The set's built-in ATSC (DTV) tuner pulls HD signals (480p/720p/1080i) right from the airwaves, and its QAM tuner is fully compatible with unscrambled HDTV cable reception. A standard analog NTSC tuner receives standard-definition (SD) programming. Toshiba's CrystalScan HDSC technology upconverts all video signals (including 480i/p) to 1080iHD, resulting in a significant reduction in jagged line artifacts to create the sharpest, most realistic picture possible from every source.

This set features Toshiba's CableClear DNR+ technology, which optimizes poor NTSC signals from antenna or cable sources to eliminate video noise ("snow") for a clean crisp image. It utilizes the digital 3D/YC comb filter to compare frames and determine the existence and extent of video noise. It then applies the needed amount of digital video noise reduction, and the appropriate sharpness adjustment to keep the picture clear. This feature now works on RF, composite and S-Video inputs, and can be selected by input.

The FST PURE flat screen picture tube delivers increased viewing angles along with the enhanced picture linearity necessary to produce accurate, life-like images. This feature eliminates unwanted reflections from room lighting, which is a common problem in conventional tube designs. It also improves sharpness and brightness.

The aforementioned 3D Y/C comb filter separates brightness and color signals better in 3D domain to eliminate cross-color, cross-luminance and dot-crawl distortion. It performs field-by-field comparisons of the television image to accurately separate the color from the black-and-white information and remove both horizontally and vertically hanging dots, as well as dot crawl, resulting in a razor sharp image. The Cinema Mode feature performs 3:2 pulldown detection and reversal, too--a handy feature for watching progressive-scan movie programs in their native 24-frame format. To adapt 24 frames-per-second movies to 30 fps video, frames in the original movie must be duplicated; 3:2 pulldown digitally corrects this duplication by removing the redundant information to display a frame-accurate picture. This set also offers five TheaterWide modes that expand letterboxed images--which is particularly useful when watching narrow letterboxed Panavision or CinemaScope films.

The Movie Mode feature changes the basic picture setup conditions to create a more theater-like picture, while the Sports Mode feature automatically adjusts appropriate picture levels to produce enhanced color, detail and brightness. Other convenience features include color temperature control, auto aspect ratio detection, closed captioning on mute, sleep timer, tri-lingual on-screen display, video input labeling, channel labeling, channel/video lock, and V-Chip parental controls.

This set has two stereo speakers that produce 5 watts of power per channel (10 watts total). The StableSound feature eliminates the annoyance of normal program volume being followed immediately by extremely loud commercial messages or drastic volume fluctuations while changing channels. Here's the full round-up of video and audio connections:

• Composite A/V: 3 (1 front)
• S-Video: 3 (1 front)
• Component Video: 1
• HDMI: 1
• RF: 1
• Headphone: 1 (front)

Tech Talk
HDMI is a lossless, uncompressed, all-digital audio/video interface to link any audio/video source (such as a set-top box, DVD player, or AV receiver) with your TV--all over a single cable. HDMI supports standard, enhanced or high definition video, plus multi-channel digital audio on a single cable. It supports all ATSC formats--standard (SDTV), enhanced (EDTV), and high (HDTV).

Component video (also called Y/Pb/Pr) features a three-jack video input, which provides separate connections for luminance (Y), blue color difference (PB) and red color difference (PR). This results in increased bandwidth for color information, resulting in a more accurate picture with clearer color reproduction and less bleeding than you would get with S-Video or composite (RCA yellow video plug) connections. You will need a separate RCA left/right audio cable for sound.