46SV670U Remote Control, Calibration and Benchmarks

Toshiba's remote is large, well laid out and not backlit in the least. In fact, the only thing that lights up is the source selection whenever you push a button (or select the source). Why they included a backlight there and not for the rest of the remote will remain one of life's great (OK, not that great) mysteries. The remote is separated onto three main sections: Source and keypad, menu navigation, and transport controls. Other than the lack of a backlight and no direct input buttons, the remote is actually quite ergonomic and easy to use. I liked the Menu controls and, though the CH Return button as a "back out of the menu" button was an odd choice, it kinda grew on me. The only way to select an input on the Toshiba remote is to either toggle the solitary Input button or press it once and use the menu selector to choose an input. The remote is able to control up to 3 additional devices (Cable/Sat, DVD, and VCR/PVR) which is a big plus for those looking to simplify control over their A/V systems.

Using the Television's Media Features

Calling up photos, music and video on the 46SV670U was easy. After we inserted an SD card the display wanted to automatically bring up the new source. We could, of course, connect to it at anytime using the Applications menu. Pulling up that menu we were able to navigate the folders and files of the SD card and quickly get to the content I wanted to display on the television. After only a moment's hesitation, the TV played our desired pics in a slideshow. It seemed fairly quick and snappy and, even though these files were large hi-res JPG files, there wasn't any lag in the display rendering time for the images. Each image showed up in the slideshow, with a brief period of black in between each picture. It would have been nice for there to be transition options, however this system only allows basic image playback with no frills.

Calibrating the Television

We utilized SpecraCal's CalMan software (v3.5) and an X-Rite Chroma 5 meter. This is a great combination for reviewing LCD flat panel TVs and the Chroma 5 is now available in a form that is ready for LED backlit televisions. The Toshiba REGZA 46SV670U is remarkably flexible in its user calibration menu. Aside from its full RGB Gain and Cut controls, the TV also provides "ColorMaster" controls which allow adjustment of Hue Saturation and Brightness of each primary and secondary color. Our initial measurements showed runaway Blue levels and a very disjointed RGB grayscale response, which matched our initial impressions of the picture, even in Movie mode:

Afterwards, we were able to make significant improvements with some grayscale calibration:

The above results were calibrated starting at the Movie Mode with a Color Temperature 2 setting.

We took some ANSI contrast measurements and got the following, impressive real-world results:

• 38.778 fL/0.0208 fL = 1,864:1 – Movie Mode (backlight at 30 [default])
  
• 101.1292/.0320 fL = 3,160:1 – Sports Mode
  

In terms of real-world performance we like to see at least 400:1 on displays while in Movie picture modes. With the impressive 1,864:1 ratio we measured off the REGZA TV I'd say viewers are going to enjoy a really great image. Comparing this to non-LED Toshiba sets we've looked at, the 46SV670U is in a different league. Varying the backlight doesn't do much to affect the contrast ratio (as expected), so feel free to crank it up when ambient light conditions exist, and pull it down pretty low for nighttime viewing and when you want to achieve the darkest Black levels possible. We found that with the backlight down low and when viewing the set in a darkened room, it was hard to distinguish the black bars on the top and bottom of an anamorphic-formatted movie from the black bezel. That's something I had only formerly experienced with plasma displays.

Color temperature tended towards Blue, with most of the readings defaulting to well over the desired D65 baseline, even in the Movie mode. Here are what the various modes yield in their default settings with an 80 IRE window pattern:

• 13,300K – Sports Mode
  
• 10,000K – Standard Mode
  
• 6,700K – Movie Mode (adjusted to Color Temp 2)
  
• 10,500K – Game Mode
  
• 10,000K - PC Mode

Color accuracy as measured by the CIE chart placed the color ranges outside of the desired Rec 709 boundaries (particularly Green). We adjusted the ColorMaster controls to alter the Hue Saturation and Brightness of the primary and secondary colors to dial in the display almost spot on.

CIE chart before (left) and after (right)

HQV HD Perfect Score is 100

Toshiba 46SV670U HD Benchmark Score: 70

*Interestingly, Film Resolution Loss only passed when Film Stabilization was activated. We feel like this setting should probably stay on (it worked fairly well at removing judder without detrimental artifacts) so we gave partial credit. Even with Film Stabilization activated, however, note that it did take a second for the pattern to lock each time it reset.

Comments on Testing

One of the more revealing tests we performed on the REGZA 46SV670U was the Rainbow Dither 2/3 test which is present on the AVIA Pro disc. This test is excellent for determining the level of rainbow effect (RBE) in DLP projector, but it also serves as an excellent motion pattern for checking out how well 120Hz processing is functioning in a display. It was with this pattern that we armed ourselves to determine, once and for all, just what the processing on the Toshiba was doing. It turns out the answer was: not much. While the Film Stabilization mode eliminates judder completely, the ClearScan 240 mode hardly affected the on-screen image at all when activated or deactivated. Except for the decreased light output due to the backlight scanning on and off at twice the normal frequency, there was really no discernible difference in the picture. Motion blur was still present and the picture didn't take on that "Live HDTV" feel that often accompanies 120 Hz frame interpolation. Noise reduction, for HD material, was also almost completely absent.