Sometimes, basic is the best way to go. Take the newest crop of LCD and plasma TVs: many new models are jam-packed with features that most viewers aren't likely to care about or use - everything from YouTube access to preloaded cooking recipes (I'm serious!). For its 650U series LCDs, however, Toshiba chose to keep things relatively simple. A benefit to this approach is reduced cost: At $1,500 (or less, depending on where you shop), the company's 47-inch 47ZV650U is priced lower than most similar-size sets that offer fancy stuff like LED backlighting or an Ethernet port for media streaming.

That's not to say that this 47-incher is devoid of cool new tech. It's the first TV with Dolby Volume - a feature that helps maintain a consistent loudness level when switching between channels or sources. Dolby Volume only works with the TV's built-in speakers (the processing doesn't apply to the set's digital or analog stereo output jacks), so the feature won't be accessible if you're using an outboard audio system. That said, Dolby Volume works: when I switched from Jim Lehrer on PBS to Fox News - usually the loudest station on my cable system - it equalized the widely disparate loudness between the two channels.

Another feature found in the Toshiba is ClearScan 240, a selectable mode designed to reduce blur on fast-motion images - a traditional LCD weakness. Despite the "240" label, the 47ZV650U's display has a standard 120-Hz refresh rate. But with ClearScan 240 switched on, a scanning backlight action is trigged that creates what Toshiba calls a "240-Hz effect." In contrast, 240-Hz LCDs from Samsung and Sony hit their high screen-refresh rate by quadrupling video frames from standard 60-Hz sources.

Picture Size options include three TheaterWide modes that zoom or stretch 4:3 aspect ratio images to varying degrees, and a Native mode that displays 1080i, 1080p, and 720p signals, as well as 480i and 480p ones arriving via HDMI with no overscan.

SETUP

A Film Stabilization mode offers Off, Standard, and Smooth settings (you need to select Standard or Smooth to enable 2:3 pulldown for viewing filmbased programs). And a ColorMaster menu lets you go crazy tweaking hue, saturation, and brightness levels for each of the primary and secondary colors. Another tweak feature is the TV's Expert mode, which lets you individually switch on and off the red, green, and blue colors when adjusting color and tint using color-bar patterns on test discs. And when you've got everything dialed in, enabling the TV's TheaterLock feature prevents interlopers from messing with your perfectly tuned picture settings.