Title:

Date: Thursday May 27, 9:24 am

Cutting up carrots and slicing potatoes in the kitchen doesn’t have to become dull, mind-numbing work. In truth, these days, you can play Xbox 360.against other chefs, catch up about the latest Rachael Ray broadcast, or even watch a DVD regarding how to make a tasty Eggplant Raviolini dish although doing so. Thank the Toshiba 15LV506 DVD combo television, which can liven up any extended cooking session, whether you’re a true foodie or not. It’s small, white, and portable adequate to change position from 1 countertop to the subsequent, even with one hand. The device also supports component movie and includes a built-in digital tuner, a side-loading DVD drive, and works properly like a boombox to boot. Alas, whilst the picture about the box makes it appear like you should have the time in your life with the 15LV506, the reality is as follows. We can only suggest it for individuals who aren’t that interested in a good quality entertainment experience.

Initial, about that image we mentioned around the box. It’s interesting because there’s a woman walking from a single counter for the following in a spacious kitchen area, glancing over her shoulder. The Toshiba HDTV is not even shown, but she includes a look of complete amusement – perhaps laughing at one of Oprah’s jokes, no doubt. Yet, from that distance, as we discovered during testing, the Toshiba television would be barely watchable. As these kinds of, this picture is a superb instance of up-selling to the rich and glamorous (the featured kitchen area within the photo is some thing you’d only discover at a broadcast studio), but the Television itself is more like a Wal-Mart unique: 1 you’d purchase for the price, not the functions.

The 15LV506 is an all-in-one television that does perform nicely with the food prep. It’s a 15-inch LCD (measured diagonally) that weighs about 8 pounds, as well as the stand is sturdy enough you could move it close to easily. The Television does not in fact swivel around or move along like you may expect, so you have to adjust the whole unit for a diverse viewing angle. The DVD is side-loading and works well, although: It grabs the disc from you and doesn’t force you to push it in all the way, as with the PlayStation three. In everyday use, these kinds of as changing channels, adjusting volume, and switching input modes, the 15LV506 performs quite adequately. We can surely imagine somebody preferring the device’s little size, promoting to be able to watch movie, rather than raising the bar for actual image high quality and overall enjoyment. Yet, we can’t overlook a couple of glaring deficiencies that make it hard to advise.

It’s important to stress that this set is dependant on what you might do with it, not how well it performs, nevertheless. For example: We also connected it to a Dish VIP-622 DVR and watched HD programming like the recent James Bond series shown on Encore HD. The 15LV506 worked okay with the 1080p HD movie, but lacked any true color quality – blues looks darker than they ought to have, for instance. You may also connect a movie game console, but not the PlayStation three if you are using the HDMI connector: The 15LV506 only supports the older component video connection. It is possible to run digital audio out to a receiver to assist with audio quality, although. The unit offers some minimal adjustments terms of acoustics as well, such as a surround sound setting and bass/treble adjust. Sadly, none can hide the fact that the speakers are sub-par.

Fortunately, just about any Disc we loaded into the unit worked as expected. We successfully tested burned CD-RW discs and burned DVD movies in DVD-RW format. The Toshiba 15LV506 remote control worked properly with the cooking too (it has large buttons for fast forward and power, for instance), but we would have preferred some kind of latch or snap-in holder about the Tv to avoid getting spaghetti sauce everywhere in the remote, safely placing it out of harm’s way. The Tv also has a few other attributes worth mentioning, say for example a headphone jack and a way to connect it to RCA audio receiver. There’s even a sleep timer for those late nights of oven-baking bliss, or if you decided to use the unit in your bedroom instead.

Overall, this $300 HDTV is pretty much what you’d assume: Of middling good quality, kitted out with a handful of extra attributes, lacking HDMI and DVI support, and constructed in the little size that works properly on a countertop. We can’t imagine anyone using it for extended movie-watching sessions – we only created it via about half of any given flick. Yet, the 15LV506 is functional and light sufficient to use with the food prep, and for that purpose, it’s adequate to keep you smiling at least long adequate to cook up some lasagna and garlic bread for your hungry brood.

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Date: Monday May 24, 7:36 pm

Desire to discover the latest buzz in LCD HDTVs? Just change one letter to LED, and you’ve got it. In manufacturers’ quest to improve contrast ratios and black amounts to much more plasma-like performance (which we favor), LCD HDTV manufacturers keep enhancing the basic exhibit technologies. In this case, Toshiba and other makers use Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) with local dimming being a light source, rather than conventional and widely utilized fluorescent tubes. In theory, this change greatly improves photo quality although decreasing energy use, a win-win for all concerned. Toshiba’s new 46-inch 46SV670U HDTV is its initial LED model, comes as loaded being a Cadillac, and has a price to match. Let’s see if it’s worth it.

The Toshiba Regza 46SV670U is an extremely interesting HDTV. Whilst flat panel makers like Samsung and LG race to make the thinnest LED displays possible (much less than 2 inches thick), the depth of Toshiba’s first-gen LED set is quite close to fluorescent-based LCDs, and comparable to plasmas, which usually measure between 4 and 5 inches. In cases like this, it’s 4.4 inches deep. What sets the Regza apart within the looks department is its Deep Lagoon Infinity Flush Front. It’s a seamless piece of glass using a tiny eighth-inch silver bezel. Like Samsung’s Toc models, there is a design accent built to the frame that carries more than towards the supplied swivel stand. When we saw it earlier this 12 months, Toshiba execs explained their thinking as we viewed the Tv: they asked us to envision ourselves in the ocean’s edge and watch the sand fade away as the water got deeper. We do not know if the designers sipped too many pina coladas shore-side when they thought this up, simply because we didn’t hear the soothing sounds from the Caribbean checking out the set. No matter; the Deep Lagoon is interesting, along with a big step above your fundamental black HDTV using a thick picture-frame bezel.

Combined with the Deep Lagoon motif, you will find Regza and Toshiba logos about the front (the Toshiba lights up whenever you turn the power on, but this is often disabled). There is also a remote sensor, two LED indicators for power, and the timer along the bottom with the display. Downward-firing speakers built-into the bottom with the panel push out some fairly decent sound, with a total of 20 watts. Still, we think buyers ought to at least take into account upgrading to a sound bar to pair with the set.

The correct side of the Tv hosts a series of controls you will in no way use, unless you misplace the remote (channel up and down, etc). There are also HDMI, USB and A/V inputs, along with an SD card slot. Sadly, it cannot playback AVCHD video files, as choose Panasonic HDTVs can. The 46SV670U can play DivX and MP3 files only from USB devices, and also JPEG images.

The rear with the show serves as the repository for the primary jack pack, which has an additional three HDMI inputs, for a total of four. There are also two sets of component inputs, 1 composite, PC/HDMI1 Audio and PC inputs, and also optical digital audio out. The possible lack of an Ethernet port makes a surprising omission on a top-of-the-line television.

As noted, the 46-inch Television comes by itself swivel stand, which is very simple to adjust. This is a heavy television, weighing 72.8 pounds while using stand, and it measures 45.6 inches wide, 30.8 high and four.4 deep.

First, you’ll need to get past every one of the Styrofoam utilized to maintain the set in position during transit. Beyond that is the 72.8-pound Television, with its swivel stand, an 84-page owner’s manual, a cleaning cloth to the display plus a candy-bar style remote. We consistently complain about the basic remotes supplied with high-end HDTVs, and this one is pretty basic as well. Even though it handles three components along with the Tv, there is no LCD exhibit, and it is not a learning remote; You need to punch in codes to the device you want to control. There’s no HDMI cable either, so make sure you have them on the ready. We did, and after connecting a FiOS cable box plus a Panasonic BD player, it was time to watch tv.

Another key spec for LCD HDTVs is the refresh rate, since older sets tended to smear quick action, for instance thrown quickly balls or football spirals. Companies overcame this issue by adding 120Hz refresh rate technologies, and from our past reviews, this worked nicely. Toshiba now offers ClearScan 240 with backlight scanning to narrow the gap with plasmas even much more (plasmas by no means had this problem in the first place). Note this isn’t a true 240Hz frame rate, given that it combines a 120Hz frame rate with backlight scanning to produce the impact. Marketing individuals just love those big numbers.

Toshiba clearly utilized all its tech tricks to increase picture top quality, including a PixelPure 5G 14-bit processor, along with the LED backlighting and faster frame rate. Now it had been time to see how they performed in real life.

We connected the FiOS box and BD player via HDMI, then powered about the HDTV. Before doing any picture tweaking, we tuned to ESPN HD using the default settings. It was immediately apparent this was the best LCD HDTV image we’d experienced. The annoying screen-door and blocking effect that appear on of most LCD sets was mostly gone. It looked every one of the world like a plasma, with deep blacks, strong contrast, and great colors. And this was before making any adjustments. (For that record, the Sony Qualia 005 from 2004 was the best LCD we had experienced prior to the Toshiba; that LED set cost $12,000 compared to $1,800 for the Regza at a legit on the internet dealer.)

Once we got more than the initial good impression, it absolutely was time to adjust the picture parameters and watch more material. Like every tv, the Regza has principal photo modes for instance sports, movie and so forth. Somewhat diverse is AutoView, which adjusts the image with respect to the ambient light. When you’re in this setting, you can also make a lot more in-depth choices such as brightness, color, tint, backlight, color temp, dynamic contrast, film stabilization and much more. We were content leaving it in AutoView for the most part, and we’re sure most viewers is going to be pleased at the same time. The sports alternative was a lot more like vivid on other sets, with sunglasses-required brightness and a too-strong bluish cast. Avoid this 1, but movie and standard appear fine.

We watched highlights of Yankee home runs versus the Red Sox, and the Buffalo Bills versus Tennessee Titans game. ClearScan 240 did its work and eliminated all of the typical LCD motion issues. Picture top quality reflected the source from the FiOS box, while using primary colors of game shows reproduced really nicely (Drew Carey truly needs a better hair dye work, though). The Regza was a stellar performer with HDTV signals.

Now it was time to view some BD disks and try the ultimate “black” test: examining most of the scenes from Network. Folks, the blacks were truly deep – plasma amounts – with fine detail and accurate colors. Again, you’ll be actually happy watching in AutoView or movie mode. We adjusted the ambient light amounts from a totally dark room to turning on overhead fluorescents and the image held, with no reflection whatsoever – something you can’t say for each plasma exhibit.

Audio was decent, but it might be a shame watching movies with no a boost from a sound bar or 5.1-system. Engaging Dolby Volume mode worked well, limiting the booming sound of commercials (a feature that may doubtless be welcomed by sleeping spouses in the united states).

The Regza 46SV670U is often a terrific, albeit expensive HDTV. To our eyes, it dramatically closed the gap with far better 1080P plasma models. Pioneer Kuros – bless their discontinued plasma hearts – even now remain at the pinnacle of picture top quality with amazing blacks, but it might be tough justifying the value difference, other than for that wealthiest video esthete. Purchase this television, and you’ll be extremely happy. Now, is it worth $500 more than a similar-size Panasonic TC-P46G10, which also provides superb colour? We’d opt for the Panasonic, then buy a BD player and a bunch of disks with the cash we’d save. That said, Toshiba deserves raves for this HDTV, and we’re certain the price of LED LCD HDTVs will conclude plasma levels every year or so. Then we’ll truly have trouble – but they’re the kind of problems you need to have.

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Title:

Date: Saturday May 22, 5:32 am

Among the hottest HDTV trends is slimming down already skinny flat-panel televisions. At CES 2009, there have been loads of prototypes of ultra-slim plasma and lcd TVs, shrinking overall thickness from around 4 inches to 1 or less. Hitachi is incorporated in the vanguard of this trend with its much-publicized 1.5-inch-thick series of Lcd HDTVs, that are around these days. Now, is often a supermodel-thin set the way to go, or is an “obese” 4-incher the answer? Hitachi sent us a 37-inch UT37V702 to find out…

There’s no getting away from it – the UT37V02 is often a beautiful flat-panel set. With its anthracite pearl crystal frame, curvy stand, and thin display, it surely looks like it belongs in an expensive loft setting, or in a Hollywood flick featuring folks with martini glasses in hand chatting with European accents. It just reeks of money. (Now if only the economy would rebound so individuals could acquire those fancy apartments and HDTVs, things would be wonderful!).

The secret to Hitachi’s good looks is a bit of engineering legerdemain. That appealing 1.5-inch thin screen is really a monitor, which means all the key – and bulky – electronics are in the separate box. This is like taking a ride within the wayback machine, because the legendary Sony Profeel monitors from the early ‘80s did the same – except back then a 37-inch Lcd display was nearly as fantastic an idea as some of Dr. Walter Bishop’s ravings in Fringe. In fact, we owned a “huge” 25-inch CRT-based Profeel and utilized a separate Proton MTS tuner to receive about a dozen analog over-the-air channels using rabbit ears. Quaint, no? Since that is 2009, the Hitachi is really a 1080p display having a 120Hz frame rate, placing it in the upper performance ranks of Liquid crystal display models. In fact, it’s among the very handful of 1080p 120Hz 37-inch models. And, of course, there are zillions of digital channels to watch onscreen—without rabbit ears.

The monitor portion of the Ultravision is extremely nicely styled, with its gray frame and unobtrusive, non-lit logos about the bottom. There is a cool blue accent light once you power up, and a chrome accent bar. The surprisingly great integrated speakers are located consecutively about the lower bezel. The display screen unit measures 36.87 x 23.87 x 1.56 (WHD, in inches) and weighs 32.1 pounds. It’s slightly a lot more than the touted “1.5” thickness, but pretty darn close. If you’re not hanging this about the wall, you’ll require shelf space for at least a foot to handle the built-in stand. One of several actually appealing items about this display is it can also be mounted on an optional floor stand, so it can be genuine architectural statement befitting that $1 million loft.

Because this is a two-piece unit, the majority of the jacks found on thicker flat panels are on the separate electronics box called the Audio Video Center (AVC08U). You can find only a few on the display itself, including a single HDMI, analog RGB and RS232C, and also a three.5mm stereo input for computers. Because everyone has much more elements than this, you’ll need to connect the AV Center, that is attached by a supplied HDMI cable if you do buy a “kit.” This box measures 11.75 x 2 x 8.five (WHD, in inches) and includes a sophisticated look that matches the display. There’s only a power on/off button about the front, in addition to a silver accent, whilst the rear has a typical assortment of inputs/outputs (3 HDMI plus a single for the link to the display, a couple of component, digital audio out and a couple of analog inputs). The AV Middle has a built-in digital tuner to help you get local HD channels if you connect an antenna.

Web site of basic controls tucked beneath the bottom with the display which includes menu, input, volume and so on. You’ll never use them, as the remote will be your crucial interface (more on this inside the Overall performance section). There are no other inputs, so forget about quickie game or camcorder hookups—you’ll have to use the AV Center. And – bummer – there’s no SD card slot for viewing JPEGs or AVCHD video clips.

The UT37V702 comes with the basics combined with display screen, stand and AV Middle when you acquire the two-piece package. You’ll get an OK multi-language manual, remote with batteries, power cord, HMDI cable plus numerous screws and cable cushions and straps.

The supplied remote has a very straightforward layout, with key controls readily accessible. It is able to learn the codes of four elements such as your cable or satellite box, BD player, receiver and so forth. The remote is not nearly as sexy searching as the television, which can be some thing lacking on practically all high-end HDTVs, including Pioneers and Sony XBRs. We surely wish to see Liquid crystal display readouts and touch controls, but you’ll have to go elsewhere to get them (Harmony, Pronto et al.). As you well know, better Liquid crystal display HDTVs feature a faster 120Hz frame rate to eliminate blurring of subjects for example basketballs heading for that hoop. The Hitachi did a fine job with a recent Tennessee-Florida contest, mogul skiing in addition to some hockey games, and we didn’t see any annoying “comet trails” for other action material.

Black levels, something for an excellent picture, were—in a word—excellent. In truth, they had been extremely near the Sony XBR recently reviewed, which has some of the finest black levels of any Lcd HDTV other than those with LED backlighting. Working off of this solid foundation, the rest of the colors had been as accurate as you’d want. Everything just looked proper. The “Battle For Narnia” scene from the The Chronicles of Narnia BD disc was terrific, with nice reds, as well as the Witch was as white as she must be. The fast frame rate handled the leaping animals with no difficulty. The dim atmosphere of The dark knight BD disk was replicated nicely. Close-ups of the Joker’s makeup during the classic interrogation scene had been also outstanding.

To tell the truth, the Hitachi Ultravision UT37V702 at a list price of $2,799 is really 2008 (prior to the financial crash). It’s a beautiful-looking television that’s as stylish as can be. Hello, Wall Street Masters of the Universe. Picture quality is superb, with deep blacks, solid sound and overall it just works properly. That mentioned, $2,799 for a 37-inch Liquid crystal display HDTV is far too expensive manufactured from when Wal-Mart and Costco rule, although Neiman-Marcus and Saks are on life support. We’re all for thin screens, but to our minds, it truly doesn’t matter once you’ve made the move from CRTs to plasma or Lcd if your HDTV is four- or 1.5-inches thick. It’s still flat, and relatively thin. Nevertheless, the $2,799 list cost is totally bogus. This really is 2009, within the depths of a recession, plus a quick search observed the display screen alone for under $1,000. Who mentioned economic downturns had been all bad? Buyer beware: be sure you get the AV Center while using screen otherwise you’ll have really handful of inputs. It costs an additional $200 or so. Caveat emptor – for actual. By comparison, you are able to pick up a 37-inch 1080p Samsung HDTV for under $900 (without the 120Hz frame rate,) but it does have an integrated digital tuner and inputs. Also note that at CES 2009, a number of companies – which includes Vizio – announced 37-inch 1080p 120Hz HDTVs for delivery later this year.

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Date: Thursday May 20, 1:50 pm

Cutting up carrots and slicing potatoes with the food prep does not have to become dull, mind-numbing work. In simple fact, these days, you are able to play Xbox 360.against other chefs, catch up about the latest Rachael Ray broadcast, or even watch a DVD concerning how to make a tasty Eggplant Raviolini dish whilst doing so. Thank the Toshiba 15LV506 DVD combo television, which can liven up any extended cooking session, whether you’re a true foodie or not. It’s small, white, and portable enough to change position from 1 countertop to the next, even with one hand. The device also supports component video and has a built-in digital tuner, a side-loading DVD drive, and operates properly as a boombox to boot. Alas, while the image around the box makes it look like you should have the time in your life while using 15LV506, the reality is as follows. We can only suggest it for those who are not that interested in the good quality entertainment experience.

Initial, about that image we mentioned about the box. It’s interesting because there’s a woman walking from 1 counter to the subsequent in the spacious kitchen, glancing more than her shoulder. The Toshiba HDTV is not even shown, but she includes a appear of complete amusement – perhaps laughing at a single of Oprah’s jokes, no doubt. Yet, from that distance, as we discovered during testing, the Toshiba television would be barely watchable. As such, this image is a superb instance of up-selling to the rich and glamorous (the featured kitchen area in the photo is some thing you’d only find at a broadcast studio), but the Television itself is more like a Wal-Mart unique: 1 you’d purchase for the price, not the attributes.

The 15LV506 is an all-in-one television that does work nicely with the cooking. It’s a 15-inch LCD (measured diagonally) that weighs about 8 pounds, and the stand is sturdy adequate that you can move it close to very easily. The Television doesn’t in fact swivel around or move down and up like you may expect, so you have to adjust the whole unit for a different viewing angle. The DVD is side-loading and operates well, though: It grabs the disc from you and doesn’t force you to push it in all the way, as with the PlayStation 3. In everyday use, these kinds of as changing channels, adjusting volume, and switching input modes, the 15LV506 performs quite adequately. We can definitely imagine somebody preferring the device’s small size, promoting a chance to watch movie, rather than raising the bar for actual picture high quality and overall enjoyment. Yet, we can’t overlook a few glaring deficiencies that make it hard to recommend.

It’s important to stress that this set is about what you can do with it, not how properly it performs, nevertheless. For instance: We also connected it to a Dish VIP-622 DVR and watched HD programming like the recent James Bond series shown on Encore HD. The 15LV506 worked okay with the 1080p HD movie, but lacked any true color quality – blues looks darker than they ought to have, for instance. You can also connect a video game console, but not the PlayStation three the use of the HDMI connector: The 15LV506 only supports the older component movie connection. It is possible to run digital audio out to a receiver to assist with audio quality, even though. The unit offers some minimal adjustments terms of acoustics as nicely, say for example a surround sound setting and bass/treble adjust. Sadly, none can hide the truth that the speakers are sub-par.

Fortunately, virtually any Cd and dvd we loaded into the unit worked as expected. We successfully tested burned CD-RW discs and burned DVD movies in DVD-RW format. The Toshiba 15LV506 remote control worked well in the kitchen too (it has big buttons for fast forward and power, for example), but we would have preferred some type of latch or snap-in holder about the Television to avoid obtaining spaghetti sauce all around the remote, safely placing it out of harm’s way. The Television also has a few other functions worth mentioning, say for example a headphone jack and a method to connect it to RCA audio receiver. There’s even a sleep timer for those late nights of oven-baking bliss, or if you decided to use the unit within your bedroom instead.

Overall, this $300 HDTV is pretty much what you’d expect: Of middling high quality, kitted out with a handful of extra features, lacking HDMI and DVI support, and constructed in a little size that operates nicely on a countertop. We can’t imagine anyone making use of it for extended movie-watching sessions – we only created it via about half of any given flick. Yet, the 15LV506 is functional and light adequate to use with the cooking, and for that purpose, it’s enough to keep you smiling at least long sufficient to cook up some lasagna and garlic bread for your hungry brood.

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