Toshiba 46WM48 - still any good?

[john newhouse]

please forgive my stupidity, i am after a new tv and dont fancy a plasma or lcd. i was looking towards buying the Toshiba 46WM48 from empiredirect.co.uk for £1,099.38. i know that for not much more, i could get a bigger one, but just like 'Kevo' and the 'Why so big?' thread, its just perfect size for where its going to be sitting.

I dont trust shops for info and was hoping that you may be able to assist me.

thanks in advance.

firstly, and possibly most importantly, it says high definition ready, but shops have been saying that for a while and a lot of tvs dont match the european official 'hdready' badge. i see this as a bit of a minefield that i dont understand, but as long as i will be able to get hd out of the xbox 360 i will probably buy and in future ps3 then i will be happy, and movies of course. so will it be ok for that?

secondly, these things run on lightbulbs (well i aint that dumb, but its a part), i know these are not your standard b&q bulbs, but do they change with dlp tv designs? in effect in a few years will i be struggling to get a replacment bulb for this set, or are they a standard design on all dlp's?

thirdly, i like the depth of this tv. i currently have a 28"crt in its place, and its quite deep, but what makes it even worse is that they always seem to put the scarts directly on the back, meaning that it has to sit a good 3-4" from the wall. is this the same on this model, or any other dlp for that matter. i am guessing they do that to force ventilation requirements. now its only 39cm deep, but if the ports are directly on the back, just how close do you think you can get this to the wall?

and lastly, is it any good? i read a very favourable review from a magazine, but thats a good age now. so is this price good for this tv and if its not a particularly good model anymore, then is there anything else around the 46" size for less than £1450.

again, thanks as i feel like a deer in the headlights when i wander into currys and am blissfiully unaware of whats important.

 

[Jamesy_UK]

The current recommended model for the £1200-£1400 mark is the samsung SP46L6HX it seems, infact I just ordered one myself arrives monday after reading all the glowing reports and taking into account the niggles , the other more expensive 45" in the running is the Sagem but that runs around the £1700 mark depending on wether you trust somewhere like Pixmania.
Tosh's and LG's receive less favorable praise but have some supporters here as well.

PS: as for the bulbs these spare parts people run on supply and demand so if DLP's take off this christmas you should see a steady stream of supplies for years to come, however if they go the way of the Betamax expect to have to deal directly with the company to find a supplier usually at a premium.

 

[the_pauley]

Search the threads on this forum for details of issues that many have found with the current Toshiba range. When I was looking to buy my DLP set, I demoed four individual Toshiba sets and all displayed the same motion blurring problem on horizontal movement as well as a very noticeable solarization issue - also known as the "oil-slick" or "oil painting" effect. These issues did not affect any other make of DLP that I tested.

Some Toshiba owners on the forums acknowledge these problems and live with them. Others claim they don't exist. I suggest you read the latter claims very carefully, as you will find that in order to eradicate these problems the owners are usually playing their DVDs through PCs using correctional software, or using expensive descalers (approx £800 and upwards) as soon becomes apparent on this thread. .

If however -like the vast majority of punters- you're looking to unpack your TV, and simply plug in a DVD player or Sky Box and view, then you should be aware of the issues with the current Toshiba range.

Check this thread for the (very costly) experience one forum member (KableMan) had after taking the recommendation of another member on this set. His experience was exactly the same as mine on each and every Toshiba I have seen in operation.

Ultimately it's up to you to audition the set and make up your own mind, but you should be aware that these issues exist.

(Ducks for cover and prepares for another "Attack of the Toshiba People". )

EDIT - You might find some of the posts a tad confusing in the first thread I link to in this post. I've just been on there and for some reason all the posts refering to what other posts have said...

...like this...

...are now missing those quotes. This was happening on all threads a few days ago but has been sorted out. Presumably because the link I've pointed you to is a "Closed" thread, the fault with the missing quotes still exists. Still you should get the gist...

 

[LV426]

re the_pauley's EDIT comment......there is some sort of intermittent glitch which is stopping the display of quotes in some cases. It's under investigation.

Re: bulbs: These are all proprietary to the set in question. In that respect they are like replacement batteries for many laptops, replacement doorknobs for cars. You have to get exactly the right one, and it ill only be available (if at all) from the original manufacturer, at a price.

Having said that, bulb life claims (if they are to be believed) for recent DLPs are very high - equating to many years' normal use. By which time, many users will be looking for their next upgrade anyway.