Price Paid:  $1999.00 from Amazon.com

Summary:
I had been a devoted CRT RPTV user for years, and had no interest whatsoever in TV's with microdisplay technology. That is, until I saw the Toshiba DLP's at a local retailer. I was immediately struck by the extreme sharpness of the images, as well as the intensity and natural look of the colors. After auditioning the sets at a couple of locations over a period of several weeks, I decided to replace one of my 42" RPTV's with a similarly sized DLP. Unfortunately, none of the local retailers had the 46HM84 nor its matching stand in stock, so I had to resort to the internet for my purchase. The TV arrived within days of placing the order, and I must say I was quite surprised by the size of the unit...it was much wider than I'd expected, and barely fit into the area I'd selected for it. However, the very shallow cabinet and overall design of the unit meant it did not look like a giant monolith, and its light weight (way under 100 lbs.) meant I had no problem moving it around on my own.

Out of the box, the images from my DVD player were quite natural looking and sharp, but after calibrating the unit using the Avia disc, I noticed that the PQ had improved dramatically....particularly when I engaged my DVD player's scaling feature to feed the set a 1080i signal. As expected, the high definition signals from both my OTA HDTV receiver and my Comcast HDTV DVR produced fantastic results....the "looking through a window" effect was everywhere. But I was truly shocked when I connected the TV directly to the Comcast cable feed (without going through the DVR): the analog cable signal produced an image far more natural-looking and detailed than even the cable DVR could manage. The channel setup process was easy and quick, and I actually spent more time deciding which channels I would save as favorites than doing anything else. I was also quite impressed by the sound of the built in speakers, though I would recommend connecting a small powered subwoofer via the audio output jacks of the TV.

As expected, I saw the so-called "rainbows" while viewing some content. Though distracting at first, I've found that with repeated viewing I tend to notice them less and less, and actually have to concentrate of late to see them. These flashes of color are an inherent characteristic of the single chip DLP light engines, but I find them quite tolerable. In fact, I now find that the images produced by my 42" CRT RPTV are so soft that I rarely watch TV in the bedroom anymore....I simply cannot stop myself from fiddling with the picture controls in a vain attempt to make the image as sharp as that of the DLP.

Strengths:
Excellent black levels (particularly after calibration), very wide viewing angles, incredibly sharp and detailed HD picture, outstanding performance with analog cable signals, and impressive brightness regardless of ambient lighting.

Weaknesses:
Lack of an ATSC tuner.