S-Video, the Remote

No Component Video

Very impressed with the picture

price

not very flat

for the price, your not going to get a better tv. it has good features and options and has a good picture. you get the regulater video, s-video and component video thrown in also. your not going to get a tv as good for any where near this price. i highly recommend this to anyone on a budget.

Jack pack, features vs. price, Quality!

? Not sure

OK, the remote isn't a keyboard, but does everyone have to continue to gripe about every remote? Go drop $20 on a universal... Anyway, got this from goodguys.com (no shipping) and I have been thrilled. It has a lot of bells and whistles, especially for the money. Somebody mentioned no front inputs, the Panasonic and Hitachi have them (aren't they the same set?), but that is about it other than the really crappy brands I have seen. Anyway, this set is well worth the money!

Similar Products Used:

JVC, Panasonic

Picture quality from componet video inputs for dvd

odd menu and lack of front a/v inputs

I love all Toshiba products and this 27inch has got to be one of the best for the money and size. Plus I got a good deal from Best Buy with use of special discounts.

Picture quality, inputs

Remote slightly limited

Very good picture because of 3-line digital comb filter. Has S-video input and component inputs. This is a good T.V. for everyone from a person looking for a descently priced replacement T.V., to someone who is very demanding of T.V. quality. The remote is handy for thee T.V., but won't work my Dish Network system or my stereo system. I shopped around for several months and then consumer reports rated Toshiba the best 27" and it has been one of their most reliable brands in the past. I'm very happy with the T.V. You won't find a better 27" T.V. unless you go to a flat screen and pay at least twice as much. I would recommend this T.V. to everyone.

Similar Products Used:

RCA and shopped all brands

* Component Input Jacks
* Svideo Input Jack
* picture quality
* horizontol resolution
* Audio and Video composite outputs

* No front A/V composite inputs
* Remote Control
* Menu System

I decided to upgrade my minimalist 4 year old 25 inch Sharp tv with a more dvd-friendly set. I had some basic requirements/needs. I wanted at least 2 A/V inputs on the back, and they both had to minimally have Svideo or component video capability. I wanted at least 600 lines of horizontal resolution. I wanted audio outputs..if it also did video out, that would be an added bonus. I had limited myself to either a 27 or a 32 inch with a financial limitation of $400 for a 27 inch and around $600-650 for a 32 inch. I finally decided that a high resolution 32 inch would just be too big for broadcast/cable tv from our viewing distance (all the "noise" on the cable channels would be amplified, in other words). So, the 32 inch will have to wait till HDTV is commonplace and my digital HDTV-enabled cable signal is nice and clear. Given what I wanted, I narrowed my options down to the Panasonic CT-27D20, JVC 27D201, Toshiba 27A40. I then did some research here and elsewhere, and eventually decided on the Toshiba.

I've been using the set for the past month or so and have been satisfied with it. For the price, I got a very good set which met or exceeded all of my basic requirements. The color and crispness/sharpness of the image is excellent. I can finally read the small text on cable channels such as Weather Channel and CNN.

I'll just comment on the Weaknesses/pet peeves since I suspect anyone reading this would be more interested in the criticisms than the "it's great" statements.

- No A/V front composite inputs. Most other 27 inch models in the $300-400 price range had these. For me, it is not that important since I have another tv that does have front inputs in case I ever need to use them, but for others, this may be a sticking point.

- There is no perfect remote control but Toshiba could have done a little better. The two problems I have with it are the position of the Menu button (and it's size) and the universal switch for setting which device it controls (vcr, tv, cable box). The Menu button is right in the middle of the volume and channel changing buttons and I found myself accidently hitting it when I first used the remote. This could be potentially an annoying problem if you accidently changed something in the menu system (e.g. hit "reset" on the picture controls). The device switch is located on the left side of the remote and it can easily be moved by accident as you slide your hand along the remote. I would rather have buttons on the front of the remote that switch the device mode that the remote is in. Both of these "issues" were annoying at first but like with anything, it just took some adjustment. The good news for me is that the remote will control my Sharp vcr.

- The menu system is comprehensive with many options (all the usual picture controls, temperature setting, bass/treble for speakers, surround sound mode, etc.) but could be improved. For starters, they should add a numerical respresentation to the bar graphs that represent the picture controls. If, for any reason, you accidently reset them, it would be nice to be able to set them again exactly as you had them (i.e. it is easier to write down numbers than it is to say "3 dots from the left and then two more clicks") Actually, another feature that would alleviate this problem would be a User setting that can be *saved* permanently. In fact, I don't see how hard it could be for tv manufacturers to build a few of these in. Toshiba does have a Theater (as well as Normal which btw, is not very normal - it is factory default with the contrast set to maximum) setting but it's not customizable. Just two customizable and permanently-saveable setting controls would be great. Oh well, you can't have everything. Also, when you do set the picture controls, the menu takes up the entire screen which on one hand makes it easy to set multiple settings but on the other hand makes it hard to see what the changes have done to the tv image. My final pet peeve for the menu system isn't so much its design but it's lacking in a few more features. I like the idea that closed captioning comes on when you mute the tv BUT this option needs to be customizable. I could not find any option that could turn this off. It is very handy when watching/listening to a tv show/ vcr movie through the A/V receiver to be able to just hit the 'mute' button on the tv. Unfortunately, then you get closed captioning. This isn't an issue when watching a dvd for me, so it's only a minor annoyance, but still, it doesn't seem like it would be hard for them to add an option to make this customizable. A related feature to this would just be some way to shut off the tv speakers entirely. I believe the JVC had this feature.

My final comment has to do with the color decoder. My set seems to emphasize green a tad too much but I really can't say for sure. I have the Avia disc and have tinkered with the settings which did improve things - the Avia color test pattern shows that I am not overemphasizing either red or green - but have not tinkered with any of the service level menu options (since I don't have a service manual and would be working in the dark basically). As of now, I haven't really determined if this is just my eyes trying to adjust to the new tv since the Sharp tv was shifted way over to the red as most tvs are or if my set needs some minor tweaking in the service menu. I do find the fleshtones on the Toshiba to be much more realistic once you get used to the non-redness that most other tvs have. I would be interested in knowing if others have noticed this.

Overall, I would recommend this set to anyone looking for an entry level 27 inch dvd-friendly tv set.

Similar Products Used:

Sharp 25 inch

Great crisp picture, full sound, enough inputs for a home theater (DVD + VCR), easy menus!

None that I know of yet

I bought this TV after seeing what the competition looked like at Best Buy and Circuit City. I was intending on buying a Philips or Sony but the differences in (feature+quality+price) go unmatched. Toshiba has definitely but together a nice product. Coupled with my new Pioneer HTD-510 Home Theater and I'm enjoying the movies and NASCAR in heaven!!!

I bought the Toshiba 27A41 model...which has front a/v inputs, an upgrade from the 27A40 model.

Similar Products Used:

15 year old Zenith (sucked), 27" JVC 5 years

Toshiba name, above average picture quality

Audio is weak, Case is cheaply built

This review is for the 27A41. The picture quality is excellent for DVDs. The colors are fabulous for both regular TV and DVD. The PQ showed alot of compression artifacts for my DirecTV signal however, which along with the WEAK audio system, is why I returned it for a JVC D-Series TV. I think the Sharp I demoed had a better sound system.

Alot of customers such as myself are buying 27" TVs as a secondary set for the basement or bedroom, which do not have surround sound systems, that requires TVs with decent sound (wake up manufacturers). Also the low build quality of the TV set's case is unacceptable.

Similar Products Used:

JVC 27D502, Sharp

Sharp picture

Green tennis ball sized tint in upper left corner (see previous post). This is most noticable when the background is white or light colored. I noticed it watching an animated Christmas video were the background was white and static though it can be seen at other times as well.

The green tint ruined this product for me. I'll keep searching.

Similar Products Used:

Thomson 63cm Multisystem

Fantastic picture, S-Video, very flat tube, great value

Sound, delay switching channels, menus could have more features

This is a review of the 27A41.

This is a very nice set for the money. I am very impressed with the picture quality - I think it easily rivals Sony. The S-Video is nice and the tube is near flat which is another plus.

The remote is ok, however I wish more manufacturers would take a look at Samsung's remote before they design theirs.

I was disappointed in the sound. It is very flat and tinny for 5W speakers. I'll have to get a better sound system so I won't have to use the set's speakers.

The menu lacks some features such as colour and sound "profiles". It also lacks some simple things such as the ability to use the tv as an alarm clock. I also miss these features from the Samsung that I had tried out.

The bottom line, however, is that a TVs most important feature is the picture quality and this one is fantastic.