Just bought (but have not yet received) a Toshiba TheaterView 50HX81 50-inch 16:9 RPTV. I've been reading a lot here, and it seems that the Toshibas have a good reputation (you guys steered me away from an RCA, which I take as a good sign of knowledge). I have about 2 weeks before it's delivered, so if I've made a mistake, let me know. Thanks in advance!
Oh my goodness....you bought a Toshiba? Just kidding. Get ready to see what you've been missing in terms of 16:9 DVD content and HDTV. And these next two weeks will be hell, BTW. The 5 days I spent waiting for my SVS were so unbearable that when I ordered my projector I got overnight just to avoid the misery. Where's the fun of the impulse buy if you have to wait weeks to reap the reward? Just remember to crank down the contrast/brightness to about 50% first thing, and turn the sharpness all the way off. Then let it warm up for about an hour and calibrate away with Video Essentials or Avia. One more thing: it will look a lot bigger in your living room than it did in the showroom. This is good for you, bad if you have a significant other .
Greetings So did you really want to hear about the bad stuff on the Toshiba? There are quite a few issues ... Or is ignorance bliss ... and you can discover these issues yourself over time ... (realizing that they cannot/will not be repaired.) Regards
DON'T turn the sharpness all the way down. On these sets, a setting of about 30-40 is as far down as you want to go. The picture becomes artificially softened much below a setting of 25. You made a great purchase- I have the 57HX81 and love it. I'm having Kevin Miller calibrate it next month to take it to the next level. Good luck.
Well, I'm sure there are ups and downs to every set from every manufacturer. I just want to make sure mine isn't a dog. Hopefully not. But I'd be happy to hear anything you have to say, Michael. You're an expert, I'm not. I can only learn by listening to those with more knowledge than I. Any hints you have to share to minimize the set's shortcomings would be greatly valued. Thanks for the comments. I'll look forward to hearing more!
The only advice I can give is this: If you were debating between getting this size and a larger one, go with the larger. After about a week the TV "shrinks" and you'll be wishing you went with the bigger unit.
The main complaint about the newest Toshiba models is that they scale 480p signals to 540p, introducing some minor upconversion artifacts that you'll notice on certain Avia test patterns. That being said, I recently bought a 50H81 fully aware of this issue. Why? Because the Toshiba sets are absolutely beloved by their owners! The colors on this set are absolutely incredible. There is none of the "red push" that is so common with other sets. Actually, having 480p upconverted to 540p allows the set to operate at one scan rate (540 and 1080 are the same rate), eliminating the need to do multiple 56-pt. convergences. If you plan to watch movies, you'll love the set. If you plan to watch Avia test patterns all day long, well, you might want to return it!
Michael: Since you see the "dirty undersides" of many of these HDTV's, what make/model's would you advise friends to purchase? I realize that there are LOTS of issues, but what unit feels "well thought out"? If each model had a designer, which one would you take out to dinner to thank them for doing such a great job?
I just got delivery of my 50HX81 on monday and so far, I love it. I did the basic adjustments so far (turning down contrast, etc) but I'm waiting a few days before I give it a dose of Avia and conduct convergence. If anyone else has this set, experiences would be appreciated (in the way of tweaks done and issues identified/resolved).
Greetings Known issues: 540P upconversion artifacts ... (no fix) degrades fine DVD resolution in the 450 line to 540 line domain. Channel 5 interference ... (fix = disconnect SVM wires) interferes with channel 5 on TV and all other TV's in the same household. Ghosting ... (no fix) varies in intensity from set to set. Ghost can be offset by 1 to 2 mm (hard to notice) or 5 mm (blatant ... interferes with visible resolution) Raster Ringing ... (No fix) Ripple effect on left side of TV. Varies in intensity from set to set. Obviously these problems are not all restricted to Toshiba ... as Sony and Mits and Pioneer and Panasonic have all been known to have some ghosting and RR. There are no perfect sets out there and a finely tweaked Toshiba still looks really nice ... Current favorites include Panasonic / Sony / Hitachi / Pioneer ... but remember that some of these sets ... especially Panasonic, look atrocious out of the box. (No mits because they don't sell these in Canada.) Regards
Matt, I received my 57HX81 CinemaView on Thursday and I couldn't be happier (well, maybe after ISF calibration I'll experience a new level of happiness ). I will admit though that this is the first RPTV I have ever owned (27" inch Panasonic relegated to the back room) but I was absolutely stunned by the picture quality when watching DVDs. You're gonna love it , JD
