Best 42" LCD TV

The toshiba 545u doesnt have a glossy screen. It has a matte to semi matte screen. Glossy screens do reflect a lot of light and cause reflections. You'll get a lot of different opinions on which tv is better. Research the tvs you are interested in and compare the features and if possible find a place where you can compare picture quality with your own eyes. The 545u gives you a lot of features that improve the pq. It has a 10 bit panel, 14 bit processor, wcg-ccfl backlight instead of the more common ccfl backlight, x.v. color, 120hz anti-blur technology and super resolution technology to name a few. Try this thread if you havent already. There is plenty of info in it.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1073170

Although more expensive, I'd say that the best 40-ish LCD is the Sony 40"XBR7 -- truly awesome picture quality with near LED-level blacks.

Here is another thread for you.


http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1113668

For the specific 42" size, the 42lg70 is actually really good, and underrated imho. Color accuracy pre calibration is really good, only downfall is the black level isn't quite as good or samsung or sony.

The only 42" LCD that Sony makes is the KDL-42V4100 which is one of there mid range LCD's.

If it has to be 42" then I'd grab the Toshiba 42XV545U which is what I almost got but because of a great deal I ended up going with a Sony 40W4100 + Sony S350 blu-ray player instead. (FS had a great combo deal)

If you absolutely must have a 42", then I'd go with the Toshiba 42XV545U. It's a very nice TV.

+1

i saw a the toshiba 46inch 535 for the same price! i thinlk the only difference is the thickness. 535 is a bit thicker. anyhow if you got the room go for the 46inch.

Nope. With your stated $1500 budget for a 42", I'd get a Sony, LG, or Samsung(40") before I'd get a Toshiba.

If I was more budget-constrained, then I'd look at the mid-tier brands such as 'shiba or Sharp.

Looking at the Amazon pricing for various models...

- Samsung LN40A630 (Semi-matte screen, as you say you're worried about reflections. Also, the 46" version of this set is within your budget too- again, assuming Amazon).
- Sony 40" XBR6
- LG 42" LG70

I'd be pretty durn happy with any of those...

I'd say the Samsung 630 and the Sony XBR6 are both slightly better than the Toshiba 545. I'd rate the LG70 as a slight step below. Any of the four TVs should be perfectly acceptable, however.

i think the toshiba easily stands up to the sony and samsung, to me the samsungs, look grainy up close and the sonys, do a better job with motion but the off angels are not as good as the samsung, the toshiba has know grain dose a good job with motion but its like a mixture between the sony, and samsung, making it the winner.

While most of us on this forum try to be objective and give varying degrees of advice based on the circumstances, Motogp never met a Toshiba he didn't like.

Did you need 42" for a reason? For under $1500 online, you could get a Samsung 46A650 or 46A630.

Leo all these tvs that have been suggested are excellent tvs imo. But if you compare the features and what you get for your money the toshiba xv545u is the winner imo.

Afew highlights:

120hz
Super resolution technology. None of the others have this feature.
10 bit panel.
14 bit processor.
wcg-ccfl backlight. Same type used in the sony xbr.

This is toshibas top of the line tv and they put all the technology available to them into this tv. They didnt put an ethernet port or pip in the tv. A lot of people wouldnt use these features anyway. I found the pip on the 630 I owned to not be of much use because it was difficult to navigate. They instead chose to concentrate on adding features that give the best picture quality possible and in my opinion and most of the other owners opinions on this forum they have succeeded.

Sharp and Toshiba are hardly mid-tier brands. They are in the same league as Sony or Samsung - if anything, LG would be better stated as a mid-tier brand.

Agree.

All three are, the Samsung and Sony by a wider margin than the LG.

Same league in image quality? Maybe, if Samsung and Sony are the Steelers and Cardinals, and Toshiba and Sharp are .500 teams. Pretty good, but in no danger of being the best.

Same league in marketshare? Nope. Samsung and Sony are pretty much blowing everyone else away there, including, yup, Sharp and Toshiba:

NPD said Samsung accounted for 26.7 percent of the U.S. digital TV market for the first eleven months of last year [2008], followed by Sony (14.8%), Panasonic (7.2), Toshiba (6.8) and LG Electronics (6.7).

Doesn't appear that Sharp even cracked the top five.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news...123_37128.html

I would agree also.

And market share has nothing to do with quality.

Market share has nothing to do with this topic...

On topic, I would just grab the Toshiba. But then again I am a happy owner of a Toshiba 42RV535U, so I may be biased.

The person who made the 'same league' comment didn't define what they meant by it, so I addressed it from both of the obvious angles... performance and sales. Sry if that offends anyone (though I don't see why it would).

And I don't hate Toshiba, they just seem to be an also-ran, or close, in a very crowded market. Maybe a 'good value' set, but not best-of-breed.

That said, if there's a particularly great deal at Costco on one, and you're not the sort of person who's extremely picky (like me), go ahead and pull the trigger on a 'shiba. Heck, why not?
.

I wouldnt consider them an also ran. They always made a quality product. I owned one of their rptv's in the nineties. They received excellent reviews back then also. They are actually a newcomer to the lcd market but have increased their market share every year since the mid 2000's. That doesnt sound like an also ran to me.

Someday, maybe, Toshiba LCDs will be cutting-edge, and we'll be saying their name in same breath with Sony and Samsung when someone asks, "Who makes the best LCD TV?". But, they're just not there yet.

This CNET review pretty much echoes what I always think when I view Toshiba sets... good, but not great:

http://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-t...?tag=mncol;lst

I would consider srt cutting edge?

Im sure you've read my posts on that review and how lame and unfair it was.