What We Think

Video purists will have some issues, but this Toshiba delivers a sharper picture than many sets.

As the choices in HDTVs become ever more complex, there remains one simple constant: higher resolution is better. When the average football fan comparison shops for a new big-screen centerpiece for his living room, he may not care about DLP vs. LCD vs. LCoS, but as surely as a touchdown beats a field goal, 1080p beats 720p every time. The Toshiba 56HM195, a 56-inch rear-projector that uses the same chip as other 1080p DLPs we’ve tested, boasts the same key advantages of those sets vs. lower-resolution HDTVs. One is the ability to deliver more detail with 1080i HDTV broadcasts. The other is that you can sit closer to the screen without seeing distracting grid lines between the pixels. And it delivers these benefits for significantly less money than comparably sized 1080p sets from other manufacturers: the 56HM195’s $3,200 list price is $600 less than the 52-inch Mitsubishi WD-52627 I reviewed in September, and I found it offered for as low as $2,799 at a Toshiba-authorized online merchant.

Toshiba’s 56HM195 is all business on the outside. The screen is surrounded by a thin gray frame on the top and sides, allowing for tighter installations than most sets of this size. Basic controls are on the right side, along with a pop-out hatch that houses a set of inputs and a pair of multimedia card slots. I’m not a huge fan of the crowded remote: the button arrangement on its bottom half is somewhat haphazard, and the keys for display mode and menu access aren’t prominent enough. I appreciated the handset’s blue backlighting, but not the faint whining sound it produced.

SETUP Toshiba includes a couple of features to help you operate your A/V system. TheaterNet lets you command numerous components through the television’s onscreen interface by way of infrared (IR) emitters (four are supplied). I prefer using a universal remote, which is why I liked the second control option: IR pass-through. This is the only HDTV I’ve reviewed that can simply pass the infrared commands from any remote through its IR emitters to other components, so you can stash your gear in a cabinet, for example, and still control the whole system. It also lets you conveniently aim your remote right at the TV for any system function anytime the set is on.

PICTURE QUALITY Before digging into a movie or TV show, I put the 56HM195 through a thorough calibration and checked out a variety of test patterns and video clips in both standard- and high-definition. Unlike most of the 1080p sets I’ve seen in the past year, this Toshiba had a blue bias even with the Warm color-temperature setting selected, which gave a faint blue cast to white and gray areas. Calibration largely fixed this problem in the lab, but to see how the set performed with a movie, I chose the demanding, largely black-and-white Sin City DVD.

With my HDMI-enabled DVD player set to 1080i output, the Toshiba easily handled the sharpest details on the disc, realistically rendering fine areas like the hair of the poor child Nancy blowing in the breeze, or the stunning blonde locks of Goldie against the blood-red heart-shaped bed. The few splashes of lurid hues in this expanse of shadows and light came across with shocking impact.

The Short Form

$3,200 / 51.75 x 36.25 x 17 IN / 87 LBS / TACP.TOSHIBA.COM / 800-867-4422

Plus

•Displays full detail from 1080i sources. •Extremely bright picture. •No visible pixel structure.

Minus

•Some “false contour” banding. •Inconsistent color of gray.

Key Features

•1080p DLP light engine •Compatible with Toshiba Symbio external DVRs •IR pass-through and TheaterNet onscreen control system •Digital cable-ready with CableCARD slot and TV Guide On Screen •inputs 2 HDMI, 2 DTVLink, 2 component-video •Fully backlit remote control •5-format memory-card reader for digital photos and music files •Price $3,200 list

Test Bench

The 56HM195 gave mixed results in testing. Multiburst patterns from Sencore and Accupel signal generators looked excellent with 1080i sources, with every line resolved, while 720p sources did not deliver nearly as much detail. The grayscale was quite blue overall before calibration and much improved afterward. Color decoding was very accurate. Geometry was very good on my review sample, while overscan was a little worse than average at about 5%. Uniformity was worse than on many DLP sets, showing color variations across the screen in gray areas. A horizontal ramp pattern showed large steps and discolorations instead of a smooth transition from black to white.

On the other hand, I noticed significant "false contouring," which appears as distinct bands of varying brightness where I should have seen smooth gradations from light to shadow. In one instance, the headlights of Hartigan’s car created bands as their light became fainter toward the middle of the hood. I saw similar effects in the faces of the two unnamed characters in the introduction — the woman’s cheek had a blotchy blue area along a distinct band at the edge of her cheekbone where I should have seen a natural fade into shadow.

Depending on the brightness of the gray areas, some of the bands took on unnatural discolorations, tending toward faint purple or green in places that should have been neutral gray. While Sin City's black-and-white images made the discoloration more obvious, the banding was plainly visible in many types of color program material as well, via all inputs and resolutions. This effect is not unknown in HDTVs, even DLP models, but it was more pronounced here than on any other 1080p DLP I've reviewed so far.

In its favor, the Toshiba rendered a deep, inky black that gave the picture plenty of pop and impact. Shadows were clean, without much of the grainy noise in dark areas that I've seen on other 1080p DLP sets. Sin City also helped demonstrate the Toshiba's excellent contrast: white areas were extra-bright next to those inky dark shadows. This set would have no trouble in a fully lit room. And as I've come to expect from 1080p DLP, pixel structure was invisible — I was able to walk right up to the screen and stare into Kevin's pure white sunglasses without making out individual pixels.

On the other hand, the movie did manage to bring out some color-wheel rainbows — brief trails of color along the edges of brighter objects, like Hartigan's white tie on the pier — but it was no worse than I typically see with DLP sets and something many viewers won't even notice.

To showcase the Toshiba's 1080p capabilities, I chose Joe Kane's Digital Video Essentials D-VHS (the 1080i version) delivered via the HDMI jack. The Space Shuttle launch sequence, with music by Respighi, looked spectacular. A series of ripples made the waving American flag look real enough to touch, and I could easily discern ridges in the individual tiles on Atlantis's hull and individual rivets in the black borders around the cockpit windows. During liftoff, the huge burst of smoke engulfed the gantry in beautifully defined billows of amazing complexity.

Once in orbit, the camera lingers on the earth from above, and while the clouds remained crisp, I did notice the unwanted contours again. As the blue sea passed beneath and the sharp light of the sun cut into it, then faded slowly as it crossed the water, I saw distinct bands of gradation instead of a smooth transition from light to dark areas of the picture.

BOTTOM LINE The Toshiba's issues with false contours and somewhat inconsistent grays might give some home theater aficionados pause. But the 56HM195's sharpness with 1080i HDTV sources combined with its bright picture makes a package that high-def football fans will want to draft early, and its low asking price just helps sweeten the deal. On any given Sunday, it all depends what team you're on.

TEST BENCH FOR WEB
by David Katzmaier

Color temperature (Warm color temperature and Natural mode before/after calibration)
Low window (20-IRE): 9,823/6,707 K
High window (80-IRE): 9,593/6,393 K
Brightness (100-IRE window before/after calibration): 133.7/44.2 ftL

The 56HM195 gave mixed results in testing. Multiburst patterns from Sencore and Accupel signal generators looked excellent with 1080i sources, resolving every line, but 720p sources did not deliver nearly as much detail. Standard 480p and 480i sources were well resolved, though 480i sources via component- and S-video showed interference in high frequencies. The grayscale was quite blue overall before calibration and better afterward, although the darker end of the scale was still relatively blue and small inconsistencies were visible. Color decoding was very accurate.

Geometry was very good on my review sample, while overscan was a little worse than average at about 5%. Uniformity was worse than on many DLP sets, showing color variations across the screen in gray areas. A diagonal shadow was visible in the lower left of the screen. Component-video sources evinced more noise than HDMI sources, especially in dimmer areas of the picture. A horizontal ramp pattern showed large visible steps, instead of a smooth transition from black to white, as well as discolorations toward red and green, especially in dimmer grays. A sharpness pattern revealed no edge enhancement after sharpness was properly adjusted.

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