Great picture barely "Fair" sound
Written: Jul 09 '04 (Updated Nov 16 '04)
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Pros: About as good as a picture can be without being a HDTV.
Cons: The only fair sound built-in, but if you use surround sound receiver it doesn't matter.
The Bottom Line: I would recommend this TV as a transitional TV if you have the same concerns as I do about burn-in with rear projection TVs, but need a TV right now.
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| pfc5's Full Review: Toshiba 36A43 36 inch TV |
I bought this TV a couple of years ago because I thought it had a great picture and I wasn't ready to give up my picture tube for a rear projection TV. RP TV's have gotten better, but you just can't beat the picture quality of a CRT tube still. I knew I would be changing to a wide screen TV when they come out nation-wide with HDTV in I believe 12/31/96, so I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a transitional TV. I spent $700.00 for this TV 3 1/2 years ago without a flat screen because it was $400.00 cheaper than the flat screen model back then. With very little HDTV programming out there even now, I am glad I went this route. A friend of mine bought a rear projection wide-screen TV last year (CRT based guns) and he is already starting to have burn-in where the side bars are when watching regular (4:3 aspect ratio) tv programs. So by the time everything is in wide-screen format (16:9), the ghosting from the burn-in will be easy to see on HDTV programming. He said if he had it to do over he would have waited to go wide-screen. I know most wide-screen TVs have features to help avoid burn-in, but I think they are unacceptable (at least to me). They usually do this by either stretching the screen which makes everyone look short and fat, or they zoom in some to carry the picture to fill the sides. The problem with this is when you hit the info button on the digital cable or HDTV cable box, most of it is below the exposed area on the screen. It is also a problem with the tickers that run along the bottom of the screen for news, stocks, or sports scores. As a result, you cannot see this info unless you zoom out to look then zoom back in to stop the burn-in. This seems like too much work to me given I look at this info all the time. To top it off, if you decide to view regular programming without stretching or zooming, you WILL get burn-in that (as far as I know) no manufacturer OR extended warranty will cover. This is only on the rear projection TVs that are CRT based or DLP based.UPDATE: DLP DOES NOT HAVE BURN-IN EITHER. LCD based rear projection TVs do not have this problem with burn-in. The problem with LCD based rear projection TVs is they cost so much more than CRT based TVs. The difference is about $1000-1500. more for the LCD based TV in any given screen size. This is why I chose to get a transitional TV until 12/31/06 when HDTV MUST be broadcast by all stations that don't get a waiver. When everyone is broadcasting in 16:9 aspect ratio burn-in won't be an issue any more. Of course the LCD based rear projection TVs have a better picture too, but presently I don't feel the picture is that much better to command that much of a price premium.
Like I said, the quality of the picture is great! It beat any other brand I compared it to, including the Sony. It was about $150-200.00 cheaper than the Sony to boot.
My biggest problem with this TV was the sound system built in to the TV. With kids playing (not too loudly) in the next room I have to turn the sound almost half way up. This pretty much reaches the peak that you can turn it up without causing distortion. For me it was easy to overcome this problem by using the surround sound system I have to play the sound and turning off the volume of the TV entirely. My wife doesn't like to have to do this to watch TV. She really doesn't mind the TV sound system as much as I do so we will be keeping this until we upgrade.
As for the specs on this TV they are as good as the others in this category of TV. They are:
3 Line Digital Comb Filter
Black Level Expander
Color Temperature Control
MTS Stereo/SAP with dbx
ColorStream Component Video Inputs (important for connecting a DVD to get the best picture)
Front Panel A/V Inputs
2 Rear A/V Inputs
Rear S-Video Input
154 Lbs. weight means you will need to strong people to move this behemoth (all 36" tube TVs weigh about the same)
All in all I would rate this TV Excellent on picture quality. It is about as good as possible without being an HDTV and the price that goes with it. The sound is another story. I would only rate it as fair.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 700.00
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Epinions.com ID:
pfc5
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Reviews written: 15
Trusted by: 0 members
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