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46LX177 Viewing Tests and Conclusions

by Clint DeBoer last modified December 10, 2007

We viewed a lot of material on this display and for the most part it looked very good. There was one anomaly we witnessed regarding the black level capabilities of the display. A halo effect surrounded the borders of the display whenever a dark black pattern or video was present. The edges of the backlight seemed to bleed through and kill any hope of a crisp, clean black edge. The system also failed to pass a blacker than black test pattern.

halo-effect.jpg

Despite our pickiness, movies and television looked excellent on this display. After all, we do watch more than just test patterns around here...

BD: The Fifth Element (Revised Version)
The revised edition of this movie sports excellent picture quality and looked fabulous on this display. Bangalore's looked perfectly textured and realistic with incredible detail and color, while the skin tones of the airline stewardesses will have the woman of the house able to guess what type and brand of lipstick and eyeshadow they were wearing.

BD-fifth-element3.jpg BD-fifth-element4.jpg

Colors absolutely popped on this display, despite the apparent green deficiency shown in the CIE chart. I flipped between 120Hz ClearFrame mode and saw a difference on the flying cars scene but not too many other places. For the most part the effects were vague as the display attempts to interpolate a hybrid cross-frame blend of two 60Hz frames. With the 24p mode engaged I wasn't really certain what was happening in terms of the combined video processing modes, and only noticed that judder was all but gone.

Xbox 360: Bioshock and Timeshift
Black levels? Check. Dark corridors with lots of detail and inky black shadows? Check. Bioshock has them all and was a great game to test out on the Toshiba REGZA display. While I felt the black levels could be a tad deeper, the range of detail was present and the system seemed capable of providing a very detailed and pleasing picture overall. Timeshift was equally compelling, with it's strengths being over-the-top game detail and lots of explosions to check banding and white level detail.

bioshock2.jpg bioshock3.jpg

timeshift2.jpg timeshift3.jpg

HDTV: Bones
This show is in its third season and I've always enjoyed the opportunity it presents to observe good clean environment set detail as well as outdoor scenes which tend to appear at least once or twice per episode, often at night. I grabbed a couple of screen captures which showed some real-world scenes which would test the 46LX177's ability to render moire-free lines as well as posturization-free facial texture.

bones1.jpg bones3.jpg

HDTV: Prison Break

Who doesn't like a good show about tough smart guys wrongfully imprisoned and trying to break their way out before a corrupt government can have them killed? Mix, stir, change the season number to 3 and you have this show in a nutshell. They keep you guessing, though and the sets are designed incredibly well, with plenty of test fodder for any display reviewer to love. I especially like this year's constant juxtaposition of colorful outdoor sequences mixed with dark interior scenes.

prison-break1.jpg prison-break2.jpg
John Leguizamo's love child? (right)

HDTV: DiscoveryHD
I don't even know what this show was about, but it looked cool and I snapped off a shots. The leaves in the trees were pristine as was the subtle texture of the water. The greens here are slightly accentuated due to the camera setting, but the vivid colorful tone of the scene made me reach for the camera.

discoveryHD3.jpg

Conclusion

This is a very pleasing display to look at overall. I was disappointed by the lack of standard definition video performance and I can't say that the 120Hz mode was definitive enough to make me say it's now a must-have feature in LCD TVs. It certainly seemed promising and with the right video processing seems to be the answer to a lot of challenges in the software playback arena. Black levels should be a tad better in a premier-branded LCD display and contrast ratio for this display was well below what we'd expect or look for. Overall I'd rate this a sleek-looking display with some very cool network features. If that's your bag, then fill it with this. If you can spend a little more and want better performance you will be able to find it.

Toshiba REGZA 46LX177
Street Price: $2699
http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/
800-631-3811

About Toshiba Digital Electronics
Toshiba America Consumer Products, L.L.C. is owned by Toshiba America, Inc., a subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation, a world leader in high technology products with subsidiaries worldwide. Toshiba is a pioneer in HD DVD, DVD and DVD Recorder technology and a leading manufacturer of a full line of home entertainment products, including flat panel TV, rear projection and direct view televisions, combination products and portable devices. Toshiba America Consumer Products, L.L.C. is headquartered in Wayne, New Jersey. For additional information please visit www.tacp.toshiba.com.

The Score Card

The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating roughly equal to:

Performance × Price Factor/Value = Rating

Audioholics.com note: The ratings indicated below are based on subjective listening and objective testing of the product in question. The rating scale is based on performance/value ratio. If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers in certain areas, be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit. Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance, and each reviewer has his/her own system for ratings.

Audioholics Rating Scale

  • StarStarStarStarStar — Excellent
  • StarStarStarStar — Very Good
  • StarStarStar — Good
  • StarStar — Fair
  • Star — Poor
MetricRating
Detail and ResolutionStarStarStarStar
Deinterlacing & ScalingStarStar
Contrast and Black LevelsStarStar
Color ReproductionStarStarStar
Noise ReductionStarStarStar
Calibration OptionsStarStar
Build QualityStarStarStarStarStar
Ergonomics & UsabilityStarStarStarStarStar
Ease of SetupStarStarStarStar
FeaturesStarStarStarStar
Remote ControlStarStarStar
Fit and FinishStarStarStarStarStar
PerformanceStarStarStar
ValueStarStarStar
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Post Reply
Thunder18 posts on January 13, 2008 11:54
MDS;356840
So now to add insult to injury Toshiba is releasing a whole slew of new models starting February. I've already proven I can go 6 months without TV so maybe I'll wait a little longer to see what these new models can do.

Anyone wanna bet that I'll get my whole house tiled before I pick another TV?


From what I've seen at AVSforum, I'd be surprised if their new models were any different. Both the HL167 series and LX177 series had this issue of not being adequately set from the factory. They didn't want to address it before and I'm loathe to believe they will address it now. I guess we can wait till the new model line is reviewed to see how much work they have to do to get an accurate picture setting. Why they can't just put the setting necessary to calibrate the set accurately in the user's control is beyond me. Hell, add a new button on the remote....all reset. Brings all setting back to the factory defaults. Make it one of those buttons that you have to press with a safety pin so it's not easily activated and there you go.
MDS posts on January 13, 2008 04:22
mtrycrafts;356721
Because the 'general public' has no idea and don't care if they were impressed with what they saw in the store thinking falsely that is how it is supposed to be.
And, it is the 'general public' that buys most of the sets, not us.


I want to be part of the general public.

I am sick to death of this process of choosing a TV. As I've said the Toshiba was mostly pretty good to my eyes with the exception of the few cases where there was excess green when I thought there shouldn't be (I don't think it qualified as 'green push' where you saw green in the blacks - I never saw that). It was mostly the SD quality that annoyed me and with my limited experience with actually owning an HDTV for all I know that is all you can expect.

So now to add insult to injury Toshiba is releasing a whole slew of new models starting February. I've already proven I can go 6 months without TV so maybe I'll wait a little longer to see what these new models can do.

Anyone wanna bet that I'll get my whole house tiled before I pick another TV?
mtrycrafts posts on January 12, 2008 18:57
MDS;355954
... no TV in the history of mankind has been shipped with an accurate gray scale (to the D6500K standard).


Because the 'general public' has no idea and don't care if they were impressed with what they saw in the store thinking falsely that is how it is supposed to be.
And, it is the 'general public' that buys most of the sets, not us.
jlahk posts on January 12, 2008 18:56
avaserfi;356687
Most source material isn't necessarily 60Hz for example most film is done in 24Hz.

LCDs suffer from image blur where a fast moving image stays on the screen slightly (but visibly) longer than intended. Sometimes known as trailing this problem is due to the nature of LCD technology - having a faster refresh rate helps this problem by in a sense erasing the screen more often.

Another plus of properly done 120Hz refresh is that if your player does 24Hz output rather than having to deal with 3:2 pulldown to make the 24 frames match up to 60 you can just show the same frame 5 times and have less video issues.


Where you don't have 24Hz output though, doesn't the faster refresh rate just reapply the same image more frequently?
mtrycrafts posts on January 12, 2008 18:54
Thunder18;356448
... I have to say I was a lot more easily satisfied before HD. I couldn't see any difference and honestly I didn't really care at that resolution. Now that I can see the grease in the pores on the actors faces I can clearly see something is wrong and it bothers me to no end.


See what happens to us when we know a bit more
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