I searched this forum for answers to my TV buying questions but only found a couple of two-year-old threads. So let's start again...

I'd like to buy a new flatscreen, HD TV. I'm really impressed by the up and coming Vizio brand sold at Costco. The prices of plasma and LCD aren't too far apart. Which is preferred these days?

And in reading the old threads there was a lot of geek-speak about cables and connections and such. Is that still relevant and what else do I need to buy?

I have Dish Network. Will they help me get connected or can I do it myself right out of the box?

We're going to buy a Sony. When Doc gets off the phone, I'll ask you which one it is. I know it's the one that fits in my entertainment center. And they recently announced an upgrade to it at the big convention in Las Vegas. That's about it.

We have Dish, too. :)

Adrienne

Have not taken the Plasma Plunge yet. I can't see spending $5,000 for a 60" plasma set quite yet.

We went with this, instead...

http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/detail/detail.do?group=televisions&type=televisions&subtype=dlptv&model_cd=HLT6187SX/XAA

Depth is only 14", weighs about 70 lbs, full 1080p HD, 3 HDMI inputs, LED Light engine.

This will do until the OLED TV's come out. We're quite pleased. You can see every hair on Sean Hannitys head.

I got a Vizio 47" LCD a few weeks ago and am pretty happy with it. Consumer Reports ranked their brand pretty highly - to go better, you would pay 2-3x in price for the Sony Bravia's.

On the LCD/Plasma debate, it boils down to a couple of considerations. Any more, LCD and Plasma have the same lifespan. (It used to be that plasmas didn't last as long as LCD, but they have improved the quality quite a bit). Plasmas have a bit faster response time than LCDs, but most people can't tell a difference unless you get a 60"+ screen. They also show the color black much sharper. But, the downside to plasma is the glass screen. If your TV will face a window, plasma is a poor choice because of reflections. The glass also makes the TV much heavier. Plasma is a bit less expensive, but not substantially so.

Screen resolution is another consideration. In order of best to worst, they go 1080p (Full- or True-HD), 1080i, 720p, 720i, 480p, 480i (standard TV). If you are getting anything larger than 42", try for 1080p. If you are getting smaller than 42", 720p is fine - you won't be able to tell the difference. The numbers refer to the number of pixels that make up the height of the picture. So, 480 says that the picture if 480 pixels high. 1080 means the same picture uses 1080 pixels high to render the image. It is the same principal as printers - the more pixels, the sharper the image. p vs i refers to how the image is drawn - progressive scan vs interlaced. Progressive scan is always a sharper image since every line is drawn every time, and is the preferred format for the longer term.

As for connectors, it depends on the connector from your video source. In order of best connection to worst, your preference should be HDMI, Component, S-Video, Composite. Only HDMI and Component will give you true HD. Much of the equipment on the market today downgrades component video to 720p or 480p. (This is because of copy protection concerns). So, in all cases where you have a choice, choose an HDMI connection over component. One thing about cables - sales people will try to push Monster or equivalent HDMI cables. In most home environments, any HDMI cable is fine - you don't need to spend a ton of money on a fancy cable. HDMI sends its data digitally (1's and 0's), so either the signal gets there, or it doesn't. Anything more is a waste of money. (The only exception is if the cable needs to be longer than 6 feet in length. If you need a longer cable, get a name-brand one, as cheap cables longer than 6' can start to lose the signal integrity.)

As for Dish, I can't speak exactly for them, since we have DirecTV. But, this should be valid for Dish too. If you already have Dish HD service, you will probably need to install the TV yourself. But, if you don't have Dish HD, you will need to contact them to upgrade your service - and your equipment. You will need a new receiver to get the HD signals - and very likely a new dish, too. In many cases, the upgrade and installation should be done at a minimum cost or even free. YMMV, however. If they have to do a new installation, then they will usually connect the TV for you as part of that install.

I'm not making any recommendations because I don't have enough experience or knowledge about alternatives. I can only really talk about what we have.

We bought the Maxent 58" plasma (http://www.maxentusa.com/_coreModules/eShopping/productDetail.aspx?productMasterID=39) from Costco for around $1800. Paid for it with the Costco American Express so it adds to our annual cash refund. The HD picture, with DirecTV (see below) is simply gorgeous. Delicious. The SD picture (non-HD) is only average, but we watch mostly HD and DVDs so it's acceptable. It's mounted on the wall above the fireplace, and weighs a whopping 145 pounds--make sure you get a wall mount that can handle the weight and either spring for professional installation or find some strong friends to help.

We have the 37" Vizio LCD (also from Costco, around $700) upstairs and it's worked out very well. The LCD vs. plasma debate seems to come down to size; my understanding (use at your own risk) is that LCD is better for 40-45" and below, and plasma is better for larger sizes. That rule does hold true for prices: LCDs tend to be more expensive than plasmas for sizes larger than 45" or so, and vice-versa.

The research I did on "unknown" brands like Maxent and Vizio vs. the name brands concludes that there are only a small number of factories in Asia making large flat-panel TVs, and all of the companies selling them buy their parts and whatnot from the same suppliers. In particular, the 58" Maxent plasma apparently has the same screen and internals as the 58" Panasonic plasma, at about half the price--evidence being that there is only one factory or production line making 58" plasmas right now. Vizio seems to be the "house brand" of one of those factories.

We have DirecTV, have had it for ten years or so now, and added HD service. I bought the DirecTV HD-DVR (HR-21/700) (http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/contentPageNR.jsp?assetId=P4380062) at Best Buy. As it turns out I could have gotten it for much less had I gone to DirecTV's retention department, but I didn't know that at the time. I did manage to get free installation--I'd installed the SD dish myself, but the HD dish requires much more exacting work so DirecTV strongly recommends professional installation. I love the HD, but I'm not very happy with DirecTV's home-grown DVR. Hopefully they can patch things up with TiVo and update their DVRs.

Don't believe the electronics store salesman when they try to sell you the $50-$100 Monster Cables. Cheap cables are just as good (http://consumerist.com/353938/monster-cables-monster-ripoff-80-markups). I like Abacus-247.com (http://www.abacus24-7.com/) for good, cheap cables but there are several other vendors out there.

Great information, Tony and Andrew! I'm looking for a small-ish set for my bedroom, so the smaller than 45" info is particularly welcome.

Vizio Inc. (http://www.vizio.com/about_us/), a local company that's been featured in the OC Register and LA Times, is a top ten national flat screen television brand. I'd heard the same info about the factories in Asia, and I like to support our local economy.

Sorry to be dense, but what exactly are the cables I need to purchase for? My TV in the living room has the DVR receiver and I don't think I need another receiver, do I? (I didn't for the old TV I'm replacing.)

My $.02:

If you can afford it, buy a Blu-Ray disc player! It's the only way that I know to exploit the full 1080p capabilities of your HDTV. If you've ever seen a Blu-Ray demo on a 1080p set, it's unbelievable. And...if you're into video games, the Sony Playstation 3 is not only a video game console, but is a highly rated player for Blu-Ray video discs. It's Home Theater Magazine's 2008 Product of the Year. Incredible bang for the buck.

That said, it's not a good idea to play video games on Plasma screens as they increase the chance of burn-in. I'd go with LCD in this case.

I respectfully disagree with Andrew re: cables. Though I agree that you don't have to buy top-of-the-line cables to get good performance out of your system, you shouldn't buy the cheapest cables either. First and foremost, buy cables that have quality construction and materials, including gold contacts if you can afford them. Bad materials and construction will cause "impedence mismatches" along the signal path. This causes unwanted signal reflections that may cause shadows and blurs with analog interfaces, and uncorrectable bit errors in digital interfaces. Better cables also have adequate shielding to keep external noise out of your video signals. Think of those el cheapo cables that come with your $45.00 DVD player. Would you want to use those with your $2000.00 LCD flat screen? Nah. Get good quality cables, Monster is only one of several vendors who make them.

When it comes to HDMI cables, the tests show that uncorrectable bit errors aren't a problem in the shorter runs (Six feet or less - which is consistent with the vast majority of home installations) with cheap cables for any application today.

If you really want to geek out on the technical performance of HDMI cables - with the cheap vs the expensive, you can take a look at this Gizmodo article testing the various cables: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/hdmi-cable-battlemodo/the-truth-about-monster-cable-part-2-268788.php

As for Blu-Ray, I agree 100%. If you can afford to drop the money on it, BR is amazing!

I meant for cables > 6 feet. ;) :)

Great article, cable/transmission line performance is a function of distance. For one, "loss" increases with distance, make a cable long enough and you might not have enough signal strength at the TV. I would still opt for good materials (i.e. gold plating) and construction, though.

To summarize the great explanation Tony gave:

1) Plasma or LCD--both have their pros and cons as Tony alluded to; however--all other things being fairly equal, plasmas are generally a bit less expensive than LCD, especially when looking at larger (e.g., >40") displays. And even though plasmas have been (in the past) generally susceptible to screen burn-in, the technology has improved to the point that you'd have to really abuse a plasma in order for it to exhibit long-term/permanent screen burn-in. I should also mention that many--if not most--LCD panels (but not only a few plasmas) also include a VGA input so that you can connect a PC or laptop to it if desired. The reason why plasmas generally offer better "blacks" (i.e., black level) than LCDs is due to the fact that, unlike plasmas, LCDs are backlit; this backlighting unfortunately does adversely affect LCD black levels a bit.

2) 1080p or non-1080p--if you're looking to go next-gen and purchase a Blu-ray player, then a 1080p display is definitely the best way to go in order to realize the full potential of BD's 1080p resolution; otherwise, a 720p/1080i display is more than suitable for general viewing needs (e.g., SD DVD, HD network programming), and is of course less expensive than its' 1080p brethren. Then again, since pretty much all 40" and larger LCD displays (and probably most 30-something inch ones as well) these days are 1080p, you might wind up w/ a 1080p display by default if you buy a 40" or larger LCD panel.

3) Brand--many folks are happy with the PQ of lesser-known (i.e., not well-recognized) brands (e.g., Maxent, Vizio), and they do offer a pretty good bang-for-the-buck return, but if PQ is ultimately very important to you, then you may want to look at the major brands. As far as best PQ on a plasma goes, Pioneer (specifically, their Kuro line) is currently the top-rated brand; for LCDs, it's arguably Sony (specifically, their Bravia XBR line).

4) Picture quality--remember, resolution isn't everything; color saturation and black/white levels are just as important when looking for PQ.

5) Price--non-1080p displays (e.g., 720p/768p) cost less than 1080p ones, and name-brand is also a factor (Sony and Pioneer tend to be more expensive than Panasonic and Samsung, w/ Maxent and Vizio being the least-expensive).

6) Cabling--No need to pay for overpriced cables (e.g., Monster) unless money is no object, you can purchase them at a substantial discount, and/or you just gotta have the name-brand recognition. Otherwise, you would be best-suited to purchase A/V cables (and specifically, HDMI ones) from a vendor such as Monoprice; their cables are well-built AND affordably-priced. I purchased my HDMI cables from Monoprice, and they are indeed well-constructed and have not given me any issues.

I won't go into the "niche"-like features that are available in some plasmas and LCDs (e.g., 1080p/24, 120Hz), as that may be TMI for some folks.

Maus--you asked if you might need another (DVR) receiver for the plasma/LCD display you're looking to purchase for your bedroom; do you plan on watching Dish Network programming in your bedroom? If so then yes you would need to obtain another receiver; yes you could purchase one of those wireless video transmitters and just have your living room DVR wirelessly transmit the video to your bedroom TV, but I would not recommend this as it is not worth the trouble needed to make it work just so you won't have to purchase another receiver. You might want to call Dish and see if they're willing to give you another DVR in exchange for a contract commitment or something.

As far as what cables you need for whatever display you wind up purchasing--depends on what device(s) you plan to connect to it. Yes that sounds obvious, but no point in recommending a type of cable ahead of time if it turns out it's not required. Cable types run the range of composite, S-video, component, HDMI (I don't mention DVI, as most current plasma/LCD models and video source devices available today don't really offer it). If you plan on hooking up a Blu-ray player to the display, then ideally you need HDMI (component will work but you won't get 1080p from BD sources due to HDCP copy protection). You didn't mention if your DVR is either a standard-definition model or an HD one; most HD DVR models offer either HDMI and/or component outputs, in which case, you should ideally purchase at least a component cable...and at best, an HDMI cable (if supported by the HD DVR).

Me--I need to obtain approval from the "bank" (AKA the wife) before I can swap out our "ancient" 50" 768p plasma for a 1080p display--I'm still undecided if I want to go plasma again, or perhaps go for a Sony Bravia XBR LCD (I like its 1080p/24 and 120Hz capabilities, as my Panny Blu-ray player can take full advantage of those features). As it is, I currently have the BD player, Toshiba HD DVD player, DirecTV HR20-100 (which I got for free, in exchange for selling my soul to D* for another two years--LOL!)--all connected via HDMI cables to a Denon 3808CI A/V receiver which I purchased so that I can listen to the high-resolution audio codecs (e.g., Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD MA) available on Blu-ray and HD DVD in all their glory.

Andrew--off-topic, but nice to see a fellow D* subscriber w/ an HR2*-series HD DVR! I take it you've played w/ D*'s DOD and remote/online program scheduling features? Like you, I don't particularly care for their interface...especially after having been spoiled w/ the ease of the Tivo interface used in the HR10-250 HD DVR, which I now have in my bedroom.

including gold contacts if you can afford them.
IMHO I think gold-plated connectors are a bit overhyped, especially when used in conjunction w/ equipment that's not considered "very high-end". Granted it seems that pretty much most cables offer gold-plated contacts these days so it's kinda hard to avoid getting one that offers it.

Actually, I read somewhere that the (full) benefits of using gold-plated connectors technically can't even be realized unless you mate them to a connector that is also gold-plated...and I don't think the connectors on most displays and other A/V equipment are gold-plated. In any case, everything else you said about making sure that the cable is well-constructed is valid and important. :D

I bought a Vizio 47 inch at Sam's Club back in October and I absolutely love it. I have 3 other friends with this TV and they too are happy with it!

Actually, I read somewhere that the (full) benefits of using gold-plated connectors technically can't even be realized unless you mate them to a connector that is also gold-plated...and I don't think the connectors on most displays and other A/V equipment are gold-plated.

That is true, the non-corrosive properties of a gold-on-gold connection increases its reliability significantly. For higher end TV's etc. it would be nice to at least have gold plated HDMI connections, I don't know what's on the TV side of things, though. In high reliability commercial, industrial, and military electronic designs we use gold plate throughout, even the most mundane connectors offer a gold plating option. Just the geek in me sounding off. :)

Andrew--off-topic, but nice to see a fellow D* subscriber w/ an HR2*-series HD DVR! I take it you've played w/ D*'s DOD and remote/online program scheduling features? Like you, I don't particularly care for their interface...especially after having been spoiled w/ the ease of the Tivo interface used in the HR10-250 HD DVR, which I now have in my bedroom.

It took a bit of digging and transfers around in D*'s phone tree, but I finally found a competent person who let me know that the remote scheduling isn't yet available for the HR21. Should be soon (for some unknown value of "soon") and I'm looking forward to it. The recent software update, in addition to making the closed-caption controls somewhat sane, enabled the VOD feature but I haven't tried it yet. I also like the new sorted folders in search results, and the option to exclude SD channels when there's an equivalent HD channel.

Piping up here!

My hubby is the true geek around here, and everything stated on technologies, size, resolution, etc jive with what he has talked my ear off about for a couple years now.

We finally got a 50" Sony Bravia Rear Projection television. The 55" version of which won CNet's #2 best TV of 2007.

Amazon
http://tinyurl.com/yqoroy

Cnet Review
http://tinyurl.com/29tb9b

Why Rear Projection? Because we didn't want to pay plasma prices, nor do we want to battle glare (our living room has a large picture window to one side), and we game a lot (didn't want to risk burn-in). And because LCD does not deliver a true black, which hubby was adamant about.

Rear projection, as it implies, projects/reflects light onto the viewing surface. So no light=true black. And the screen is matte and has such little glare it amazed me! We swapped this out for a 28" 20-year-old monster where we couldn't have a lamp on anyplace in the room or that is what you would see on the TV. This one, we can have lamps directly next to us on and not have it deliver much glare.

It is not flat panel, so if that is important to you, it won't deliver. But it is narrow compared to tube televisions, and fits nicely on our TV bench (Markor from Ikea--it's like it was made for it!)

And the good news is that Sony is getting out of the rear projection market. The Bravia line of rear projections are no longer being manufactured, and retailers are trying to move them. This TV sold for as much as $3000 last year. It was $1500 two months ago. We got ours for $999, plus a free TV stand (we gave away) and a $50 gift card for the store we got it from. And it is simply dreamy! Everything we hoped it would be!

We have an HDTivo, but have not hooked it up yet. But can't wait to be watching all my favorite programs in HD!!

And the good news is that Sony is getting out of the rear projection market.

This was bad news for me, I had my heart set on the 70" SXRD model. Great picture quality in a size that is hard to get in a flat panel (unless you want to mortgage your home :p).

It took a bit of digging and transfers around in D*'s phone tree, but I finally found a competent person who let me know that the remote scheduling isn't yet available for the HR21. Should be soon (for some unknown value of "soon") and I'm looking forward to it. The recent software update, in addition to making the closed-caption controls somewhat sane, enabled the VOD feature but I haven't tried it yet. I also like the new sorted folders in search results, and the option to exclude SD channels when there's an equivalent HD channel.

Actually, it is, depending on the model. I am running an HR21-700, and have remote scheduled several shows.

Andrew - assuming you have the HR21 networked (I know you well enough to be shocked if it weren't), try going to http://m.directv.com. If you can login, then you can use remote scheduling. It was enabled in the last national release (about two weeks ago), but I don't think the CSRs have been trained on it yet for the HR21 series. To derail even further, you might want to check out this site here: http://www.dbstalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=112. They support the Cutting Edge program, which allows you to access beta versions of software for your DVR. I had VOD weeks before the national release, and it is nice to have some input on the upcoming features.

Maus--you asked if you might need another (DVR) receiver for the plasma/LCD display you're looking to purchase for your bedroom; do you plan on watching Dish Network programming in your bedroom? If so then yes you would need to obtain another receiver; yes you could purchase one of those wireless video transmitters and just have your living room DVR wirelessly transmit the video to your bedroom TV, but I would not recommend this as it is not worth the trouble needed to make it work just so you won't have to purchase another receiver. You might want to call Dish and see if they're willing to give you another DVR in exchange for a contract commitment or something.

Another vote against the wireless video transmitter. We tried it. The transmitter conflicted with our wireless telephone which was already fighting with the Airport for our wireless computer/internet network. :rolleyes:

It was a major paininthetush. :(

Adrienne

Andrew - assuming you have the HR21 networked (I know you well enough to be shocked if it weren't), try going to http://m.directv.com. If you can login, then you can use remote scheduling. It was enabled in the last national release (about two weeks ago), but I don't think the CSRs have been trained on it yet for the HR21 series.

Oh, it's networked all right (http://www.project-insomnia.com/2008/01/updated-network-map.shtml). My DirecTV.com login worked on that mobile scheduling site, I was able to search for programs and set a recording... Sorry, we are experiencing problems with our systems. Please try again in a short while. If this problem persists, please login to www.directv.com and
check your account status.

To derail even further, you might want to check out this site here: http://www.dbstalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=112. They support the Cutting Edge program, which allows you to access beta versions of software for your DVR. I had VOD weeks before the national release, and it is nice to have some input on the upcoming features.

I've read a bit about the Cutting Edge program, but I really don't know if I want to mess with it. I want my TV (and attached gear) to be reliable, and if that means waiting until the gold release for new features then I can live with that. As opposed to computer-y things, where I'm as bleeding-edge as there is.

It sounds like you haven't been provisioned yet... interesting!

I know what you mean about being careful with the TV - I do want to make sure it is reliable. The good news is, if you are participating in the CE, you choose if you want to upgrade or not, and they communicate how risky that particular release is. And, you can roll back to the national release at any time.

Three things to add:

One: Although many of the LCD/Plasma screen are currently produced by two or three manufactures, generally sales of these parts to others is done much the same way that farmers sell their fruit. The company that wants first pick gets the highest quality output from the line and pays more for that. The next company gets the next pick and pays a bit less... This is not to say that the companies at the end of the picking process do not get quality displays, it just means that they may also be taking displays that did not pass the QC of the other companies.

Two: While there may be merit to gold plated connectors on analog connections (component, composite, s-video) digital connections are just delivering digital data like computer cables do. If the cable meets whatever spec you need to use (HDMI 1.0, 1.2, 1.3) it will perform just fine. I use monoprice for all my cables and have been really happy with them.

Three: I have recently switched from Time Warner Cable to ATT U-verse. The difference is picture quality is amazing. There is still some compression artifacts in the HD programming, but not as bad as TWC and the SD stuff is better than anything else I have seen. It supports remote DVR management (even from your iPhone), it can record up to 4 SD channels at a time, and will soon have Whole House DVR capability (streaming/recording on any box in your house)

-Joe

TThree: I have recently switched from Time Warner Cable to ATT U-verse. The difference is picture quality is amazing. There is still some compression artifacts in the HD programming, but not as bad as TWC and the SD stuff is better than anything else I have seen. It supports remote DVR management (even from your iPhone), it can record up to 4 SD channels at a time, and will soon have Whole House DVR capability (streaming/recording on any box in your house)

-Joe

TWC has been slamming U-Verse for the "fact" that, with U-Verse, only one TV at a time can view HD. Have you found this to be true?

Do you know why U-Verse has better picture quality? Do they broadcast at higher resolution, i.e. 1080i/p versus 720i/p? And/or do they use less compression?

TWC has been slamming U-Verse for the "fact" that, with U-Verse, only one TV at a time can view HD. Have you found this to be true?

Do you know why U-Verse has better picture quality? Do they broadcast at higher resolution, i.e. 1080i/p versus 720i/p? And/or do they use less compression?

That is partially correct. With U-verse, the television channel you are watching is streamed to you. Each SD channel takes up 1 stream and each HD channel takes up 2 streams. You can have a max of 4 streams coming in at any given time. You can only have one HD channel coming in at a time (they will be adding the ability to have 2 HD channels in the next couple of months).

However, any tv in the house can watch that stream, so if you have two HD tv's, they can both watch the same channel, but not two different channels.

Now, in my case, only one of my tv's is HD so it is not an issue.

As far as how they broadcast, I would imagine that because the channel is streamed to you, there is more bandwidth for them to play with. The boxes support up to 1080i, but I think they just pass on the broadcasters signal (so ABC/ESPN is still 720p) and, of course, everything that my TV receives is then converted to 1080p so who know what is being done there.

If I had to guess, the amount of bandwidth for a single stream is higher than what cable/sat can offer for an SD channel, so SD looks better. And the two streams that HD uses is still a little tight, so there is a bit of compression going on there. When they move to allow 2 HD channels, they are adding bandwidth to each stream at the same time. So the HD compression should be reduced.

-Joe

I recently took the plunge, after approximately 4,000 hours of research.

The sets I really liked were the Sony XBR's -- with Blu-Ray it can look like there's a person there, not even a movie.

However, I got caught in a size squeeze: the 32 wouldn't be large enough, I'd never get that "big screen" sensation, and the 40 inch was 2 grand.

I really gave the Plasmas a look, I wanted to fall in love with them, but they just didn't blow me away, and also my space is such that really a 37 is the perfect size for me.

So I got a 37 inch Toshiba, 720p LCD (it can receive up to 1080p).

The jury's still out -- sometimes I find it a little soft, especially with movement or big closeups. But I love the colors, especially the skin tones. I had Shakira performing in my living room this afternoon.

And I'm extremely happy I bought an upconverting DVD player by Oppo, ignoring the advice of self-appointed experts that "you don't need it, because the TV upconverts."

Well, in my case the difference is night and day. That was $200 well spent.

The sets I really liked were the Sony XBR's -- with Blu-Ray it can look like there's a person there, not even a movie.
That would be due to Sony's "Motionflow 120Hz" feature...although IMHO it's more a gimmicky feature than anything else. It looks great when watching sports, but looks a bit "unnatural" when applied to film...if you've ever watched a movie in a movie theater, you'll know exactly what I mean by that.

I really gave the Plasmas a look, I wanted to fall in love with them, but they just didn't blow me away, and also my space is such that really a 37 is the perfect size for me.
If it was offered in a 37" model, I'd argue that a Pioneer Kuro plasma offers a much-better picture than any consumer LCD model out there today (screen sizes being equal).

The jury's still out -- sometimes I find it a little soft, especially with movement or big closeups.
Screen response time may have a little something to do w/ that; ideally, you'd want an LCD that has a very low refresh rate figure (for larger screens it's typically around 4ms; less-expensive/featured models typically have longer response time figures...typically around 8ms). I noticed that Toshiba apparently doesn't make this figure readily available on their website, so I might guess that the response time may not be all that hot when compared to other manufacturers' models.

And I'm extremely happy I bought an upconverting DVD player by Oppo, ignoring the advice of self-appointed experts that "you don't need it, because the TV upconverts."

Well, in my case the difference is night and day. That was $200 well spent.
The Oppo is a great upconverting SD DVD player whose main feature (upscaling/deinterlacing of SD DVD to 1080i/p) is best realized if one's display has a relatively subpar deinterlacer/scaler chip (i.e., it sucks at upconverting incoming video signals).

In any case, great to see that you are happy w/ your choice of equipment; as long as the picture looks great to you, then that's all that really matters.