Customer Reviews
Good value 
2008-06-23
The Toshiba REGZA 42RV53OU performs as specified. THe picture is sharp and clear. It is easy to set up and use. Thus far, it has performed flawlessly. I believe that it is a good value, solid product.
Excellent buy, HD afficianados will be happy 2008-06-16
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The Gist:
The Toshiba REGZA 42" LCD is a great buy and I'm really happy with it. Sporting a sweet, sexy gloss look and high quality video, it's definitely a purchase I'd make again. For very picky users, I'd recommend getting the new 120Hz version so that motion blur will be non-existent. Again, it's hardly noticeable.
It has plenty of connections, tons of tweaking features, awesome color and picture quality, and is easy to use.
Audio
From what I've heard, the TV audio isn't so bad. It's not amazing, but that is really expected. However, I did hook it up right away to our home theater system. I use the Fixed Audio out to route the audio from all the components into the home theater box. Since my home theater system only has one audio input, this was a big plus.
Standard Definition
SD is where all LCDs fail. You shouldn't buy an LCD with the thought that you will be mostly viewing SD material (SD defined by me as 480i and 480p material).
With that said, this TV presents SD in above average quality. Our cable box is 1080i but most material is output in 480p. I would safely say that I could watch a regular cable TV channel and not pull my eyes out. It's not that bad. It's acceptable.
High Definition Digital Cable
HD channels that don't have true HD material playing looks a little bit better than the 480p channels but still not excellent.
HD channels playing true HD material look great. It's still digitally compressed, but it's definitely leagues above the standard definition. For comparison, it's not as sharp as Blu-Ray, but definitely good nonetheless.
True 1080p Material
Here is where the money's at. Plug in a PS3 or Xbox 360 or Blu-Ray player in 1080p and you've got pixel sharp resolution.
If you are a gamer or an HD nut and own 1080p devices then this TV will not disappoint. I was blown away by the picture, it's incredibly sharp. I've seen the Blu-Ray picture in the store and it's just as incredible.
Color
Another reason I bought this TV, it has every feature you'd need to tweak it for days. Not only does it let you tweak picture options like Color, Tint, Sharpness, Backlight, Contrast, Brightness, and Static Gamma, but you can also tweak Red, Green, Blue, Cyan, Yellow, and Magenta. It also has a handful of advanced options like B Drive and G Drive, basically everything you need.
Great TV 2008-06-15
The picture and sound quality are both great, plenty of inputs for all my electronics. Just wish Charter cable would beef up their HD lineup so i could watch things in HD that i am actually interested in watching. Maybe someday... Great TV though, I am extremely happy with it so far.
Very impressive 2008-05-23
My wife noted recently "I haven't seen him watch so much TV in a long time".
Upgrading to the Toshiba from my old thirty six inch Sony CRT has been a revalation. I really haven't been watching much TV - the only shows that interest me have been more easily watched in higher resolution on a computer (laptop) monitor, but this changes things.
Out of the box, the high definition channels look just phenomenal. I saw "Cars" in HD and it blew away the lowly DVD my daughter has. The Red Sox look terrific. All the TV shows I have been watching from... alternate sources... are just great.
The sound is good, but doesn't compare to a good receiver with a surround sound set up. You would really need that in order to realize the best from this.
BAD START.....GREAT TV!!!! 2008-05-22
I purchased this TV about 3 weeks ago. I bought it locally. When it was delivered, they unpacked it and attached the pedestal. They then plugged it in and hit the power power button and nothing. We tried different outlets to no avail. The TV was then unplugged and unceremoniously dumped back into the box and taken back. They returned with a new one, which did work. This is a very good TV and well worth the price although I have yet to upgrade my service to HD. I have been running it through an upconverting DVD player and it really looks good. The STD DVDs when using the upconverting player will elicit a WOW!!! for sure. I am not disappointed even if I got off to a bad start. Charlie S.
Permanent Line on Screen 
2008-07-17
We bought this television a little over a year ago. In recent months it has developed a permenant vertical line on the screen at right about the point where non-letterbox content would be bracketed. For a television that is less than two years old, this is really disappointing and I would not buy another Toshiba LCD as a result of this.
Absolutely terrible! 
2008-07-10
We originally purchased this TV because of the great picture and the price was right. After three days, the monitor died. Sound would still come out, but there was no picture. We returned it to the store and, figuring it was a one-off defect, exchanged it for another of the same model. The new one lasted about three weeks before it started constantly flickering a gray screen. Again, the sound was fine. This time I exchanged it for a 40" Samsung at the same price.
My advice is to stay away from this model! It obviously has some sort of fatal manufacturing defect. It may seem like a good deal, but there's a reason the price is so reasonable. I'm going to be staying away from Toshiba from now on.
Best bang for the buck! 2008-07-07
I have been researching 42" flat pannels for about 6 months before I purchased this model. I almost went with a plasma but after loosing the coin toss went with LCD technology. I have been extremly happy with this model. The colors are very vivid and the blacks are very good, almost inky. I havent noticed any motion blur that you usually see on some lcd's so if you are a gamer like me this is a great tv for gaming. 360 through componet looks amazing, and when i get my ps3 i'm sure that will look just as sweet. SD programing ranges depending on source. My Satelite through Dish is hooked up with HDMI and all my HD programing looks crisp and clean. DVD is going through a Toshiba SD-6000 up converited player using hdmi, what a differance, not blue ray differance but my reg dvds have never looked so good. As with anything nothing is perfict my only complaint and this is a small complaint is the viewing angle, other than that best tv for the $$$.
IT'S WORTH THE MONEY 2008-06-29
I bought mine more than a year and a half ago, have had ANY problem with that given the fact that all its functions are used quite extensively. By the way i bought it from buydig.com; they have very good prices on most, not all, electronics and it arrived safe to me. they even put it into 2 boxes.
Terrible support, reliability. 2008-06-25
We purchased this model's relative, a Regza 42HL196, in September of 2006. In June of 2008, 20 months after purchase, the set failed totally, with a diagnosis of a bad lcd controller board. Toshiba does not sell this part separately (estimate cost $200-$400), but requires a full replacement of the panel which was quoted at $2789.70. This is $600 more than the price of the television. After waiting for customer service and a supervisor for 30 minutes, I was told that due to the age of the set, nothing could be done. Diagnosis cost $160 dollars as well.
Given Toshiba's unreliability, and exorbitant part replacement strategies, I would run, not walk, to their competitors.
