Toshiba REGZA 40XV645U 40-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV, Black

Toshiba REGZA 40XV645U 40-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV, Black
Buy new: Too low to display / Used from: $707.99
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No Buyer's Remorse Here

So far this set has very pleasing. My only complaint is the clunky remote control which has a physical switch to change modes (TV, Cable/Sat, AV1, AV2). The set has 3 HDMI inputs which is nice though many in this price range seem to have 4.

During initial set-up the set asks a few questions most of which are basic like if the set will be connected to antenna or cable before automatically scanning and adding channels. The first question though is unusual. It prompts for whether the set will be used in a home or as a store display. Selecting home reduces the backlight to 50% power though this can be adjusted later through the video configuration menu.

The set also features advances picture controls many of which I have not had time adjust but should provide enough control to satisfy any one who considers themselves a video guru. Also this TV features basic audio controls (treble bass & balance) as well as features like stable sound, voice enhancing, and bass boost so the control over audio is pleasing.

I chose this set for two reasons. I have a standard-def Toshiba set that I've always liked the picture on and the Toshiba HDTV's don't seem to create (or maybe they have the ability to correct) some artifacts on some HD content.

I was considering another brand, but I had an opportunity to watch Planet Earth on a set with spec's similar to this one and noticed the other brand displayed artifacts when a subject (bird) was moving rapidly across a solid color field (sky). I watched the same clip on an older Toshiba Regza model a member of my family owned and didn't see the artifacts so I chose to stick with Toshiba and have noticed no artifacts on similar video with this set.

Bottom line: I'm very pleased with this TV

Product Description

The XV645 series combines the REGZA® Engine (PixelPure® 5G & Resolution+™) with ClearFrame™ 120Hz for superior picture quality, and adds the bottom Deep Lagoon™ design for an appearance that also stands out from the pack.

Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #11508 in Consumer Electronics
* Color: Black
* Brand: Toshiba
* Model: 40XV645U
* Released on: 2009-06-01
* Dimensions: 24.53" h x 38.46" w x 3.62" l, 45.10 pounds
* Native resolution: 1920 x 1080
* Display size: 40

Features

* 1080p Full HD CineSpeed™ Display with Built In ATSC/QAM Digital Tuner for Over-the-Air and Cable-in-the-Clear Digital Tuning
* ClearFrame™ 120Hz with 5:5 Pull-Down Option
* 50,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio
* 3 HDMI™ Digital Inputs with REGZA-LINK®2
* PixelPure® 5G 14-Bit Internal Digital Video Processor

Toshiba REGZA 40XV645U 40-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV, Black

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Sony BRAVIA EX 500 Series 40-Inch LCD TV, Black

Sony BRAVIA EX 500 Series 40-Inch LCD TV, Black
Buy new: $809.99 / Used from: $698.00
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Sony Bravia EX 500: Great value

After pretty much researching TVs to death, we purchased the Sony Bravia EX 500 and couldn't be happier. We wanted a 40" TV because it would fit nicely in our TV Armoire cabinet. I throw value into the equation, so I don't hesitate to give this 5 stars.

Highlights:

1) Crystal clear 1080p HDTV broadcast and BluRay performance.
2) The voice clarity comes through incredibly clear. I used to have to crank up the volume much higher to understand conversations on movies and TV shows.
3) The standard definition comes in much better than our old 720p HDTV, but we spend most of our time on the HDTV channels.
4) You'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between this TV and those costing twice as much for the same size.

Lowlights:

1) This is minor, but I'll keep it honest. Jutter is noticeable in faster moving camera pans and action, but hardly on BluRay which has me wondering how much has to do with the frequency of the broadcast vs. the TV. We watched "Iron Man" on the BluRay and it looked great.
2) It's rated at 150k:1 contrast ratio which pales in comparison to the 2MM:1 and higher on LEDs and Plasmas.

In summary, we're very happy with the performance of the Sony Bravia EX 500. At present, I don't know if there's a better combination of price and performance. We're value conscious, so we're extremely satisfied with this purchase.

Product Description

Experience Full HD 1080p, incredible contrast and sharp, vibrant images with the Sony BRAVIA EX500-Series HDTV. Features incredible motion performance so you enjoy crisp, fluid motion during fast-action scenes plus LightSensor Technology that automatically adjusts brightness based on a room’s lighting.

Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #4666 in Consumer Electronics
* Color: Black
* Brand: Sony
* Model: KDL-40EX500
* Dimensions: 23.62" h x 4.00" w x 39.12" l, 31.30 pounds
* Display size: 40

Features

* 40-inch LCD HDTV with full HD 1080p resolution lets you take full advantage of HD sources like a Blu-ray Disc Player or PlayStation3 gaming console
* Ambient Sensor and LightSensor technologies automatically adjust the color and backlight based on a room's lighting
* Motionflow 120Hz technology for smooth motion; USB port for photos, music and video playback; BRAVIA Sync controls compatible devices with one remote
* Inputs: 4 HDMI, 2 component, 2 composite, 1 PC, 1 USB, 1 optical digital audio output
* Includes removable stand; measures 39.125 x 25.135 x 10.25 inches with stand

Sony BRAVIA EX 500 Series 40-Inch LCD TV, Black

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Samsung LN40B550 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with Red Touch of Color

Samsung LN40B550 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with Red Touch of Color
Buy new: $648.00 / Used from: $650.00
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An excellent set!

I was undecided between this 2009 model and last year's LN40A550.
The features are substantially identical, but after figuring that the difference between best prices for the two, which I could find after extensive shopping around, was only $50, I went for newer one for its updated look and lighter weight.
In the reviews, one of the principal complaints for 2008 was the sound quality. I can't directly compare 2009 and 2008, but found 2009's LN40B550 to have perfectly adequate, if not excellent speakers, as far as TVs go.
Picture quality, menus, setup are excellent as expected.
One aspect that I did find puzzling is Wiselink not being able to recognize my old trustworthy USB Flash Drive. I even tried formatting the drive in various ways, unfortunately none of the tricks worked.
Perhaps, it's the ancient drive not being comparable in some way, but it had never let me down before. Anyhow, I ordered a few different flash drives, and will try again, and then post an update.
====================================

Tried four various flash drives, all of them work just fine in computers, all four freshly formatted same way (FAT32). Two of the drives are read by the TV with no problems, the two others are not recognized at all... Go figure... The slideshow functionality is nice, quite limited, but does the job.

Just for the reference, one of the drives that does work in this TV is Kingston Data Traveler 4GB.

Product Description

It features a 39.9" screen (measured diagonally) with widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio, 1920 x 1080 pixels, and Touch of Color high-gloss finish -- black with red accents. There are built-in digital (ATSC) and analog (NTSC) tuners for over-the-air TV broadcasts (antenna required) and a built-in QAM cable TV tuner receives unscrambled programs without a set-top box (cable service required).
Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #29 in Television
* Color: Toc Red
* Brand: Samsung
* Model: LN40B550
* Released on: 2009-03-10
* Dimensions: 24.70" h x 38.70" w x 3.10" l, 32.80 pounds
* Native resolution: 1920 x 1080
* Display size: 40

Features

* 40-inch (60Hz) LCD HDTV with full HD 1080p resolution for the sharpest picture possible and red Touch of Color design
* 70,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 6ms response time, Wide Color Enhancer 2 for more vivid colors
* Game mode speeds up image processing response; side-mounted USB port for displaying JPEG/MPEG files and listening to MP3 audio
* Inputs: 4 HDMI-CEC, 2 component, 1 composite, 1 PC, 1 USB, 1 optical digital audio output
* Includes removable stand; measures 38.7 x 26.6 x 10 inches with stand

Samsung LN40B550 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with Red Touch of Color

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Samsung LN40B630 40-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV with Red Touch of Color

Samsung LN40B630 40-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV with Red Touch of Color
Buy used from: $599.99

Samsung's Fabulous B630 Non-glare LCD HDTV

Being the first to review the 2009 Samsung LN40B630 on Amazon was purely an accident in that I actually bought the new Sony KDL-40V5100 on April 2nd. At that time, the Samsung B650 had just come out, but its high gloss panel would not have performed well in my brightly lit room. My high definition projection TV had kicked the bucket after 8-years, but I rarely enjoyed watching HD because the daylight glare would wash out the picture. The Sony's non-glare screen performed well except when the picture would black out during dark movie scenes. I discovered that many of the V5100 series have had this glitch and Sony had no fix for it at that time. To Best Buy's credit, they cheerfully exchanged the Sony under their 30-day return policy and delivered the Samsung B630 model which has a non-glare screen and is similar to the popular B650.

My expectations of the new Samsung were that it would perform much like the Sony. I could not have been more wrong. The B630 was like viewing another huge leap in a television experience, while the Sony seemed to be of past technology. The depth and breadth of Samsung's visual color tones are astounding and mesmerizing. A perfect example of that came from viewing scenes of the Caribbean Sea. The Sony could not match the Samsung's Wide Color Enhancer 3 processor with its three dimensional qualities and vibrant tones of turquoise, sea green, cobalt blue, coral pink and white sand clearly seen under the sea. It literally was like being there.

The Samsung's dynamic contrast of 80,000-1 was visibly superior to the Sony's 50,000-1 and convinced me that Samsung's contrast rating was more than a marketing numbers game. The viewing angle of the Sony was horrific when moving away from center by seeing flesh tones morph into green. Samsung's viewing angle was far better by maintaining the proper color tones, but it did lose contrast and brightness. Of course, a slight turn of its swivel base helped to alleviate Samsung's viewing angle issue.

The downside to Samsung's advanced technology was that every movie appeared as video and lost its magical cinema quality. Sony was superior in dealing with this issue. To address that problem, the backlight and contrast settings have to be toned down to soften the picture and to preserve a film's attributes. Most importantly, an adjustment to the 120 Hz Motion Plus feature must be done in order to keep movies from appearing surreal. While some recommend turning the 120 Hz off, I found video blurring far too annoying and placed the Auto Motion Plus to a custom setting of 6 for blur and judder reduction. That seemed like a good compromise without losing much of the film's realistic movement. Experiment with every adjustment to find your best settings and calibration instructions are easily found on [...]. It all came together beautifully for me and hopefully this information can be helpful to you.

One bad design feature was the power and channel functions on the TV itself. You cannot see where they are unless you have light shining directly on them. As long as you use only the remote control, it may be a non-issue. By-the-way, in case you were wondering how effective the non-glare screen was on the Samsung B630; it was perfect. I experienced crystal clear high definition TV -- Day or Night.

Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #13 in Television
* Color: Toc Red
* Brand: Samsung
* Model: LN40B630
* Dimensions: 25.60" h x 39.20" w x 3.10" l, 32.00 pounds
* Display size: 40

Features

* 40-inch LCD HDTV with full HD 1080p resolution for the sharpest picture possible and red Touch of Color design
* Auto Motion Plus 120Hz for amazingly fluid motion, 80,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 4ms response time, Wide Color Enhancer 3 for more vivid colors
* InfoLink RSS feeds of news, weather and sports via Ethernet; ; side-mounted USB port for displaying JPEG/MPEG files and listening to MP3 audio
* Inputs: 4 HDMI-CEC, 2 component, 2 composite, 1 PC, 2 USB, 1 Ethernet, 1 optical digital audio output
* Includes removable stand; measures 39.2 x 27.8 x 10.3 inches with stand

Samsung LN40B630 40-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV with Red Touch of Color

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Toshiba 40E200U 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV (Black Gloss)

Toshiba 40E200U 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV (Black Gloss)
Buy new: Too low to display / Used from: $589.50
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Enjoy a stunning picture bursting with color and clarity with the 40-inch Toshiba 40E200U LCD HDTV (40-inch diagonal screen size), featuring a 1080p Full HD resolution that provides twice the pixel resolution of 720p HD models. It provides a number of convenient home entertainment options and key picture quality features, including DynaLight dynamic backlight control for deeper black levels and four HDMI digital inputs for simple high quality connection to cable/satellite boxes, DVD players and more. Plus, the HDMI ports feature fast InstaPort switching for quick changes from one source to another.

Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #5478 in Consumer Electronics
* Size: 40 Inch
* Color: Black Gloss
* Brand: Toshiba
* Model: 40E200U
* Dimensions: 27.37" h x 39.12" w x 11.61" l, 33.29 pounds
* Display size: 40

Features

* 40-inch LCD HDTV with Full 1080p HD resolution; slimming tapered bezel and attractive front panel Horizon design gradation
* DynaLight backlight control adjusts for deeper black levels for higher dynamic contrast and more realistic picture
* Photo Frame capability for showing off your digital photo slideshows; USB connection for playing MP3 digital audio
* Inputs: 4 HDMI, 1 component, 2 composite, 1 PC, 1 USB, 1 optical digital audio output
* Includes removable stand; measures 39.12 x 27.37 x 11.61 inches with stand

Toshiba 40E200U 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV (Black Gloss)

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