The official Toshiba 62MX196/72MX196 OWNER'S THREAD - Page 2

Hey guys. I was set to buy a Mits 73831 for my great room and then started reading about "shimmering" issues when a camera pans the field on sporting events and also on some fast action scene's. Is anyone experiencing that with the new MX196's or even the MX195's for that matter? I have a Tosh 50HM66 720p set in my basement and have never seen any shimmering on it. I ruled out the 72MX196 because it didn't accept 1080p, but now I'm reconsidering.

This is posted on one of the Mits threads:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...96#post8473996

what is the difference between the xxMX196 and the xxMH196? The xxMH196 sets seem to be cheaper so what do I lose?

Also, I really want a 70+ set so tell me what the negatives are for these. I would like to know the negatives because if I can except then the Toshiba is the one for me because it has a better price tag then the JVC or Sony sets.

Thanks for the information!

I've had the Tosh 62mx196 and the Mitsu 65831, both in the last week. (long story) Anyway... The Tosh has a wonderful picture, but less features than the Mitsu. I had the "shimmer" that has been talked about, but the set was returned yesterday after 4 hours of viewing when I heard a LOUD pop from the set and the screen went black. I then turned it off/on and heard a horrible grinding noise. Now I have the Tosh back until the new Mitsu arrives. I never had any picture issues w/ the Tosh, except extreme whites sometimes had a blue tint to them.

I have had the 62mx196 for about 2 weeks now and have the DC set at low for both DVD and HDTV , DNR is off, mpeg NR is off, vertical edge enhancement i am still wondering about. I have the VE set to low for now, does this make much of a difference? should it be off? I have found that for noisy DVDs or broadcast DNR seems to help but you end up losing a little detail when set too high.

Yeah, I read your post on the Mits thread. Well, after a year of waiting for the 70" Sony SXRD and being scared away because of the green blob I settled in on the Mits 73831. All the shimmering talk has turned me off so I checked out the 72MX196 at HHgregg yesterday and ended up buying it. I got a great deal and it's being delivered tomorrow. I agree with your comments about the features, but the bottom line is PQ and I was very impressed with it. Plus, at almost 2K less than what I can get the73831 for I won't feel bad if something better comes out in the next couple of years and I want to upgrade. I'll post initial impressions after I've had time to play with it. Hope it comes early!

all the settings will make your head spin! I may have to get a ISF guy over here to set it all up the way it should be.

Dhan, thanks for the info. My 72mX196 was delivered yesterday afternoon. I have not calibrated it with Avia yet, but have played with the settings. Just going by my 50MH66 I turned down the contrast to 70, color to 38, increased tint to +12, sharpness at 30 and left brightness at 50. This was good duirng the day, but too bright at night. I left lamp on high, NR to auto and MG noise reduction and vertical edge to low. I went into the color setting and played around, but didn't have the patience to really fool with them - I just wanted to watch TV!

For comparison's sake, this TV replaced a professionally calibrated (twice) Pioneer SD-643 HD5 (64" CRT). I've been researching this purchase for a year, but as I'm sure everyone is aware it's hard to compare TV's in store to a TV that's actually in home. I will get this TV professionaly calibrated and judging from the difference in colors from my PIO to this, I definitely think it needs it. That's just my opinion - my wife thinks the colors are great. I may be (am) a little too critical. That said, the colors on the new Mitsubishi's (which I was all set to buy) that I saw were very close to my PIO, and honestly, they kind of jumped out at you. So, out of the box from a color standpoint, the new Mits is leading the pack. As earlier posted, I did not go with them because of issues with shimmering and artifacting that owners are now starting to post about. I don't know if the issues folks are having with the mits are widespread, but it was enough to send me looking somewhere else while they get addressed. As for the Tosh - NO SHIMMERING! No artifacting, no bluring, no breaking up - period. That said, I don't see RBE so I don't know if that's contributing to the Mits' woes or not. For those on the fence - check out both TV's (as well as Samsung and Sony for that matter - all on my list at one time or another) yourself.

Now, the good:

1) Beautiful cabinet. Gloss black surrounds the screen and a matted black finish below where the speakers are. I like an all black TV. Again folks, this is personal opinion. The aesthetics of the TV have to look good to me to fully enjoy it. High marks here, best looking set I've seen in person (haven't seen the 73" Mits Diamond, but pictures of it look great).

2) Love the 72" size. I wanted there to be a difference going from a 64" and although it's not a huge difference, it's definitetly noticeable. Plus, I like the tabletop look better than the refrigerator look of the old CRT's.

3) I just this momemt realized I've never heard the fan! That's got to be plus - right?

4) Fully illuminated remote, but it lights up RED. Cool looking, but hard to read.

5) Crisp, clear picture. Very detailed and lastly - and very improtant to me - little to no noise. This is source related, of course, but the TV (as well as my 50MH66) does a nice job with video processing. My Pio is the best TV I've ever owned for SD material, but this TV is is not that far off, which was a major concern for me. I'm not going to get into superlatives, but safe to say no one will be disappointed with the HD picture. Beats the PIO by far - although CRT and DLP are simply different looking pictures. It's just such an enjoyable experience. I said "I love this TV" so many times yesterday my wife told me to shut up already. It's kind of scary replacing a known commodity with a new one so I was a bit apprehensive, but no longer. I am so glad I chose this TV.

6) DVD PQ - very, very important to me. Let's face it, most everything looks good in HD. I have one of the best DVD players on the market (Samsung DVD HD1000 which upconverts to 1080i and 720p via component cable) and the TV did it's job upconverting the signal to 1080p without adding any noise. Simply a delightful viewing experience. Best I've ever seen (except when my friend brought over his Tosh HD DVD player and we watched a high def transer on my Tosh 50MH66).

7) Great blacks! A tad below what my calibrated PIO does, but I was very impressed with the blacks and shadow detail for that matter. Blacks were NOT crushed. Watched Ghost Whisperer in HD last night and that had a lot of dark scene's that showed good detail. I thought the TV handled them very well and I'm sure a calibration will make it even better. No disappointment here.

8) SSE (silk screen effect). Close up I can see it, but to a much lesser degree than my 50MH66. When I back off - maybe to 10' or so I cannot see it at all. Again, I am very happy with this.

9) Viewing angle. This really impressed me in the store and is eqaully impressive at home. My wife sits off to the side and lost brightness on the PIO, but this TV has a very wide viewing angle. It's first thing she noticed - she loses no PQ from where she's sitting now. Better than the Mits' that I saw. To me, this is a huge plus.

The Bad::

1) Colors are off. Going from a professionally calibrated TV to this was noticeble. Especially with DVD's. Keep in mind I did not use the Avia disc yet to calibrate it and there is a mega amount of color adjustments as Dhan noted, so if one had the time and patience I'm reasonably sure that you can get it to your liking without a professional calibration. Again, my wife thought the colors were fine, but she's not an HT addict!

2) No 1080p input via hdmi. Right now, I am not using an hdmi cable. I am using component cables for my HD and DVD's and an S video cable for SD. Although I can get SD off my component input as well. I am going to get an hdmi cable for my Sony DHG-HDD500 and see what kind of difference that makes on both HD programming and SD programming. I'm not in a hurry though. I'm perfectly pleased with the PQ the way it is.

Please understand that this is just one man's opinion. Feel free to ask questions. The best I can say is that I have no buyer's remorse. I already know that I'm keeping this TV and that, for me, I made the right choice. Well, off to Kohl's for their Saturday sale. I got my purchase so my wife gets to make hers!

any of you guys notice a little blooming or light leaking on the screen with dark backrounds? I have only noticed this when all the lights are off. When white credits begin to scroll up from the bottom of the screen i will see rays of light leaking towards the middle of the screen (briefly) i noticed it on my other 62mx196 (I had to return the other because it was making odd clicking noises) This is a outstanding TV but i wasn't sure if this was normal.

[quote=dhan]
It should be just the opposite. High contrast causes blooming which takes away detail.

Yeah, I agree with the pink overtone. I threw in the Avia disk and my TV has a 25% red push! Blue is +5 and green is -5. HD has the best colors (closest to normal) with DVD second and cable last. I adjusted my settings off the Avia disc, but did it in the early morning light so it wasn't a dark room. They are
as follows:

for HD and DVD:

contrast - 80
brightness - 61
color - 46
tint +13
sharpness - 23

dynamic contrast - high
DNR - off
MPEG NR - off
Color temp - medium
vertical edge - off
lamp high
color mngt:
red - saturation -7
green - 0
blue - 0

for cable I use this:

dynamic contrast - high
cableclear - high
MPEG NR - middle
color temp - medium
lamp - high
vertical edge - middle

color mngt:
red saturation -6
green sat - 0
blue sat - 0

Toshiba is notorious for having very cool temperatures. Some sources look better than others and most look acceptable colorwise. A good calibration will do the job on the greyscale and colors so I'm not worried about it. What stands out in this TV is the low noise floor and sharp, detailed picture. It's simply outstanding. Colors can be corrected, video processing cannot. I'm completely satisfied with the processing in this set. I've watched a lot of football on different signals (480i, 1080i, 720p) and have not seen any blurring, artifacting or picture breakup. SSE is a non-issue at 10' and hardly an issue closer than that.

No, I haven't noticed this at all. Sounds like a geometry issue. By the way, black bars on the top and bottom of 2:35 to 1 DVD's are perfectly straight. Black bars on the sides are ever so slightly bowing at the top and bottom. Much better than my 50MH66, though. Again, this can be corrected with a calibration.

Thanks for all your input I have been thinking of having a ISF guy come out and calibrate this TV. How much does that run?

It's usually around $500. Make sure you get someone who really knows what they are doing. Check out the calibrators who post on the forum. I'm going to have Eliab do mine when I'm ready.

I just got my new 72MX196 on Friday and am wondering what to do to get it looking good? I mean it looks good, But I want it to look it's best....
I played with the basic color, brightness, contrast etc... But I read where you can control each color individually...Where is that option? And should I try that?

I'm on regular digital cable until Oct 4th when my HD PVR from Bell arrives...

it's when the picture isn't centered properly or the lines aren't perfectly straight so you you're seeing white on the sides or bottoms or getting a bowing effect on your black bars. Best to ask a professional calibrator in their forum. It can be fixed through calibration. Check out the calibrationist forum and post your issue there. They should be able to give you some good advice on it.

Under the video settings menu the set has a "color managment" option that allows you to individually set the hue, brightness and saturation of six different colors. It has a reset button so if you don't like what you do to the picture you can go back to the factory setting without doing any harm. You may want to consider picking up an Avia calibration disc to help you set the contrast, brightness, colors etc. and also consider a professional calibration if you want it perfect.