The Toshiba DLP (HM/HMX) Owners Thread - Page 99

Is there a service menu that lets you know the hours on the bulb? I scared my wife when I read her the part in the manual with the mercury bulb exploding inside. I know that the hours is an estimate, but do you count the number of hours the tv was off but left on a black channel. I was watching a DVD on HDMI and I left for a few hours and then came back to find that the TV was left on. The screen goes completely black when on the HDMI input and the DVD player off. Just wondering if it caused more wear to the TV?

Does Toshiba, not make good DVD' players?
I started to buy an upverting DVD player from them when I bought my 52hm95 at Bestbuy, but decided not to in the end.

I am the type of person who likes to buy all matching appliances which means my Panasonic Receiver and DVD player need to be replaced... Any ideas? Anyone?

I also have the panasonic s77. Great DVD player with the Toshiba DLP. But as said, set the dvd player to 480P output for best picture. Also check out the review of the s77 in this months Sound and Vision mag. It got the editors choice.

When you see the S on screen for the Service menu, hit 9, there is a diagnostic screen that will show you the hour count.

And yes, even if the screen is black but the TV is ON, it still counts because the bulb is on.

I feel the same way. I always bought matching equipment. When I bought the s77 last month it was the first time my tv and dvd brands didn't match. I hate to admit it but I fell for the "Colorstream" hype. I found out that it isn't like cars, you can't put a Chevy transmission in a Ford car and have it run right, but you can put Toshiba 52hm94 and a Panasonic s77 together and get a great picture. From now on I plan to buy the best compontent available in my price range instead of matching the brands. While it doesn't look as nice on the shelf (i.e a hodgepodge of different brands), its the TV picture that I watch.

I'm not sure about the 9x series but the 8x series defintiely says very explicity in the manual that you should NOT attach a computer or video game system to those TVs. I would assume since the 9x series just adds integrated tuning, it would be the same.

In the case of the 9x series (take my 52hm95), the no attaching Computer to the TV is stated in regards to the ieee1394 on the TV. It is stated 3 different times...
Personally, I am going to attach my computer, tonight, and give it a whirl, just to see...

Have my HTPC hooked up to my 52HM84 for over a month now and no problems. I keep my resolution at 1152 x 648, and get no overscan at all. It's my opinion that the warning to in the manual not to connect to a PC is there to stop people from calling about overscan issues. Keep your refresh rate below 60hz and you won't have any problems.

Gotta say, I don't know why people spend $300+ on upscaling DVD players when they could put that money into a HTPC and get the quality of $1000+ DVD players with tons of more features like music server, DVR, picture viewer, video games, and surf the web. Zoomplayer with ffdshow makes my Star Wars, Nemo, Riddick DVDs look better than most HD broadcasts.

There seems to have been lots of people with video game consoles attached to the 8x's. Wonder why Toshiba warns against it.

I am also using the Oppo, but with a 46hm84. How do I know if the output of the Oppo is 480p?? It is hooked up DVI-HDMI.

Thanks

The answer i got from toshiba customer support was:

"Please be aware that we do not recommend hooking an Xbox up
to this expensive TV. Although the bulb for this unit is rated for 8,000
hours, it has a warranty of one year. The bulb is very expensive when you
have to replace it. How much of the bulb's time will you be using for the
Xbox?"

Like they where telling me i was wasting money and time gaming.

Other than that, there was no problems given by toshiba about hooking up an xbox to the TV.



** Edited ** Sorry Kali77 for the confusion...

That is very odd... Why would the 94 series have the game mode setting if they didn't want you to play games on it?

Something isn't right...

Wow! That had no relevance what so ever to the question I asked and you quoted Hopefully you can answer my question as I thinkyou just answered someone above mine.

Curious if all the 52hm84's, 94's and hmx's owners out there would buy the same Toshiba again or even the new 95's?

Now that the plasma's are coming down in price I have a dilemma. Buy a 42" HD plasma for $2500 or a 52hm95 DLP?

I have read every post in this thread and looked at a few dlp's at stores like sears, and BB and pretty much decided the Toshiba would be the DLP I would buy.

I have a 50" RP Sony KLW-9000 anybody remember these?
Its just not that bright especially in the daytime in a bright room.

I would rather replace with similar size but 50" plasma is out of my price range.

So..who would buy a Toshiba again if you bought today?

Without a doubt I would buy this TV again....

Just like others, it has it's issues but nothing that makes it a deal breaker in my mind.

The highlights for me are the picture quality, advanced inputs (2 HDMI, 2 firewire and 2 component), Game Mode, and on a lesser scale the memory card slots.

I love the TV and couldn't be happier with it... watching the Lions get destroyed on Monday night football was much easier to watch with this TV.

I would for sure.

And i would definitely choose a 52'' DLP over a 42'' Plasma.

You know what, I am going to go out on a limb here.
I have to believe that Toshiba has some good quality stuff, even though Sound and Video states their DVD payer with HDMI was basically junk.

I love the fact that the TV has a ton of options... That in itself is awesome.
HDMI x 2, Firewire x2, Built-in HD tuner, Cable Card.

My guide is now working... works fine now, and I love the way it flip flops back and forth between the two different tuners.

No the Picture Quality is not as nice as my old 45LC12, but I have to say that when I was in Best Buy they had this 27 inch Toshiba LCD TV hooked up to a PC. The TV had a Guide Sticker on it, so I have to say it had built-in tuners. Basically it was best picture that I had ever seen, bar-non, on a PC.I was completely blow away and was in shock....

I bought my TV, a couple of days ago, for a little over 2 grand, from Best Buy.
And I would have to say that for the features and the Guide alone, it is worth it.
If you are looking for a Plasma kilelr, this aint it...

MY new major Gripe with the TV is the slowness of the Menu system, both for the Guide and for the TV's own menu system. It can get to be very frustrating... Anyone have a remedy for this?
I am going to play around with the TV for a few more days. Eventually, if it does not knock me over with PQ, I will go ahead and jump on the JVC ILA bandwagon and grab one of those nice colorful 52 inch JVC's.

Would I get the Toshiba again, wait until after the AVIA DVD arrives from Netflix (should be Today or Tommorrow) and after I have callibrated the set itself, then I will tell you.

So far I am wayyy impressed with the features and for the most part, the functionality is good as well. What does not impress me is PQ, and I am dissappointed with the Slowness of the Menu, the lack of a PC\\VGA\\RGB port.

I know this is a stupid question but do you think someone could answer it for me Thanks.

I just bought my 62HM95 two weeks ago and love it. These types of forums were essential in my research to by a "big TV" and I think is also essential that if you use these forums you should "give back" once you have made a purchase - so this is me giving back -

Bought mine from BuyDig off PriceGrabber and got a great deal - with the Stand and 4 years in-home warranty on the TV & the Bulb. I wouldn't have bought the warranty, but after reading the horror stories about bulb replacement in the other forums - though it necessary.

I really like the the Toshiba Stand - really finishes the look off.
My 62HM95 so far has been nothing short of outstanding! The HD picture is absolutely stunning. As expected, the SD reception is grainy but watchable. I have done no calibration as of yet and am beginning to wonder if I should. TV warm up is quicker than i anticipated. I bought an LG 418 DVD player with upconversion through the HDMI port but was stunned at the price of HDMI cables - Best Buy would be glad to sell me a Monster one for $112, no thanks!. But I was able to find one at CyberGuys for $13 and should arrive next week, will update then if the cable sucks or not.

Can anyone explain to me about these Virtual Digital Channels? Comcast couldn't give me a translation table of what channel matches up with the Virtual Channels.
The Tuners in the TV are really good, i don't have much experience with other tuners but once you are locked onto a digital channel - it is very stable.

Just wanted everyone to know that I appreciate all the discussions in this thread, it helped alot!

Does that even matter if you have a service plan? I don't plan on playing my Xbox all the time; I barely play it now, if at all. I wouldn't expect it to be a problem, right?

On another note, I just bought the 52hm95. It will be delievered on 9/18. What things should I have before it arrives? Basically, all I have is the tv now. My roommate and I are moving out to different apartments, so I won't have the use of his DVD player. Before, I was just using my Xbox, but I guess that won't fly with the 52hm95.

Oh yeah, I have an old Yahama receiver (once top of the line I am sure) and some Boston Acoustics compact referrence speakers. Will they suffice or should I upgrade them as well? I know I will need to at some point, but I don't know if my "budget" will allow for it at the moment.

Any suggestions?? What else should I get before the tv arrives?

Hi there. My new Toshiba 52HXM95 (52" DLPTV) arrived yesterday (stand is coming later - its on backorder). You will absolutely LOVE the brightness on this DLP! Its so bright that i had to turn the bulb to low power or my eyes would have bugged out. The 95 series are even brighter than last years DLP models (now 150watt bulb). Even though I've watched HDTV before I was completely blown away by the quality of it on this TV (and I havent even calibrated it yet!). I too looked at several different DLPs and decided on the Toshiba and am glad I made that choice.

Some Samsung DLP users and other users of LCD projection and Plasma have complained of audio lag issues using audio out from devices to amplifiers (because of the processing time required on these new TVs) but Ive noticed no such issues on the Toshiba's in either DVD or from the Satellite HDTV receiver.

I would avoid the plasmas in general, esp ones at the lower price range you are looking at (most of them are EDTVs (480i/p) and not true HDTV ones). I would recommend this DLPTV in a heartbeat to anyone looking for an affordable, high quality bigscreen TV.

Kared

Don't worry about the xbox on the TV. I have had my xbox connected to my 52HM84 for 1 year. And i use the xbox at least 1 hour a day. Never had any problems what so ever.

You can use it as a DVD player without any problem, but it's not a great dvd player for PQ.

I suggest you invest in a good upconverting dvd player like the panasonic to get much better PQ.

That's what I figured. I need a DVD player that can also play +R and +RW, as I have done some home recordings on them. My DVD burner on my Dell only works with +R/+RW. I saw that the Samsung 850 meets my needs. What are your thoughts on it? I assume you have the Panasonic?

Thanks to everyone who has helped me out. I have gotten a lot of useful information from this forum.

I have a couple of questions here.


Was told to leave the Sharpness at 0 while using the Oppo or anything using the HDMI port. IS that Correct? And why?


I leave the OPPO at 480p instead of 720P, ok do i still use the DVI to HDMI connectors?

(EDit) ived tried the dvds at 480 on the oppo and i get a 4:3 screen and then have to set my tv to full to get the best widescreen, but with that im losing bottom of pic,atleast in thx setup . But still it streches the pic to fit the screen.

Still have to much red in the faces of people even after using thx set up.!


And what options for pic settings do i turn off from the tv and from the OPPO itself?

Ived tried using the Sound an Vision cal disk but for some reason my Oppo will no longer read it but my old apex does.

But i cant get the sharpness to change at all when i use the disk with the apex or when it did work with the OPPO.

And with the contrast, i couldnt really go to high or low with that setting, seemed to be in the middle, though i still dont get what blooming is.


Brightness, well that worked, though that to me depends on the movie as i sometimes hate things that are too dark. I like to see all of my movie and hate dark sceens.

Now my tv has way to much red in it, so do i just turn dwn the color for that.

IF i go out and get the AVIA disk, if used on the oppo, does that just work on the HDMi input or could i use that for ant 1 and directv or what ever i use on the other inputs ?

I thought the oppo settings are saved on the preference setting and i use that instead of movie setting.



If i get this set Cailibrated does that ruin the warrenty?
Thanks guys.

Thank you everyone.

I am about to purchase either a 62HM94 or 62HM84. I just returned a Samsung HLR-6167w because of the video game delay. Is there lag on these tvs? Does any one know the contrast ratio? Any one compare them to the new HLR6167 series?

What is the difference between the 62HM94 and 62HM84?

The 94 series Toshiba's have a "game mode" to eliminate delay. I play on xbox on my 52hm94 and haven't noticed any lag, but I have no reflexes left in my old age so that could be it also.

The lag issue is only supposed to show up on 480i games. Are you using a PS2? Almost all the Xbox games support at least 480p and the lag is supposed to be a non-issue there.

I'm asking because I'd like a little moer confirmation about the lag really being only a 480i deal. I plan on getting an Xbox 360 and all the games will be required to support 720p at the least, so I'm not too worried about the lag myself.

Is gaming mode only on the 94 series? If so is there lag on the 84 series?

Yes, the HDMI connector on the Toshiba will accept 480i, 480p, 720p, and 1080i. From what I understand, it is always best to use 480p and let the tv upconvert the image to 720p.

It is only on the 94 series. I don't know if the 84 series has lag or not. I use the Component Video Cable, and I almost never turn on the game mode. I can't tell the difference when its on or off.