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Toshiba 34HF83 + Samsung DVD-HD93 = a good setup? (1 Viewer)

Mark Hamilton

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Mar 16, 1999
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122
Ahoy hoy,

I'm looking at purchasing a nice widescreen direct-view set and the Toshiba 34HF83 seems to fit the bill, both in terms of build and image quality.

Obviously for the near future, the primary media to be displayed will be DVDs. I'v played with the set a little bit at Future Shop and have been unable to get a picture that really blows me away. That is in part due to the sources at hand. I did once, however, hookup the Samsung DVD-HD93 to the set via DVI. I played back the CGI scene on the animatrix disc and was floored. I'm not sure if the high image quality was necessarily due to the contents of the disc, the player, or the connection.

I'd like to spring for the Samsung DVD player, but at a retail of $450-500 Canadian it is a bit high (keep in mind I did pay $1299 for the Sony DVP-S7000 in 1997). Is the DVI worth the additional cost, if not, which progressive players would you reccomend for the 16x9 Toshiba set? Keep in mind, the Samsung includes the DVI cable and any component-based progressive model would require additional funds be directed towards nice cables.

Also, can anybody reccomend any settings, as far as brightness, color, etc., I should set the TV to in the store to get a better idea of what I am dealing with? On our aging RPTV I'v traditionally kept the brightness and contrast low while keeping the color rather high to compensate and I'v always been very pleased with those settings, especially on DVD material.

My only other concern is that the TV features 540p and 1080i, but not 720p? How crucial is 720p and how will this particular set deal with a 720p source?

I know this is a lot of questions but I also know that this is the best place to get my questions answered in an intelligent, articulate manner. ^_^
 

Mark Hamilton

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Mar 16, 1999
Messages
122
Sorry about the bump, but tommarow is decision day and if anybody can give me some last second advice it'd be much appreciated, yo! ;) :)
 

Dan McKevitt

Auditioning
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Nov 29, 2003
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I'd also love to hear from anyone who has used the Toshiba 34", as it's on my short list ($1799 at goodguys.com 10% off, no sales tax anywhere, and "white glove" delivery). $1620ish out the door seems like a great price for this set, but is it a good value, dollar for dollar, compared to the Sony models?

I hate to even mention a Consumer Reports review of video monitors at a videophile site, but they had the Toshiba at the top of their list for performance and reliability (frequency of repair).
 

Gregg Loewen

Founder, Professional Video Alliance
Insider
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Nov 9, 1999
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6,458
Location
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hi guys

the toshiba is a great value set, and compares nicely to sony models.

as for the dvi dvd player, it isnt needed on a crt (analog device), you will do just fine with a good 480p / component output player.

best wishes

gregg
 

Mark Hamilton

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Mar 16, 1999
Messages
122
Okay, so I got a chance to do some pretty extensive testing in store today. I hooked up the Samsung DVD HD931 player to the Toshiba 34HF83 with the supplied DVI cable and set the player's internal scaler to 1080i.

The first disc up was Monsters, Inc. The TV's settings out of the box are simply terrible, especially the sharpness, which is through the roof. I played around with them until I was comfortable with the picture and then proceeded to some disc testing.

Monsters, Inc. was gorgeous. As good as I could ever imagine it looking. The subtlest details were vibrant and visible... I was floored. Finding Nemo looked just as impressive.

Next up were a few live action discs. I tossed in The Saint, one of the first 16x9 enchanced discs out of the Paramount camp. The menu looked great but as soon as the Paramount intro appeared I was dissapointed. The image was soft, spotty, speckled, etc. I then realized that it was the transfer, not the TV... a disc I had always felt had a good transfer had suddenly met a TV which exposed just how bad it was!

Overall, I was completely impressed and this will certainly be my new setup. I just have to sell off my Xbox and I'm good to go.
 

Mark Hamilton

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Mar 16, 1999
Messages
122
Gregg, can you reccomend any good 480p players that have good availability and fit in the $150us range? Thanks! :)
 

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