beautiful / baffling

In the stampede to replace that old clunky TV box with a shiny new flatscreen, you're faced with not only a myriad of choices but a minefield of decisions over screen size for room size , HD type, plasma v LCD, connections and not least the other kit you'll feel bound to upgrade to match it all.

The Toshiba is a fantastic set both in picture quality and design. If you're looking for a new flatscreen TV at a great price and you're not one to trawl the press and internet reviews that'll inevitably keep changing and confusing your mind anyway, then go buy this now.

Delivery from Amazon is excellent and all you have to do is connect the pedestal stand which is easy and quick. And don't be put off by backlight bleed mentioned in some reviews, you won't see it.

As for screen size it does maximise its space with the picture frame surround, so if you're worried that a 40" is too big for your room it fills a standard 37" set size and is perfect for a viewing distance of 2.5 - 3.5m.

HDMI cables are a good investment - there's nothing in the box to connect it properly to your Sky or Virgin box - and the QED Qunex HDMI cable is much better than the high street stores cheap ranges. Hi def broadcasts are crystal and what this TV was made for but standard TV still looks great even if football or fast moving sports are slightly disappointing showing some blur.

Connected to a standard DVD player with a scart cable will still produce a great picture (and much better than standard TV broadcasts) but a HD DVD player (with that extra HDMI cable) will up the ante much further. The TV's integrated speakers are very good for day to day viewing but connected to a hifi or surround system will add to your viewing experience. It's easy to see how once you've invested in this TV you can be hooked into much more extra add ons but even if you don't or can't it still works just fine.

The baffling gripe is setting it up.

All manufacturers distribute TVs for showroom / shop settings so colour, contrast, brightness and the multitude of picture options are a million miles away from how this TV should look in your home. This Toshiba will arrive not ready for you to fully enjoy. And there appears to be no answer to the ideal settings unless you know what you're doing or buy a set up DVD. Sure it depends on your viewing environment and what you connect it to and you could search the various online forums to see the + 52 Colour, - 7 tint and options inbetween.

Toshiba really need to pay some attention to a basic consumer need and include some basic settings. Would we buy any other product that required hours of effort and research to get it to its optimum?

For a great TV you just could be left wondering how should it look as good as it could look.

With a little effort, once you get there, it's worth it!

Fab!

This is a fantastic TV, we have been looking for a TV for 5 weeks and decided finally on this one, apart from only two ports it is the same as the V series. We switched ours on last night for the first time and it tuned itself in to a really good picture, better than the Samsung that a friend has. I was really impressed and value for money is fantastic. The only thing is that if you intend to watch DVD's with high levels of special effects and have not got an HD dvd player then you might want to buy an upscaler. A fantastic TV!!

A Television Triumph

I have to say I am impressed with this technological triumph.It looks good,sounds good and the picture is impressive.It was unusually easy to set up,the programme takes you through the process without a hitch.Freeview is easy to ascertain,the remote is slim and light and not bulky at all.The shiny black surround sets the picture off,giving it a hint of"stealth". So sit back,get a bucket of popcorn and enjoy the entertainment.

my daughter loves this t.v.

bought for my 9 year old daughter, she loves the look of t.v. ... but when she plays her wii picture is great and her hdmi dvd play is excellent, freeview very easy to use too ... all round great t.v. I got it when amazon had on sale ... bargain, so if your thinking of getting this t.v. for your daughter don't hesitate... hope this helps

Bad experience

I bought one and had it delivered. It does not work at all. I'm having to arrange a refund. Very disappointing experience. Good luck if you order one, but I would avoid this brand in the future, as it has been complicated to make arrangements to be home for the delivery and now have to do the same for the return. Plus un-pack and now pack the box again. It shouldn't have happened, items should be tested before they are sent out to customers.

The best 1080p LCD on the market

This is one amazing set. I had gone for the cheaper 46xf355 from Toshiba but had to send it back due to a really annoying fan noise. While I had it though even without the noise the picture quality was good but not great - watched Dantes Peak on HD DVD and some jaggies appeared in places at 1080/24.

No such thing on the Sony. The 100mhz is perfect no handy cam effect here. The theatre button on the remote is brilliant for films getting one of the best D65 pics out of the box.

Very cinematic watched Italian Job from Sky HD and was blown away by the picture.

If anything lets this tv down it would be its speakers they're okay but I must admit I would say the Onkyos of the Tosh were better. But hey what do you mean you dont have separate 5.1 anyway. They are good enough for normal tv viewing.

Its expensive in comparison (the 46xf355 was cheaper) but after seeing this I rather have less but of better quality. Trust me on this, buy one your eyes will thank you.

Sony KDL-20S3040

Excellent TV purchased through Amazon. Arrived promptly, very easy to set up, picture and sound quality excellent for a set of this size. Was a bit apprehensive about the colour but it blends in well with the Mahogany bedroom furniture and is less distracting than a silver surround. I would definately recommend this model.

Excellent Television

I think this television is excellent for an LCD. I have been unimpressed with the quality of standard definition on LCD's but this one still gives a decent picture on SD from sky digital box. HD gives a almost perfect picture too i was suprised when i received it. I have played blue ray discs and drakes fortune game from ps3 on it and it gives a excellent picture. The only problem i can see with it is the viewing angle which is not very good when you look from the side. The sound from the internal speakers is also very good decent for a small room. I was thinking about getting philips or samsung but didnt see reviews which were as good as the reviews for the sony. For pq sony is usually best imo. I decided to pay more for the sony im happy that i did.

Happy with my Toshiba - but delivery was 'stressfull'

I found it quite hard to find reviews for this TV so now I've bought one here's mine.

I spent a good few hours on Tottenham Court Road looking at 46" LCDs.
I was pretty certain I was going to get the Sharp XL2 as I had been impressed by the XL1 but heard about all the problems people were having with that one - I'd assume they'd have it sorted for the XL2.

There were 2 Toshibas (46XF355DB and the 47Z3030D) and the Sharp.
The XL2 was playing the Sharp High-Def-Demo which did look very nice (but of course it would) and the Toshibas were playing Freeview.

I got the guy to switch the Sharp to the same Freeview channel and immediately noticed it looked washed out. Turned the backlight down as it was maxed out and tinkered with various other settings but the washed out look remained. No sale!

Between the Toshibas you really had to look hard to see differences in the picture. Blacks were a bit blacker on the 'Z' but shadow detail was gone. I'm aware that the 'Z' has a few extra features including 100Hz and the"5:5 pull down" but I'm not convinced these technologies will add much. I decided the aesthetics and reduced 'footprint' (as it's the same overall size as most 42" screens) of the XF trumped the extra features on 'Z'. I walked to another store and got them to play an HDDVD on the 40XF355DB. King Kong looked fine but it's not an ideal film to check the picture as it's mostly CGI to start with. Good enough though.

I've had it for a good few days now and have been very impressed. Standard Def image is brilliant. I've upgraded from a 28" Sony tube so expected to see a pixels everywhere as I only sit about 8 feet from the screen. No problems there. I spent a good part of the weekend watching DVDs with my Denon1940 upscaling to 1080p. Frankly I don't see any immediate need to get a HiDef source - it's a stonking picture.

I have noticed the auto backlight control working a couple of times but I have not bothered to turn it off - it seems to be doing a good job and I've only noticed it only a couple of times in 15-20hrs of viewing. Apparently the new Sonys have this problem but you don't have the option to turn it off.

Pros:
Very slick design - the best I've seen on any TV. It even has a cool blue LED under the screen - that can be turned off.
Picture - Just stick it in 'Movie' mode and tweak if required for Freeview.
Remote Control looks/feels very nice.
I've plugged it up to my PC and it has a nice split screen feature so you can watch telly while working/surfing.
The speakers seem fine although if I want to hear something properly I put it through my hi-fi.

Cons:
While watching Dragon's Den last night there was a ghost effect when they panned across the dragon's faces - white faces/ black background/ pan shot - I doubt many LCDs would past that test and that was the first and only time I noticed it.
There's a delay when switching channels on Freeview.
The digital sound output socket (optical) only works when watching Freeview - I'd hoped to use that for HDMI sourced stuff too but maybe that's typical.

Other Screens I looked at:
Sony W3000 - HiDef Sport looked brilliant but the frame is too chunky
JVC LCD - Great picture and price - I hadn't heard enough about these but worth considering. I guess they don't hand them out to the review sites.
Samsung F86 and M87 - Like watching a video game all the time. Colours hideously lurid. Maybe it's possible to tune the picture but having had my eye on the various Samsung incarnations for the last 2 years I've never seen one that looks right.

Conclusion: That'll do nicely for 4-7 years. Backlight permitting :o)


PS: Regarding Amazon 'White Glove' delivery....
Nothing of the sort. The fact that my LCD was undamaged was pure luck given the treatment the delivery guy gave it on the way up the stairs. I had to ask him to unpack the item as per 'White Glove' T&Cs. He then refused to place the TV on the stand that I had cleared so I had to drag a power cord over to the middle of the floor to check it actually worked given the 'sack of spuds' treatment it had received coming up the stairs. Also 'arrange a convenient delivery time'. Errr..... No.
Your item WILL be delivered on Friday between 8 and 12. I requested a Saturday delivery but was given such a run-around of BS I feared my purchase might rot in a delivery depot -like at the end of"Raiders of the Lost Ark"! I decided to go home for it on the Friday when the delivery guy phoned to say he would be there in 30-40 mins - they arrived 75mins later. Fairly typical of deliveries I conceed but 'White Glove'? Pull the other one. They've just dropped the price £80 - but don't pay an Amazon premium on the basis of it being a quality online with a sound reputation etc. etc. Not if you have stairs anyway.

sony bravia 26s

This review combines my feelings as regards Amazon's service and also the Sony wide screen LCD Tele'.

Amazon I can not fault, three days from order to delivery for both the stand and television coming from different suppliers, keep this up Amazon!!.

I know we as customers pay a little more for Sony because of the name, but in my wife's and my opinion, this is justified because of the visual and audio quality simply screems out from the set, with small adjustments to the colour temperature and contrast, the result is truly fantastic, far far better than any CRT I have ever seen.

Panned movement in films is also much more natural even at 50Khz timing, and the contrast adjustment through the menu system is so easy, I have my Tele. set to contrast 'vivid', and colour temperature 'cool', even with old B/W and colour films.

A real pain

I have had this set for 4 months and it regularly locks up once a month whereas you have to switch the set off for about a minute or so and then switch it on again before it works properly. I also have added other devices, recorders and players etc and find that working these devices you cannot alter the volume with the handset provided. With these devices i.e. DVD player etc. one has to use the TV control only which I find to be a real pain using two hand controls when I can usually use the one.
The programming feature is also a pain to use. It is so antiquated and difficult to use when compared to other Japanese sets I have had.
The spacial sound is no different to mono sound and as for the ambilight feature you either like it or hate it. Just a gimick in my opinion.
My advice ----- buy a good japanese set.
I used to work for a Philips subsiduary and never did get on with Philips TV or Hi Fi and why I bought it I shall never know Maybe because I got mine cheap and now I can see why.

Stylish and impressive

I was impressed by this TV from the time I took it out of the box. It is stylish,in piano black,and easy to set up,just plug in the separate power 'brick' and aerial cable and follow the on screen instructions. After a few presses of the stylish remote it first tunes in the 5 standard channels,then the digital.It picked them all up plus some more distant ones which were sorted out of the line up.
There is one HDMI,scart(fully wired)computer(VGA),component,audio and digital audio on the back of the tv and on the side another component,s video,headphone and USB.
The usb can be used to transfer files between the hard drive and flash drive etc (Fat 32). WMA music files are recognised and can be stored. Pictures and video can also be stored via the USB. Live TV can also be paused etc via the hard drive and resumed similar to the Sky plus system.
There are several picture and audio modes along with a graphic equalizer. It is wall mountable and was easily mounted in the kitchen. (Bracket supplied by Amazon for free) The only down side is that a small part of the stand tube is left when this is done. A small cover is supplied to blank it off.
Channels are changed with ease using the remote.
Would I buy another.
Yes I already have for the bedroom.
All in all I think this an ideal TV for a second room and excellent value.