I've been offered this set, including stand, for $3,699 at our local Future Shop. Sounds like a great deal, but I have one question for those of you who own one. How good is the picture with non HDTV signals (analog or digital)? I have had bad experience in the past with a smaller HDTV ready Toshiba set. I couldn't get HDTV from our cable company, and the picture was very grainy on HDTV broadcasts.

Marty, read back through these posts and you will get lots of info. I have posted many times myself regarding PQ. It all depends what type of signal you receive as well. Same with DVD's, newer ones are awesome and older movies are very snowy.
Best thing you could do is find a store that has the tv and ask them to turn on regular tv, air antenna or bring some of your own dvd's. FS won't do that.
Then you can judge for yourself that way. I was at sony store and the LCD sets really dropped off once they turned off the HD tape player they had going and watching regular cable feed or an older dvd I brought.
But its all personal choice. Just dont sit to close the tv.

That's what I did. I heard that PQ was not as good using SD and understandably so. A high definition TV is built for high def signals and does not do all that well with only 480 lines of content when it is capable of displaying more than double that. I went into the store and asked them to switch over to an SD station. They switched to the Movie Network. I know from my own experience that the movie network is a bit clearer than many of the other SD channels. You can tell that even on a 480i television set. I asked him to turn on CTV in Ottawa. That gave me the true SD picture. Don't let them fool you by turning it onto TSN SD or Movie Network. DVDs look better than SD from the TV, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I am not equipped to tell anyone what's acceptable. It may or may not be acceptable to you. Only you can decide that.

Well, I managed to take the price down to $2499.99 for the 46HMX85 including the matching stand at Visions. I don't think I am going to get a much better deal than this so I am going to jump on it.:D

My 52" Toshiba 52hmx85 cost me $2999 including the matching black stand. I know some people got theirs for a bit less, but I still think I got a good deal.

I've been offered this set, including stand, for $3,699 at our local Future Shop. Sounds like a great deal, but I have one question for those of you who own one. How good is the picture with non HDTV signals (analog or digital)? I have had bad experience in the past with a smaller HDTV ready Toshiba set. I couldn't get HDTV from our cable company, and the picture was very grainy on HDTV broadcasts.

You should dump cable and go satellite for HDTV. Bell Expressvu offers the most number of HD channels (27 full time plus sports and PPV ones). Watching this TV in SD is a complete and utter waste......

If/when you have to watch SD on the Toshiba though its pretty decent.... Toshiba also offers superior 4:3 resizing options to Samsung DLP's (looks better).

Again though I can't emphasize enough... if you going to get this TV then you NEED HDTV. Spending 2-4k to watch SD is nuts (esp when satellite HD wiith Bell and a 6100 series HD receiver costs about $250 with free professional installation). Once you start watching HD programming you'll never want to watch SD again.

Kared

If you guys had to choose between the Toshiba 52HMX85 for $2800 and a Samsung R5064W for $2384 would you still go for the Toshiba - in other words is the picture that ($400) much better?

If you guys had to choose between the Toshiba 52HMX85 for $2800 and a Samsung R5064W for $2384 would you still go for the Toshiba - in other words is the picture that ($400) much better?

Thats a tough call (given the price). All I can say is i LOVE my 52HMX85. I was in the exact same dilema as your having in August. After reading about some lag issues with the Samsungs (with xbox/ps2 games) I went with the Toshiba (which doesn't have these issues - and I can verify this).

The samsung is great too though, but I prefer the styling of the Toshiba to the Samsung. Its slighly larger (which may or may not be a good thing for you), and it powers up (warms up) quicker than the Samsung, has a quieter fan as well, etc.

Kared

If you guys had to choose between the Toshiba 52HMX85 for $2800 and a Samsung R5064W for $2384 would you still go for the Toshiba - in other words is the picture that ($400) much better?

I would choose Toshiba. If you do some digging around on the web, you will find several problems with the Samsung DLPs. I've read everything from fingerprints on the inside of the screen that you cannot clean (on several of these TVs), to unable to stay in sync with video games, to poorer resolution on SD content. The Toshiba beats the Samsung hands down. Likely why there is a difference in price. You get what you pay for!

where did you buy this and does the price include a warranty?

Visions and Future Shop are both willing to offer me $2500 on the 52HMX95 if I buy an EW with them. I have decided yet as I am still waiting for all the 1080p DLPs to come out.

Hi Digital Canadian: Where are you located? I wonder if the Coquitlam FS would match your deal.

I also have just about decided on the 52HMX85, but am also waiting for the 56HM195. How much is FS asking for the extended warranty? I would probably like to make a deal for the TV, stand, EW, and either a Shaw HD box or BEV HD system (and maybe add in a Harmony 880 or 520).

Hi Digital Canadian: Where are you located? I wonder if the Coquitlam FS would match your deal.

I also have just about decided on the 52HMX85, but am also waiting for the 56HM195. How much is FS asking for the extended warranty? I would probably like to make a deal for the TV, stand, EW, and either a Shaw HD box or BEV HD system (and maybe add in a Harmony 880 or 520).

Hi KenW,

Futureshop is asking something like 560Can for a 5year warranty (which is negotiable). When I purchased my 52HMX85 A&B was only asking 320Can for the exactly same 5 year warranty (onsite). I'm not sure if theres an A&B location near you but it may be worth checking out.

As far as your choice of Shaw HD vs Bell Expressvu I strongly recommend going with ExpressVu. Here in Edmonton, shaw only offers 6 HDTV channels, whereas Expressvu offers 27 fulltime HD channels + sports/special event ones. I initially had the shaw HD box for 3 days, before returning it, dumping shaw and going with Bell, and have definately been happy the quality and variety of their HDTV programming.

I also own the Harmony 880 remote, works great with the 52HMX85 and all my devices.

Cheers,

Kared

Hi Kared:

Thanks for the info. There is an A&B here. How much did you pay for your 52HMX85. Did you get a stand also?

I am seriously considering switching to BEV, but I just moved into a townhome and am waiting to find out if the strata will allow dishes. However, I don't know how strong the rumour mill is in that I have heard Shaw will be adding 4 HD channels soon including TSN. If that is true, then I may just stick with Shaw as I like the Shaw Internet and the cost will be less for the package.

Hey all, just have to say thanks for all the info in this thread and the rest of this forum. Been shopping for a big screen TV for a few months now and saw a Toshiba I really liked at London Drugs yesterday, the 44HM85, but I'm a newbie to this stuff so I was doing some internet research and stumbled upon the wealth of information here.

After reading through this thread I'm now interested in looking at the 52HMX85 as well, but other than size I'm unsure what the differences between the 52HMX85 and 44HM85 mean. I'd really appreciate it if someone could help explain to me what the differences are, here's a link to both TV's on Toshiba's website:

52HMX85
http://www.toshiba.ca/web/product.grp?lg=en&section=2&group=6&product=5156

44HM85
http://www.toshiba.ca/web/product.grp?lg=en&section=2&group=6&product=4993

Thanks!:D

The biggest difference is that the HMX versions are black instead of silver, and the 52HMX85 has 2 HDMI inputs instead of only 1 like on the 44HM85.

ok, thanks. If that's the only difference then I'll probably go for the 44HM85.

Hi emichon:

I am trying to compare the 52HM85, 52HMX85, and 46HMX85. Looking at the specs on the three (http://www.toshiba.ca/web/compare), I find that on the HMX models they list a "12 lens optical system", but it is not listed under the 52HM85. Does this mean the 52HM does not have the 12 lens system? If not, what does it have, and what is the advantage (if any) that the 12 lens system have?

If anyone knows the answer, I would appreciate hearing from you. Thanks.

Or you could always go for the 46HMX85 for like an extra $200. It would just be a bit bigger than the 44, and Im pretty sure it comes with 2 HDMI (The specs on Toshiba.ca are not coming up for some reason). I would still like to get more HDMI's on a TV, but I guess that's all we can get for now. Unless you want to pay like $500 for a switcher.

Hi emichon:

I am trying to compare the 52HM85, 52HMX85, and 46HMX85. Looking at the specs on the three (http://www.toshiba.ca/web/compare), I find that on the HMX models they list a "12 lens optical system", but it is not listed under the 52HM85. Does this mean the 52HM does not have the 12 lens system? If not, what does it have, and what is the advantage (if any) that the 12 lens system have?

If anyone knows the answer, I would appreciate hearing from you. Thanks.

I'm not even sure what that is exactly. Does anyone here know?

Why would I need more than one HDMI if I only have one HD receiver? Do I need one for a normal progressive scan DVD? The 52HM85 and 46HMX85 each have only one HDMI, whereas the 52HMX85 has two.