LCD TV Reviews Blog

Toshiba REGZA 42ZV650U 42 Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with ClearScan 240 Black

The ZV650 Series takes LCD TV to the next level of picture quality, design, and features. ClearScan 240 raises the bar for picture clarity with fast motion video, the Deep Lagoon design creates a new level of design elegance, and the long list of new features and next-gen connectivity are more than you could ever expect. If you love watching Sports or Action Movies, ClearScan 240 will put a smile on your face. REGZA LCD TV with ClearScan 240 will make you feel like part of the action. ClearScan 240 combines 120 frames per second with a new advanced Backlight Scanning System to create a 240 Hz Effect. REGZA LCD TV with ClearScan 240 creates such a new level of picture clarity with motion video that you won’t know whether to stay glued to your seat, or to jump from it. You may watch TV at night in a dark room, but sometimes you may keep the lights on and have a bright room, or watch the game on Sunday afternoon with even brighter sunlight coming through the windows. Extra room light can lower the contrast on some TVs, but with CrystalCoat, you don’t have to worry. CrystalCoat stops ambient room light reflections from washing out the picture, creating 30%+ better contrast in bright rooms. Now you can enjoy the deep high contrast REGZA picture in all room light conditions. If you have ever been bothered by loud TV commercials or inconsistent volume when changing channels, Dolby Volume technology is the solution. Advanced algorithms monitor the audio during programs, when commercials start, and when changing channels. Louder programming is brought down, while lower programming is brought up. This ensures a consistent volume level with full dynamic range at all times. You can now watch your movies or videos, view your digital pictures, or even listen to your digital music, by just connecting a USB hard drive or flash drive to the USB Port on the TV. If your digital camera uses an SD memory

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Black Border !
I have had this TV for a few weeks now. It is the first LCD-TV that I bought. I am very happy with it. I connected it to one of my PC which I am using it right now to write this review as a PC-monitor. The resolution is great. I added a Blu-Ray internal drive for less than $60 (player software included) to this PC and have been watching Blu-Ray movie with this set up. The pictures were stunning clear and beautiful on many of the movies.

In the beginning… there is a black border around the picture. For a while I did not know what to do. I notice that there are a few selections for the picture size: full, theater wide 1-3, 4:3 and native. Native gives the best resolution but with the black border while theater wide would cut off the picture but use all the screen. My PC equip with an ATI graphic adapter and the following was what I did to resolve the black border issue. If you have a different graphic adapter, there may be a similar solution.

Open Catalyst Control Center(CCC)

Go to desktops & displays

Right click on the small monitor icon on the bottom left corner

Choose configure.

Note: CCC showed that this TOSHIBA REGZA 42ZV650U reported a maximum refresh rate of 75Hz, which is the best that I seen on a LCD flat panel. There are many setting here, but do not apply any setting that your monitor do not support.

Select HDTV Support tab, and check the box that show the Correct Display Format that your LCD support. Click on apply after everything is set.

Other information: Vista 64, Catalyst Version 9.8, ATI Radeon HD 3870, DVI-HDMI cable, and this TOSHIBA REGZA 42ZV650U.

5 Stars Very nice
This is a great tv. It was a snap to connect. My mom liked it, so she bought one too.

1 Star Regza is a defective line
I’ve had 2 of these broken within 16 months and 1 at my parents house. This leads me to believe that there is a major quality problem with Toshiba or at the very least the Regza line. The repair is 4 times more expensive than a new unit and Toshiba referred me to a repair shop that does not accept any credit/debit cards only CASH and, as I found out later, is on BBB’s “red list”. Surely, I was charged hundreds of dollars for “diagnostics” and the TV was returned to me in its original condition(broken). Toshiba took no actions and continues to send its customers to the same service center(I checked). Just be careful with your money.

4 Stars Great TV
I ended up buying this tv at Best Buy (they matched the price that Amazon provided) 2 months ago. The image quality is great!

I am a bit confused, I thought that the Xbox 360 was not able to produce 1080p resolution (I have the white one with component connections), but the tv says otherwise?

The only other issue was with the sound(why it only rates 4 stars from me). When I first bought the TV I was using its speakers. After an hour of playing a Blu-ray movie the sound would sometimes start freaking out on me. I would start hearing echoes and robotic type noises that got progressively worse. When I would turn the TV off the Blu-Ray player would also turn off so i would have to wait 3-5min before resuming my movie. After rebooting, everything was fine. Once I hooked up the surround sound system I have never had any problems.

Once reading the manuel, I learned that the Toshiba logo can also be turned off, it got annoying sometimes during films.

Beware surround sound users, some receivers downgrade the image quality. You will also need to buy another HDMI cable (Blu-Ray player to receiver, then the other cable from the receiver to the tv) and make sure they will support 240hz!

5 Stars Great value – awesome features for less than a grand
I swore based on many online and magazine ratings to only purchase either a Sony or Samsung LCD TV (same manufacturing anyways). I never really considered the Toshiba Regza line until I saw it on display at an architectural exhibit. The colors and detail were absolutely stunning. Despite what CNET described as not that good, the darks were actually really visible and even more so because Toshiba added a more detailed color tweaking menu for the videophiles out there. The menu is VERY simple to understand – and my particular favorite navigation part is the ability to switch inputs so quickly using the left/right toggle buttons.

The sound quality is amazing. There are many built in options here as well. Dolby sound, surround, etc. The speakers are so well hidden and yet sound great.

Other features I love are all the HDMI inputs, an SD Card slot (we can watch slide shows from people’s cameras), and the USB port (WOW you can watch DIVX movies, listen to MP3s etc from an external drive!!!)

I haven’t really given the Clearscan 240 feature a chance yet because I’m waiting for the football games on sunday, but I’m very happy so far with the 120Hz smooth performance. Again, excellent value for all the features you get.

Buy/More Info