 Fantastic TV at a great value |
| Review Date: December 19, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Carl S., Chicagoland, IL |
I've had this TV for about a month now and absolutely love it. I have a 40" Samsung 550 TV as well. A family member who lives next door has a 46" Samsung 650 series so we we're pretty familiar with the Samsungs and that is what we were looking at when purchasing this one. After looking at the prices for 52" and 55" Samsung 650 series I kept coming back to look at this one as it seemed like an incredible value compared to those. I was actually concerned because the price was significantly lower. However, I have owned Toshiba, Hitachi, and JVC TVs in the past and have been pleased with the Japanese TV companies in the past so I bought this from Amazon sight unseen. I had read a lot of reviews on the net on the Toshiba Regza models and most appeared to be positive.
The TV gets shipped via an air freight company and was delivered to my house as scheduled. I elected to not have them do anything but help get the TV in the house and unboxed and setup everything myself. Packaging was standard as was the same as the Samungs. (remove the white clips from the bottom of the box and lift the top off)
I placed it on a solid stand and did not feel the need to attach the recommended safety straps. It is solid on the pedestal and is not going anywhere with the location I have it at.
When I first powered on the TV I was very happy to see a prompt asking me if the TV was being used in a store or at home. I chose home for the obvious reason. Many manufacturers crank up the brightness and contrast to make them look better at the store. Unfortunately, this is the default out of the box experience for other manufacturers. I remember having to turn these down on the Samsungs. While this was a small thing, it was greatly appreciated. Here are my experiences with other areas of the TV:
APPEARANCE
The TV looks beautiful. A solid black border would have suited me just fine. However, this TV has a light gray gradient on the edges with a checkered pattern. From the viewing position you really do not notice it and it certainly is not a factor when watching TV but it looks like art in that regard. There is an illuminated Toshiba logo centered at the bottom of the TV. If the illumination bothers you then you can disable it in the preferences. Overall it looks a little nicer than my plain black Samsung.
PICTURE
Excellent picture. Sharp crisp detail. I played Blu-Ray discs through a Samsung 3600 player I had connected to it and they looked awesome. When I purchased this TV from Amazon I got a free Toshiba BDX2000 Blu-ray player with it and moved the 3600 to another room and used it after a couple of days. No difference in the picture between the two. I've also watched much HD programming via satellite as well as some SD material too. I hooked my Roku up and streamed SD content from it as well. Regardless of source, the TV performs beautifully. The detail is razor sharp, the colors look true, and the picture continues to impress me. I watch a LOT of movies via HD premium channels as well as Blu-Ray discs. I was really concerned about an LCD over a plasma in this regard but have not bit disappointed in this regard. My other major concern was that movies would look more video-like as opposed to movie-like. On the 46" Samsung my personal opinion is that things appear to look more video-like. On the 40" Samsung not so much so, but neither look as good as this Toshiba in my opinion. Of course sitcoms and your standard TV fare look great on the Toshiba as well. Bottom like is that I think this Toshiba looks better for movie buffs. I also noticed that the depth of field on the 40" and 46" Samsung do not seem as accurate as on this TV. Depth of field looks normal here and perspective looks accurate to me. I don't see how anyone can knock anything with the picture on this set. It has a good as anything I have seen in the stores.
GLARE
Toshiba says this TV has a "CrystalCoat high contrast screen coating". The best way I can describe the look is by comparing a laptop screen that is glossy vs. one that is matte. This TV definitely falls into the glossy category. The tradeoff between glossy vs. matte has always been glare with vivid, bright, beautiful display vs no glare and a more muted picture in that regard. No TV made is going to have zero glare. This is just part of the way light behaves in regard to reflective surfaces. I have seen complaints that this TV has too much glare. Those who feel strongly in that regard might be a candidate for a set that is more matte-like. However, what we are really talking about here is glare when dark images are displayed on the screen. For example, if you are watching a sitcom or things that are generally more lit then you aren't going to see any glare even with the windows open and the sun shining in. The difference comes when you have something like the Dark Knight playing where you have many night scenes and dark environments. In those cases, you are going to see glare from any light sources that give off any light in front of the TV. The bottom line is that glare may be worse here than on other LCD TVs. However, and this is a big however...this is also what makes this picture look a lot better in my opinion. So if you choose to go the less-glare route you are also sacrificing something picture-wise to accomplish this. It will not look and bright, vivid, and beautiful. Personally, I do not find the glare to be an issue.
BLACK LEVELS
A couple of the reviews I had read stated that the black levels on this TV were not good or accurate. This is simply not even close to true. Black levels are excellent. Black levels here are better than the Samsungs in my opinion. Toshiba states that the "DynaLight Backlight Control" automatically adjusts the backlighting to help in this regard and I believe them. To me, this looks more like a plasma in this regard that other LCD TVs. Black levels have always been an issue with LCD TVs to some degree but it looks like Toshiba has resolved that issue here. My last 50"+ TV was rear projection and I was worried that the black levels (especially in movies) might be an issue with the new LCD TV but it simply is not the case.
SOUND
First, I do not use the internal sound. I set the volume level to 0 after 5 minutes. I find it hard to fathom that someone buys a 55" TV and uses the internal speakers. At this size I would expect must people have a home theater audio setup. (I do) The few minutes I listened to it through the internal speakers, I did not notice any problems so I cannot speak to the internal audio. Bottom line, if you do not have a 5.1/7.1 setup outside of the TV, do yourself a favor and get one.
FEATURES
First, you normally do not see LCD TVs with 120Hz at this price point but you get it here. Toshiba uses the backlighting to simulate 240Hz performance but personally I haven't seen any of this motion blur in sports even on my 40" Samsung without 120Hz. I have watched HD NFL and NASCAR and just have never seen it on any of the LCD TVs I have seen. Tons of people and reviews have talked about it and I guess that where this would occur, 120Hz is going to help.
Next, another feature you do not see on sets in this price range and many that cost much more and that is the ambient light sensor which can automatically adjust the picture based on the room lighting.
Finally, this TV supports 1080p24. If you do not know what that is or why it is important then do a google search. For those of us that love movies, it is a great feature.
I won't go through all the features as you can read them in the description or by downloading the user manual. However, I have to say that this TV has more (and friendly) options in the menus and has some really cool stuff that many of the Samsungs do not. (ambient light sensor mentioned above for example). Overall this set has every feature I have seen on other TVs and more. Again, at a great value.
VALUE
I paid $1631 with free shipping and I see it is now down to $1573. Comparable Samsung TVs will set you back $500-$800 more. Personally, I found this set to exceed my expectations and feel it is better that the Samsungs. Add the price difference in it because a huge value in my opinion. Personally, I am not sure why Toshiba is currently selling at these amazing price points but I am glad I jumped onboard while they were. I assure you that if you buy a Vizio, Insignia, or Sharp LCD TV at this price point then you are getting a sub-par TV. You can spend more to get the LG, Sony, or Samsung but I don't believe the extra money is buying you a better TV. Best Buy is still selling this TV for $1999 so buy it here from Amazon.
OVERALL
There is a reason Consumer Reports rated this the #3 TV Overall and the #2 Recommended TV in the 52-inch and larger category. It is a fantastic TV and I think it is being overlooked at the moment only because Samsung and LG are doing so well at the present. If you are reluctant about the price being lower than other TVs with less features, do not be concerned. I would not hesitate to buy this TV again and would recommend it highly to others. Feel free to comment if you have any specific questions. |
Investing in your entertainment
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| Review Date: May 15, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Nathan M. Stephens, Kearney, Nebraska |
Got this at a great price. Free shipping. Ordered on Sun. Got it on Thursday. Best video ever. So sharp and clean, colors are brillant. Gaming on Xbox 360 fast and on the PS3, its the best gaming ever. Going to 1080p, is like going from 800x600 to 1920x1200. Its so much fun to watch tv in HD. And the bluray, is the most incredible imaging. I recommend this tv to anyone who is looking at HD. Easy to set up. One thing it doesn't have, is Picture in Picture. Otherwise, best tv I have seen yet. Sony hasn't even released their 240 hz tv's yet. Toshiba beat them on price and speed.
One feature that I have noticed since owning this hdtv, is the remote control is programmable, it can control my home audio system, dvd player and is very easy to set up.
I really like how there are 4 HDMI ports, and a PC port which I don't use because my computer has a HDMI port so watching facebook on this 55" HDTV is so much more fun.
With the use of my computer as a multimedia center, I can stream video from HULU and Netflix right on the tv.
The SD video card reader is a plus. I love to take photos and then I can view them right on the tv. As sharp as it is, the photos look like you were there on the screen as you view them.
I did notice that watching a movie on my PS3 vs using my older dvd player which is also hooked up HDMI, the PS3 is much sharper and has more detail. I didn't realize how much of a difference the quality of a movie is played back on the player. So I watch all my movies DVD and Blu ray on the PS3. I am looking at getting a dedicated Blu Ray player, I don't want to burn out the drive on my PS3 like I did to my PS2.
Nate Stephens
Kearney, Nebraska |
You can't beat the price and performance...
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| Review Date: September 12, 2009 |
| Reviewer: J. D. Hon, |
This TV is everything I was looking for and more. You can't get a better TV for the price; you can hardly get a better TV by paying more. I have a good friend who paid twice as much for a Samsung LED TV, his picture quality does not match the Toshiba.
The TV was delivered to my living room by a delivery company in town. I have to move every couple of years for my work so I was pleased to see the quality of the box the TV came in. It has latches down one side and around the entire bottom portion of the box.
It comes mounted on the stand and ready to sit on a piece of furniture. I didn't wall mount so I am not sure how difficult mounting would be.
The TV looks gorgeous without it even being turned on. Toshiba did a great job on the design.
As I mentioned, the picture quality is amazing. I am a sports fan and haven't seen a picture this nice until now. The Toshiba ClearScan 240 handles the speed of the games. All of the HD Discovery and Science channels are breathtaking. I have the TV sitting with 3 large windows to one side. I was concerned about how the light would affect the picture during the day. The TV is bright enough to overpower the light from the windows. It has an ambient light sensor and automatically adjusts the picture. It also has a special coating to prevent reflections of ambient light.
The features of this TV are amazing. Check them out at regza.com for yourself. I also considered Samsung and Sony. I found this TV to have better specs and features than the other brands. The price of the Toshiba makes it a no brainer. |
Toshiba Regza 555ZV650U
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| Review Date: November 15, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Daniel J. Garrity, |
| I love this TV. I had done a lot of research and had narrowed it down to a Samsung or Panasonic - then I saw this TV. It is much brighter and shaper than the Panasonic and significantly less expensive. Coupled with a a Blur Ray player it really is like being at the movies. No bad things to say about this TV. |
Excellent TV - but
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| Review Date: September 25, 2009 |
| Reviewer: J. DiNitto, MASS |
THis is an excellent TV. Picture quality is amazing and there is excellent connectivity ports on the back and side.
The viewing angle is amazing also - as good as a plasma. Can be viewed from all angling in our living room with no problems.
The only complaint is that occasionally the sound get weird - after watching for a while (2 hours or more) sometimes the sound gets distorted. When you turn it off and back on again it is fixed.
I not sure what is causing this but it may be that I have surround sound and I'm not using it?
Anyways - this happens very rarely and it is a very minor problem and may be something with my hookup.
I would recommend this TV - excellent TV.
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