anyone used this tv, seen this tv, can offer any advice about buying this tv??

My neighbor is a big wig at toshiba in the area, and can get any new tv for me at the same price that they sell them to retailers.

They have a 3 month old used 56 inch dlp in their beachhouse that they will sell me for 1100 including the stand, and so I am considering the purchase, but want to see if there is something I might be missing from it that I could get if I bought a new one from them.

Toshiba 56HM66 is the one they have, Toshiba 56HMX96 is the new one.
http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/televisions/product.asp?model=56hmx96

http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/televisions/product.asp?model=56HM66

The 62 inch is an option as well...

http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/televisions/product.asp?model=62HM15A

... as is the 50 inch plasma

http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/televisions/product.asp?model=50hp66


If anyone has any experience with these and can help interpret the difference between these and the lcd tvs as well, as to which is a better buy, and why, then I would appreciate it.

12/26/2006 8:45:48 AM

its the mirrors

12/26/2006 11:26:12 AM

Buy the plasma.

12/26/2006 12:31:30 PM

So I was under the impression from reading here that burn in issues with plasmas were kinda a thing of the past. I've been doing some looking around over on AVS, and it seems like folks there are deathly afraid of it still. Whats the deal?

12/26/2006 12:40:13 PM

I wouldn't say they are an issue of the past.

Stein's TV still needs to be pampered because any image thats still on the screen for an extended period creates some residue.

Great for movies, but I'd rather have an LCD for anything else.

12/26/2006 12:42:49 PM

So I wasn't reading too closely over there, but are the black bars around non 16:9 images something to be concerned with?

12/26/2006 12:51:14 PM

I'm not familiar with the HM96 or the HM15A, but the HM66 and the hp66 are both really mediocre televisions, there are better options (like the Mitsubishi 1080 DLPs).

12/26/2006 12:58:06 PM

I watch a lot of football on Fox and the Fox headers are yet to burn into my TV. I've also played a number of games and even after an hours worth of playing I have at worst image retention that can only be seen when the TV is turned completely off but it goes away in 5-10 minutes. It's not burn in, but I guess it could be viewed as that. At them same time, I don't have my TV set to "Vivid" mode, which is blindingly bright which probably adds to burn in risk.

I haven't watched many movies on it that weren't 16:9, so I can't speak to whether the black bars would burn in or not. I'm going to wait until I get my TV over 200 hours used before I start doing that (not to mention I generally watch movies downstairs on the Quinn's CRT projector, so watching them on the plasma isn't a big deal at all really).

So while I'm not ready to say burn in is a thing of the past, I'll just repeat the same thing everyone else says. For the first 200-1,000 hours, baby the TV a little bit. Basically, the main fear of burn in is that plasmas are generally one of the most expensive types of HDTVs and you don't want your investment to get ruined by watching a 2.35:1 movie or the HUD of a video game.

In summation, take it easy on the thing for the first several hundred hours. Run a burn-in DVD (pretty much just a color rotater) if you want. I'm pretty certain outside of the first couple hundred hours you'll be able to make it through all of a Lord of the Rings movie without much fear of burn in. Should you watch all three extended editions back to back though? Probably not.

Quote :

"I'm not familiar with the HM96 or the HM15A, but the HM66 and the hp66 are both really mediocre televisions, there are better options (like the Mitsubishi 1080 DLPs)."

So your advice to a guy who is getting a discount on Toshiba products is to get a Mitsubishi product? Sure, the HP66 isn't god's gift to plasmas, but it's certainly better than some color wheel nonsense.

[Edited on December 26, 2006 at 1:07 PM. Reason : .]

12/26/2006 1:04:34 PM

I didn't see the part about the Toshiba big wig at first, but that's still my advice

Whichever one has the highest retail value/inch is probably the best one to get though (except that plasma or the DLP that I mentioned).

Make sure that you're at a good distance for the screen size or the viewing angle issue with the rear projection will bother you. If you are going to be sitting too close (like <10ft for a ~52" or larger) or at an angle, then you should get the plasma.

[Edited on December 26, 2006 at 1:10 PM. Reason : ]

12/26/2006 1:09:16 PM

if your going to spend the money get the 46" sony xbrII

not as big but 1080p native and one of the best processing systems out (under 4k)

12/26/2006 1:15:30 PM

1k vs. 4k .... not even close ...

To me, spending 1k on a tv is a little extreme, and unless it was a super good deal, I wouldnt buy any of them at all... but I just wanted to get a little education on the purchase considering the options that were given to me.

12/26/2006 1:54:16 PM