LCD/Plasma/CRT/DLP - questions

[andrewfee]

Andrew the Toshiba WL66 does have a very slight backlight buzz. It's so faint that you will never hear it unless everything else is switched off, and you're standing right in front of your TV. Even with my TV speakers turned down to a very low volume, I can't hear the backlight buzz. I can just about hear it sometimes after I've switched everything off apart from my TV at night.

Ah, that's a little concerning - A: I've got great hearing, so I usually pick up on these things, and B: my PVR is virtually silent, and I tend to listen at very low volumes. (with the Sharp, volume was normally between 3 and 5, out of 63)

I don't think there's a service menu but if you remember, I showed you that photo of the base colour menu. That should be enough to get satisfactory colours although tbh I'm happy with mine at default levels

Hmm, I hope I can get access to a service menu of some sort, as I really prefer to do greyscale calibration on my sets. If I can't, then it's not the end of the world, but it usually makes a huge improvement.

The settings you showed me were of the colour decoder, rather than greyscale adjustments - very nice to have, but I'd have preferred both. It'll be interesting to see how useful these controls are. (I believe the WLT68 removed the "brightness" options from this)

Is it that the 360's VGA is less colourful or that component is over saturated?

Both. Component is often a bit over-saturated, and most sets don't seem to do a great job with VGA, leaving it a bit under-saturated.


For what it's worth, I ordered a 37WLT68 from John Lewis this afternoon - a bit more expensive than most, but you get the 5yr warranty, decent customer support, and they were the only place I know that have it in stock. (there were some places that claimed to, but I've never heard of them)

[krispyk]

I'll be interested to hear how you get on with your Toshiba. Although I am happy with the performance of my Sony 32 2010 it is beginning to feel a tad on the small size so I am considering an upgrade. I am now tempted by the Sony 40W2000 or the Toshiba 37LTW68 as both seem to be very decent sets.

[EvilBoris]

I'll be interested to see how Andrew gets on with the toshiba. I can always take back this TV again and change it should it turn out the set is the best thing ever. I could live with the gripes of the duff remote and the fact it doesn't fit in my room very well (the VGA problem may be sortable I've just read)

The viewing angle was the main gripe for me, although someone over at the AVforums said that this improved after a few hours of use. Is this normal with LCDs?

[andrewfee]

I'll be interested to see how Andrew gets on with the toshiba. I can always take back this TV again and change it should it turn out the set is the best thing ever. I could live with the gripes of the duff remote and the fact it doesn't fit in my room very well (the VGA problem may be sortable I've just read)

The viewing angle was the main gripe for me, although someone over at the AVforums said that this improved after a few hours of use. Is this normal with LCDs?

I doubt it's going to be "the best thing ever." Right now I just want a set that isn't "broken." It might be a bit better than the S, or perhaps a little worse, but if there aren't any big issues with it, it's staying, I'm sick of this.

John Lewis say they'll call you within 7 days to arrange for delivery, which could be another week on top of that - if I can't get it before the 17th, I'll just tell them to cancel the order and buy a 40S2030 elsewhere.

Viewing angles don't really change over time, but it's possible that the problem is less noticeable once the backlight has warmed up. I'm the only person that's going to be watching this TV, and mostly straight-on, so it's not an issue, and it'll be better than the Sharp's - I can't believe it's so bad.

[Kotatsu Neko]

I'll be interested to see how Andrew gets on with the toshiba. I can always take back this TV again and change it should it turn out the set is the best thing ever. I could live with the gripes of the duff remote and the fact it doesn't fit in my room very well (the VGA problem may be sortable I've just read)

The viewing angle was the main gripe for me, although someone over at the AVforums said that this improved after a few hours of use. Is this normal with LCDs?

The viewing angles on my Tosh are rubbish from the moment it's turned on to the moment it's turned off. Doesn't really matter for me as I sit right in front of it.

Are you talking about fixing the VGA being off center, or the washed out colours?

[EvilBoris]

The viewing angles on my Tosh are rubbish from the moment it's turned on to the moment it's turned off. Doesn't really matter for me as I sit right in front of it.

Are you talking about fixing the VGA being off center, or the washed out colours?

The borders at the side, the WLT68 put borders in 1280*768 (understandable) and in 1360*768 (why?)

[andrewfee]

Did you not try out 1280x720? Anything else from the 360 causes it to scale things, which usually looks pretty crap compared to component running in 720p imo.

[EvilBoris]

It doesn't support 1280*720

[andrewfee]

It doesn't support 1280*720

Ah well, same as the BRAVIAs and this Sharp then. I wonder why that is.

John Lewis called this morning, and the soonest they could deliver the Toshiba is the 15th, which is cutting it a bit close. (if it's no good, I won't have time to get a BRAVIA)

[sj33]

Curious, what's the main reason your going with the Tosh over the Bravia S series anyway? Mainly for 720p VGA (which we now know it does not do) and the 3x HDMI?

[Angry the Clown]

Got a better look at the Sony W series LCDs again today. They had both the 40 and 46inch models running the same BBC HD feed of Planet Earth and although the 46 exhibited the same horrible blockiness and speckled image that I noticed when I initially saw the 40inch model some weeks ago, the 40inch one today looked superb with blatantly different image settings used in the store to it's 46inch bigger brother stationed beside it. It left me confident enough to know that the speckling anomalies in both sizes wouldn?t be there at the hands of anyone competent enough to set the screen up nicely (of either size).

I did notice some banding on both displays, not sure if that could be phased out or lessened with some menu tinkering, but all in all if I had to say no to the SXRD and fallback on an LCD, I do think it would be one of these.

Ah well, same as the BRAVIAs and this Sharp then. I wonder why that is.

The SXRD is funny with 1080 over VGA as well. It accepts it, but it will not display it full screen for some bizarre reason.

[andrewfee]

Curious, what's the main reason your going with the Tosh over the Bravia S series anyway? Mainly for 720p VGA (which we now know it does not do) and the 3x HDMI?

A few reasons really, but nothing major - firstly, the 37" size would fit my room better than 40".

Secondly, I found the image to be rather soft on my 32v2000 - softer than any other LCD I've had. I'm hoping the Toshiba will let you get rid of any sharpness enhancement, but without softening the image as the Sony seemed to do. (similar to what the Sharp does)

Overscan. I'm sure it'll use some, but perhaps it will be less than the BRAVIAs, which had quite a lot for an LCD.

I'm also hoping the speakers are better - I've got a great set of stereo speakers... but having the Sharp has shown me that flat panel TVs don't have to have crap audio. As I don't use my speakers for music much now, and am hoping to sell my subwoofer soon, I'm hoping I can get rid of mine, and just use the ones on the TV if they're good enough. I'm told the BRAVIA's speakers aren't very good (didn't try them on my 32v2000 as far as I can remember) and Toshiba have teamed up with Onkyo to improve thngs.

It's also got 100/120Hz processing, which is said to be quite good, and I'd like to try that out. The three HDMI is a bonus really, but ideally I'd have at least two on any TV I get - the BRAVIAs are quite limited for connectivity, and I'm trying to cut down on the number of boxes under the TV now, so I don't really want a splitter)

The Toshiba also has the option for a nice "floating" stand for ?150, whereas I'd be ?700 for an Atacama one to put the BRAVIA on. (or any other TV I get)

[EvilBoris]

The Onkyo speakers are bassy mother****ers

[Oh_Mutants]

So basically if i get a WLT68, primarily with 360 in mind (which was the plan) it's a bad idea? I wanted to go through VGA ideally, but i'll get sizable borders down each side? (Any pics?) Will the 360 image be displayed as it's intended though, in the correct aspect ratio? Confused.com

[EvilBoris]

So basically if i get a WLT68, primarily with 360 in mind (which was the plan) it's a bad idea? I wanted to go through VGA ideally, but i'll get sizable borders down each side? (Any pics?) Will the 360 image be displayed as it's intended though, in the correct aspect ratio? Confused.com

No, because the 360 is outputing a 1280*768 image in a 16:9 aspect ratio, then the WLT68 is displaying in non 16:9 you end up with a squiffed image.