bay window with Vertical Blinds. The blinds do a good job of blocking most of the light, but I will see about getting curtains.
The turner is slow, but faster than last year’s model. The graphic menu is also faster than last year’s model. I don’t have any use for the speed surf option.
A run down of the stretch modes:
Normal:Keeps original 4:3 aspect ratio with grey bars on sides
Full: Used for Anamorphic DVDs
TheaterWide 1: Used for 4:3 images. Slightly zooms the entire image, Keeps the centre undistorted, and slightly distorts the sides. I got used to watching 4:3 cable on in this mode very quickly. VERY GOOD! Sports (football and hockey) look very good in this mode.
TheatreWide 2: Used for Non-enhanced 16x9 images. Zooms the entire image evenly
TheatreWide3: Used for ?? Slightly zooms stretches the entire image evenly.
The set does exhibit some image ghosting. This is not the vertical line ghosting, rather a clear outline off-set to the right of the image. The mechanical/electrical focus did reduce this effect. From 12’ away, you cannot notice it. You have to be less than 3’ to really see this (if you know what to look for).
Another minor qualm I have with the set is the Input Labels. I really appreciate the ability to name the inputs, but I wish I could give them any name myself. They let you choose from a list (DVD, VCR, DTV and others I don’t recall). I would like to name one Video Game for my Dreamcast and soon to be XBOX.
I really like the individual memory inputs (4 memory). One for Cable, One global setting for Video 1, 2 and 3 and one for each of the HD inputs.
The direct access to each of the inputs is really convenient. It makes creating macros easier. The direct access to each of the picture sizes is a nice touch. For those with the Radio Shack 1994 (or similar remote) you can program a button for FULL and Theatre Wide 1 mode. I don’t have the codes handy at the moment, but it takes one step from the process.
Overall, I’m very happy with this set. This is my second HD set. I purchased the Panasonic 47” set back in June and for issues I had with the set, I decided to return it after 1 week. I documented my issues with the Panasonic on a previous post. For the record, my main gripe with the Panasonic was Huge Red Push, very aggressive SVM, out of control edge enhancement and severe hot spotting. I know that some of the issues were resolved and the set is a good performer, but the Toshiba 57HX81 is substantially better than the Panasonic (IMHO).
To summarize:
Cable/VCR look o.k. Quality differs dramatically station to station.
Dreamcast: Depending on the game, it looks AWSOME. Some games like Metropolis Street Racer is riddled with shimmering (probably due to running at 30FPS and interlaced). Other games like Resident Evil Code Veronica, DOA2, NFL2K and Soul Calbour look outstanding. Makes me anticipate the XBOX even more. For those using a gaming console with this TV, make sure you turn the doubler to VIDEO.
DVDs. The Colour Saturation, Detail, Black Levels, sharpness, contribute to the “film-like” image. This is the reason I bought a 16x9 HD ready set. And no more downconversion
HDTV: I don’t have anything hooked up yet. I’ll report later on the XBOX. I believe there is a launch game that supports 1080i (Test Drive??). All games support at least 480p (to my understanding).
I’m extremely happy with my purchase. No regrets what – so - every! When I was initially shopping for TVs, I was sceptical about a Rear Projection losing detail and sharpness from a direct view. WAS I WRONG!! Burn in will always be a concern of mine, so I’m very careful on static images (including the channel numbers). I keep my finger on the exit button to remove the on-screen identifiers immediately. I know I’m probably being a little over-concerned, but better safe than sorry.
The size was another decision I had difficulty with. I was torn between the 50 and 57” I’m so glad I went with the 57”. I find it so amazing how fast I got used to the size
I could have gone with the 65” but it definitely wouldn’t fit.
Cheers!
Mass
I’ve done the standard tweaks to the set:
-Set Contrast (45), Brightness (57), Colour (49), Tint (-12), Sharpness (50), Disable SVM (through Movie Mode) using AVIA. These are my DVD (HD component 1 input) settings. Other inputs vary slightly.
-56 point convergence
-Clean up minor geometry issues (very, very few)
-Overscan was under 5% all around and the picture was already centred dead-on
-Clean Mirror and lenses
-Mechanical and Electrical Focus (I was initially scare to do this, but it turned out to be very simple and straightforward).
-Eye balled grey scale (took out some blue and red out of the low end and blue out of the high). I used an article from Home Theatre Magazine a while back where they did a test on preference of grey scale. They have pictures of the ramps at different colour temperatures. I used this as a guide (I know a bad guide, but a guide none-the- less) so remove any blatant colours. I will have the grey scale ISF calibrated down the road.
Convergence: Only 1 grid to converge!!!! You only have to set geometry in the master 56 point grid, and the set will automatically do all modes for you. BLESS YOU TOSHIBA!!
Lens Stripping: Grey scale tracking across the screen is very good (by eye). I cannot see any blue or red contamination on either side of the set. I’m sure there’s probably some deviation in the grey scale, but since I don’t notice any by eye at this point, I don’t feel that lens stripping is necessary.
Herman-TLV Manoeuvre appears to be already done to my set. I’m sure one could improve on it, but I’m very intimidated by this procedure, especially without a colour analyzer.
I feel that sharpness should be set at 50. This goes against my experience with other sets I’ve owned. It appears that 50 is the OFF position. No artefacts are introduced, and the picture doesn’t artificially soften.
Duvetyne lining of cabinet interior. Next Project. I do get some internal reflections on bright scenes, and this will definitely reduce the reflections. I also noticed that although the interior is flat black, the brackets that hold the CRTs in place are stainless steel (I think). This could be my main reason for the internal reflections. This will wait about a month or 2 when the set is broken in completely, where I’ll do another cleaning and focus.
I’m currently seated 12 feet away from the set. I actually see myself bringing the set closer, maybe 10’.
I should note that with the adjustments I’ve made, each one alone didn’t provide a dramatic change to the picture, but the improvement after all the adjustments were made (collectively) you definitely noticed an improvement (not a huge improvement).
The picture is truly amazing. Good transfers really shine, and you quickly find out what DVDs you own that have good transfers and bad transfers.
Cable look o.k, but a good quality DVD transfer (Starship troopers, Magnolia, Hannibal, X-Men, Toy Story 1&2, Bug’s life etc) are very detailed,, very good colour saturation, outstanding contrast and balance.
Issues I’ve had with other sets (red push, aggressive SVM and edge enhancements, hot spotting) are non existent with this set. I should note that the angle of view on these Toshiba’s is quite good. You can literally still get consistent image quality off angle.
The anti-glare screen does still glare. I think I read in the press release that the anti-glare screen was to reduce glare by 50%. The TV is facing a bay window with Vertical Blinds. The blinds do a good job of blocking most of the light, but I will see about getting curtains.
The turner is slow, but faster than last year’s model. The graphic menu is also faster than last year’s model. I don’t have any use for the speed surf option.
A run down of the stretch modes:
Normal:Keeps original 4:3 aspect ratio with grey bars on sides
Full: Used for Anamorphic DVDs
TheaterWide 1: Used for 4:3 images. Slightly zooms the entire image, Keeps the centre undistorted, and slightly distorts the sides. I got used to watching 4:3 cable on in this mode very quickly. VERY GOOD! Sports (football and hockey) look very good in this mode.
TheatreWide 2: Used for Non-enhanced 16x9 images. Zooms the entire image evenly
TheatreWide3: Used for ?? Slightly zooms stretches the entire image evenly.
The set does exhibit some image ghosting. This is not the vertical line ghosting, rather a clear outline off-set to the right of the image. The mechanical/electrical focus did reduce this effect. From 12’ away, you cannot notice it. You have to be less than 3’ to really see this (if you know what to look for).
Another minor qualm I have with the set is the Input Labels. I really appreciate the ability to name the inputs, but I wish I could give them any name myself. They let you choose from a list (DVD, VCR, DTV and others I don’t recall). I would like to name one Video Game for my Dreamcast and soon to be XBOX.
I really like the individual memory inputs (4 memory). One for Cable, One global setting for Video 1, 2 and 3 and one for each of the HD inputs.
The direct access to each of the inputs is really convenient. It makes creating macros easier. The direct access to each of the picture sizes is a nice touch. For those with the Radio Shack 1994 (or similar remote) you can program a button for FULL and Theatre Wide 1 mode. I don’t have the codes handy at the moment, but it takes one step from the process.
Overall, I’m very happy with this set. This is my second HD set. I purchased the Panasonic 47” set back in June and for issues I had with the set, I decided to return it after 1 week. I documented my issues with the Panasonic on a previous post. For the record, my main gripe with the Panasonic was Huge Red Push, very aggressive SVM, out of control edge enhancement and severe hot spotting. I know that some of the issues were resolved and the set is a good performer, but the Toshiba 57HX81 is substantially better than the Panasonic (IMHO).
To summarize:
Cable/VCR look o.k. Quality differs dramatically station to station.
Dreamcast: Depending on the game, it looks AWSOME. Some games like Metropolis Street Racer is riddled with shimmering (probably due to running at 30FPS and interlaced). Other games like Resident Evil Code Veronica, DOA2, NFL2K and Soul Calbour look outstanding. Makes me anticipate the XBOX even more. For those using a gaming console with this TV, make sure you turn the doubler to VIDEO.
DVDs. The Colour Saturation, Detail, Black Levels, sharpness, contribute to the “film-like” image. This is the reason I bought a 16x9 HD ready set. And no more downconversion
HDTV: I don’t have anything hooked up yet. I’ll report later on the XBOX. I believe there is a launch game that supports 1080i (Test Drive??). All games support at least 480p (to my understanding).
I’m extremely happy with my purchase. No regrets what – so - every! When I was initially shopping for TVs, I was sceptical about a Rear Projection losing detail and sharpness from a direct view. WAS I WRONG!! Burn in will always be a concern of mine, so I’m very careful on static images (including the channel numbers). I keep my finger on the exit button to remove the on-screen identifiers immediately. I know I’m probably being a little over-concerned, but better safe than sorry.
The size was another decision I had difficulty with. I was torn between the 50 and 57” I’m so glad I went with the 57”. I find it so amazing how fast I got used to the size
Cheers!
Mass
