Toshiba REGZA 47ZV650U 47-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with ClearScan 240, Black

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 at 10:37 pm

Manufacturer: Toshiba
Customer Rating:
List Price: $1,699.99
Sale Price: $899.99
Availibility: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

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Description
Additional Details
Customer Reviews

The ZV650 Series takes LCD TV to the next level of picture quality, design, and features. ClearScan 240™ raises the bar for picture clarity with fast motion video, the Deep Lagoon™ design creates a new level of design elegance, and the long list of new features and nextgen connectivity are more than you could ever expect.

47-inch LCD HDTV with full HD 1080p resolution and elegant Deep Lagoon design
ClearScan 240 combines 120 frames per second with advanced backlighting system for excellent fast-motion clarity
PixelPure 5G 14-bit digital video processor; Dolby Volume technology for consistent audio level
Inputs: 4 HDMI, 2 component, 2 composite, 1 S-Video, 1 PC, 1 USB, 1 SD card slot, 1 optical digital audio output
Includes removable stand; measures 46.30 x 31.18 x 12.95 inches with stand

Very impressive

Review Date: April 21, 2009

Reviewer: M. Bentley, Mansfield, OH United States

Ordered on Monday night and received on Thursday with FREE shipping from TigerDirect! The box showed a weight of 50 lbs which is pretty light for a 47" flat panel. The picture and colors are really excellent. I'm too cheap to spend $300 on a Blu player but Time Warner HD and standard DVD's look very nice. Can I say the image is better then an LG, Sharp, Samsung etc?? I think with any one of those brands, I'd probably be saying the same thing. Toshiba quality is hard to beat and I really wanted the USB/SD card slot for showing pictures. I've played MP3's from my thumbdrive and even viewed some AVI files. The JPEG picture display from my memory stick was excellent but their 'browser' seems to be a little buggy because now I'm having some trouble trying to get it to recognize the image files again.

PROS:
Not too heavy
USB/SD card slot (for JPEG, MP3, AVI etc)
4 HDMI
Swivel stand
Beautiful colors & picture

CONS:
may need a firmware update for the picture browser
this is not a 'narrow bezel' model

6-1-09: I'm a bit disappointed because the picture viewer from an SD card or USB flashdrive still does not work. I've contacted Toshiba and they say they are 'still working on it'. If you go into the store to buy one of these, take a thumbdrive (or SD card) and test this out first.

Toshiba Back in The Race

Review Date: April 30, 2009

Reviewer: HowardM, Virginia

I purchased this TV from Amazon last week. Shipping was fast, less then a week (including the weekend). The TV was well packaged, but shame on Toshiba for not making it one of those boxes where you basically lift the top of the box off the TV and its just sitting on the bottom base of the box for easy removal.

The TV itself is amazing looking. I actually went to Best Buy and checked it out before ordering, and it was sitting in-between a bunch of Sony's and Samsung's and I actually thought the picture looked better then both of those brands. Though its hard to tell at these retail stores since they usually get paid to hook the expensive TV's up to a Blu-Ray player and the cheaper TV's up to the cheapest cable/source they can find.

So far I've used my Xbox 360, my Blu-Ray Player, my Wii and Digital Cable on this TV and everything so far looks awesome.

There is no lag at all while gaming. The TV has a mode for gaming, but honestly I couldn't tell it made any difference because the games looked great on all of the modes.

HD Cable looked great, watched some hockey, no ghosting or jittering at all. I've never owned a 120hz LCD let a long a 240hz, so I can't compare the two, but its definitely better then the old 60hz LCDs.

I only own 1 Blu-Ray movie (Beowulf) but watching it on this TV connected to my Sony Blu-Ray player it looked amazing. Regular DVD's upscaled on this player to 1080p also looked amazing.

Standard cable looked ok, Toshiba claims Resolution+ up scales regular TV to higher quality, but I'm not really convinced. Though I really haven't watched enough standard def to truly judge.

The TV is very light, I think it weights about 50 pounds with the stand. I love the swivel base and the connections all seem to be layed out nicely, I also like that it has both a USB and SD slot on the side. The deep lagoon border around the bezel is interesting it almost gives it a 3d look, I think it would look a lot cooler mounted on the wall, but mines just sitting on a stand.

My only real con about this TV is the size. Its a 47 inch but the bezel is large, bringing it almost to 52 inches when measured horizontally.

I've only had this TV for 3 days now, but I can honestly say it looks like Toshiba has finally gotten back in the game and launched a nicely priced and highly competitive TV to the market.

Excellect TV and value

Review Date: June 8, 2009

Reviewer: Joe D, Raymond, ME

I'm a little puzzled by some of the comments appearing in other reviews regarding the TV's size and bezel width. I don't know what other folks are measuring, but the Lagoon style framing is not particularly wide and the TV measured with a tape measure is 46" outside to outside horizontally, the diagonal is 47" viewing area.

As a TV plugged into an HDTV cable box, the unit came up and set up in a couple of minutes on component or HDMI connection. The image is very bright, clear and colors are vivid. The CrystalCoat high contrast screen coating does a great job of killing reflections even in a room that has a good deal of natural daylight sreaming in through lots of windows. On HDTV, the screen is completely filled with no odd bars, lines or other distractions.

I've added a Sony 589W DVD and sound system with wireless rear speakers. It was inexpensive, but the wireless rear speaker sound is clean, no problems with other networks and other devices in the house degrading sound. Where Sony likes to ignore equipment manufactured by other companies, the Toshiba easily connects to and controls the Sony receiver. When watching DVD's or TV the combination of the two perform admirably.

My TV was manufactured in March and had a firmware bug that triggers the quick set up dialog box every time the set is powered on. The work around is to disconnect the cable box, connect cale directly to the TV and let it auto program channels. After this, the TV will start without the quick set up prompt. I called Toshiba and they sent a firmware update on a USB drive that plugs into the TV and auto updates the firmware and also fixes the problem.

Consistent with other reviews, delivery took literally a few days by general freight, the package was in perfect condition as were the contents. We are very happy with the product and Amazon.

If there is one thing I would like to see added to the product, it would be an optional extended warranty. I know other companies offer these types of products, but there would be more peace of mind if offered by the manufacturer.

Excellent TV, Great Value

Review Date: July 8, 2009

Reviewer: James A. Lawrence, Washington, DC

Having purchased a 32" Samsung 720p LCD TV previously, I was all set to purchase another larger 1080p 120Hz model for our newly-renovated basement. Decided to do some cost comparisons, and found this TV on Amazon at a great price. Had everything I needed and more and was several hundred dollars less then comparable Samsung and other higher-end models. I grew up with an old Toshiba picture tube TV, which lasted many years, so I was not concerned about quality. Amazon contracted sale out to Crutchfield, which has great customer service. The delivery guy (who I believe worked for a Crutchfield sub-contractor) was delayed by mechanical problems with his truck and ended up having to work overtime on a Friday evening in the pouring rain to deliver my TV. Another company might have had its driver reschedule the delivery, but when the driver arrived he said that he knew I was waiting and he didn't want to disappoint me. How great is that?

I've had the TV for about a month now and no complaints. Picture is great (especially with an HDMI cable purchased from Amazon for only $0.22 -- do not pay full price for these cables at a big box store!). CNET review said the black levels were "subpar", but go and look at the comparable TVs side by side in a store and tell me if you can really see a difference. Nintendo Wii also looks great, though not sure I notice any upgrade with the "Game" picture mode feature. Understand some of the complaints about the high-gloss screen and bezel design, but I think these features actually make the TV look great when you hang it on the wall, and for basement viewing there is almost no glare. A lot has been made about the 240Hz refresh rate effect of this TV. I was told by numerous people that since I like to watch a lot of sports I shouldn't go for anything less than 120Hz. I figured 240Hz would be twice as good. To be honest, I've done a comparison with my old Samsung (32" 720p 60Hz), and it's difficult for me to see a real difference when watching baseball, golf, basketball, etc., so that's something you'd want to consider when thinking about the price increase between 720-1080p and 60-120-240Hz TVs. The true difference I notice is in the brightness and crispness of the picture. And, although I don't watch a lot of standard def cable, there is noticeable difference with the new TV -- Toshiba really does a great job with this upscaling feature. One little annoyance was that there's some kind of bug that causes the setup menu came up every time you turn on the TV, but that's a very minor quibble, and Joe D's June 8, 2009, review tells you how to fix this problem (thanks Joe!).

Overall, this is a great TV at a great price. As another reviewer said, it's nice to see Toshiba back in the game.

Quick'n Dirty

Review Date: May 8, 2009

Reviewer: Bryan Thomas Witkowski,

I saw this TV at a local dealer. It was setup right next to Sony's XBR6 46" TV. By comparison the picture quality is very similar. If you disagree with this, you live in a fantasy dreamland where spending more money will magically make your TV watching experience better (at the expense of your new found inability to sleep at night). Sony is the crowned king of HDTV, specifically in their ability to upscale smaller signals (480i, standard definition). While I found the picture quality to be arguably the same as the Sony, the price was not. This TV costs about $400 less than a 46" XBR6.

So, I bought this and took the chance on a TV that has relatively little information on the net about it (i.e. reviews from CNET etc). I bought it primarily for internet video streaming and playing a standard signal (480i) - with the hopes of one day upgrading to full 1080p in the future. The related feature in this TV is Toshiba's "Resolution +". It looks way better than standard def that I've seen on other TVs. Period.

Another concern I had was the 240hz effect that is NOT true 240 frames per second. There is 120hz with a back-light flicker effect that is supposed to help eliminate motion blur. The salesman did not offer a demonstration of this feature before I purchased the TV. So, I created my own: Using a computer as input through a component cable, I set up a windows screen saver - scrolling text. You can toggle this 240 clearview on and off to see the difference. I am happy to report that there is in fact less motion blur with the feature enabled. If you pay $250-$300 extra for a feature you had better be getting your moneys worth. I think having at least 120hz is right for the price. I cannot say whether the additional 240 clearview that this tv performs is anything to really shout about.

Beyond that, the quick'n dirty is that the picture quality is top notch for this generation (especially with a standard def signal). There are a number of features which make this TV a good buy. I consider those to be icing on the cake really. In summary:

PROS:

Top notch picture quality for the 2008 generation of LCDs
Top notch upscaling of standard def signals.
Plenty of connectivity and many fun features like the USB and SD card.
- NOTE: this TV will play DIVX movies (yah you pirates know what i'm talking about) straight from the USB input.
Very easy to use setup and menu.
Price is much lower than the name-brand alternatives.

CONS:

Glossy Screen
Thick Bezel trim
Bezel has this kinda ugly white pattern on it - who ever decided to add this needs to quit their job... ya you know who you are.