Projection-TV Reviews

I have had this tv for about a year now,and can report no problems with it as of yet. I do have to say that I believe the whole widescreen phenomenon to be way ahead of it's time. Cable,satellite,and even hdtv are still broadcast in 4:3 aspect format. To make a square picture fit into a rectangular frame you simply must distort the picture. There is no choice. You can watch the image on 4:3 with this tv,but there are gray bars on the sides. I got used to them,and so can you. Not a big deal. For DVD's you can not do better than this tv. Hooked up to a home theater system,the experience is as good as going to the movies. Fabulous. Make sure you have a progressive scan dvd player,as this tv is progressive scan and the image will be better. I have had one problem however. My cable system broadcasts all of it's movie channels in digital cable. The progressive scan on this tv is not compatible with a digital cable system. You can watch the movies in 4:3,which this tv does let you do. But stretch the screen and you see ghosts,which is a horrible multiple image effect that is unwatchable. If you have digital cable,I would recommend a non hdtv set with no progressive scan. HDTV is a long way away,and there is no reason to pay so much for it now. Otherwise,I do recommend this tv highly. It is my opinion that by the time widescreen and HDTV becomes the norm,which I believe it will,there will be much better tv's available. I won't really want this one anymore. Will you? Probably not. So why buy something now just for the future? I do not recommend hdtv's or widescreen right now. 4:3 projections seem to be disappearing quickly however. If I had it to do over,I would have bought a regular 4:3 projection without all the fancy digital features. I think my cable picture would be better,and I would have paid less. Something to think about.

I've owned the 56H80 for about 6 months. I am now addicted to wide screen :)

Pros: - SUPERB picture with DVD's and HDTV signals, absolutely stunning. - Lack of scan lines is wonderful - Good connection pack on the back - Easy User controls - Good multi control remote (controls DVD, stereo, VCR, DirecTV etc.) - Once adjusted it has excellent color and clarity on DVD or HDTV.

Cons: - several times the TV has made a loud POP, the picture disappeared and sound too. It does come back on immediately but needed to be readjusted again. - DirecTV signal looks HORRIBLE on this TV, you can see crawling around every sharp contrasted edge (even with SVM disconnected). My understanding after reading many other reviewers is this is common with HDTV's not just Toshiba. Consistent consensus is this is due to the signal compression from the DTV source or cable company source. I will, however, be trying Dish Network and different cables soon. - switching Inputs via remote is done by repeatedly pressing the INPUT button till you cycle to the input you want to watch (VCR, DVD, Satellite, etc)- this is minor but annoying, would rather have one touch selection. - TV speakers are terrible for voices. With just the TV speakers I am always straining to hear conversations - highly recommend a center channel speaker at the least.

Would I buy this HDTV again? No..and Yes. As I watch mostly DVD's and not TV I LOVE the picture and when paired with a good surround Sound system it's movie heaven. For the price - I don't think you can get a clearer richer picture in this size. HOWEVER.. Though infrequent, the occasional POP and loss of picture is disturbing. The quality of the DirecTV picture is very bothersome to me but, I am a perfectionist.

This is a brief update to my previous review of the Toshiba 56H80 HDTV.

In my previous review I mentioned that the TV broke after 1 week, and 3 months later, the service folks still hadn't been able to obtain the needed repair parts from Toshiba.

At 4 months the repaired TV was returned to me in perfect working condition. At 5 months it continues to work perfectly.

I continue to recommend this TV over its competitors because of the exceptional picture quality. If you do a side-by-side comparison of HDTVs, one thing to look for is noise in solid-color backgrounds. On Sony WEGAs, I see millions of tiny dots randomly moving around like insects. The Toshiba 56H80 has circuitry that eliminates this visual defect. (The video noise suppression can be disabled for ultimate sharpness from noise-free digital sources.)

I bought the Mitsubishi VS50707 Gold analog Projection TV last week on word of mouth on how good Mitsubishi TV's are.

Ouch! Should have went with a Magnavox. Cheaper and better in my opinion. Had one for 7 years and just sold it to get a new TV. The tubes were aging of course - but I thought it had a better picture than my new $2000.00 Mitsubishi! Sure, the overall picture is good. Close-up shots a great! But watching sporting events - one of the main reasons for getting a new TV now - long distance images were terrible! Can't make out Shaq's face! Football season is going to be a drag! Volume control from shows into commericals - look out! It's REALLY loud! Watching analog TV of course you'll see those lines. Wasn't as bad with my previous TV. Even with the tinted protection screen. Customer support on the problems - not good.

Going to try and sale it and get a Magnavox. Still got time before Football season starts!

In addition to having an exceptional picture this is an excellent Projection TV in the 4 by 3 aspect ratio. Bear in mind that term: 4 by 3. Don't pass this one up! Instead manufacturers are moving toward the 16 by 9 aspect ratio. For conventional (4 by 3) antenna, cable or satellite TV broadcasts and VHS playback this is the one of a handful of the best Projection sets available. Get them while they are still around, 4 by 3 aspect ratios that is. Many people going with the 16 by 9 sets are not happy because there are very few HD signals out there at least for the next 4 or 5 years the way things look. 4 by 3 is the way to go right now. People are complaining because when viewing a widescreen program on a 4 by 3 set you get black bars on the top and bottom. On 16 by 9 sets you get black bars on the left and right sides of the screen all the time unless you watch a wide screen program! That means that you are going to get black bars on the sides for over 90 percent of what you are going to be watching for the next 5 or 6 years. Apparently, the FCC, the major Broadcasting Networks and Cable companies still can't agree on how they are going to broadcast High Definition Television signals. And that decision does not look like it is gong to be made any time soon! Stay with the 4 by 3 aspect ratio like this Projection set has. You can't go wrong and you will be much happier. Many people are returning their 16 by 9 projection sets according to an area dealer because they can't stand the black bars on the right and left.

I compared this television to a similar priced Sony (which was 53") and chose to go with the slightly smaller 50" Mitsubishi because this gave a sharper and clearer picture. I have had this product for a little while now and I definitely recommend it!

After researching all the tvs . I've noticed that the panasonic only came with 850 lines of horizontal resolution compared to toshiba's 1200.. I would have expected the panasonic to have better picture quality than the other as the price is higher.. but I'm not sure if that's the case... I don't have the toshiba next to me to compare.. but i do notice that when i watch regular cable on the tv, that it is noticabley not as sharp as I thought it would be...

Although it's hard to judge as in the stores they always play dvd quality images..

I am very impressed by the remote being able to handle my receiver and my DirectTV remote..

If you're expecting plasma quality, don't look here. I paid $... for this TV, which was a bargain. The quality isn't perfect, but I would have had to pay double for that. It certainly is a move up on my 11-year old 27" TV.

One caution, filtering your incoming analog signal can make all of the difference.....

I can't list price, but I paid well below other brands in a similar size because I got it at a Thanksgiving special at circuit city. I am extremely pleased with it so far. Excellent picture (slight differences in brightness and quality when comparing side to side at the store, but are you going to do that at home?) providing outstanding picture on everything I've watched, DVDs and cable. This TV has it all for a great price: HDTV, progressive scan doubling, 3:2 pulldown, great virtual surround sound, built in protective screen, picture in picture and split screen, nice remote, etc. Sure it's not plasma quality, no projection TV is. But for your buck you can't go wrong with it. I'm still AMAZED!!! Only problem is that the 56" is slightly TOO big for my little apartment! Enjoy!

This TV has a nice picture on any analog inputs. If I use my DSS through the cable input the picture is great. However, if I use it through the S-Video Input at times of high motion the TV can't decode the signal fast enough. The result is a bunch of blocks on your 50" screen. Pretty irritating to spend $1500 on a TV and see blocks as the signal quality! It is a super obvious problem with any S-Video or Component input source. I am not at all satisified with this product!

This "blocking" effect, known as pixeling, is the result of over compression of the digital signal by your DBS provider DIRECTV. This problem will eventually improve as DIRECTV launches more DBS satellites. I find EchoStar's DISH Network to be far superior as far as compression issues are concerened. Currently, EchoStar has more bandwith, therefore requiring less compression. I have a DISH Network receiver connected to my 62" Toshiba projection TV set via S-Video and am very pleased with the picture quality.

It is quite surprising to me that one could think that an S-Video cable is sending data to be "decoded" by the television. The problem the gentleman from Philadelphia was having had absolutely nothing to do with the television. He should be quite aware that the "decoding" is actually performed entirely by his DSS receiver and is caused by the lack of signal from the dish.

Though I cannot make a specific comment on this particular model, in my humble opinion Toshiba televisions are quite marvelous.

You can be reasonably assured as a customer that the macro blocks experienced by the reviewer from Philadelphia would be seen on ANY television this customer purchased - and that YOU will not be plagued by this problem if you have properly installed your dish. Though at one time or another any digital source such as digital cable or digital satellite will at times have this problem if the signal TO the box is not good.

It is my contention that the large blocks this reviewer witnessed on his TV were in fact of extraordinary image quality, though improperly "decoded" by his DSS receiver.

This is a great TV for those who desire size & and good picture. The screen is squarer than the more popular "widescreen TVs" showing picture in the standard TV 4:3 aspect ratio. However with such a large 60" screen when watching movies that have been formatted in the 16:9 aspect ratio (widescreen) you will receive the widescreen picture with top and bottom letterbox bars (black bars) in screen size of 55"! It has 4 AV output (3 back , 1 side). To top it off it was a great price! My husband loves watching the football games on it and I love watching CSI. Great Picture _ Great Deal _ Get the TV the whole family will love it!

This TV is huge and is great for anyone that wants a big screen TV with standard 4:3 aspect, but still show a large 16:9 widescreen display for under $2K. The widescreen is 55"! It is beautiful as my wife has said. I recommend this TV for anyone that is on budget, not that this TV is cheap. The size and picture are absolutely stunning. I've only had minor issues with this product. The single HD tuner required me to purchase an HDTV swither so that I could play 480p (progressive scan) DVD's and also hook up my HD cable TV box. I bought the MadCatz HDTV swither for $20. Works great. The HD tuner cannot understand analog or 480i signals. I don't know if this is normal, but being a newbie at this stuff, it took me a while to figure out the right configuration for all of my hardware. The TV comes with a protective screen which has already paid off since my kids have written on it with pens and also scratched it within the first 2 weeks of ownership. Also, closed captioning is not an option under HD mode, unless you switch it on "manually" through the cable box or subtitles on the DVD player. I couldn't figure out how to turn it off until a service guy came out and figured the problem. The manual omitted that you cannot control it through AV-4 (HD mode). Customer Service was responsive when I contacted them regarding the closed captioning issue. My Playstation 2 is also fun to play on this set.

TV has no inputs for a center channel so one must be set on top. My first unit had a black spot on the screen, I couldn't find anyone to do warranty work for Philips (neither could they). After 7 weeks of calls, emails, waiting on parts, and finally a complaint against Philips to the Better Business Bureau and a credit card dispute. The store I purchased the unit from agreed to exchange it for me.

Make sure there are no flaws in yours before you get it home, it is a pain to get someone to do anything for you after that. Philips made no efforts whatsoever to get this matter resolved, I had to call each repair center myself.

The Ultravision (Hitachi) seemed to have a better picture.

This is the best tv in the whole wide world.

This is a good midrange 53" with extra inputs.

The PIP (picture in picture) is especially well implemented

I have been thinking about buying a Big Screen for the last 6 months. After previewing the Sony and comparing it to other brands, particularly the HDTVs it was a great buy. I have digital cable and I find that I do not notice much difference between a digital picture signal and a DVD picture (connected with S-Video). The sound is pretty good as well. The only drawback is that the vertical viewing angles are poor (i.e., picture seriously fades when you are standing or laying on the floor and within ~6' feet from the TV (assuming this is typical of most non-HD projection models). However, the horizontal angles are very good and the picture is excellent when you are at eye level (i.e., sitting position on a chair,sofa,...etc).

Given the limited HD programs that are available on cable at this time and the significant premium of HDTVs, this is an outstanding value...

Deciding on a big screen has definitely been a grueling and frustrating task. I have been looking for a Projection HDTV for almost a year now. I never wanted to spend more than 2,000 so I waited till now to actually buy one. There are so many models out there and once you start doing your research many of the contenders will drop out of contention. When I first started looking, I considered every brand and model and went from there. Deciding on what you want can really narrow down your search. First decide on whether you want standard or widescreen. I think there is no clear answer for this and its more of a preference. I myself went withthis standard screen because I do mostly TV watching with occasional DVD viewing. Remember if you buy a widescreen when you are watching TV there will be bars on the sides. Go to a store and ask them to show this to you on a Widescreen, you have to see it to decide whether you can live with it or not. Many people say that Widescreen is the future especially with HD on the horizon, but I'm not so sure its coming as soon as more people think. Yes there are some channels now offered in HD, but not enough in my opinion. With cable and satellite systems offering hundreds of channels, I did not want to invest in a widescreen just for a few channels. I think it is coming but in my opinion by the time HD broadcasts have reached a substantial level (about 5-7 years or maybe longer) then sure it will be worth it to get it then. My logic is that I will get a Widescreen HDTV in a few years and by then maybe I plasmas will become affordable or if not I could get a really nice projection widescreen HDTV. I could go on but now I'll get to the TV.

I think picture is the most important thing when buying a big screen. I would rather have a 42 inch with a great picture than a 52 inch with a so so picture. The picture on this TV is the best in my opinon. The Toshiba 50 inch H72 which comes in standard and widescreen is the only TV that comes close to this one. The few other competitors that I was considering such as the the Sony and Phillips had ok pictures but not as good as this one in my opinion. I really did not like any of the Panasonic TV's they didn't look like they were worth it even though they were a little cheaper. My advise is not too skimp, I understand how budgets are tight but don't buy a lesser TV just to save yourself a few bucks. This is a multiyear investment and evey buck helps you. I also have to say this by the way. One thing that really confused me was how I would read all these different reviews for different TV's and everyone would practically swear that they had the best picture. I think there is no "best" picture. It really depends on so many things such as the source that is being watched, the lighting, the angle, the calibration, and a whole bunch of other things that make it difficult to buy the "best" TV. And remember that the sales people ...can easily manipulate the picture. They can easily make a great TV look [bad] wih just a few presses of a button. Keep that in mind and when you go to look at TV's ask them to show you the TV with different sources such as TV, DVD, and HD if available. Sometimes you can tell that they have messed with the TV's by just checking the brightness and contrast. I apologize for giving more shopping tips than I have on this actual TV.

I chose this TV because it consistently looked the best at five different store. Hitachi consistently gets better technical ratings and has the best lens for this type of TV. They manufacture their own parts and have some of the best display technology in the business. One thing that really helped me was that I look through at the "Consumer Reports" analysis on HDTV's and this TV was very highly recommended. Unlike many of the editorial reviews on other websites, Consumer Reports does no advertising and really puts the products to the test. I also really like this TV because of its flexibility and options. There are plenty of inputs and you can adust many of the setting including aspect ratio, temperature, utilize BBE, and the on screen display is very easy. I don't know why some companies make their controls so hard to use. The remote control for this TV is ok, but nothing spectacular. To be honest, I really didn't pay much attention to the remotes when I was researching. I obviously did check them out but its one of the least important thngs in my opinion especially since they all perform the same basic function.

DVD's look beautiful on this TV and in combination with a good home theater system, say good bye to Loews and say hello to Blockbuster. And remember don't freak out if you open the box, plug in the TV, and it doesn't look perfect, this TV's need a lot of adjusting and many manufacturers suggest the best picture that these TV's can produce will be evident after about a hundred hours, this give the guns a chance to warm up and spread their wings for lack of a better term.

Finally, I know this is a hard decision and I hope my review has helpd you somewhat. Just remember to do your homework, don't rush it, look for prices online and in stores, and don't forget to buy an extended warranty-you'll need it at some point. Last thing, buy premium cables-like Monster.

If you are looking for a truely great TV that uses the current format (Not the new 16:9 HDTV format), and you don't want to plop down $5000 for a 16:9 HDTV, this is the TV for you. If you've never shopped for big screen TVs in the store, you'll be surprised how bad normal big screens look. You can stand 20 feet away and still see the scan lines. Panasonic took care of this with progressive scan. It keeps the whole scan on the TV at one time (instead of interlacing it). This results in an incredibly clear picture even two feet away.

Cons - using the remote is a real bummer. Beause the IR receivers are behind the screen itself, you must be almost directly in front and in the middle of the TV to use the remote. I actually had to by a remote repeater just to get it to work OK. The cirular on-screen menu system is a real pain as well.

All-in-all, this is a top notch TV

1/31/04 I purchased this stand in December, 2003, with my new Panasonic 50 inch LCD. Appearance and Assembly are 5. Functionality 3 and Value 4. The stand is very well packed and the box is easy to open. In fact, my stand was fully assembled, with the exception of the center shelf. I purchased the stand for $300 (Actually, not a bad price for a custom stand, but I downgraded one point, since the stand functionality is only a 3). This set up works well in the center of a wall or in a corner of my room. The stand easily glides over a carpet, with the LCD TV intact. Also, the height of the TV on this stand is in the optimal position for viewing, from any sitting position in my room.

I like this optional custom stand, but the space for components is lacking. Stand drawback is the limited interior width of 29 inches and limited depth - my amp with all cables just fits within the depth and I can only fit my narrow cable box next to my 17 inch wide amp on the base shelf. My DVD player easily fits on the upper shelf, with room for the cable box on top if desired, but, there is not room for my large center speaker. There is plenty of room for heat release for my three components. If you need this stand for three components and a center speaker, measure carefully before purchase.

The TV is a perfect fit on the stand and is secured on stand pins and 2 rear clamps. The shelf is held in place with pin/set screws. Make sure that you place the shelf in correctly - - one end is rounded to match the front semi circle appearance -- The shelf placement can easily be put in backwards. If you do this, and tighten the set screws, there will be the screw imprint in the poly/heavy gauge plastic shelf.

The front and back of the stand is open. Cable/Wire placement is not a problem. The rear support of the stand has holes in place for cable transfer, but I prefer to run from the bottom shelf area and keep out of sight.

Recommended Purchase if you do not need extra space for more than three components, with a hearty center speaker. The custom appearance and secure attachment of the TV on this stand were my decisive factors. Enjoy. j.