RD50 or Tosh46

I was going to buy the Tosh46WM48 ( or perhaps the 52WM ) then I read the report in the latest edition of What Video & Widescreen which rated the Themescene ( Optoma ) RD50 as being better.
Whilst the latter is approx £2k , as opposed to £1,490 for the Tosh46 , I would be prepared to pay for the RD50 if it has the reported PQ advantage.
I have seen the Tosh46 in Comet but can't find anywhere locally to view the RD50.
Can anyone please give any guidance?

regards

Tony

 

I have and Rd65.

The picture on the Optoma is far better than the tosh's. But the rd range can not play 60hz without juddering and Optomas customer service is one of the worst I have come across.

If you can live without 60hz playback (NTSC/region 1dvd's/consoles) then I would go for the Optoma. If not try looking at the 50' samsung which is reportedly got a better picture than the RD50. If you have a HTPC you can reduce the judder through a program called powerstrip. Its the only way you can watch region 1 dvds without massive judder. It doesnt cure the problem only reduce it (80% improvement).

I find the tosh's pics lack depth and in my opinion nothing that special compared to the other makes of dlp sets, its just cheap in price.

Try and demo the sets with a good dvi connection and your favourite dvd's if possible.

 

I can recomend the RD50 it's only got one problem playing region one(NTSC) DVDs you need a PC
to play them. I don't need to use powerstrip, if you intend to use a HTPC ( & this is the easiest way to watch high definition material ) this is the set to go for at this price point.
more info on
http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=178593
http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=180377

 

That is a completely unreasonable comment

PQ is totally down to personal preference. Just cos you dont like something doesn't make it bad.

 

Try the Samsung SP50L7HXX 50 a gorgeous looking set if u can afford it, picture quality is supposed to be very good i saw it in Currys & it had the worst picture quality in the store all the sets were showng the same tv picture. but you should not judge a set on the picture quality from what u see in a store like Comets or Currys unless you make sure they demo it properly any TV feed they have is very likely to be poor.
I havent seen the Tosh demo'ed so i can't comment there might be some feedback about the relative picture quality of the different DLP set's from the show in Bristol this weekend.
If say 50 people view the different makes of set's in good conditions a consensus will emerge as to which one is better but some people will prefer the worst performing set which is why it is so important to demo the sets properly as it's your own opinion that matter's the most to you.

 

I stand by my comment and if you read it properly it says 'in my opinion'. Evan the magazines back this comment up. Just because you have a tosh set can no one give their opinion on the set if it is not in it favour?

The sagem, optoma, samsung sets IN MY OPINION have a better picture. When I saw the tosh I wasnt impressed at all, this was at the toshiba stand at the hifi show at Hammersmith.

If your happy with your set that is fine. All you have to do is say so.

I have a £4000 65' dlp set that cant play region 1 dvds without causing motion sickness (judder tiem). Doesnt mean if someone asks me how the set performs I will not bring this issue up. If you look at all my posts I am the first person to say that Optoma sets are rubbish at 60hz material.

The person who started this forum wanted advice from different people on the tosh and optoma sets. I have given my honest opinion and if my opinion insults your purchase then tough. The magazine reviews have stated that the tosh lacks depth, are you going to write to them complaining of this issue. Have you seen the Optoma or samsung set set up properly to compare to the tosh if you have I can not see how you would disagree with my comments.

My comments are not ment to insult only guide, The tosh is a cheap entry to dlp ownership. It is not the best DLP set money can buy. In fact all the dlp sets have faults with them, none of them are perfect. Mores the pitty.

 

IMHO utter rubbish. I've seen both and prefer the the Tosh regardless of price. The quality is excellent and PQ is pretty much the same as any other DLP, they all are pretty much the same, don't believe the hype. When playing HD it has a great picture and is not in any way less than other sets. Take a look for yourself and make up your own mind.

 

Mrmoo

You are entitled to your opinion and I respect it. Thats what these forums are for. Peoples input.

I agree with your comment 'Take a look for yourself and make up your own mind'. Which is what I suggested to tony in my first post. 'Try and demo the sets with a good dvi connection and your favourite dvd's if possible'.

I still prefer the Optomas pic, especially on the 65 inch screen. But if another larger set came out with 60 hz compatibility I would hesitate to swap (as long as the pic was up to scratch). These sets are to new and havent had the time to mature, I am sure in 2 years time this will change. I could not and would not recommend the rd range for anyone with a large region 1 collection usless they have a pc set up with their dlp set. Their customer service is also terrible to say the least. Other posts from forum members will support this.

By the way the RD65 via DVI and HD are out of this world. Its like looking out a window.

 

Oooohh, listen to her!!

Like I said - the fact you don't like it doesn't make it bad set. You'll find more than enough people around her that are pleased with all aspecys of the Tosh, particularly the price.

I didn't buy it because it was "cheap" - like £1500 is cheap anyway - more that it offered the best compromise in picture, looks, price and future proofing. I looked at Optoma, Samsung and the Sagem by the way.

The Tosh got a 5star review in What TV & Home Cinema too, so you may want to get yer facts straight on the review front too.

PS I would never pick faults in another persons choice normally, but was it the stunning design of the Optoma that made you plump for it or it's inherent NTSC problems?

 

I've just watched "The Amazon" IMAX WMVHD 1080i DVD on my Tosh with DVI-D to HDMI and its like looking out a window without the glass in.

 

LOL
My window has pvc in it...... Will it look better if I take it out?

BTW

Have you seen the praying mantis? 3.83 gig

 

As Razor said peoples opinions will differ and that’s what so good about forums you can and will get differing views but please lets not get into a silly slanging match of my TV is so much better than yours, judging by the money you’ve all spent on your TV’s I am to assume that you are all adults.

Back on topic:-
For the record I don't like the Tosh either.
Out of the sets I've reviewed so far the (sagem the samsung and the tosh) the tosh was by far the worst picture, it just looked very ordinary and lacked the wow factor of the Sagem, I think the non reflective screen helps.
I also preferred the look of the sagem the toshiba is just too wide it would have been far better if the speakers could have detached and the stand wasn't as wide.

But that is my opinion and my opinion alone you don’t have to agree with me

 

What was the source? If the set had a rubbish PQ it would have gone back ASAP. I can't fault it playing HDTV or high bitrate DVD on HDMI the picture has all the wow you could want. Just the same as the other sets. And I'm paranoid, if I think something is wrong. I'll play the same clip over and over with different inputs and memorise the detail levels and artefacts. I tried the tosh and the Sagem on the same day with the same source , Spiderman 2 (superbit) and the only comment I had was that the Sagem's white's looked a bit, I dunno, false or uniform. And the Sagem PQ looked a bit softer than the Toshiba's harsh/sharp, I preferred the latter.

 

Thank you billy.

It seems that i am not the only person that has this opinion of the tosh set.

Dale

Im sorry I think your tosh set aint the bees knees but that is my opinion. Live with it.

As for saying £1500 aint cheap well I beg to differ. I was looking at a HD2 chip for the HD resoultion 1 year ago on a front projector (infocus 7205) and the cost was nearer £5000 and thats without leads and a screen, installation which would of totaled over £7000. It would of dominated my front room and the viewing would have to be in semi darkness. The fact that I can have a 65' HD DLP screen in my front room for £4000 is cheap. Considering that plasma displays cost over £10,000 for a screen of this size and the pic is inferior.

If you look at this thread it will explain why I bought the RD65. It was advertised as NTSC compatible and I demoed the set at Optomas Headquaters in Watford and at the show. I was one of the first five people to recieve this set in the UK. Needless to say I wasnt happy with Optoma or the set.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=171415

The picture on the Rd65 is stunning and I'll do the 'Pepsi' change with the tosh any day of the week for picture quality. You say and I quote

'I didn't buy it because it was "cheap" - like £1500 is cheap anyway - more that it offered the best compromise in picture, looks, price and future proofing'

When I bought the RD65 I wasnt thinking of compromise's. I just wanted the best large screen DLP I could buy, I was willing to spend £8,000, I looked at the Sim2 and wasnt blown away, the pictures were very dull. It looked like you were viewing through a set of tights.

As for the design the RD65 is a good looking set have you seen one, in the flesh? Piano black finish, brushed aluminium on front and only 56cm deep. It does weighs in at near 16 stone tho. I personally didnt like the speakers on the side of the tosh, I have no use for speakers it was a shame that it wasnt detachable, If these could be removed the tosh is a good looking set, I like the look of the HD-45. Ideal. Samsung is also top in stlye.

http://www.themescene.tv/PDF/RD65/RD65FaxableDS.pdf

So in answer to your last question I picked the RD65 for its superior picture quality and its looks, I was not aware that it could not display NTSC/Region 1.

If you are happy with your set then what I think should not bother you.

 

Tony6403 reading these posts it seems a lot of people have purchase justification syndrome i expect all these sets look very good especially with high def material.
I can't really comment on the Tosh as i've never seen it demo'ed properley.
The Rd50 is a great set with a PC. In a couple of years most people will have a home theatre PC in place of a DVD player video recorder ect you can buy a good one now for around £800 in 2 years they will probably cost around £200.
Here's a pic of the RD50 in action with a PC helping out. Its a Hidef program Alien insect praying mantiss
Camera was a £130 Kodak 4MP easyshare DX7440 & in my honest opinion
the picture does not do justice to the RD50 .I've had friends round to watch it &
u can hear their jaws hitting the floorboards.

Tosh owners i've shown you mine let's see yours

 

Many thanks for the opinions. I didn't think that there would be so much depth of feeling about TV sets !
It seems to me from what you have said that , bearing in mind that my DVDs are all region 2 , I should buy the RD50 .
I don't want there to be blood on the carpet , but what home cinema package would you advise would work well with the RD50 .
I am thinking that the Denon 500 SD would be appropriate.
I'll try to avoid the flak.

 

Nothing like a flame war to brighten things up a bit i don't suppose any of us take it too seriously.
I doubt if any Tosh owners can post a picture as good as mine. They would have to use a Hidef source as good as mine was & know something about Photography.
Don't forget you are the best judge so get a demo.
Can't help u on the sound side as i don't know enough about that side of things

 

Lets not get into flame wars here and help out the bloke. I have just bought a toshiba mate and im a newbie when it comes to rptv dlp plasma etc etc. In fact having only bought crt all my life this was a big step forward for me, and dropping £1500 on a tv was huge as i aint made of money. The toshiba imho having owned it for 2 days now is a huge step up from crt when veiwing dvds playing xbox etc when veiwing sky its a let down its all down to the source you watch. I think if money is a factor and you want a tv that is high def ready has lots of connections is future proff gives you a really nice pic source depending then go for the tosh. If money is no object buy the most expensive highest speced tv you can find and enjoy hehe.

 

supermackem i'm sure you are very happy with your Tosh for most people any of these DLP set's will be a big step up in quality to what they were used to at least with a decent source, BUT it does not mean that all DLP sets have the same quality picture.
One of the hifi mags out now reviews the Samsung 50" the Optoma RD50 & the Tosh they gave the Samsung & Optoma 5 stars & the Tosh 4 stars they also praised the Optoma for having the best vertical viewing angles.
*tip any make of DLP watching a poor source ( don't need to do it much on my set)*
Use a PC with a TV card & shrink the picture untill you get good quality .

 

i'm not being funny but st ve do u always believe what u see in these mags!!!there is so much back handers that goes on in these mags are unbelivable as u said earlier your self u have not seen the tosh running true hidef so how can we comment!!!???me i have seen the rd50 running true hidef and i thought it was amazing a few weeks ago i put a post up talking about the rd50 the tosh and got a reply from a chap that went to the states before xmas and he had seen both sets running on hidef and said the PQ was the same he could not notice any different.all we are getting at the moment is people praising the sets they own and we are getting very one sided comments the only true thing i know at the moment all these dlp are great sets and not being funny i could have had any1 of them my 1st choice was the samsung but did not have the room for it im in a small flat i can only just get away with the tosh

 

of course there are differences between different DLP-TVs.

Your are implicating: Same technology -> same quality

That is wrong,

you do not go out and say : "I need a new car.....so they are all the same , have four wheels" so i`lll take the cheapest.

Thats just ****.

the dlp sets have different colour wheels, some have HD2 others HD2+ Chip and they do have different lamps with maybe different spectrums´. The manufactors also use differrent projection walls which differ.

So it`s not all the same......

its just what you need and what you like.
Theoretically they should all look the same when playing HighDef material, but the do not.

Colours vary from set to set, some have more noise.......

I have only seen the Sagem 50"(not the Optoma RD50), and it has the best picture i have seen ever in my live, I`ve also seen the Samsung L7 and I think it isn`t that good. very small amount of light, I did not see to much in the much-lightend shop.
I also did not like the HD45, I found the picture much too sharp, and you don`t get that nice "i am llooking through a window" effect I had on the Axium 50".

I am afraid it maybe the HD2+ chip i do not like.
maybe it is the other lamp. The Axium 45 lamp is cheaper than the 50" lamp.

I`ve never seen the RD50, but I believe it has comparable pic quality that the Sagem 50" has.

I will buy the Sagem 50" or the Optoma RD50 soon.

I cannot decide which way to go. Sagem 50" is cheaper and I`ll get "at-home-service", while I have to send the Optoma back to the store if I have a defect for repairing.
Although I don`t know if I`ll like the pic quality from Optoma RD50 HD2+ as much as the Sagem 50" HD2. maybe some people preferthe HD2 Chip (i didnt like the pic from HD45)

 

Kourosh of course i don't believe everything i see in the newspapers,magazines,TV ect i use them as a guide & if i am interested in something i check the sources.I allways tell people to get a demo my older brother was partially colour blind & a good picture to him looked awfull to everybody else.

Talking of checking sources i checked your posts it was not the Optoma RD50 you saw but the Sagem 50" the sets look the same apart from the sagem being silver & RD50 darkgray/black the sagem50 has the HD2 chip which is an older generation of DLP chip The RD50 & the Tosh & Samsung 50" have the HD2+ chip not the same thing at all.
With the Optoma Rd50 the Image processing is carried out by the Faroudja DCDi The Toshiba uses it's own processor to upscale the image to 1280x720 so you would expect there to be some difference in picture quality one way or the other. The screen they use would also make a difference the RD50 is said to have a good viewing angle compared to the other DLP set's (havent checked myself u would have to take a stepladder into Comet's because they are all mounted high)
to refresh your memory here's the posts you were talking about

Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: portsmouth
Posts: 82
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HI kableman i went for the tosh it was more of i had 2 my first choice was the samsung 50" but my girlfriend didnt like it i could have got it for £2640 with 5yr warrenty but as she was lending me the money i sought of had no choice also my front room is not very big and it would of looked a bit stupid i think ive not seen the tosh with hd but i put a post up about 2 weeks ago and some 1 replied saying he had seen it in with high def picture and it was as good as the 50" sagem thats running at high def and ive seen the sagem and was quite impressed i got the tosh from contacts as i work for sony i paid £1480 inc deliv which aint to bad ive also ordered the panasonic s97 and the panasonic saxr70 home cinema amp which has hdmi in and out so im looking forward to thursday got the day off gonna spend the whole day setting


Trader Rating: (0)
Hi Kourosh,
It took me months to decide which TV to go for having considered plasmas then lcd's and finally dlp's. Then which dlp? I had it down to the Sagem 50 or the Tosh 46. Personally I believe the Tosh is a better looking set than the Sagem but thats subjective.
Then I saw the hi-def demo on the Sagem in Comet and wanted the Sagem for what I believed was a better PQ than the Tosh. Then I was in the US a few weeks ago and saw the Tosh displaying various hi-def channels (lots of them in the US) and realised the Tosh picture was easily as good as the Sagem. Finally, when I realised that the Sagem might have a problem with receiving 'pure' hi-def pictures in the future due to the lack of an HDMI interface my mind was made-up to go for the Tosh. I am now sitting in my lounge waiting for delivery this afternoon of my Tosh !! BTW - I got the Tosh for 1482 delivered from Sound and Vision.

 

sorry 2 have mistaken the tv's but as you said they do look identical

 

No probs it's easy done if u checked my post's you'll see i've been wrong often enough but i have tried to edit the mistakes i don't change what i said but i do add a correction or just post a correction.
The review of the DLP set's in that mag seemed fair enough but there were some glaring omissions
it didn't review the Sagem Hd 50" but did include two older set's that i haven't seen mentioned anywhere in this DLP rear projection TV forum.
As i said before i haven't seen a proper demo of the Tosh but i'm surprised nobody's reported on the show in Bristol they've just had , would of thought it was the ideal place to go & compare the set's.

50" is better than 45" for me & prob anyone else who's got the room.
They need to have 40" DLP set's as well to cater for the smaller rooms many people have in this country.
*that mag review didn't even mention the problem the RD50 has with region 1 DVD's the worst thing about these magazines is how out of date they are

 

st ve do you know if they even had the set at bristol? your right about the 50" that was my 1st choice im about 11ft away from my set at the moment the set has taken over the room my room is 14ft by 8ft not very big i saw from your earlier post you run your set of your pc to watch hidef films and stuff i have a pentium 4 3.2 pc its a packard bell entertainment pc i can record and pause tv it dont have a dvi input what would i need to watch these films thanks

 

I don't know what set's were on display at Bristol i would have thought they'd have all been there.
First thing would be to get hold of some hidef material u can buy some hidef movies but be carefull of buying any R1 as they have DRM (digital rights management) & they won't play over here ' there are ways around DRM but i imagine most people would be stuck with something that they couldn't watch.
Theres a microsoft site where u can dowload trailers & buy material .
You can download hidef material from the newsgroups (not a good idea for PC newbies)
A good option would be to google keydone (not sure of the spelling might have got the letters mixed up)
if i were you just download a trailer from
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/content_provider/film/AboutHDVideo.aspx
look under related links/content showcase
Connect your PC to the tosh i imagine it takes a vga cable & you'll probably have to select PC in the menu i'm sure i've heard tosh owners saying a PC resolution of 1280X1024 works i don't believe the Tosh does a true 1280x720 with the PC (i'm sure there's plenty of tosh owner's will confirm or slap me down on this ) & try out the trailer.Try out a couple of DVD's with the PC suggest downloading Windvd6 or PowerDVD6 demos you might find the PC does a better job than your DVD player?
I think your dvd player has a DVI input ? you should get a HDMI to DVI lead for your DVD player & a Nvidia 6600GT fanless graphics card with a DVI output for your PC using the DVI output will give you a big jump in quality with the PC & with a decent DVD player (have seen reports that one or two of the cheaper DVD players give a worse picture with DVI than conponent output.)
For the long term build or buy a HTPC (home theatre PC) that is where the fanless bit of a 6600gt card comes in
try this thread for some info on a HTPC
http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=189859

* Another top tip courtesy of grandad tips : ditch internet explorer & use Opera instead
a lot safer than IE much faster ;tabbed windows ;instant back & forwards to a depth of about 50 on each tab you have; my favourite is mouse gestures; hundreds of different skins u can change the skin in an instant; every aspect of it is improved over IE they are releasing a new version in March that supports voice activation & it's free does have an advert in one corner though *

 

http://www.avforums.com/forums/article.php?a=250

Yeah right,,

 

i was wrong on that i take it none of them were screengrabs? but proper picture's
what camera was u using
Have to point out in my defence that you used a much tighter focus on the screen while i showed the a wider picture that included the tv set if i had just shot the screen i would have shown more detail but i think your pictures would have still been better what was the hidef source u used.

 

No screengrabs, all autofocus on an old Fuji MX1700. I cropped the wider frame to tidy it up abit. The source was an 1080i DVD called Amazon via an ATI X800XTPE graphics card.

 

I concede total defeat
a screengrab would give a better picture & look more like what u see in the flesh but it is cheating.
These DLP sets are high definition monitors i have seen the sagem50 & the RD50 with highdef & if anyone wants to get a flavour of how they look with highdef material just download a hidef trailer
& watch it on your computer monitor & then imagine the same quality at 50"