Toshiba 36ZD26

nickyvicar

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Please can someone help a newbie with a basic summary of the potential faults/problems with this set?

What are the things to check for on delivery?

Both Robertsons and RGB advertise it at £1220 - any info on either supplier?

Many thanks in advance,
Nick.
 
nickyvicar,

Summary as follows:

Buzzing sound emitting from back of set (although only experienced this on the 32ZD and not my 36ZD). If you have this problem ask for a replacement.

Shadows at either side of the screen. This is a "feature" of the 36ZD and there is no solution. It varies from set to set, so if you can put up with it/even notice it, then keep it.

Horizontal geometry issues. i.e. The black bars of a 2.35:1 film will bow/bend up/down at the top/bottom of the screen. There is no way to fix this in the service/designer menus, an engineer can only rotate the picture, not straighten these bars.

Vertical geometry. This fault is most noticeable in 4:3, 14:9 modes; the black bars at either side of the screen will not be straight/parallel/the same width etc. This can easily be corrected in the service menu, either get an engineer out or do it yourself. I would advise using an appropraite test pattern to obtain the best results.

Hallowing. Most noticeable with white icons on a black background, the icon will appear to be out of focus with a surrounding white "mist". Again this varies from set to set, so if you can live with it then keep it.

Flaring. Most noticeable with white moving objects on a dark background. The objects will leave a trail behind them as they move around the screen. This varies, see above advice.

NTSC Progressive scan from a dvd player causing a flickering/pulsating effect. Get a replacement if this happens.

NTSC Prog scan from a Gamecube causing distortion on certain games with bright areas (sky etc). I'm not sure about this one, but if you don't have a Gamecube, problem solved!

Rainbow effect. This is similar to the distortion caused by holding a magnetic source close to the TV (like a speaker), you should see discolouration/distortion. If the effect is still present after a thorough degaussing, get a replacement.

When the TV is delivered check for damage to the box and whether it is sealed with Toshiba tape. If it's damaged or sealed with brown tape, refuse delivery.

I cannot comment on RGB Direct, however my experience of Robertson’s Online has been more than satisfactory. I have had three replacements (so far) with no arguments; they are very helpful and friendly, although other people have had different experiences.

I think I've covered the majority of faults with this set, you might be one of the lucky ones; there are people with "perfect" examples, so if you do experience any of the major faults above (guess what) ask for a replacement.
 
Perfect summary.

To add something about RGBdirect... I ordered mine from them and all they do is act as a fax middle man who passes the order 'direct' (hence the name?) to Toshiba; who's own delivery logistics takes over.

Although generally inept at most things (ie answering the phone and customer service) RGB do seem able to send the fax order off within a week, so overall it's not a bad service.
 
bilboo you have listed nearly everyone of the faults on my set lol apart from the rainbow thing thank god its gone an i have a lovely shiny new sony.hope everything stays good with all the happy 36zd26 owners an thanks for all the help you have given me when i decided to but one especially juboy an bilboo oh an neo blade lol ;)
 
Thanks juboy and SILVERBACK for your comments.

It would be nice to hear from nickyvicar considering I've just saved him the task of wading through nearly a thousand posts to find this information. :rolleyes:

Ah well, c'est la vie. :mad:
 
lol No worries Silverback. Its just a shame you wasn't able to receive a good batch of Toshibas. I'm well happy with my 36" Strata and I can't really ask for more. I'll be tweaking it even more soon once I have an Avia test DVD since there are some small geometry problems that will be solved through the service menu.

Other than thats theres no smearing, no rainbow effect, no buzzing sound, no Hallowing (IMO this is achieved with a stupidly high contrast and a badly set up TV... I remember a Strata owner that liked the TV in Picture Mode 1... 100% Contrast!) and minimal "dirty screen". I say minimal because if you slap up the sharpness you can see the "feature" clearly. The "dirty screen" is also apparent on my Panasonic TV, esp with large blocks of uniform colours (any Sky digi cartoon channel via RGB).

Still have the Gamecube issue though on Mario Sunshine but now I've decided not to play any progressive scan capable game if it doesn't have a 16:9 option.
 
nickyvicar,

I've posted a thread on my experience of ordering a 32ZD26 from Robertsons Online. (I'm not sure how to create a link to the thread I'm afraid, but it's fairly current and under this forum heading)

I didn't receive particularly good service from them I'm afraid, though I may have just been unlucky. On the upside, I AM happy with the TV I got from them (no signs of previous use - clear toshiba tape etc.)

regards,
Adele.
 
Hallowing (IMO this is achieved with a stupidly high contrast and a badly set up TV

Neoblade, I have to disagree with your statement, although I do agree that many people don't have a clue about correct picture setup.

I have used AVIA for the last couple of years to calibrate around 20 CRTs. Some of my friends were astounded at the difference a few alterations to black/white level, sharpness, colour/tint etc. could make.

The hallowing effect (when it's bad) will still be present even with a contrast setting of 00. I know this as I had a particularly bad example which could not be eliminated by setting black and white levels correctly (or excessively low), this was on one of the ZDs I sent back. All calibrations were performed from Picture mode 3.

Sharpness is another setting which people like to leave or set excessively high. I have spent many hours convincing people (after I had set sharpness to the correct level) to leave it that way; they could see the image appeared softer to their untrained eye, but couldn't appreciate the level of detail gained.

BTW I'm not saying that the problems listed are related to my experiences, simply a summary of every problem I have read about on these forums.
 
Originally posted by bibooo
Thanks juboy and SILVERBACK for your comments.

It would be nice to hear from nickyvicar considering I've just saved him the task of wading through nearly a thousand posts to find this information. :rolleyes:

Ah well, c'est la vie. :mad:

Indeed my gratitude for your post may be somewhat tardy in its response - though sincere it is.
Please remember that not everyone has, or indeed desires constant internet use - in my case two small children & a wife with PND precludes this.

Fantastic post, my sincere thanks.

Potpourri, Rodney.........Potpourri;)
 
nickyvicar,

Thank you for your comments they are greatly appreciated. :blush:

I think I might change my user name to Mr. Angry. Whenever I post on these forums I inevitably become extremely frustrated; I am either completely ignored or become embroiled in a lengthy argument.

Perhaps the two are related somehow? ;)

e.g
 
Originally posted by Adele
(I'm not sure how to create a link to the thread I'm afraid, but it's fairly current and under this forum heading)
LINK ;) :)
 
I've recently bought the 32ZD26, and I'm pretty pleased with it except for one apparent problem that doesn't seem to have been mentioned. On some DVDs (both NTSC and PAL) I occasionally notice that where a dark object is moving horizontally against a bright background, a green glow momentarily appears over the dark area, close to the boundary with the bright background. This is just a fleeting moment while the motion is occurring, but it's quite annoying. I've replayed particular examples two or three times over to convince myself that my eyes aren't playing tricks on me. The strange thing is that this seems to happen on some DVDs but not others. For example it's noticeable on the new Region 1 DVD of 'ET', but it isn't apparent on the Region 1 DVD of the Clint Eastwood movie 'Unforgiven'.

Can someone tell me whether this is a recognised fault on televisions, and whether there's a cure for it. Also why does it seem to happen on just some DVDs? Is is actually a problem in the DVD authoring rather than the TV?

Thanks in anticipation of any information on this.
 
This above query is the exact same problem im having, anyone got any idea?
I`ve already decided to call an engineer out. :(


Spoony.
 
To All,

I was really stoked when I saw what What HiFi had to say about this TV. So I set about looking for a good deal on it...RGB have it for £1270...thats the cheapest I have seen will try the otehr retailer you mentioned.

But anyway, now I have seen what some of you have to say about the problems with this set...can anyone say if these problems happen with a lot of TVs (36") and if so should I buy this one or can anyone recommend another similar priced and sized (36")?

Cheers
 
Long time no complaint... but I thought I´d post my latest findings. Have been looking at quite a some 32" ZD´s, and they ALL had massive rainbows(greenish/rainbowy stripe along the left side of the screen), VERY noticable with dark screens.

BUT they only had this fault in progress mode and with PAL dvd´s(RGB from the DVD player). The stripe went away with pal terrestrial broadcast, when I switched to NTSC DVD´s, and also if I used something else than progress mode.
 
Has anyone got a buzzing noise from their 32ZD26P?
Also my TV sometimes does not want to switch on from standby. If I go away and try a bit later it sometimes works.
On some transmissions as some text is on screen eg the logos/time at the bottom it appears with a "hatching" round it.

Anyone got any ideas - I have only had it 3 days.
 
A lot of people have had buzzing problems. I have noticed it on some models, and the buzzing was louder with a highter pitch in the 100hz modes.

If I were you I´d ask for another model ASAP. I figure the sooner you do so the less hassle you´ll get.
 
With the 36ZD26P I was in Currys playing with it (which isn't as stupid an idea as it sounds, they even let me take a DVD2800MKII in) and immediately noticed huge geometry problems with this TV.

It was most noticable with objects fixed on a white or lightly coloured background in which case edges were just severely bent.

Didn't notice any other problems whatsoever though, and the Geometry problems I mentioned weren't present on the PF2 - which to my eyes was the far superior television.
 
Originally posted by keyser
Long time no complaint... but I thought I´d post my latest findings. Have been looking at quite a some 32" ZD´s, and they ALL had massive rainbows(greenish/rainbowy stripe along the left side of the screen), VERY noticable with dark screens.

BUT they only had this fault in progress mode and with PAL dvd´s(RGB from the DVD player). The stripe went away with pal terrestrial broadcast, when I switched to NTSC DVD´s, and also if I used something else than progress mode.


sorry to revive an old thread but the cure for this problem is:

enter the service menu, find the WID setting and reduce it. basically the factory setting for the width seem to be miles off and making the guns fire out of place(?)
 

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