 Great value HD Ready TV |
| Review Date: September 8, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Andrew, London, UK |
I was looking to buy my first LCD TV, and after a lot of research I initially wanted a Sony Bravia as they are undoubtedly the leaders in terms of picture and build quality. Unfortunately Sony only make one considerably expensive 37" model (in a toe-curling mid-1990's silver colour), so I gave it a miss.
However my second choice - the Toshiba - delivers great quality HD-ready pictures at an extremely attractive price point. Not quite as good as the Sony Bravia, but for well under £500 with free delivery who's arguing?
PROS:
Unbeatable price. Probably the best value-for-money vs. screen size TV out there at the moment. Just don't tell anyone!
Great SD picture quality, very little pixellation unless the channel is broadcasting an old programme like repeats of Bargain Hunt. But why the hell are you watching repeats of Bargain Hunt anyway? There's even a feature that smooths out jagged lines when playing regular DVDs. Jazz club. Nice.
Excellent HD-ready picture, crystal clear. Not full HD, but who gives a monkeys? When Blu-Ray technology becomes more widespread (i.e. doesn't cost £50000000 for a player and £20 for a single bloody disc) I might consider full HD.
Automatic backlight adjust that turns down the backlight when the screen is mostly dark (e.g. night scenes, credits, entire Evil Dead movies). I personally have this feature turned off, but it might be of interest to some people. Vampires, for example.
The screen is clearly visible from just about any angle, no "muting" of the picture when you view it from the side.
CONS:
The remote is appalling. And I mean, absolutely Milli Vanilli awful. You have to be directly in front of the TV with the remote pointing exactly at the receiver for it to work. And there is a 1-second delay before the channel changes or a menu screen comes up. Really annoying, although when I get Sky+ hooked up I won't have to use the bloody thing ever again.
Inbuilt Freeview browser is also really slow, annoying but again won't be an issue once I have Sky+ installed and I can watch repeats of Bargain Hunt instantly.
The gloss black finish is a dust magnet. I'd prefer a matte black finish like Batman's nipples, but that's only a minor gripe (or fantasy, depending on how you see it).
The factory picture and sound settings are laughable - pretty much everything is set to 100%. Ideally you should sit down for 30 mins and adjust everything to a normal level so everyone's faces aren't glowing bright red. I swore Jeremy Clarkson was about to have a heart attack, but then I realised it was just my factory settings. And the "bass boost" feature only needs to be on 5-15% otherwise your speakers will get raped by bearded guys shouting "THIS IS SPARTA!" if you turn the volume up beyond halfway.
SUMMARY:
This TV takes a little bit of fiddling with to get right, but once you've figured out your optimum settings it's a fantastic TV at a bargain price. Yeah!! |
A Very Good Buy
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| Review Date: August 21, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Derek C. Gross, UK |
Had this now for a week, it's does what its says on the tin. A fine TV for the money.
I chose this 37 inch version as the best size for my room, and the fact it's HD ready (not the full 1080 HD)
I am not concerned that HD is coming with amount of TV I actually watch and the additional £100 for HD,is just not worth it from my point of view
I have now watched most of the 2008 Olympics and the picture was fine for all the events.
The inbuilt Freeview tuner works fine, although the sound "spikes" when their is major interference to the Freeview signal.
Other kit I have connected and tested it with
Humax PVR-9200T attached via scart, picture was better than my old Phillips 28" CRT
Samsung DVD player attached via scart, picture fine
Freecom mediaplayer-35 attached by video inoput socket; I use this to play AVI files on my TV,picture was way better than I expected.
Canon Camera : it did struggle to show photo JPG's in good quality
I don't have HDMI kit yet, so I have not tried the 2 HDMI ports
I don't have Sky (I am not giving the News Corp my money)
Good points
Screen autoscales fine, and the selection to adjust Screen size is simple
HD ready : I am not concerned with the rush to HD, if you want to see the grey hairs on a presenters head then thats for you not me
Remote Control : no real problem with this , it just takes a little getting use to.
Freeze button (on remote): grabs to current picture frame while to commentary runs on. Just a nice feature
Extremely good value for the money
Bad points
The Manual (like most) to do with improvement, it took me ages to find the Aeril socket (it's well hidden)
The screen did struggle with the Film shown on Film 4 the "Sky Captain and the world of Tomorrow",the film has large Areas of "off-white" that the screen had minor problems coping with.
Overall
A very good buy |
Toshiba 37AV555 - 37" Widescreen TV
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| Review Date: April 1, 2009 |
| Reviewer: V. A. Couceiro, |
| This item was excellent value for money the sound & picture quality is quite outstanding. I am seriously thinking about getting another one for my bedroom. Thank you |
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