Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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81 of 82 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Much Better Than Expected - VERY happy :), 2 Jul 2007
Over the past few months I have been glued to the internet looking for a good LCD TV.. first I was going to get a Samsung then it was a Sony, then a Toshiba, then back to the Samsung.. Come on you know what I'm talking about here.. Finding a LCD that's going to be suitable for your needs is mind boggling.. phrases like Screen Judder, Motion blur, Halo Effect, Screen Smog can put you off LCD TV's for life! It got to the point where I was going to just buy a new CRT TV because I thought that would be the safer bet, then I realised that CRT isn't perfect, bad screen geometry (screen wobble) colour bleed etc so I thought I would take the risk and carry on searching for a LCD
I read several professional reviews of this TV, some good, some bad, some indifferent but one thing I did notice was not one person who had handed over cash for this TV and took the time to review it gave it a bad review and to me that speaks volumes so I was FINALLY set to get my LCD TV
I bought it on the high street yesterday so I paid about 50.00 more than Amazon are selling it for.
The 1st thing that amazed me was the fact I can get all the freeview channels without any picture and sound break-up, even with a signal booster my Philips Set-top box would not manage this.
After some picture tweaks I was very impressed with the overall picture, very little digital blocking or pixilation especially when viewed at distance but I also found viewing the TV from close up is more than acceptable also bare in mind that some freeview channels have terrible bandwidth so a completely clean picture is impossible on some channels.
Hooking up my Panasonic DVD via scart (RGB) and playing Star Wars Episode III was slightly disappointing, digital noise could be seen but the picture was still acceptable.
I then hooked up my Xbox 360 with the official VGA cable, I was instantly blown away, motion blur was evident when swinging your weapon from side to side at high speed on first person shooters like Call of Duty 3 and Rainbow Six Vegas but I was also surprised how quickly you get used to this and to be fair the overall picture quality easily out weighs this.
Putting in the same DVD (SW ep III) into the 360 and allowing the console to upscale it to near HD (this has to be done with VGA) I was again blown away, much better than my Panasonic DVD player, very stable picture, crisp and detailed.
I then recorded some freeview onto my Panasonic DVD recorder on low quality, I was even impressed with this when I played it back, obviously the picture was of low quality but still very watchable.
The sound on this TV can be a little muffled but still its much better than most over LCD's I looked at before buying this one.
Blacks seem fine to me, space scenes look and feel like space scenes, sure there is a slight glow to blacks on LCD's which is down to the back light but it never distracted me from the DVD I was playing.. one problem I did find with the blacks though is occasionally they looked too solid, especially if someone is wearing black clothes, they did tend to lack detail and looked like a solid black but again for a TV at this price I found it more than acceptable.
There ARE slight issues with viewing angles on this screen, its certainly not the best but again remember the price point.. moving around the room, even fairly slightly can wash the screen out but if you are watching from roughly infront of the TV then its fine.. when positioning this TV you really have to make sure you get it right for where you will be viewing from.
What you have to remember that this TV is one of the cheapest branded 32" TV's out there, its never going to out perform a thousand pound LCD but it does show what quality you can get with little money.
There are plenty of sockets on this TV, 2 scarts (1x RGB 1x S-Video) component sockets, VGA (PC socket), composite and 2 HDMI also a headphone socket hidden on the side of the TV along with another set of inputs and the main TV controls (volume up and down, channel up and down etc) a sub woofer output is also on the rear of the TV
The same day I got this TV I gave my old Panasonic 28" CRT TV away and I can honestly say I don't regret it.
I would like to take the time to thank everyone who has reviewed this TV on Amazon and helping me to make my mind up..
I'm not going to tell people to buy this TV because you really need to find what's right for you where LCD's are concerned, but I will tell you not to rule this TV out, if you are on a tight budget then at very least add this TV to your short list, go around the stores and really look at the picture quality but remember TV's in the big stores are rarely set up properly and 30 TV's are being fed the same signal which also effects what you are seeing in the large stores. All I can say is I don't regret buying this TV at all, its much better than its price tag would have you believe.
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33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Look no further!!!, 16 April 2007
I'm not kidding when I say this item is everything you would want from a HD lcd tele. First of all the build quality could quite easily be compared to something of 2 even 3 times the value. Having compared it to other leading brands (sony, phillips and samsung) i can honestly say the picture quality also wins hands down. The comprehensive menus make it easy to integrate to pretty much whatever set up you currently have. Good sound quality, easy to use, great picture and build quality for less than £[...]? Crazy! I want another one.
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Top picture and sound quality, digital freeview, at a great price!, 12 May 2007
Having considered Samsung, LG, Philips and Sony 26" LCDs for several weeks, was ready to pull the trigger on a Sony when I stumbled upon this 32" unit at a store... then found it online at the same price point as the 26" Sony and feel I got a steal!!! Being quite familiar with Toshiba TVs, computers, etc., was surprised at the price difference. Most 'in-store' prices at the time of purchase were (and still are) 150 quid more than the current online price, including at Amazon.
Have now had the Toshiba for 2 weeks, and it seems to have all the input/output options one could need, including arial/Sat connections, 2 scarts, 2HDMI, PC/RGB, RCA-type component video/audio connections.
I guess this Toshiba Regza 32C3030 is part of their latest (Mar 2007) line and has not hit the Amazon 'charts' yet. It does have all the bells and whistles I need, plus some I did not expect. The build of this Toshiba kit is sleek and very solid. The low center of gravity and flat tri-pod style base provides a very sturdy base and makes it virtually impossible to tip it in any direction - I tried it.
The digital freeview reception is better than my Philips box and was pleasantly surprised that the EPG provides a better look, info, scanning functionality and options than my beloved Phillips freeview box, which has been put to use in a 2nd room. A few cool things it provides are notices of programmes starting or also showing on another channel, and time left for a programme - not available on the Phillips.
Picture quality, sharpness and colour is excellent. Whilst I have used it with freeview, DVDs and a SVGA PC/internet news and sports broadcasts, have yet to try it with an HD source.
Admittedly, getting used to the pros and cons of LCD TV screen technology took a few days, and have found that it makes a huge *positive* difference to my eyes being about 12-14 feet away from this 32" LCD TV rather than 10 or less. Whilst the TV will automatically 'improve' the fit of the broadcast to fit its widescreen format, it also has nine screen viewing options (e.g., cinema, super live, wide, 14:9, PC) which will stretch and resize the source image to your desire and eliminate black bars/borders, or to leave as original, giving one total control. I find it quite useful, especially when flipping between Freeview, various DVD formats, older movies and sports.
Sound quality is much better than I expected. While it isn't expected to replace a surround-sound system, it does provide a very satisfying 20w RMS, and gives options for 3D-style sound effects (it works well, providing good depth and the occasional sense of a sound behind you), separate bass and treble controls, a 'focused sound' option and a user-variable 'Tru Bass' (bass boost) feature all from its own speakers. It provides for a line out to a user-provided powered subwoofer in conjuction with its speakers, and of course connections to an external sound system, as well. It also has a 'stable sound' feature that minimizes sound variations when commercials spring up. I find that having the volume at roughly 20-25% of capacity is quite loud and experience no distortion whatsoever.
A final 'plus' is the user guide is very well-designed, detailed and helpful, and quite nicely illustrated.
Three 'niggles', but not deal-breakers for me:
- Location of PC connection (smack in the middle against the back of the set) is highly inconvenient - could've put it on the side
- Whilst providing excellent textual info, the EPG does not provide a small preview window of the programme
- Remote control is a bit 'top-heavy' and one needs to be mindful with one-handed navigation, lest it ends up on the floor
Overall, am quite pleased and would definitely choose again.
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