Toshiba 40RV525R 40Inch 1080p LCD HDTV

Toshiba 40-inch 1080p TV set
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This product is superior to more expensive sets. I would advice using HDMI connectors for each of the equipment attached to the TV

Nice for the price…
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I needed a TV that would fit a 41w x 30h space in my living room, so this Toshiba was almost perfect in that respect.

The TV is nice looking, if a little glossy with the piano black finish. In normal to dim lighting, there’s no appreciable reflections, so not a big deal. The sound is merely OK. Expected that, so I connected a digital optical cable from the TV to my Denon receiver; problem solved.

Setup was trivial. Out of the box to watching Monday Night Football in 15 minutes. The Dynamic Contrast under Advanced Settings should be OFF. It’s annoying when enabled, which is the default. I changed the Color Temp from Medium to Warm in Standard Mode as well and got a fairly accurate result.

My connected devices area an HD satellite box, an HD TiVO DVR, a DVD player/recorder, and the Denon 3805. The TiVO is getting signal from a Terk HD antenna mounted on the roof. The sat box and TiVO are connected HDMI; the DVD box is component.

So far, I get an excellent HD picture with DirecTV and TiVO. 1080p and 1080i output settings, respectively. With SD programs, and with the DVD at 480p, there’s clearly an issue. The picture is soft and a little noisy. The TiVO does a slightly better job; the picture is sharper and the noise is definitely less. This could be a difference in the video scaler chipsets used in the two HD units. HD programs are slightly dimmer with the TiVO as compared to the DirecTV unit.

Right now, I plan to burn the set in for 40-50 hours, then go for a precise calibration using Home Theatre Setup. If I can’t get close with that, I think I can borrow a Spyder.

All in all, the set is pretty good. Since we watch more HD programming than SD programming, the SD picture quality isn’t an issue. It might be for you. I’ll also note that the TV profile for Harmony remotes is good for this model. My first setup of Devices and Activities worked fine for my Harmony 670. The included Toshiba remote is nothing to write home about. No backlight, mushy buttons…average at best.

The bottom line is that this set was $150-200 cheaper than a comparable Sony and looks great with HD programming.

Great tv and value for the price!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought this television at best buy a few weeks ago, and I am incredibly happy with it. As stated by other reviewers, this is a SOLID entry level hdtv with only minor drawbacks.

Picture Quality: is GREAT. Those with INCREDIBLY picky eyes will be the ones that sit there and analyze each pixel, but the bottom line is this is a 1080p television and the blu-rays and video games I play through my PS3 (playstation 3) look fantastic. Absolutely can’t beat the quality for the price!!

Sound Quality: this is where the tv gets shaky. the sound isn’t great, just average. A different reviewer said that flat televisions don’t become flat by getting large speakers, very true. you’ll want to buy some sort of speaker system to go with the television to get that true theater experience. PERSONALLY, I just use the tv in my 10×12 room so the sound is adequate for me, but i’m still thinking of getting speakers.

Features: the tv has great black levels and colors. you will want to do alot of tweeking right out of the box because all of the factory levels are set so high. Once you get the tv to a good spot, just sit back and enjoy looking at all the cracks and crevices on people’s faces. there are some features that I don’t think do much, like “game mode” specifically, but they are nice to have.

OVERALL: If this is your first foray into the HDTV world, like it was for me, I would HIGHLY recommend this television. This is especially recommended for those of us on a budget, but wanting to make the move to HD.

Love this TV
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This was a great deal, I love the TV, excellant delivery person.

Thank you very much!

Great HDTV for its price, but…
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RL6B4V365XSHF I uploaded a video of the Toshiba 40RV525R displaying some TV, Blu-Ray, and video game. (Just a small reference… obviously not going to be exactly how you see it in real life from a recorded video camera; on top of that, an internet video/low resolution/etc…)

This was my first real HDTV (supporting 1080p). Anyone can get super excited over their first HDTV and rate it a 5 star immediately (going from a standard definition to HDTV is definitely a major upgrade to anyone). However, if you’re very PICKY like me, you’ll be *somewhat* disappointed with the video quality.

If you’re like me and have been drooling over the image quality from several of the high-end HDTV models (you know, the ones that cost over $1500-$2000+), on display in retail stores — and then expecting to get the same quality out of this (okay, it was wishful thinking but you never always know just from prices…), well you’ll be disappointed.

When I see those TV, I’d be blown away like I’m seeing directly through a window instead of a TV screen. Naively, I was hoping for that same effect. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not horrible that I would want to return this TV, but “you get what you pay for”. (well, technically, it’s still a little better than what you pay for… did that make any sense?) Just keep that in mind. For the price, though, I can’t really complain so I’m keeping it.

You just won’t get that super super sharpness with this. You need to be a couple feet away; up close, for the very picky eyes, you will easily notice the grainy/fuzzy-like-paintbrush/interpolated effect (I hate this…), muddled together than every object being 100% sharp to the minute detail.

The potential of the Blu-Ray image quality is definitely not there. Animation like Wall-E / Final Fantasy Spirits Within Blu-ray looks pretty good, but I’m just not that impressed when watching Dark Knight/Iron Man/Transformers/Black Hawk Down/The Matrix — even tested it with Planet Earth and Baraka…to list a few. The graininess is just really obvious in all of them. Although, again, I am very picky in image quality.

The D-Sub connection for the PC is really worthless and waste of potential on the monitor; it only supports 1360×768 max. To get full 1920×1080 resolution from a PC, you first need a video card that has a DVI-out and supporting that resolution (or if it has an HDMI out then great).

Second, you need a HDMI male-to-DVI male cable to connect the TV to the PC’s video card. I’m quite impressed with how PC games on this TV look at 1080; it easily beats from how games look on PS3. Definitely makes a great Media PC monitor.

Some other thoughts:

* I’m using the regular “rabbit ears” antenna and 1080i shows/channels still look pretty good with it.

* DVDs won’t look as sharp like on a standard definition. However, again, if you’re far away enough it can look okay. The contrast/blacks are definitely better/more feeling of depth in the picture. *updated thoughts at very below*

* The speakers aren’t as bad as I thought. There is some surround sound. The bass is weak, but most built-in speakers are.

* When I first turned it on, 40″ seemed really big to me. But after a couple weeks, it’s not as big as I thought. It’s good enough for a small room, but for a main TV in a large living room, you’ll soon definitely want to have something larger. The screen does reflect a little bit.

* I think it’s nice that it has 3 HDMI ports, which is more than enough for me. (PS3, PC thru HDMI)

* I really can’t tell the difference having the benefit of “game mode” on when I play games.

* I usually turn the auto contrast mode off because it’s apparent when it changes its brightness than being subtle. It’s pretty annoying.

Pros:

- Good entry level HDTV at an affordable price (I can’t believe I paid close to this amount for a small 19″ PC monitor just a few years ago… ugh technology)

- Black finish/stand Toshiba logo glows (it can also be turned off through the menu)

- Games look good. (PS3/PC at 1920)

- Excellent for a Media PC monitor (using HDMI)

Cons:

- Doesn’t look that great up close. It’s not really sharp. It seems to interpolate/very grainy smudgy/”paintbrush”-like effect.

- D-Sub is essentially worthless at 1360×768 resolution (use DVI-HDMI to connect to your PC!)

Considering this isn’t Toshiba’s higher REGZA model and the price, it’s definitely a good entry level HDTV. Definitely far from a perfect 5 star, but if you’re on a budget and not overly picky like me, you should be happy with this.

I recommend getting a HDMI cable too (don’t be spending over ten dollars on it!)

Update: I was using the PS3 to playback DVD (it’s supposed to upscale). However, I’ve recently tried playing a DVD back on a Philips DVP5982 (it has 1080p upscaling function also via HDMI) and it did A LOT better job upscaling than the PS3. The difference was quite noticeable. Of course Blu-ray video still has more detail, but the DVD looked almost as good! (depending on the DVD, the compression is still apparent, but properly upscaling that resolution really makes the difference) So I take my comment back about DVD looking not as sharp. Your mileage will definitely vary depending on what player you use, so if you have a better Blu-Ray player than the PS3 (what I used to playback Blu-Ray movies), you may get slightly better results than what I see.

Jack- energyman
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The most brilliant, correct accurate TV ever. In 60 years of watching TV

nothing comes close to Toshiba Lcd. BUT, I’ve heard that led’s are the furure. As an 78 year old Scotch man I expect you will give us even better.

[...] Jack Stephenson 22 Hook Rd Gilford NH 03249

Not impressed
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Out of the box the picture is not sharp at all. Better with HD channels, but still not as clear as expected. After looking through the manual and troubleshooting, still can’t find a decent solution. Don’t know if this a defective tv or just the way it’s supposed to look. Toshiba customer support not available, so will try to contact them tomorrow.