Toshiba 34HD82 34" Pure Flat Screen HDTV-Ready TV

Rating:
Summary: Don't skimp on your HDTV
Review: Looked at the cheaper HD TV's from Samsung but this TV is superior. Looked at Sony, but why pay that much and get less? First of all, this TV is HEAVY! Get help from a strong neighbor or better, have it delivered and installed. I have had this thing for 3 months and love it more every day. Everyone that comes over raves about the "3-D" looking picture when I play a DVD. You need a component video out progressive scan DVD player. The cable reception is great on some channels, others stink. The line doubler in this tv doubles the number of static "dots" on stations with poor reception. I had the cable company out twice before they got the signal clear enough to handle his thoroughbred. (Tell them you're going to a dish if they can't clean up the signal.) The sound on this tv is loaded with bass. The Cyclone bass(subwoofer under the unit) has to be turned down if you want to turn up the volume. I have it connected to an excellent sound system and it's a perfect match. The ultimate feature on this set is the 2-tuner picture in picture with favorite channel preview. You can watch one program on half of the screen and nine thumbnail programs on the other half. You set the favorites that you want to see on the right half of the screen. You get to choose 18 favorites. You can also watch standard split-screen PIP. Another cool feature is closed captioning when you mute the tv, great when rocking the baby.

Rating:
Summary: A disappointment
Review: Simply put, this TV does a wonderful job on dvd's, but the circuitry does a lousy job with our DirecTV signal. I have DirecTV on an older Toshiba 32" (4:3) tv and it looks fabulous, but when this 34" tv uses internal circuitry to convert the signal to 16:9, the zooming and expanding brings out tons of artifacts.

Satellite signals comes in mpeg2 "compressed" format. Just like your digital photos are jpg "compressed" format, the picture is compressed to save space (or in this case, to fit more streams in the satellite bandwidth) while at the same time looking really good at the 4:3 resolution. If you've ever zoomed in a highly compressed digital photo on your computer, you realize that it's actually full of distortions or "artifacts" that are not noticeable otherwise. Well, this Toshiba essentially "zooms in" on the mpeg signal, and then magnifies it, in order to fill the 16:9 screen, and in the process the picture looks terrible.

With a less compressed stream, such as most dvd's, the picture is fine.

The moral of the story is that don't expect to get a great picture using this tv and a standard DirecTV receiver. Otherwise, this tv is fine. When all or most channels are broadcast in HD, this Toshiba will be ready for them, and then they'll look good.

By the way, one of the reviewers said this model has an internal HDTV tuner. That's not accurate. If they meant that it is HDTV ready, and that it upconverts signals, that's true, but it does not have an HDTV tuner.

Rating:
Summary: nice nice nice
Review: This unit has a menu for setting up the tv and makes it easier for the average user. I found the sports setting too grainy for any use, the different settings for picture may be a variable detail gain. I found the movie mode to be the cleanest, with velocity modulation off. It comes shipped with contrast set to 100% and brightness too high for a low light room so lowering this will make quite a difference. the onboard sound is outstanding. All the a/v in-outputs are nice but I would appreciate a svhs input/output splitter on at least one channel. The picture quality (once set for the room) is nearly unbelievably good. The wide screen size settings nearly simulate hdtv using cable input with the line and pixel doubling. Highly recommend this TV.

Rating:
Summary: Great Value
Review: We looked at the Toshiba, the Panasonic, and the Sony 34" 16:9 units all side by side on the same signal. The picture on the Toshiba blew the others away. The Panasonic was $500 more and the Sony was $1000 more. No contest. The images are striking, with an almost 3-d effect. I had to fight long and hard to get permission from my wife to get an HDTV set. After 1 day I would have an even bigger fight to take it back, as she is now converted. It is strongly recommended that you go out and purchase an HDTV satellite system to really make this puppy dance!

Rating:
Summary: Great Value
Review: We looked at the Toshiba, the Panasonic, and the Sony 34" 16:9 units all side by side on the same signal. The picture on the Toshiba blew the others away. The Panasonic was $500 more and the Sony was $1000 more. No contest. The images are striking, with an almost 3-d effect. I had to fight long and hard to get permission from my wife to get an HDTV set. After 1 day I would have an even bigger fight to take it back, as she is now converted. It is strongly recommended that you go out and purchase an HDTV satellite system to really make this puppy dance!