It's huge, hi-res/sharp image for the price, reasonable price, lots of nifty features: PiP, S-video input, 2 video inputs, color temperature options (cool, medium, warm), looks nice too.

Wish it was a bit cheaper, not as flat as similarly priced Sony and Panasonic models (but you really don't notice), it's heavy (carried it up 4 flights of stairs).

I'm no TV expert. Just knew that I wanted somethingn under $400 that had the highest possible resolution, and w/ S-video for my Sega Dreamcast & DVD player. My old 19" Philips just wasn't cutting it anymore w/ its muddy image quality and fishbowl screen. I bought this from the store downstairs from my apt. $390 no tax. could have got it @ 800.com for $360 (w/ coupons) delivered, but i feel safer buying from a real store that takes real returns. anyways, the picture quality is a quantum leap from the Philips. DVD looks fantastic, and Dreamcast are much more fun to look at on a big 27" screen. I was considering the Samsung TXJ2767 and also the 27" +1 models, which were from $100-50 cheaper, but was not sure about Samsung reliability.

Similar Products Used:

Philips, Sony

very clear, detailed picture with vhs. input selection
especially with s-video. when muted, picture automatically goes to closed captioned. Switching between vcr and tv is relatively easy. sound is good for a 27" tv. one tuner pip is a nice feature. price(i paid 348).

colors can be too red. menu setup is difficult to use at first. remote is too thin and the vcr operational buttons feel small.

My listening/viewing room is 18' long and 12.5' wide. This tv is a perfect size for my viewing pleasure. the sound is good, factory reset makes the picture too red but you can adjust that deficiency with the menu. I do not have a dvd player, but with vcr/vhs the picture quality is flawless. sharp, crisp, and detailed with good picture and zero distortion.
One tuner pip is a nice feature, of course two tuner pip would be better. Switching between tv and vcr is easy with the side button on the remote. However, the remote is too thin for the average size hand and the vcr, pip, fav channel, and tv/video buttons are too small. The menu color selection is very limited compared to my Zenith and the menu selection is somewhat difficult to use at first.
My picture is set at color-medium, preference-memory, contrast is zero, brightness +1, sharpness -4, color +1, and tint +4.

Similar Products Used:

Zenith 19"

Toshiba did an excellent job with the cz27v51. The 600 lines of resolution are more then adequete. Video feeds are very clear due to the dual comb filter, and the surround sound option is an excellent feature. The TV has all the imputs you need to start a home theater system including Toshiba's colourstreem imput, which provides maximum resolution for DVD players with component outputs. The only problem I found with the tv was that there was no clock, so consequently there wasn't an alarm on it.

Great resolution, color, "cinema temperature" color feature, component and S-video ins.

None.

I agree with all below: this is the best bargain out there in a 27", especially if you have a DVD with component outs. The difference component connections make to video quality is very noticeable.

Great set.

Digital comb filter, component video input(only for DVD players), BlackStripe II picture tube, PIP, virtual surround(Spatializer)

I can't find any

I found that the Toshiba out-performed all of the competition. At a lower price than all the rest, it was also a better deal. The thing that really pushed me over though was the ColorStream component video input which I use for my Toshiba SD-3109 DVD player. The picture is extremely sharp and the colors are smooth. Great value!

Similar Products Used:

Sony 27", Phillips 27", Panasonic 27"

Thanks for all the advice. I went ahead and took some of it and bought the Toshiba CZ27V51 TV from Best Buys ($350) today armed with a 10% off coupon (for this weekend only, so the sub-total came to $315 plus $19 (sales tax), grand total of $334. For some reason, Best Buy is selling the CZ27V31 for the same price ($350) as the CZ27V51 and it has less features (no PIP, comb filter, component input), so go figure. I even asked the sales droid if the price was correct on the CZ27V51 and he said, "Yup!" So I quickly plopped one on the cart and sped to the checkout line just in case they changed their minds or something. Note, I am buying this TV for a bedroom, so it didn't need to be really large.
So how do I like it so far?

I really like it. The curvature of the picture screen does bow out the bottom of LBX movies ever so slightly, but not too badly. For some reason if it's got to bow at all, I rather bow out than bow in. Must be too used to Coen movies and their use of crazy wide angle lens shots. :)

I like the PIP feature, and it's fun swapping the cable TV feed and the DVD movie in case you need to be on the alert for some programming on cable TV. The PIP is very easy and intuitive to use.

The S-Video input works as advertised. DVDs look good on S-Video. The only thing that I don't like about S-Video is that if you turn up the sharpness, you get a honeycomb effect on the pixels, so I turn the sharpness down when viewing the S-Video DVD material.

The Component video input is pretty good too. It's a lot clearer/crisper/sharper than the S-Video input by a fair amount, but you can't go wrong with either over Composite video input, which can't compare. I'm using a Proscan 8680 DVD player to test out the Component video (when I bought this DVD player, I thought I would never use the component video outputs, and now I am wrong. I hate it when I'm wrong and loving it.

The Cable TV tuning is good. Can't really complain since Cable TV is always a little mess when it comes to proper skin tones and color levels going from one channle to the next, so I just find a few favorite channels and set the color as best I can and compromise. But I guess the best way would be to use well mastered DVDs as source material to get the colors the way you like them.

I did notice that the colors for the TV (coming right out of the box) tend to be on the blue/green side, so a little red helps balance out the colors. Some will advise to use Avia or Video Essentials to smooth the video display on this TV, and it's probably good advice. From the Toshiba Web site, it claims that all their TVs with their digital comb filters have 650 lines of resolution. Either way, the picture looks pretty good, just get sunlight out of the room when you're watching it. The reflections can be annoying. I hope I decide to keep this TV, because my back can't afford all this heavy lifting. :)

Anyway, I like this set out of the box more than the previous TV (Phillips Magnavox TP2784C) I just tried, which was $10 more expensive, but had more display problems (there was a red line at the top of LBX movies and a blue line at the bottom of LBX movies, which meant the color guns were misaligned, and no component input.) But I digress. For the money, this Toshiba CZ27V51 is a pretty nice TV (especially if you have a DVD player that can output component video). Give it some consideration for your next 27" TV purchase.

Thanks for all the advice. I went ahead and took some of it and bought the Toshiba CZ27V51 TV from Best Buys ($350) today armed with a 10% off coupon (for this weekend only, so the sub-total came to $315 plus $19 (sales tax), grand total of $334. For some reason, Best Buy is selling the CZ27V31 for the same price ($350) as the CZ27V51 and it has less features (no PIP, comb filter, component input), so go figure. I even asked the sales droid if the price was correct on the CZ27V51 and he said, "Yup!" So I quickly plopped one on the cart and sped to the checkout line just in case they changed their minds or something. Note, I am buying this TV for a bedroom, so it didn't need to be really large.
So how do I like it so far?

I really like it. The curvature of the picture screen does bow out the bottom of LBX movies ever so slightly, but not too badly. For some reason if it's got to bow at all, I rather bow out than bow in. Must be too used to Coen movies and their use of crazy wide angle lens shots. :)

I like the PIP feature, and it's fun swapping the cable TV feed and the DVD movie in case you need to be on the alert for some programming on cable TV. The PIP is very easy and intuitive to use.

The S-Video input works as advertised. DVDs look good on S-Video. The only thing that I don't like about S-Video is that if you turn up the sharpness, you get a honeycomb effect on the pixels, so I turn the sharpness down when viewing the S-Video DVD material.

The Component video input is pretty good too. It's a lot clearer/crisper/sharper than the S-Video input by a fair amount, but you can't go wrong with either over Composite video input, which can't compare. I'm using a Proscan 8680 DVD player to test out the Component video (when I bought this DVD player, I thought I would never use the component video outputs, and now I am wrong. I hate it when I'm wrong and loving it.

The Cable TV tuning is good. Can't really complain since Cable TV is always a little mess when it comes to proper skin tones and color levels going from one channle to the next, so I just find a few favorite channels and set the color as best I can and compromise. But I guess the best way would be to use well mastered DVDs as source material to get the colors the way you like them.

I did notice that the colors for the TV (coming right out of the box) tend to be on the blue/green side, so a little red helps balance out the colors. Some will advise to use Avia or Video Essentials to smooth the video display on this TV, and it's probably good advice. From the Toshiba Web site, it claims that all their TVs with their digital comb filters have 650 lines of resolution. Either way, the picture looks pretty good, just get sunlight out of the room when you're watching it. The reflections can be annoying. I hope I decide to keep this TV, because my back can't afford all this heavy lifting. :)

Anyway, I like this set out of the box more than the previous TV (Phillips Magnavox TP2784C) I just tried, which was $10 more expensive, but had more display problems (there was a red line at the top of LBX movies and a blue line at the bottom of LBX movies, which meant the color guns were misaligned, and no component input.) But I digress. For the money, this Toshiba CZ27V51 is a pretty nice TV (especially if you have a DVD player that can output component video). Give it some consideration for your next 27" TV purchase.

OK, my 10 year old 25" Emerson died, so I needed to get a new TV. My only criteria was that it had to be under 500 bucks. That really limited what I could look at, no Panasonic Superflats or Sony XBR's for me. My final choice came down to a Sony 27", a Panasonic 27" and the Toshiba 27". Both the Sony and the Pana had a little flatter picture, but the Toshiba had a few more toys. mainly component input, and color temperature contol. The Toshiba was $399 at Best Buy, but I got a wonderful deal at www.valueamerica.com where I got it for 200 dollars plue 42 for shipping. At $242, this TV is a steal. Very nice picture. My only complaints are, not too great of a remote control, and when flipping channels, it takes a tad longer than I like to go from one channel to the next.
But Picture quality is wonderful and rich, and there's no mechanical anomolies.

4.5 stars of I could, but I have to go with 5 because this TV is too good to penalize.

Component input on a 27"! Digital comb filter! (try and find another 27" with these features at this price).

Screen isn't superflat.

If you're not looking for a gigantic tv that is able to handle dvd's well, this is about the biggest bang/buck you'll find out there. I got it for $350 shipped from 800.com but i believe it can be had for less. I just trust 800.com and didn't want to have to deal with any problems. Anyhow, DVD's look fantastic when you hook them up via ColorStream (component inputs). Heck, they look fantastic even via composite input. I already have a speaker system, but if you don't have one, the speakers in this TV aren't half bad for TV speakers. I know that's not saying much but if you're on a budget, it'll tide you over until you can afford a HT speaker setup. It doesn't compare really, but as far as compared to other TV speakers, it's not bad at all. I don't really have a problem with the remote since I have a great macro learning remote from my receiver (onkyo 575). Have to notch it down 1 star for the curvy surface although while watching a movie, you don't notice it...

Component Video In

Slight lack of focus in corners

I decided to hold off buying a HDTV and get a TV that would suffice for a few years, and that could later be moved to a secondary viewing area.

I viewed a number of JVCs and Sonys but nothing really captured me. Upon further research I found a review from Consumer Reports. Like consumer reports, I disliked the JVC's brightness and the Sony's "digital" like picture. Consumer Reports ranked last year's Toshiba #1, and noted that the Toshiba had the most accurate picture and one of the lowest failure rates. When I found out that this year's model has component video ins, I was done!

After proper calibration using the Video Essentials disc (get it if you don't have it) this TV looked amazing. Even though I did notice some lack of focus in the corners on some tests, this is indiscernible in actual viewing because you never look at the corners. Using the component video out from my Pioneer DVD-414, my movies look smooth and cinematic. The colour is accurate and the detail very clear.

Very impressive for $399 indeed.

Similar Products Used:

Sony 27" TVs, JVC 27" TVs