Ordered Toshiba Regza Cinema Series 55SV670u today

[gadgtfreek]

Toshiba: Regza | Models | Regza SV670: 55SV670U

So,

As many know, I've been in the market for a new tv, and even considered FP. One pc of advice I was given was to get a decent lcd, AND a FP. I like that idea, but decided to get a NICE lcd instead of a lower tier model.

The wife is a little po'd that I sold the plasma so quick, so I decided to go ahead with the LED purchase since she has another 5 weeks here after I leave, and I'm not worried about moving the LED LCD.

My choices were:

Samsung 55" 8500 (at $4k dollars, it just costs too much and I don't like their QC)

LG LH90 and LHX (The LH90 is nice, but I hate the look of the tv and they do not separate antiblur and antijudder;The LHX is awesome, but only sold by Bbuy and not worth $1200 more than the Regza, IMHO)

So, I got the Regza from Amazon (onecall) and a 3yr square trade warranty for a great price. This leaves room for the FP if the house has a room I can dedicate.

Thanks to all for the help, and Gregg, please don't kick my butt too hard for not getting another plasma


This is a steal of a tv, got it for $2425 shipped with a 3yr square trade in home warranty.

 

[jayn_j]

Good choice. That one was on my short list before you convinced me to go with the Panny plasma instead

 

[gadgtfreek]

Hehe.

I love plasmas, but as someone who seems to keep moving every 2 years, its a PITA! I spent 1.5 hours in BBuy today just watching tv's

 

[tigerfan33]

I was hoping you would go fp so we could see step by step progress so I could learn.

I am sure you will be happy.

I am still considering the fp. Damn been considering for a year now.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Hehe. Well, if I get the right room and do it, I'll surely take pictures. Until then, I take some shots of the new toy when it arrives next week.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Onecall has been great so far. Called me for followup today, and now I have a tracking number. Tv is moving quick and should be delivered Friday.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Well, I just watched a lot of action scenes from blu-rays like Transformers, and I am not gonna waste your time with a long post, I'm only gonna say:

This tv is the sh*t! I can say, without a doubt, I am not missing the plasma. Toshiba oughta be shot for selling this think $1800 less than a Samsung 8500 55". What a sick deal...

 

[navychop]

Looks good. I've bought two Toshibas in the last few months, much smaller ones. Quite happy with them.

When you ship or move that LCD, make sure it's kept upright. Laying flat is asking for trouble.

.... What a sick deal...

"sick" deal? Or "slick" deal?

 

[gadgtfreek]

Hehe.

Yeah, I'm keeping the box for move time and will reuse it. It has shock sensors on the box so thats cool.

 

[teachsac]

Cool. How about some pictures? How's the off-angle viewing on it?

S~

 

[gadgtfreek]

I'll take some this weekend.

If you stand 9 feet way, then make side steps away from center, it takes about 3 and the color takes a slight hit. Then its pretty steady, and then drops off a little more. We have 3 viewing positions:

Wifes chair is is center, im 5 ft from her to the left, and then there is another seat 5ft the other way from her. Viewing from the two side seats is just fine, and no difference is noticed from one of them to the center. You do need to sit somewhat center, because the vertical is more of an issue than horizontal. To be honest, it does not seem any different from a good Sony RPLCD I had, so I don't really understand what Cnet makes a big deal outta it in their reviews.

 

[tigerfan33]

Cool. Are you getting this one calibrated?? Do you know if Gregg has worked on one of these before?

 

[gadgtfreek]

It's def gonna get calibrated in Feb/Mar after we move. I dunno if he has or not, and I'm not sure if he or one of his partners would do the Alabama calibration.

I'm still shocked how sharp the pic is, and I guess maybe the antijudder is part of it. I went from a 50" to a 55", and all 3 OTA programs we have watched tonight (CSI NY, Vampire Diaries and NCIS LA) are more sharp and more 3D.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Well, on Thu night, a few things I have to record are off the Dish HD lils, and they do look worse. The compression is just more evident. I really wish the HD race had not turned into a compression game.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Ok, so its not all dish channels because Max looks great and so does History, might bust be my local Fox station (OTA is not so hot either).

When the screen goes black in between channel changes or during watching movie and scene changes, it looks exactly like it does when its off. The thing is dark as hell, and sidebars and letterbox are dark too. At the end of a movie I could see the blooming that has been discussed with these sets as the credits scrolled. Basically, the area around the letters is a tad lighter than the outer parts of the screen, and if there is a gap in credits it goes completely black again. To me, it's not a bother, and something I do not notice in normal viewing. When watching a letterbox movie, I have not noticed an blooming at the top or bottom.

My only complaints are that the color is not quite perfect (fleshtones) and you can tell the Ansi CR is not as high as the Plasma, which was confirmed in a shootout. The on/off beats the plasma easy. My plasma, in a dark room with a black screen, was easily picked out.

At this point, if I had to choose, I keep the Regza and still let the 85u go. Only thing this Regza need is for Gregg to tweak it and get everything right.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Ok, more thoughts:

So, the colors need some work. I've gotten them better, but I knew going in that most reviews stated you need a calibration to get the proper potential of this set.

Blacks - In a dark room style environment, you can def tell it does not have the ansi CR of the plasma, but it's not a huge deal. What you do see is, items in a brighter screen that are black (ball cap, sign) are just that, BLACK. I can see why the reviewers say "inky" blacks. I'm still amazed with the side bars, letterbox, black screen in between commercials, or a black screen commercial with just a little writing in the middle. Areas near the writing are a little lighter because of the design, but the rest is as black as when the tv is off. The local dimming works awesome when it has a dedicated black area, and can shut down. Nice during movies because I do not have to see letterbox bars glowing a little (they were not bad on the plasma but in dark scenes they showed up a bit more).

Video-In programs with a good picture to begin with, the set looks great. (Blu-rays, some History programming, and CBSHD OTA football and dramas)

Feeds that were not so good, well, look worse. One could attribute that to the extra screen size, and it goes to crap in, crap out. I guess the larger you go, the more you really see what channels are cutting corners.

Once again, if I still had the choice of picking one, I'd keep the Regza. While the colors are lacking (I cannot fairly evaluate it all until this one is calibrated), the local dimmed blacks are nuts, and 240hz did fine on HD football, the film based processing is awesome, and the PQ with a good feed looks excellent. As with every technology, they have their tradeoffs and none are yet perfect. If I could take the good parts of this tv and the good parts of the Panny, then you would have the king.

We had 5 people over last night and I checked PQ from all positions. The outer two had a slight loss of picture, where it almost looks like it begins to fade or washout, but it was slight. Flesh tones take it the worse, but the center 3 positions were fine, and this is at 10ft or so. Another relief is not worrying about IR or Burn in, even though I know its remote, but now I watch SD stuff in 4:3 instead of stretching.

If you sat 6-7 feet from this thing, it'd be a 2-3 seater only.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Here are a couple of pics:

The first is the R. Lee Ermey History Show, and the second is trying to show you how black the screen can get, in the middle of a channel change. The screen is almost as reflective as a plasma, but unlike the plasma, it does not effect day time viewing. The biggest thing, is the blacks are still black, where the plasma had green blacks during the day as a result of the glass. The "one sheet of glass" design (it's plastic) on the Regza is also nice looking. No dust to buildup around the screen.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Dunno how well this one will turn out, but I'm trying to give an example of what I was talking about with regards to black areas. The officers sunglasses are just really black when you are watching, as well as the black stripe on his arm. There are many scenes where I just go "damn thats black".

Once again, this does not compete with plasma in dark scenes, but in lighter scenes with black items, it seems to do better.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Watching neck car right now, and the motion is just fine. Once again, the 55" is more sharp on the OTA HD channel than the 50" Plasma was.

The black areas in between driver names at the top, in the scrolling area, are very black.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Little grainy due to low light: