THOMSON 40" 100Hz Rear Projection TV 40KW611S
Anyone know if this is any good?
Powerhouse are doing it for £900 which seems like an amazing bargain to me considering ive never seen a TV this big for less than a grand.....

Currys have also been advertising this today - as a major price breakthrough - in the newspapers, but they are selling it for a thousand pound.

I appreciate this is obvously gonna be quite a budget model - I was just going to spend about £600 - £700 on a 32 inch TV, but for these extra inches I could be tempted to splash out and icnrease my budget.

Bump.
Come on guys - i really wanna know if this is worth the money.....
Someone help us out with some wordly advice please...

[alexs2]

Generally ok,but you really need to see it in comparison with others.....I found it lacking in definition and contrast compared to the Toshiba I eventually bought

[fatbob]

While I was flicking through some a/v mags in WH Smith recently I recall seeing a review of a Thompson rear projection TV. I didn't buy the mag, but the tv was a new model, so I reckon that there's a good chance that it was the same one you're interested in.

The magazine review wasn't overly enthusiastic from what I recall, but these reviews are often not very reliable, so I would definately recommend that you audition one and form your own conclusions.

It's likely that any shop that stocks this set will also stock either Sony or Toshiba rear projection televisions, so I would arrange an audition at the shop with a dvd player connected to the Thompson and try out some reference dvd disks on it. You could then repeat the same tests on one of the Sony or Toshiba models to get a better idea of whether the Thompson is underperforming.

For the money (£900) you could buy a 32" CRT that will certainly outperform the picture performance of a rear projection set, but the rear projection tv will compensate with a large, cinematic picture that gives an experience no 32" CRT can offer.

If the Thompson's performance appeals to you, then I would say it is worth £900, but other sacrifices may have been made to get the price so low that may impact on long term reliability.

Sorry that I can't be more specific, but I haven't got any experience of Thompson rear projection tv's, but I do know from experience that having a local dealer who let me bring my dvd player to his shop and try it out on a tv I was interested in saved me from making a very expensive mistake.

Regards,

Bob.

mmmmmm cheers.
Think i might stick to 32 inch TV's then.... thanks for the help and advice...

If you're technical minded I would say RP's are good value for money.

However if you just want it be "no fiddling/tweaking" type display then go for a direct view or Plasma.

Sometimes the minor problems of my RP bugs me, but I guess they're isn't a percfect display format so will do for now.

Here's a snapshot of my RP (Tosh)

http://nathansilly.012webpages.com/

If you demo RP's, ask the bloke to do a convergenge in the Wide aspect mode before you watch it (also fiddle with brightness/contrast/sharpness to get it right)

I had several crt 32 ins sets before I decided to go RP. I have the Sony PX2 and the picture is just as good if not better than the Sony FQ75 I had. The only thing i have had to do to my RP set is push the auto convergence button once in 6 months. Great picture.

shaun

[fisha]

shaun,

do you feel the auto convergence does a good job?

I've been playing with rear pros for a short while in the shops and comparing them to one another.

More often that not when the Sony and Tosh are side by side, i cant help feel that 2 mintues spent manually setting the convergence on the Tosh gives a better result than the auto-setup of the sony after pushing the button.

The sony never seems to be able to match the sharpness of the Tosh.

How have you found it over an extended period?

In the end i ordered the Tosh 100Hz, but still interested in others opinions about the Sony

I've got a Tosh. I'm not defending the Tosh or dissing the Sony... but this is relevant to any CRT RP.

Two Sony RP's might not be the same. Say I buy two Sony's- one for either room. One might be slightly out of focus (either lens and/or electronic focus) so it'll look worse than the "good" one.

Perhaps the Sony focus was slightly out? Or maybe it wasn't. IMO auto convergence is not as good as manual service level convergence.

You need to bring up the service level grids see if they're in focus. RP's are not plug & play- you need to tweak them to get the best PQ out. I've done several tweaks and it looks much better than out of the box.

Yeah I find the auto conver good but not as good as being able to tweek it like the tosh. However, all you do is go into the sony sevice menu, bring up the grid, sort it out. Tghen once done that, if you need to ajust conver just push the auto button. The tosh RP I had before this was the Tosh 42wh18b. Yeah great picture but I did not like the matt screen. Anywaty after it packed in I had no chices left except for Sony. The sonys screen has a sheen finish to it and believe me it looks like your watching a normal crt tv. Excellent picture. Another thing i found with the tosh was that the right of the screen was a sepia colour. (only really noticable on b/w films or white backgrounds) which is a common fault I believe. I cant fault the sony in any of these departments. Im very happy. Anyway, like Nathan said one sony rp will be totally different to the next one, even if its the same model. The FQ75 I had before these 2 had a great picture but it had scrolling bars. Thats when I went RP. I can say in all honesty that my PX2 s picture is just as good as my FQ was now its set up properly

shaun

ps sorry about the spelling mistakes, my finggers broken

shaun

Shaun, I would think the Sony's reflective screen would degrade the picture quality (some Sony owners have re-shuffled the lens stack so the shiny one is at the back, and the dull one is at the front) I've seen shiny screens and IMO they look awful with any side light - lots of reflection.

[scooby do]

I find the auto convergence no where near as accurate as manual. This is on a KP 44 PS2. Confirmed this weekend, manual converged about 2 months ago, auto converged still fluffy edges. Done manual and all is good again. Note, TV does get vibrated by 3 year old son running around on suspended floor so don't let that put people off.

hey dudes

I dont find the shiny screen bad at all. It looks just like a crt picture. The colours are all bright and very vibrant. The screen is no more reflective than a normal tv. The Tosh always had a matt sort of finish to the picture and looked like a rp picture. Everyones different I guess. Anyway the main thing for me is that this sony does not have a shaded right side of screen or vertical bars like my tosh had. I cant fault this sony at all.

cheers
shaun

Had this set deliverd last week from Powerhouse for £900 !! this is my first RP. As expected the picture is not as good as CRT but certainly appeared as good as most Tosh which always seem a bit wishy washy to me. The Virtual dolby is not great athough another sound setting 'Magic' is better, intend to rectify by replacing my exisiting DVD with a 5.1 home cinema DVD. The definite plus is the stand which fits underneath and has a glass DVD/Video shelf making it look pretty neat unlike most RP's which either have no shelf or pretty poor looking ones. All in all I am very pleased with the set might not be the best RP out there but for the money can't argue with 40" worth.