2007 Toshiba Models 57HM167 and 65HM167 - Page 19

Will try scanning for whatever channels it finds; so far, am running exclusively through the SD satellite box.

Component input from the DVD is pretty poor IMO, but it really is an ancient player, so I'm not going to put much time or trouble into it. When the Oppo comes, we'll get down to business.

Yeah, I'm sure the sound won't hold a candle to a quality speaker system, but this is like drive-in movie speakers! The cheap trash wires may or not be connected properly - the speakers sound like they're out of phase.

I agree: closer than 7-1/2 ft would be pretty close for a set this size. When I was first surfing around on this purchase, I saw a wide range of 'recommended' sizes for a 9ft. viewing distance. Went with the 1/3 range, and it worked fine. Months ago, I measured the actual screen dimensions of a 50" and a 55" and made cardboard cutouts those sizes and taped them to the front of the existing set to determine the best screen size. This 57" is perfecto.

No fan noises. I think I read somewhere in the manual that there are multiple fans. If so, good! It's noticeably warm behind the set, and flat-out hot where the lamp grille is. I've got mine 8-10 inches from the wall and open all around.

FEU

Plasma has its share of detractions.

One of the worse things about plasma is glare/refelction. Placement of plasmas can be very difficult due to lamps, windows etc. Try watching a plasma during the day with a window (even shaded) directly behind you and/or a lamp next to you . . . the glare will be atrocious. Plasma requires a well controlled viewing environment.

The other major drawback is price/resolution. Plasma costs more on resolution per price basis. If you're at a distance where your eyes can appreciate 1080, you'll need to spend a lot more for an identically sized 1080 plasma. Granted, projection TVs do need bulbs, but with bulbs lasting upwards of 3000 hrs now, you can watch ~5 hours a day for 2 years straight before needing a new one. What's more, bulbs are going down in price monthly with most around $150 - 200. In the above scenario, $200 gets you to 4 years. With technology evolving so fast, you'll probably want a new set by then anyway. If not, spend another $200 and take it to 6 years.

I'm not in anyway claiming that RPTV is the perfect solution for everyone . . . certainly not . . . but neither is plasma.

Did you check your horizontal geometry at all? How does the top edge of on-screen info bar look when compared to the known straight edge of the top bezel? The one in the store I saw was off 3/4" side to side.

If I did it correctly, there is about a .25" variance from left to right.

From 10' away it is not an issue

Russ

Ordered a 65hm167 yesterday from Beach Camera. It should be delivered by early next week.

One thing the sales rep said was that they put an order in to Toshiba for 200 of these sets and Toshiba is only going to be able to send them 14. Sounds like Toshiba is still ramping up production.

Hi, am looking for a new TV after just moving to a new house with a basement and these sets look to be outstanding value but I have a few questions.

For those with experience of ordering TV's over the internet, how easy would is it to arrange an exchange of a faulty item? And what is a recommended extended warranty to buy?

This would be my first projection TV, should I be worried about bulb and light engine replacements?

Has it been confirmed either way if these TV's have a 1.1 mapping mode?

Thanks for any replies.

Just had the technician out to look at the black marks in the middle of the screen. It does appear to be a defect in one of the screens, probably between the protective screen and the lenticular screen. Cleaning the back did not fix it. So I just have to see if I am going to exchange the TV at my local store or have them order new front screens for me. I am thinking of exchanging the TV if they have one available, just so I do not have to wait for the parts, but either way it is no big deal. If any of you are ever going to remove the screen, the center grill where the lights are removes by pressing in on both sides about a couple inchs in from each side and it then pops out. There are two screws behind that little panel in addition to the screws on the top and the one at each side on the bottom. Then you can lift the screen and remove it. Also, I would clean the plastic shavings off the screws before putting them back in to make sure they do not leave any shavings inside the unit. I did not want to void any warranty, so I decided to have a warranty tech out to check it out.

If you buy it on the internet, you may have to deal with onsight warranty repair verses exchange, depending on who you buy it from and considering shipping charges. The advantage of buying local is that if you get a bad unit, depending on the store, you may have the option of getting a replacement. Definitely purchase some kind of extended warranty that at least covers one bulb. In my case, the warranty was less than the cost of one bulb, so it was a no brainer. With bulbs and moving parts like the color wheel, you can have failures. I am not a big fan of extended warranties, but with big screen TV's, especially since my 5 1/2 year old TV could not be repaired, I am very much in favor of purchasing them. Just be careful of some dealers who really jack the price up on their exteneded warranties.

Ordered mine from BuyDig on 4/24 and it is being delivered tomorrow am. Beach Camera & BuyDig appear to be the same. I went with BuyDig since I had been very impressed in the past. They both took 65HM167 off there website a few days after I ordered it so that 14 instead of 200 explains that. You must have placed a phone order? I got tired of waiting for Computers4sure & cancelled with them but it sure was a good price. I am so excited/got my fingers crossed!

Yes, I sent Beach Camera an email asking why the webpage was taken down and got a return email saying they had 2 left in stock in the warehouse. So I gave them a call and pulled the trigger. I guess they will put the webpage back up once they get more stock.

I ordered the TV Monday morning and it was shipped Monday afternoon. It is supposed to be here in CA by next Tuesday. Couldnt beat no tax and free shipping.

Not definitive but I sure can't figure out how to. If I plug in optical to the TV and then click "info" button it just says PCM on the TV and no audio settings I have tried changes that.

If I plug into the comcast box optical the DD lights right up and 3/2.1 Dolby Digital displayed. But through the set my amp just says 2CH PCM.

Personally only reason it bothers me is that when you turn the TV off of course audio is still going(don't have the fancy setup that turns all things off at once)


My thoughts on the TV. Fantastic. 3 complaints and everything else a positive and the last 2 I knew before purchase.

1) I do have exactly one shaving behind the screen, with all the other reports quality control must have totally missed this. I only notice it when I look for it. Besides that I have a 1 year old and a 2 year old so I have a piece of acryllic over the front which protects the set and soaks up all the damage and fingerprints and I notice that more then the shaving.

2) I was sad to see limited VGA resolutions 4:3 format only accepted.

3) S video port on the side of TV.

After setting up the 360 Elite, PS3 and the HD Tivo, I'm loving this set. I'm still tweaking it but so far I have no complaints. We still have a 3 year old CRT Phillips 55" and there is just a big difference. Best bang for the buck imo.

Yeah I am almost worried that the TV I get to replace the one I have (with the 'partial whitish water ring') will have even worse 'shavings' issues.

On another note S3 Tivo is so nice pic-wise. Did you also notice how much better the audio processing is thru to S3? My back speakers are so happy to be used so much ;-)

Well, I brought mine back to Video Only and exchanged it for a new set (one of the benefits of buying local). Mine had what I first thought were shaving, but on closer inspection, was more like what you described as water rings (and was not shavings, as I found out). Anyway, the new set has no defects in the screen, and as a side bonus, the fan is a lot quieter. On my first set, with no volume, I could hear the fan 15 ft away, and sometimes even with the volume on. On the new one, I can only hear it if I listen very close to the TV, so I am really glad that I swapped it.

Hey first time poster here after searching reviews of the 65 I just got. I went to CC looking for a new TV after our 62inch Mitsubishi Diamond we got in 2005 was falling apart (dust in mirror, memory card reader wouldn't work, lamp was giving out) since we got that tv in Costco we got over 2800 put back on the credit card to spend on a new tv. After looking at the selection they had it came down to a 61 inch Samsung dlp (around 2400 bux) and the Toshiba which was 2089, It pretty much came down to my dads rule that we came up with years ago which was "new tv has to be bigger than the one before it" So after some smooth talking the manager knocks 100 dollars off the tv and 100 off the stand thats holding it right now. We sleep on it come back on monday we buy it and end up spending less than 2400 dollars after California taxes. Awesome deal and tv plus its made in the USA, wow. So far the fan is quiet compared to the mitsubishi and the stand matches the tv and the shiny yet thin frame perfectly, plus despite the almost non existent speakers it sounds good too.

I want to post some pics of it so Im breaking down my posts till I reach numero 5. The 3 HDMI idea is brilliant cause the Mitsubishi had one (bad idea) so I couldnt connect the Directv and the future BluRay player we are going to get at the same time unless I bought the HDMI splitter. I didnt get the HD DVD player deal at CC since the cheaper players are only 720p, and like I said we got 200 off just by talking to the manager. I was watching the Pink Panther (terrible remake) on Showtime HD and it looked fantastic in 1080i, cant wait to see a full 1080p movie on this baby. I just hope it doesnt get spots like the Mitsubishi did, then all will be good.

I used to see them on my old Mitsubishi dlp but it was slight and only when you turned away real fast so it wasnt a problem getting used to it. With this new Toshiba I havent noticed it at all.

The cheaper $400 Toshiba HD-A2 player goes upto 1080i and that's basically the same as 1080p. A tv like this would pretty much convert nearly at the same quality as if it were 1080p. I don't know how well this TV does 1080i60 to 1080p60, but it's much better than 720p that you thought it would be. Even the $500 HD-A20 that does 1080p probably does the same method of 1080p24 from the disc to 1080i60 then to 1080p60, but the player will often do it much better than the tv would. If I'm right, even all blu-ray players will do that method except if it does straight 24 from the disc. And 1080i tv broadcasts should look pretty much like 1080p except if your provider has bandwidth issues.

I already had an HD-A1 but I picked up the HD-A2 for my dad for the $200 price since he'd be taking my old set. Luckily a manager helped me out when I came back to return the defective Toshiba as he accepted an expired online price they had for a 60a2020 and then did my 10% coupon and even let me keep the HD-A2 with the $200 off even though I no longer bought a Toshiba.

So let me just say, no matter how much an employee trys to tell you it would be useless to talk to the manager, still do it anyway. The day before the guy said he was pretty much it before a manager and was pretty sure matching their active online price, plus 10% was already a lot and no way could they do the player still with $200 off. Yet the next day I did talk to the manager and it was like nothing and he did it. Though, redoing the receipt he messed up and charged me the $55 shipping, but I wasn't about to go back and complain about that.

ok i have seen 2 posts about hdmi 1.3. which one is true? does it have it or not?

I would guess that it does not have 1.3. I don't yet have the television (on backorder), but I did just receive the instruction manual from Toshiba. It doesn't mention anything about 1.3 nor does it mention any of the new functionality of 1.3 in the manual. So my guess would be that it does not support it. I am assuming that if it did support it, they would say so in the manual. Just a guess though.

As I was unpacking my 65HM167 from BuyDig this morning a guy from Techdepot called me to tell me he noticed I had cancelled my Computers4sure order (Same company) and that they now have 7 of them & he was going to offer it to me for $100 less than the already low price at Tech depot or Computers4sure. Of course my heart sank as I had just paid almost $300 more. I would call if you want one.

has anyone tried to price match at cc or bb the techdepot price. I know of a few people who did this with the tosh hd-a2 with sucess.

When a product has HDMI 1.3, Toshiba calls it HDMI with DeepColor, but I have not seen this reference anywhere in HM167 materials. However, the marketing PDF for the 65HM167 on Toshiba.com indicates the product has LipSync support through HDMI, which I thought was potentially an HDMI 1.3 feature.

Some of the 1st generation Blu-ray players {basically Samsung (and the RCA clone)and Panasonic, as I recall} decoded to 1080i then de-interlaced back to 1080p. However, the Sony (including the PS3) and Pioneer BD players directly decoded the 1080p from the disc without ever downconverting to 1080i. I believe all of the 2nd generation Blu-ray players will directly decode/process 1080p without downconversion to 1080i. The 1st gen. Samsung player used the same decoding chipset as the 1st generation Toshiba HD-DVD players and these did not directly support 1080p output, therefore Samsung included an additional chip to de-interlace 1080i back to 1080p for output.

The manual I received from Toshiba last week has no reference to the term LipSync or DeepColor, which as you say should mean HDMI 1.3. It is a PDF and I searched the whole manual. I assume it is the latest manual since I just received it last week. So I still suspect it is not 1.3. I think the price is also indicative of that.

I'm going to post a URL to the document if anybody is interested, but I've got to get to 5 posts first.

Post #4

Post #5.

Sorry for the meaningless posts. Here is a link to the manual if anybody wants it. The date inside the document is Feb 14 of this year. Toshiba e-mailed it to me last week since I couldn't find it on their site.

http://www.mediafire.com/?cvo1hzmky3e

lovin my new toshiba 57hm167. completely. gf thinks i lost it, cause anytime theres a white screen im right up on it looking for any of these "shavings" people are experiencing. havent seen any. i would recommend going with a mom/pop local tv store warranty. mine covers 5 years, anything, as many bulbs as i would need. they do a better job at customer service than the big boys cause thats there advantage, personal attention. got a question, not sure if others experienced this with there new tv but.... hooked it up straight from the cable in the wall and tv found like 100 more channels than my previous tv did. including on demand, hbos, music channels, etc.. not sure if anyone else had this happen and if so why? am i picking up satelite reception from my neighbors? i believe this is true, cause certain "on demand" adult movies are fast forwarded through "boring" clothed scenes. too funny.