With the combination of a 1080p HDTV and an HD DVD source, I expected to see excellent overall detail, and I wasn't disappointed. As Stella fingers the diamond necklace that was her dad's final gift to her, I noticed facets in the sparkling jewels and the fine texture of the brown felt case it rested in; the close-up of her hand revealed the lines in her skin and her superb manicure. Test patterns confirmed that the 62HM196 could resolve every detail of a 1080i signal, a feat few other 1080p DLP HDTVs can match.

When the close-up returned to her face, however, I did detect a bit more red than I expected in her skin tone, so I reduced the color control accordingly. While this tamed the Toshiba's tendency to accentuate reds, it made the other colors in the film appear a tad less saturated than they should have. They still looked good, owing in part to the extra saturation that results from deep blacks, but they didn't achieve quite the richness that I know colors on HD DVD can exhibit.

As with many other rear-projection HDTVs, the 62HM196 had its share of stationary screen grain, a result of using a high-gain lenticular screen. It was most obvious in scenes with a lot of bright material and movement, such as when the camera pans over the snow-covered mountains and finds the crew celebrating the gold heist; the tiny dots of grain were visible against the snow. They weren't overly distracting, however, especially from seating distances greater then 9 feet or so. And on the upside, this scene demonstrated the Toshiba's fine uniformity: No discoloration was visible in the white areas, and "hotspotting" (in which the center of the screen appears brighter than the outer edges) was nearly indiscernible during normal viewing.

Next I checked out the CBS HD broadcast of the New York Jets versus the Indianapolis Colts, and once again, the detail was excellent during the crazy final play, from the tufts of grass to the mesh on the players' jerseys. The intensity of green did look slightly lower than I thought it should, however, and the Jets' home greens appeared a bit yellowish in the sunlight. But these minor color inaccuracies weren't a deal-breaker by any means.

BOTTOM LINE The main issue for the Toshiba 62HM196 62-inch 1080p DLP HDTV is its inaccurate pre-calibration color, which is moot if you have the set professionally tweaked for a couple hundred dollars. That said, this DLP is capable of producing a picture that's punchy with plenty of impact, taking full advantage of the resolution HD DVD and other high-quality sources have to offer.

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