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Let’s be honest. Toshiba doesn’t generally make TVs with all the bells and whistles you’d find on some Korean tellies. Neither are its models as sparsely populated with extras as Panasonic‘s excellent but rather straightforward sets. Toshiba is, like its TVs, a company aiming for the mid-market. That’s possibly what makes its Regza 42RV635 so appealing.
Its 42-inch screen is the perfect size for most people. It’s a useful increase over the 32 and 37-inch models and not as room-dominating as 50 or 56-inch TVs. It seems remarkable that less than five years ago we were lusting over a 36-inch CRT. And we’re certain it cost a good deal more than this 42-incher — capable of displaying HD video at 1080p — which at around £700 is a comparative bargain.
The 42RV635 does have some funky extras. It comes with Toshiba’s Resolution+ technology, which aims to ‘upscale’ SD-quality video to the realms of HD. Frankly, we’ve never been that impressed — it’s just a bit of edge enhancement. You might feel differently though, and it’s certainly worth experimenting to see if you like the effect.
You also get Toshiba’s AutoView, which aims to reduce power consumption and improve contrast by automatically adjusting the picture brightness to the ambient light levels. Active Vision II takes care of making sure you get the best quality picture, and we’ve always liked the way Toshiba has handled picture processing in the past. You also get an off switch. A proper one, mind — you know, like you used to get on every piece of consumer electronics. You’ll also find the usual complement of inputs, such as four HDMIs and component, Scart and VGA connections for all your video-input needs.
You’ll have to wait until we’ve reviewed this screen to find out how it performs in our tests. But let’s just say, from what we’ve seen so far, it’s a smart little TV capable of doing HD very nicely. We’ll publish our full review soon, so keep our TV reviews channel bookmarked.
