Toshiba 46SV670 Regza LCD HDTV with LED Backlighting (Playback 25)

LED Backlighting & Local Dimming Set This Toshiba Apart

PERFORMANCE

Blu-ray Evaluation: Righteous Kill

Detail

With the picture size set to Native (1:1), the movie’s opening credits are crisp and sharp. There’s a Dot by Dot mode, but that’s to be used for the RGB PC input only (a tad confusing, since some other set-makers use Dot by Dot for their 1:1 pixel-for-pixel picture size mode).

Color

At the default setting, the Toshiba puts forth a picture that is way oversaturated. Turning the color control down a chunk (-15 seems to be the sweet spot) puts things to right, and the set delivers natural-looking flesh tones.

Blacks

Here the Toshiba really shines, as the local dimming LED backlighting allows absolutely stunning deep blacks, clearly evident in the movie’s opening credits, with inky blacks that rival the very best plasma sets. As the movie is presented in its original widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio, the local dimming provides perfect black bars above and below the image, with no evidence of “halo-ing”.

Shadow Detail

An early scene in an indoor shooting range has the two lead characters moderately lit, but the rest of the set is very dimly lit. Here the Toshiba does a very good job of rendering shadow detail, with no evidence of black crush.

Artifacts/Noise

None noted.

Broadcast HDTV Evaluation: The Jay Leno Show (NBC)

Detail

Wonderfully crisp and clean, the Toshiba puts forth a gloriously sharp picture that’s aided by the local dimming function, which provides better delineation between lighter and darker elements with no washout. Off axis, the contrast faded a bit, but not by nearly as much as is usually the case with LCD HDTVs.