Toshiba Regza 42X3000P 42 inch HD Ready 1080p TV Review

I was searching for a HD ready 1080p TV in the maximum size for a reasonable price for our Test lab based in Germany.
1080p was a fixed requirement to have a test bed for full HD devices like the Sony PS3 and HD disc players.
Pretty quickly the choice came down to the Toshiba Regza 42X3000P 42 inch HDTV as the low price and the high-end specifications are currently unmatched on the German TV market.
Toshiba managed to strike a balance between necessary quality and saving on unimportant aspects to come in at a low price point for a 42 inch full high resolution TV.

Gallery

10 images

Benchmarks

Performance highlights of the Toshiba Regza 42X3000P (similar to 42X3030D but without digital TV Tuner) include 6.000:1 contrast ratio, 500 cd/m² brightness, 8 msec response time, active backlight control, PIXEL PROcessing III PRO, 3D color management and Cross Color Noise Suppression.

Setup / Installation
The 42X3000P comes well packaged with good setup instructions that you need to mount the bundled table stand. The manufacturing quality of the set and the table stand is excellent and very solid. The turn able table stand is mounted on the Regza with five screws. With the bundled tool the assembly is quickly finished.

Performance / Usage
After switching on the 42X3000P a setup menu appears that lets you choose your language. Next up the TV scans the TV channels, which it does surprisingly fast.
After that the setup is finished and the 42 inch beauty is ready to use. Speaking of beauty - the piano black canvas looks elegant and the silver line on the bottom edge gives the 42X3000P a clean look.

Besides cable TV, I connected an Apple TV, a Sony PS3 console, a Nintendo Wii, a notebook and a 1080p DVD Player to the 42X3000P. By connecting all 5 devices all interfaces in the back are used. Only the component interface on the side is still free.
Here is definitely one aspect where Toshiba saved some cost, by only providing 2 HDMI ports. Another cost saving point is the simplistic port design on the backside of the TV. It is functional, but does not make a high-end impressions.

Now to the image quality of the Toshiba Regza 42X3000P. The brightness of the display is right away impressive. The image is a bit fuzzy on normal TV programming. The automatic scaling of 4:3 TV programs to use full screen works well and fast. Details like small text on the SD TV material tend to smear. The SD quality of the 50 inch HD Ready Panasonic Plasma HDTV I have here is by far better.

When connecting the Sony PS3 and using 1080p output the Toshiba Regza 42X3000P shows what it really is made for. The HD image is stunning and very crisp. Game footage looks sharp and clear.
The Nintendo Wii games look alright on the Toshiba Regza 42X3000P, obviously not as good as the PS3 games. The Toshiba Regza 42X3000P works great with the Apple TV. The startup sequence of the Apple TV looks already very cool. I tested Youtube on the Apple TV and depending on the video quality the experience watching Youtube Videos on a 42 inch is a very nice one.
The notebook is connected via the VGA port and used it to watch US Cable TV over a Slingbox, which also works decent. A Slingbox Pro with connected HD equipment would obviously offer a better image quality.

As a last point I like to address the sound quality. As with most flat screen TVs the sound is not that great. It is the same with the 42X3000P. The sound is usuable, but if you want real surround and building shacking bass you need to connect a surround sound system or a Yamaha Soundprojector.

Verdict

Conclusion

Overall Toshiba delivers with the 42X3000P a very affordable 42 inch HD Ready 1080p TV ideal for the Sony PS3, HD Cable or Blu-ray and HD DVD devices. It is not ideal for standard definition TV watching, but it works well enough. The piano black canvas gives the 42X3000P a high-end appearance. The manufacturing is solid and functional. Toshiba cut cost on the number of available HDMI ports and simplistic rear panel design.

Pros

• Image Quality in HD modes
• High Brightness and Contrast
• Great Tablestand
• Clean front design
• Low Cost

Cons

• Only 2 HDMI ports
• standard SD scaler

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