Toshiba Regza 42RV530U

You have a bright future ahead of you if you buy Toshiba's 42RV530U--but not in a good way. Our judges found its images overly bright and washed out, with yellowish or orangey skin tones.

In perfomance it was fourth among the five models on our Top 42-Inch HDTVs chart. Only AOC's Envision L42H761 did worse.

I liked the sound quality. Voices and music both strained a bit at full volume, but came out fine when I brought the volume down to a reasonable level. Of course, if you want really good audio, you'll need to invest in a separate home-theater sound system.

On the upside, you shouldn't have much trouble setting up and using the 42RV530U. Toshiba placed most of the input jacks where you can get to them with relative ease. The menus are logically organized and mostly easy to read (though the Audio icon looks like a CRT in profile). The well-designed remote control glows in the dark.

If you can't figure something out, though, the manual won't help much. Some items and issues (the "Natural" picture-size option, how to update firmware) aren't satisfactorily explained. You get no quick-start guide, and you won't find an electronic version of the manual on Toshiba's Web site.

Toshiba included some nice touches. Pressing Play on your DVD or Blu-ray Disc player (with some models, at least) will direct the HDTV to the appropriate input. The 42RV530U can freeze-frame, too, but it lacks picture-in-picture.

With the Toshiba 42RV530U priced at $1300 (as of July 11, 2008), it's the image quality, not the cost, that makes this an easy TV to skip.