[Nic Rhodes]

Guys a few questions that might be able to help me make my mind up, if you can spare a minute.

There have been many postings on the site, good and bad for the Toshiba rear projection sets. I guess there are many happy customers out there with a just few having difficulties. What I am trying to gauge is some personal experience from people who live and use these devices regularly. What are you long term experiences?

How do you find these in comparison to conventional CRT TV’s? I never have lived with rear projection and my experience is mainly based on Comet / Curry’s and I think they have terrible signals and are VERY badly set up. Are these devices easy to set up and keep converged. I do have NTSC set up discs and a player with built in set up test signals, if this helps.

I am only interested in picture quality / straight stereo. (PL / DD are not necessary). I do need component inputs and I am considering either the 40WH08B or the 46WH08B. What are peoples views on these. I am concerned that 46 inch (and possibly even 40 inch as well) may be too large for video / terrestrial TV broadcasts. Any comments.

I intend, if I purchase one of these devices, to use my separate sound system but where do people put centre speakers. I have a KEF 200c and I don’t think it will sit comfortably on the top (and the wife doesn’t want it there). What do you do with yours?

I have a piece of literature with a model number 40PW13P on it (looks like a new 40 inch widescreen very similar to the 40PW03B) but I have no more details on it. Can anyone else help?

[Radioactive__Man]

To keep it short & to the point.

If I was watching only terrestrial [including OnDigital] or video sources I would go for a CRT set. I used to own a 36" 100Hz widescreen Panasonic which was lovely.

I jumped on the RPTV trail because I wanted a bigger screen to match my above average audio setup, and rapidly growing DVD collection. I had a loan of last years model Fujitsu plasma for about 2 months, and when I eventually got the 46" Toshiba RPTV, there was absolutely no comparison.

My only criticism is that the Toshiba doesn't have an SVGA input like the plasma did. Colin McRae Rally II was quite frankly amazing to play on it.

[JohnS]

Nic,

I have the tosh 56w08, this was a replacement for a pana 47tx which only lasted just under a year before being refunded under comets no lemons guarantee. The tosh is a much much better tv. The clarity of the picture and better ability with focus and contrast put it streets ahead of the previous set.
With regard to the many problems highlighted on this site, most seem to be easily overcome.
Colourbanding in dark scenes, too much brightness and contrast.
Wandering convergence, let the set warm up properly before setting up (at least 1/2 hour), or INSIST an engineer coming out to set it up for you. (If you likr tweaking and are confident then the service menu adjustments that have been previously documented and are not too bad to acheive with patience and practice).
With regard to terrestrial TV, this is my biggest bugbear, even having upgraded mt aerial (mainly for itv formula 1) this is still the weakest link, sky digital depending on the channel (and massivly improved by RGB over composite connection, havent tried the component imput yet,) is not too bad but obviously nowhere near as good as DVD, this has of course been exaggerated by the jump from the 47" to the 56".
How far away do you sit? I am only about 10/11 foot from the front of my screen and this means that line structure is visible on poor source material.
My centre speaker sits on the top of my flat topped tv, yes it is very noticeable but so is the tv and as we sit so close there is no room to put it in front of the set on a stand, which would probebly be better. I dont think that the 40" and 46" have a flat top (please correct me if i'm wrong).
In summary, the picture is not quite CRT but is much much bigger. I would certainly not go back to a smaller set and i would definetly buy another the same if i was choosing a new one today,( i have had mine about 4 1/2 months).
Hopr this helps.

[delta]

Originally posted by Nic Rhodes:
<STRONG>Guys a few questions that might be able to help me make my mind up, if you can spare a minute.

There have been many postings on the site, good and bad for the Toshiba rear projection sets. I guess there are many happy customers out there with a just few having difficulties. What I am trying to gauge is some personal experience from people who live and use these devices regularly. What are you long term experiences?

How do you find these in comparison to conventional CRT TV’s? I never have lived with rear projection and my experience is mainly based on Comet / Curry’s and I think they have terrible signals and are VERY badly set up. Are these devices easy to set up and keep converged. I do have NTSC set up discs and a player with built in set up test signals, if this helps.

I am only interested in picture quality / straight stereo. (PL / DD are not necessary). I do need component inputs and I am considering either the 40WH08B or the 46WH08B. What are peoples views on these. I am concerned that 46 inch (and possibly even 40 inch as well) may be too large for video / terrestrial TV broadcasts. Any comments.

I intend, if I purchase one of these devices, to use my separate sound system but where do people put centre speakers. I have a KEF 200c and I don’t think it will sit comfortably on the top (and the wife doesn’t want it there). What do you do with yours?

I have a piece of literature with a model number 40PW13P on it (looks like a new 40 inch widescreen very similar to the 40PW03B) but I have no more details on it. Can anyone else help?</STRONG>

Nic

The Toshiba's are definitely the best buy. Most of the negative stuff that you read is either because of user misunderstanding or are things that are relatively minor and can be put right by having a service call. I guess Toshiba are aware of these things and will do all they can to put them right. The things you read about are no worse than you can expect from a conventional tv. The Tosh'd are excellent sets and taking into account that we still use a 40 year old PAL system they are bloody marvellous!

Dave

[BadAss]

Nic,

I have the Tosh 46"WH08b and the Kef 200C center and have no problems with it sitting on top, I have so much space left I could eat my dinner off it at the same time.

Picture quality has been covered in the other posts. As broardcast TV suffers from interfierence you have to expect some loss in quality. Call me picky but I can see the difference in quality from BBC1 to ITV, ITV being sharper. The difference is made more apparent when using a good DVD player like a Pioneer 737. Once you watch a high res signal (Anamorphic DVD)with perfect picture and no interfierence youll wonder why your paying your licence fee.

I just watched Liverpool win on ITV and forgot I was watching a RPTV, for the size of the picture the quality is good enough.

Unless you want to wait for HDTV this is the set to get.

Yes I have to fiddle with the convergence, yes I've been into the service menu, yes I can see the over compensation of brightness levels at times, but would I buy this set again? Of course I would. Does a formula 1 driver complain that his cockpits too cramped? Or a sky diver complain that the wind is messing his hair style? No, they live for the frill, so get a Large screen set and join the party.

Regards Kev.

[Nic Rhodes]

Bump.

Thanks for the input from all in this forum and all who emailed me privately, my email account has never been so busy.

Any more comments?

[Godfather]

I have a 56" Tosh and it's the best purchase I've made in my life. I love the natural, cinematic quality of the picture and I'll never go back to CRT. I've converted quite a few friends, too.

Originally posted by Godfather:
<STRONG>I've converted quite a few friends, too.</STRONG>

what in a 'prison love' sort of way?

I bought a 43" Tosh about a month ago and it has very quickly blended into my living room after an initial couple of days thinking it's too big. My g/f and the kids get back in a couple of days from a month in Jamaica - I told her I was gonna do some decorating whilst they were away... hope she sees the funny side :D

The only downside to owning the set is that it really does show up a poor source, but then again, feed it with something digital and it is truely amazing. The GT3 demo looks absolutely suberb.

[delta]

The bigger the screen the worse a poor input will look! You are right though, digital is made for these tv's!

I have quite a few videos from my college Years (many many years ago...lol) that are still good fun to watch....or at least they were until I got the 40" RPTV.

I find it very hard to watch them now as their graininess caused by age, source material quality and the type of programming they are (home movies of friends and family) shows up every fault on screen..the whole picture seems to be covered in cheese cloth...it is horrible.

...Oh well...at least my DVD's look great :D