Toshiba 42H83 42-Inch TheaterWide HD High-Definition Projection TV
High Fidelity Video
Being an avid audiophile for years, I felt lost in the new arena of high-fidelity video. However, even on the showroom floor, this model had &quot;something&quot; about it that set it apart from the pack.<br />I have to say that after several evenings of fine adjustments to suit lighting conditions, and personal taste for contrast, hue, black level, sharpness . . . this set has far exceeded my expectations on delivering a high-fidelity image. Simply put, it is extraordinary.<br />I would suggest however, that you brace yourself for the &quot;out of the box&quot; image-quality experience. If you are in any way aware of what an accurately reproduced image should be, you will be assaulted by the intensity of the factory settings. Don't panic . . . there are plenty of customized preferences for all parameters that can be set to your taste.<br />I would also suggest that you perform the 9-point convergence adjustment once you have the unit to your liking. It does have an &quot;auto&quot; feature -- but this really is more for in-between quick resets of the manual 9-point feature once performed and set. If you have experience with service-mode, you can also perform an extremely accurate 56-point adjustment (56-points each of RGB -- the set is synched to G). Once performed and in-place, this set is capable of showing such detail, that you will see the individual threads and fibers of clothing, etc. and entire scenes take on a dimensional quality that I have never experienced before.<br />The bulit-in sound (all things considered) is superb, and the field-expander setting is as pleasing as anything I've ever heard . . . coming close to the famed Carver Sonic Hologram Generator for creating an accurate, &quot;expanded&quot; sound stage. Kudos on the quality of this circuit for &quot;standard&quot; listening in the home when external audio components are not wanted or needed for material.<br />I am rarely as happy and satisfied with a product's quality as I am with this. But,once again, remember . . . the quality is up to YOU. It IS there, but you're not going to get it out of the box with factory settings. With proper calibration of all parameters, I will go out on a limb and say this is as close as one can get to plasma -- with it's look &amp; feel -- with a rear-projection system, and at this price.<br />Stunning.