Toshiba Regza 42ZV650U

Formats (10.00)

The Toshiba 42ZV650U is a native 1080p display, meaning is has a resolution of 1920 × 1080. This is the best resolution you can get on a TV at this time. Well, almost. Toshiba actually announced a TV with 4K resolution (that’s an incredible 3840 × 2160), but don’t expect this to become a regular feature for a few more years.

Viewing Angle (3.65)

The viewing angle on the Toshiba 42ZV650U and all three competitors is virtually identical, as you can see from the chart below. They all clocked in at about 20 degrees from center on each side, or about 40 degrees in total. This is average for an LCD television. If you need a wider viewing angle, check out a plasma TV.

We should note that final scores for each of these TV may vary slightly depending on other, related problems beyond what the regular test can see. For instance, the Toshiba 42ZV650U has a huge problem with vertical viewing angle. That means that when you stand up or crouch down, the contrast goes haywire. You need to be sitting more or less dead-on with the screen for optimal viewing. We docked some points for that.

Reflectance (7.00)

The Toshiba 42ZV650U does a decent job of staving off reflection. It has the unfortunate feature of what we can only describe as ‘reflection dispersal display technology’ (that’s a mouthful, huh?). This is something you see on higher-end TVs that create a distinct kind of pattern when you shine a light on the screen. It’s a bit like a star-shape. We suppose it’s meant to curtail the huge, glowing halo that you see when you shine a light on cheap TVs. True, it limits the amount of screen that gets obscured by a poorly placed light, but the pattern itself is so distinctive it’s almost equally distracting.

Of course, there’s also the possibility that this ‘reflection dispersal’ is merely a side-effect of some other screen technology. Unfortunately, we can’t know for sure.

Video Processing (3.00)

The Toshiba 42ZV650U has a lot of special processing features, which we detail below. Of course, our general recommendation is to leave them off, as they frequently make your picture look worse. The only exceptions are the noise reduction features (because the picture is a bit noisy) and the Film Stabilization feature. The latter can make movies and TV look so strange that it looks like it was shot with a home camcorder. It’s hard to explain, but the effect is so bad it’s kind of fun to play with it sometimes.

Setting	Claimed Function	Our Impression
ColorMaster	When activated, allows you to adjust the Hue, Saturation, and Brightness of six different color channels (Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Magenta, and Cyan)	Lots of control that most people will have no idea how to use
Dynalight	A local dimming system to strengthen blacks in dark areas of the screen	Not much of a visible effect
MPEG NR	Reduces visible interference caused by MPEG compression	Smooths over blocky artifacts, but it can kill fine details. Definitely a trade-off. Use it if you like, but not at its highest setting.
DNR	Enables you to 'soften' the screen representation of a weak signal to reduce the noise effect.	Not much of an effect
Resolution +	Allows you to adjust the levels for your desired picture settings and get a sharp picture.' (This should win an award for Most Vaguely Described Feature.	Small increases in fine detail. If turned up too high, results in noisy picture.
ClearScan 240	Reduces image lag to provide a crisper image	Not much effect. Some sharpening of details in motion.
Film Stabilization	Helps eliminate picture shaking.	A delicate control. If turned on the Smooth setting, gives a completely different aesthetic to the video. The Standard setting, less so. Our recommendation is to leave it on Off.

Other Models in the xxZV650U Series
For more information on other models in this series, check our Series Comparison Page.
Toshiba Regza 47ZV650U 47 in.	Toshiba Regza 55ZV650U 52 in.