46SV670U Features

Quite some time ago we predicted to death of plasma technology, albeit a tad early than was comfortable for most of our readers. The large reason behind this prediction was the advances being made in LCD technology. With the introduction of LED backlighting, LCD monitors have overcome one of the final hurdles that sets them apart from their plasma counterparts – black levels. Toshiba's REGZA 46SV670U capitalizes on this equalization of technologies and maximizes the viewing experience, bringing LCD into the realm of plasma and rendering blacks like you've never seen them before.

Features

There are a lot of excellent features that help the REGZA stand out against its peers. The Toshiba, among other things prides itself on a suite of top-notch features and specifications that offset its rather bulky frame and unremarkable form factor:

• Gaming Mode
  The 46SV670U comes with a Gaming Mode whereby the television will bypass most of its video processing circuitry to cut off 48ms of lag that would otherwise take place when using the display. This helps tremendously when gaming requires as little lag as possible. Games that involve music syncopation , such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band make this a very necessary and useful feature.
  
• ClearScan 240
  ClearScan 240 is perhaps misnamed, but it is a useful combination of two very different technologies. First, Toshiba provides ClearFrame 120Hz processing that performs frame interpolation, rendering an additional frame in between each real frame of video. Next, it flashes the backlight at 120Hz – twice the normal rate – which helps alleviate the pixel transition blur often inherent in LCD panels. When combined with the Film Stabilization mode it works to eliminate motion judder, however we never saw a significant effect to increase resolution during motion as we've seen with similar systems. There was almost no visible improvement with the system engaged or not, though we noticed a decrease in light output when the backlight scanning system was on (as would be expected since the light was being decreased in rapid frequency). 120Hz processing in general has a ways to go and there is still really no way to accurately recreate frames when the subject matter is in high speed motion across the screen. As such, fast left-to-right and top-to-bottom motion tends to produce artifacts that are not pleasing to the eye.
  
• AutoView
  This combines an ambient light sensor with the ability to monitor the incoming video signal in real time and produce a picture that is pleasing to the eye. Professionals will want to disable this as fast as possible (it's called "Auto Brightness Sensor Settings" in the menu system and includes a sophisticated gamma control that can customize the brightness per level), but for those who cannot calibrate their sets it provides an interesting option for varying the picture quality and brightness with the ambient light.
  
• FocaLight LED Backlight with Local Dimming
  This is a full LED matrix system that allows the backlight LEDs to be controlled by zones. There certainly isn't an LED for each pixel, but Toshiba is able to dim each zone differently depending upon the average picture levels present. This allows the set to produce deeper blacks in some areas of the picture versus others, producing a much higher real-world contrast ratio.
  
• Resolution +
  This system wasn't nearly as impressive as I thought it would be, based on earlier demos we had seen over a year ago. The idea is that the system would improve 480i, 480p, and even 720p source material for a higher resolution picture that more closely resembles a 1080p HD source. In practicality, the differences are minor, but users will want to experiment with this setting, especially if they are feeding non-HD sources to the television.
  
• Dolby Volume
  This technology is designed to provide a natural dynamic control to reduce volume peaks, but without losing the detail present in a soundtrack. It certainly works, however it also affects the natural dynamic range of the soundtrack and we found it greatly affecte4d intelligibility of dialogue. We suspect the effect varies from room to room, so experiment on your own to see what your preference is for your location.
  
• InstaPort
  Designed to eliminate the 5-6 second delay inherent in switching between HDMI inputs, this technology reduces the amount of time it takes to lock on to a different HDMI source signal. The system works and we noticed a much snappier response when switching between inputs.