Toshiba 42HP95 Flat Panel Televisions

Toshiba 42HP95 Flat Panel Televisions 

DESCRIPTION

  • Widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio
  • 1024 x 768 pixels
  • 3000:1 contrast ratio
  • 3 composite video
  • Built-in stereo speakers

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-4 of 4  
[Jul 19, 2007]
Jim Watson
Casual Listener

Weakness:

replacement power unit was also bad.

terrible product, power unit and panel went out after only 18 months of use! wanted $2700 to repair!!!!!!

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
1
[Apr 01, 2007]
Greg T
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Picture Quality
Can do OTA and QAM without switching cables
Firewire
HDMI
Great Sound
The built in TV guide is awesome. Since the TV is in a bedroom, I use it as an alarm clock. It turns the TV on at 6:15A and turns to GMA at 7AM. The TV is perfect for a bedroom.

Weakness:

Blacks aren't as black as the new Pannys and Elite models. Ummm

If you can still find it, this TV is awesome. It uses Panasonic glass. My understanding is the newer Toshibas don't use Panasonic glass. The 42HP95 is an awesome TV. I really love it's firewire capabilities. Added a AVD for under $100 and this TV can now do OTA and QAM recording. It Even has a record to DVHS function. The TV guide works wonderfully as well. I use it as a bedroom TV (yep got it mounted on the wall without any wires) and from our 9 foot viewing position HD looks like you are looking through a mirror. Great Shadow details, but not as good blacks as the newer Pannys or Elite models.

Customer Service

Did a firmware upgrade for QAM, went perfectly.

Similar Products Used:

This was the only plasma, I originally was going to buy a 32" LCD panel. Tried LG, Paloraoid, Sharp all of them weren't good enough. I'm sort of a CRT guy and this Plasma comes very close to CRT picture quality wise. LCD has a long way to go. Even the new expensive ones, I can tell that they are LCD even without looking at the tag.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
4
[May 06, 2006]
CBC
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Bright, clean, clear, sleek.

Weakness:

If you're not watching something in HD, it's basically just a good 'ole 42" theaterwide. But that's still nice!

After reading and comparing the Toshiba, Samsung, and Panasonic, I really couldn't tell the difference in the store and because I already had a Toshiba 32" tube TV which I was happy with and because the Toshiba 42HP95 specs looked as good as the others, I went with the 42HP95 (2005 model). I am totally delighted. LCDTVs.com was awesome, too. 5 days from online order to delivery. I had some friends over the house the other day and they made a comment like "Wow, look at that TV; Sleek!". I agreed and put on Discovery HD Theater channel. Their jaws dropped!

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Mar 10, 2006]
rickneuropa
AudioPhile

Strength:

Toshiba build quality

Weakness:

Picture quality is very poor. Black levels are grey, and false contouring is horrible. Very heavy.

I should have gone with my first instinct when purchasing my Plasma. Before I purchase anything, I research it to death! In my research, I found that for Plasma displays, it comes down to 2 choices, Panasonic, and Pioneer. The Panasonics for Black levels, and the Pioneers for processing. Now the latest models for each are so close together in each of these catagories, that it's a toss up. When I went to BB to purchase a Panasonic, they were out, and weren't expecting any in anytime soon. The Pioneer was quite a bit more, and the one-whome-you-must-keep-happy, didn't want to spend that much. Since I was ready to buy, and I read somewhere that Toshiba's electronics are made by Panasonic,(there isn't a lot of info on this TV) I took the advice of the salesman (bad thing to do) and against my better judgement, bought the Toshiba at a discounted price. That was a mistake!

I am quite picky when it comes to electronics, and am a self proclaimed electronics geek, so just a caviot before I begin. First, this thing weighs over 100 pounds, so my wife and I were huffing and puffing after hauling it in the house, and up onto the fireplace. After hooking it up to local cable, and letting it do an autoscan for channels, I was surprised to find out it picked up an NBC HD channel. I was watching the Olympics in HD that night, and was watching snowboarders go down a hill at night. The false contouring on this TV was soo bad on dark shadows, that I didn't get any sleep that night, I was so upset with myself! I popped in my Avia DVD Essentials to try and tweak the picture thinking it would improve.....well, that really pointed out the shortcomings of this display. When setting the Brightness, there are bars that move that are at just before black, and one below black level. This is the first display that I've run accrossed that only showed part of the bar when adjustment was close. And it was full of visual noise! The section of the disc that shows gray scale pointed out how bad the transition from the dark black grey to light grey. Noise all over the display from that screen in certain gray levels. That was enough to make me return it, and pay a little more for the Pioneer 4360HD display. Which weighs in at a little over 50 pounds, and looks stunning on my wall. It's grey scale was as smooth as a baby's butt. No false contouring, or noise. It was 100 times better than the Toshiba!

So, in conclusion, don't cheat yourself out of sleep, get a Panny or Pioneer, and sleep well. If your spending this kind of money on a display, you'd better be happy with it!

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer PDP-4360HD

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
2
Showing 1-4 of 4  

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