It's almost Spring, and the yearly deluge of TVs has begun. Sony, Philips and now Toshiba all have televisions waiting for release. Toshiba have just unveiled 12 new models, including the digital tuner-less WL68 series, and the C3000 series.
The C3000s come with integrated digital tuners, and come in sizes of 32-inch, 37-inch and 42-inch. Like many of their competition, they are 1080i-compliant sets.
Upside
The 32C3000 is a 1366x768 pixel panel, and comes with features such as an 8ms response time, 2000:1 contrast ratio and 500 cd/m2 brightness. For users wanting to use the monitor as a PC screen -- either as part of a media centre or for occasional Web-browsing -- the Toshiba also includes a VGA input.
With so many different picture standards floating around at the moment -- including 24p -- Toshiba has introduced another which actually appears to work: Meta Brain Pro, or 100Hz. It removes the judder from quick movement and camera pans, by actually adding extra frames (!), and seems more effective than the 24p testing we've done.
Also, Toshiba informs us that the integrated tuner on this and other Toshiba products will incorporate the new, free EPG announced last week. This will enable users to pick their favourite shows and have the TV switch to them whenever they're on.
Downside
If you're looking to buy a high-contrast screen -- the 32-inch is the one to get. The contrast decreases to 1200:1 as the panel size of the C3000 series increases, and this is due to the backlighting -- it's harder to illuminate larger screens effectively.
The lack of 1080p and 24p support may dissuade some potential buyers, with Sony close to announcing their own range of 24p sets.
Outlook
The Toshiba 32C3000 is a decent looking set, but with the strength of plasmas we've seen recently it could make for a tough decision when you walk into your local electrical store.
Like this article? Click below to send it to your mobile for free!
roger
15/05/2008, 05:16 PM
rating
9/10
Great tv, perfect size for living room
Pros: Brillant picture quality.
Report offensive comment
eddie_qld
30/09/2007, 12:11 AM
rating
8/10
I've had my 32" Tossy for 2 yrs now and it is going great.
Ed.
Report offensive comment