Home > Consumer Reviews > Toshiba REGZA 47ZV650U 47-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with ClearScan 240, Black

I searched around and has narrowed it down to a Sony or Toshiba. This TV has met all my expectations. Several features that I really like. The effect of 240 Mhz motion flow. Also the TV up converts regular cable pretty well. The last feature I really liked is it compensates if you the TV goes to commercial that is a lot louder. For the price you can't beat the picture and features.

I've had mine for about a month now and can't get home quick enough to watch it every day. Compare it side-by-side with mid-level Samsungs and Sonys, and you'll have to agree the picture is every bit their equal, and it costs hundreds less. I'm kinda picky and have never had a TV that I could leave in "Automatic" picture mode before, but I do now. Reflections from the glossy screen are not bad at all in my living room, the sound is better than in my other LCD TVs, and recent versions of the firmware have eliminated the setup nag at turn-on (mine, built in May 2009, does not have the issue.) I'm not saying it is the best TV out there, but if you give it a fair look you may just take one home. Toshiba has become serious about playing with the big boys in LCD TV, that's for sure.

I agree with all the positive reviews here, but if you need to use closed captioning, you might want to read Freiwil's review of the 46-inch Regza at Toshiba REGZA 46XV645U 46-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV, Black He is correct in saying that you have to use the cable box's closed captioning option because CC is not transmitted through the HDMI cable. I called Toshiba to confirm this, and the rep said this is true. I really hate that because the TV has many CC options for font, size, and so on that are not available via cable TV. Also, others have mentioned a set-up issue (the set-up screen occurring every time you turn on the TV) on sets built before a certain date. The Toshiba rep admitted this is a problem, but she mailed a card to insert in one of the slots on the side to update the firmware and avoid this problem in the future. For the price, this is an excellent buy. The technician who set up our TV said that he thought the Sanyo top-of-the-line had gotten around the problem with CC. I hope Toshiba can do that! However, the higher end Sanyo we priced was $1000 more than the Toshiba.

Having purchased a 32" Samsung 720p LCD TV previously, I was all set to purchase another larger 1080p 120Hz model for our newly-renovated basement. Decided to do some cost comparisons, and found this TV on Amazon at a great price. Had everything I needed and more and was several hundred dollars less then comparable Samsung and other higher-end models. I grew up with an old Toshiba picture tube TV, which lasted many years, so I was not concerned about quality. Amazon contracted sale out to Crutchfield, which has great customer service. The delivery guy (who I believe worked for a Crutchfield sub-contractor) was delayed by mechanical problems with his truck and ended up having to work overtime on a Friday evening in the pouring rain to deliver my TV. Another company might have had its driver reschedule the delivery, but when the driver arrived he said that he knew I was waiting and he didn't want to disappoint me. How great is that?

I've had the TV for about a month now and no complaints. Picture is great (especially with an HDMI cable purchased from Amazon for only $0.22 -- do not pay full price for these cables at a big box store!). CNET review said the black levels were "subpar", but go and look at the comparable TVs side by side in a store and tell me if you can really see a difference. Nintendo Wii also looks great, though not sure I notice any upgrade with the "Game" picture mode feature. Understand some of the complaints about the high-gloss screen and bezel design, but I think these features actually make the TV look great when you hang it on the wall, and for basement viewing there is almost no glare. A lot has been made about the 240Hz refresh rate effect of this TV. I was told by numerous people that since I like to watch a lot of sports I shouldn't go for anything less than 120Hz. I figured 240Hz would be twice as good. To be honest, I've done a comparison with my old Samsung (32" 720p 60Hz), and it's difficult for me to see a real difference when watching baseball, golf, basketball, etc., so that's something you'd want to consider when thinking about the price increase between 720-1080p and 60-120-240Hz TVs. The true difference I notice is in the brightness and crispness of the picture. And, although I don't watch a lot of standard def cable, there is noticeable difference with the new TV -- Toshiba really does a great job with this upscaling feature. One little annoyance was that there's some kind of bug that causes the setup menu came up every time you turn on the TV, but that's a very minor quibble, and Joe D's June 8, 2009, review tells you how to fix this problem (thanks Joe!).

Overall, this is a great TV at a great price. As another reviewer said, it's nice to see Toshiba back in the game.

Update 09-17-09:

Since Amazon did not let me return it for free, I'll need to think of something else. Finally I've solved the black out problem by lowering UHF signal gain. It's obvious that Toshiba did not put protective circuit there, which explains why my bedroom Sony TV does not have the same issue.

Well, you really need to be geeky enough to deal with the rough edges of this TV, and I'm glad that I did not waste my four years in college (my major's EE) ...

BTW, stars back to 4 again. I'm not a picky peon if my problems went away.


Update 08-07-09:

I think the TV had significant issues with its design.

I connect the TV to a UHF antenna, and every time I tuned to a specific channel (44.8 in Los Angeles), the TV simply black out. You have no chance to get out of it, yes, NO CHANCE. The TV remains black out until you RESET it, which means you have to be very careful about channel browsing, and all your stored information (e.g. favorite channels) are all gone.

I've attempted to work with Toshiba customer service to get this fixed, but they refused and insisted that "The signal is causing the issue with your tv and there is nothing Toshiba can do to fix this issue." Great. Sony does not have this problem with the same antenna and location, and I'll let you folks judge whose problem is this.

I'm trying to work with Amazon and see if I can have this TV returned. Meantime I'd recommend against this TV (Amazon does not allow me to reduce the star count, otherwise I'll just give it 1 star since the tuner is flawed).


Old review:

Got my TV from Amazon today. The carrier (CEVA) is not too friendly compared to BestBuy guys. Since I paid Amazon some hundred bucks less and no shipping fee, that might be understandable.

If you dig previous reviews, people complained about thick frames, and it's very true. These frames are thick and sturdy! The carrier accidentally swing the TV and one corner of TV hits the wall. Well, there left a hole in the drywall but the TV is not even scratched.

The screen glares a lot because I have two big (6'x8') windows and plenty of sunlight in the room. I'll need to use the blinds in order to watch TV in the day. The sound performance is, well, it produces sounds. It's time to shop receivers and speakers for home theater experiences.

This TV has an USB port that plays DivX, XVid, MPEG-2 through USB port (unfortunately no HD contents). Yes the TV is capable of doing 1080p if you have an external source. Internal media player does not support HD video/audio codec of any kind.

I've connected a Windows 7 PC to this TV via HDMI, and, wow, my eyes are really open :) The display is sharp and clear, and audio is also passing through without any problem. The performance of display is very good. Compared to my friend's Sony and Samsung, my personal feel is that this TV is as crispy, if not better, as its competitors.

What I dislike about this TV must be its user interface (on screen menu and remote control), which is light years away from Sony. It's not only confusing but also slow in response. The user manual is also written poorly. I'm glad I'm geeky enough to figure things out myself.

In short, this TV is pretty good albeit it has some rough edges. If you know how to configure things, it's a pretty decent bang-of-buck choice of building a modern home theater.