Sony KP-51HW40 or Toshiba 50HX81? (1 Viewer)

[Justin Ch.]

me

 

[Steve Schaffer]

I have a 57" Sony HW40 and love it. I like the fact that it will display 480p natively. The Tosh upconverts 480p to 540p, and according to some this causes some loss of resolution. This is something you may not even notice, thoug.

Sony variable stretch is very good, as is Toshiba's.

Sony lets you adjust or eliminate SVM in the service menu, and you can also achieve 0 red push by adjusting one service menu item.

If you've adjusted your present Sony direct view the HW40 will be a snap as it "feels" like a Sony direct view as far as adjusting picture parameters.

You might want to check out the Toshiba and Sony forums over at Home Theater Spot to get an idea of what lot's of owner's experiences have been with these two models.

 

[Justin Ch.]

thanks for your reply. I've been over to the spot and there's a lot of stuff over there too.
To the average eye, is the 540 upconvert on the Tosh really that noticable? I'm sure both sets are tremendous in thier own right, but if the upconverting problem is even noticable to the untrained eye, then i might as well bail on the 50HX81 and go with the Sony. I have many Sony and Toshiba products in my home (a 37" Tosh TV, Tosh DVD player, various pieces of Sony audio equipment) so quality of product is not a concern of mine.

 

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

Resolution drop off is about 10 to 15% ... instead of the full 540 lines of horizontal resolution ... you lose up to 60/70 lines on the fine end. So you get about 470-480 lines.

Visible to even the untrained eye ... yes, but only in areas where there should be a lot of fine detail.

Hair for instance.

Regards

 

[Brajesh Upadhyay]

How good is Toshiba's 3:2 pulldown? Maybe it's better to use a good interlaced DVD player & have the set upconvert to 540p. Any artifacts with this as opposed to feeding it a 480p signal to upconvert?

 

[Justin Ch.]

Michael,

You wouldn't happen to have any extra input on Sony: KP-51HW40 would you? This set has become my top choice because of it's considerably lower price compared to the Tosh (well, lower price in Canada, don't know how it is in the States). Your opinion is appreciated.

Thanks for your reply as well.

 

[Michael TLV]

Greetings
sony 51hw40 ...
very nice image with an ugly cabinet.
A bit more control over colour decoder than Toshiba.
Pain to take the protective screen off given the frame design.
More image detail than the Toshiba
4 to 5 picture modes to converge as compared to one on the Toshiba.
Grayscale limited to one setting for all input signals.
Grayscale linearity is usually slightly worse than a comparable Toshiba.
Regards

 

[John Royster]

Thought there was no way to do a manual convergence on the sony as well? Had to rely on "flash focus"

 

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

It's in the service menu, the same as most other sets.

Regards

 

[Thomas Detviler]

I have the Sony Kp51HW40 and like it alot. I had a panny 36" tau and hated it. I was constantly messing with avia in order to fine tune it. With proscan dvd it was gorgeous though. I have used my avia set-up once and have not messed with the Sony since. I think you would be happy with this RPTV.

Gaffer

 

[Justin Ch.]

thanks everyone, i have pretty much decided to go with the Sony. It's a bit cheaper than the Tosh, more widely available in my area, and gives an extra inch to boot
Now to find the best deal and im set.
/me