This 47-incher has been waiting in the wings since at least August 2006, when it was previewed in Singapore as part of Toshiba's travelling world tour. Since then, many new 1080p entries have surfaced in the local market. Among the contenders have been the award-winning 46-inch Sony Bravia X and Sharp's G7-series Aquos.
Though this panel can hardly hold a candle to the formers' styling and advanced connectivity, it does offer a unique proportion unheard of from established vendors: A ridiculously affordable AU$4,399 price tag, plus an extra inch in screen size.
Design
Unlike the earlier 66-series Toshiba, this new lineup shares a common styling and dual-tone hues throughout the four different models. What you will get is an average-looking front and streamlined bottom-mount speakers, only varying in length against its well-received 32WL68E. Measuring 1,132 x 740 x 118mm and weighing 36.9kg, its bulk falls pretty much in line with most competing 46-inchers. This is despite an extra inch lead in screen size, thanks to a unique 47-inch panel.
Another refreshing change is an Aquos-lookalike V-shaped stand which breaks the set's boxy outlines thnrough its sexy curves. Aesthetics aside, it also offers a 15-degree swivel capability that most large panels lack. Alternatively, you can also opt for a picturesque installation, with the addition of an optional wall-mount bracket. Regardless of the preference, there will be little difficulty accessing the TV controls and front A/V inputs, conveniently located on the chassis' right.
It has been a while since we were stumped by a remote and the Toshiba is one of the rare few. The issue arises from a choice of symbols over texture imprints, leaving us clueless and scrambling for the user manual. We also had a hard time switching video input, performed via a toggle button or cumbersome software scroll list. Looking on the brighter side, it does offer multifunctional capability and an ergonomic grip in the hand.
Diving into the menu reveals an intuitive graphical user interface no different from its past offerings. Here, you will find all the basic video configurations plus a decent selection of advanced variants such as colour management. Sufficient enough, in our opinion, to ensure a proper setup. That said, it is worth noting that each group of settings is applied to all inputs, rather than as an individual set for each video source.
Features
At the heart of this 47-incher is a full-HD LCD panel with a high 1,920 x 1,080-pixel resolution. This is adequately matched by a fast 6ms response time, competent 500cd/m2 brightness and 176-degree viewing angle. If you are expecting a fancy specification to follow for contrast, chances are you will be in for a surprise. That's because it comes in a rather conservative figure of 1,200:1 instead -- not to be confused with the dynamic contrast hawked by its competitors, of course.
Like its siblings in the WL68 range, the Toshiba is equipped with the company's latest proprietary Meta Brain Pro 100 video processor, which is designed to remove juddering effects in DVDs and free-to-air TV.
Toshiba's engineers have outfitted the panel with a beefed-up Jet Slit speaker system, which is six-piece ensemble of four 60 x 120mm woofers and dual 33mm tweeters. If that's not enticing enough, how about complementary treble/bass adjustment and bass boost functions? Not forgetting the woofer output for a powered boom box -- all for extra oomph in low frequency reproduction.
Another forte of this Toshiba lies in its updated connectivity options. At the top of the echelon is a pair of digital HDMI terminals, future-proofed with 50 and 60Hz 1080p-compatibility. A notch down is the twin 1080i-ready component-video sockets, followed by two sets of legacy S-video and composite jacks. Last, but not least, there's the PC input capable of supporting SXGA (1,280 x 1,024) which means it is widescreen-ready.
Performance
We got the 47-incher up to speed following several days of run-in and a trouble-free calibration with the DataColor SpyderTV. For this review, we amassed a formidable collection of test equipment and accessories. These included a Samsung BD-P1000, the Toshiba HD-E1 HD-DVD player, Monster interconnects and various HD movie discs. For the record, the TV accepted the Samsung's 1080p output readily without any glitches or hiccups.
First up in a long series of evaluations was the panel's broadcast reception quality. This, as it turned out, was a bit lacking with a soft presentation overall -- due in part to the set's intensive video processing of standard-def sources. To be fair to Toshiba, most full-HD sets suffer from this common problem -- with the exception of a handful such as the Sony Bravia X-series. On the other hand, the video noise floor was definitely on the low side, with minimal visible grains through most channels.
The tide was somehow reversed during our run of synthetic test patterns. Not only were the shades of black layered and faithfully rendered, color decoding was also near-perfect with a very minor dip only in the blue department. The latter was easily remedied with the advanced six-hue color management function. Switching over to our referenced DVD movie clips reinforced our observations plus offered a noticeable step up in details and edge enhancements.
The real clincher, however, was the 47WL68E's stunning Blu-ray and HD-DVD performance. It was like shifting into high gear, and was characterized by razor-sharp visuals and 3D-like pictures. The skin textures in the various scenes of The Chronicles of Riddick HD-DVD were so realistic that we swear we could clearly make out the traces of beard stub. Equally impressive was the striking blue sky and colorful recreational vehicle in the Blu-ray rendition of Robin William's RV.
To further test the screen's capabilities, we hooked the 47WL68E up to a widescreen Compaq laptop. Though the panel displayed the supported resolutions without a hitch, text quality was slightly on the soft side, even at SXGA. A quick fix was to enable the one-to-one pixel mapping. Nevertheless, this came at the expense of a black border around the image, which left considerably less screen real estate.
Audio-wise, bass notes were aplenty, matched by clear vocal and extended treble. Surround sound playback was also pretty convincing, but the same could not be said for its muddy stereo imaging.
Throwing in a sexy pedestal stand is a nice touch by the Japanese giant. Sadly, this does not elevate the panel's standing on the aesthetic front on par with the appealing Sony Bravia or Sharp Aquos. For AU$4,399, this true 1080p panel is a capable HD gem, and a steal for the budget-conscious full-HD wannabes. It is just a wee bit shy of bagging our Editors' Choice due to its lack of "wow factor".
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kasra
04/11/2007, 06:35 PM
rating
10/10
it is great
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