Toshiba 34HF83 or Sony KV-34HS510 (1 Viewer)

[Nathan-C]

Need help deciding between these two sets. I have a budget of $2000.00. Feature wise they are almost identical with the Sony having one more input. I have done a ton of research and from what I find is that editorial reviews list them almost be equal, with a few minor exceptions and both have their pros and cons. I have seen both in person at Sears and the Sony looked considerbly better, however I later learned that the Sony's "out of box" performance is better, but once you get the Toshiba calibrated it looks just as good as a properly calibrated Sony. I need a direct view because I play a ton of video games. Also Size is an issue. 34" is as big as I can go because the wife wants a TV armoire. Lastly, I know cost is a factor, the Toshiba is 200.00 cheaper. Please help! I found the advice on this board is 1000 times better than the Store reps., Even from those who claim to be "experts". Other recommedations are welcome. However, I have only one requirement, the set must have a DVI input.

Nathan

 

[Chad B]

Nathan,

I have a friend who owns the Sony 34HS510, and I performed an ISF calibration on it. It looks absolutely exceptional! It is the most gorgeous direct view I've seen. That is due in large part to it's very complete service menu. Some highlights of that menu are a fully adjustable color decoder and convergence touch ups (rare in direct views). Out of the box, it has an overly aggressive black level "enhance" circuit that results in poor DC restoration, but it is defeatable in the service menu. The only down sides were some minor convergence errors (which I was able to greatly improve but not eliminate) and some residual edge enhancement that I was not able to calibrate all the way out. Most of the edge enhancement was gone, but a small amount remained. It never detracted from the viewing, because these are only things a very perceptive viewer with test patterns would probably ever care about or notice. The set had excellent grayscale tracking and brightness was about what I'd expect from a direct view.
I haven't seen the Toshiba yet, so it might be great too, but it's hard for me to imagine it being better than the Sony.
By the way, it's possible to experience burn in with direct views also, especially if you leave the contrast at the factory preset.

 

[Mark Hamilton]

I have the Toshiba 34HF83 and I'll agree that it's out-of-box performance is particularly poor, and this fact is only exacerbated on the showroom floor. However, with some work it can look astonishingly good, depending on the source.

Also, it recently experienced a price drop to $1999.99 Canadian.

 

[Gary SI]

Hi Chad,
In your post you mention ,"very complete service menu" ,for the Sony. I have a Sony tv , KV32XBR200 , and I have an "upper pin cushion" problem that I can`t seem to fix. I will go to the service menu and select upper pin adjustment , but it is not that much of and whats happening is the picture will "bend" to much either way and with no fine adjustments to tweak it just a little. I was wondering if you have any suggestions.
Thanks ,
Gary

 

[Chad B]

Gary,

Hmm, you might be doing all you can. Are you using a grid pattern on a test DVD to aid in the adjustment? The service menu will have the top pin cushion adjustments as you found, but on the direct views you can't adjust the geometry at 57 or 64 points like you can on most projections.
You might have to find the best compromise setting and leave it there.

 

[JonZ]

I was pretty much set on the Toshiba until I saw it side by side with the Sony.

I picked the Sony.DVD is breathtaking on this TV.I wontbe able to hook up HDTV until March.

I did see HDTV on the floor at CC and it looked amazing.

 

[AngeloNA]

I too was trying to decide between these two. I saw a side by side comparison of these two models, and both looked equally good. I can't say, however, if either one was fully optimized, but assuming that both had the same degree of fine-tuning (or lack of), then the performance of the two are similar.

For me, the decision to choose the Toshiba came down to other factors. Like you said, the Toshiba is $200 less. But, I did see this past weekend that my local Best Buy had the Sony for $1799, on sale, so if you don't mind dealing with Best Buy, then that could be the clincher for you. Also, the Sony weighs almost 40 lbs more, and considering that the Toshiba is already 162 lbs, my poor tv stand couldn't handle the extra weight. And the Sony has bigger dimensions too.

It's a tough decision but, I think you will be happy with either one.

 

[PatrickDT]

I have the same dilema, only on a lesser budget. My livingroom system is taken care of with the 57" Toshiba, but now I need a smaller TV for my room. I considered the 30" Samsung and the 30" Philips widescreens (don't laugh, just be honest), and the difference between the 30 and the 34 for land me a decent projection, only I'll bve potentially moving a lot, so the projection would kind of be a pain, and I can't really afford a DLP.. Is it worth it to spend the extra cash on a Sony or a Toshiba, or will one of those be good, even though it's only 30 inch?

 

[JamesClif]

Can't beat the JVC AV-34WP84 direct view for the money this set cost.

 

[Bill Will]

James, Best Price on the JVC & Where?

 

[JamesClif]

Bill, JVC is around $1500 at Consumerdirect.com and other places on the web. Just do a google search for JVC-AV-34WP84.