I am exchanging my Toshiba 32z17b because of a manufacturers fault.I am 60/40 in favour of sticking with the Tosh but am considering changing possibly to the JVC 32wft1 as I have read great things about this set.
Any opinions on the JVC most welcome.Said Id ring back tommorrow with my answer

I would take a look at tosh in a few shops first, most of them have these bands down sides. Was this classed as a manufacturing fault as i may ask for a change of tv myself.

[Beddie]

I got rid of a Toshiba 32Z17B because of poor geometry ( not the fault you describe though ), and I had a JVC 32WFT1 delivered yesterday.

It is better looking, in a nice pale silver.

It has similar picture quality ( it has a Philips tube as I can see a sticker on it through the back cover! )

There appear to be no problems with the actual picture, but the geometry is out and will need an engineer's visit. It also has a huge left-shift with RGB.

It has poorer sound quality but that is not an issue as I have a Yamaha A5 for that end of things.

Hope that helps,

Paul

This is the exact reason why I am considering changing from Tosh.Told if problem with second set an exchange would be no problem.Still dont want the same problem twice.Every Tosh set Ive seen in shops, always looks really badly set up and its hard to notice whats even playing although Ive never asked in a shop to demonstrate a DVD.But as you know first hand by having the same problem with these dark bands I will most certainly take your word for it.
Not sure what the tv was classed as, if it was a manufacturers fault or not.Tosh rang me this morning to arrange to pick up my tv for servicing.I wasnt having any off it, I rang QED and said after only having the Tosh 2 weeks I wasnt prepared to let them take it and asked again about an exchange.QED then said Id receive a call from them later in the day this is when I was told I could exchange it.Apparantly the guy at customer services had rang the Tosh factory were my tv was going to be sent.He asked about my tv and the problem concerning it.Tosh must of read him the report, the engineer had given them.He said going by the report they didnt really know what was wrong with the tv(not sure if thats true) and were not sure that if I sent it in for servicing ,how long it would take to correct so QED must of decided to simply exchange the set probly to avoid me ringing up every 10 minutes asking were the hell my tv was.

Thanks Beddie very helpful indeed.
As a matter of interest why did you decide not to simply try a 2nd 32z17b if the problem with the tv was geometry and not a general performance one.
Having now had both sets although briefly and I know its early days with the JVC which do you prefer.
I am very much in two minds.

[Beddie]

The JVC is very similar to the Toshiba on overall picture quality i.e. very good indeed. It has more modes for widescreen, and you can adjust the picture up and down if it is obscuring menus etc.

As I said the geometry is not perfect, and will need adjusting, but I think it will be near-perfect once the engineer had had a dabble.

The Toshiba could not be straightened out by an engineer, as there weren't enough different adjustments he could do.

I would have tried a replacement from QED but they said they were having problems with supply and would I prefer a different set or a refund. Brilliant customer service or what. They did take 2 weeks to put the money back on my credit card, but I forgive them. I bought the JVC from Empire Direct as it was a lot cheaper than QED.

To be honest, if I had the money I would buy a Panasonic, as they seem to be better quality, but they are a bit pricey.

Decided on the JVC over the straight swap with the Tosh as the JVC was the tv I had originally wanted.But as the Tosh was cheaper opted for that instead.Actually the price of the JVC had dropped a bit since I had ordered the Tosh.The JVC is now priced around £749, Im sure it was around the £830 mark earlier this month.The price then put me off too and steared me towards the Tosh.I agree about the customer service at QED I initially gave them a hard time but they have been simply fantastic concerning my exchange.Im even getting my bank balance credited with the £20 extra I paid for the Tosh now that the JVC is £749.

[Beddie]

You will like the JVC. When you get it you need to have a play with the settings. There is ECO mode which adjusts the contrast according to light levels in the room, which I leave on. There is also a function called Auto VNR which is a kind of digital processing. Try all the settings, but I prefer it on Min. You also need to check the Tint setting as it was on Cool. I set it to Normal.

Let me know what the geometry is like on yours when you get it, cheers.

Thanks for the info beddie. Its arriving on Wednesday so Ill let you know the state of the geometry etc then.Has the engineer been out to correct the geometry problems concerning your JVC yet?