MarcusV

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $1199.00 from Home Theater Store

Summary:
It is now 2009 and I have owned this slimline rptv for nearly 11 years.
It had the best picture in the showroom back in '98 and it's shallow depth of 17.5" made it look less like a rear projection of those in that era.

Strengths:
Strengths are PQ. Even after DTV and HDTV came out, the PQ of this set made it very difficult to part ways with it. I've been using a digital DVR from the cable company and the conversion looks wonderful on this now antiquated set.

Weaknesses:
The remote, while well built, is difficult to use. The menu sustem is too cumbersome.
And today, for the first time in 11 years...problems! lol
Picture dimmed. remote's onscreen controls did not appear on-screen.
Turned it off. Let it rest for 30 minutes and it worked fine again for another hour before dimming again.
I'm sure this set could be serviced and repaired but the prices for quality LCDs and plasmas are coming down so I may have to part company with this wonderful TV.
It will be the last set in the house that wasn't replaced with the newer flat screens.

Similar Products Used:
I had also purchased a 41" Sony rptv about the same time asI bought this set.
The Sony was about $200 less than this Toshiba.
That Sony died over 2 years ago, and it had all sorts of convergence problems for the 2 years before it died.

Summary:
i had the tv for 4 months when the blue crt developed a phosphor burn. the crt was replaced under warranty. Four months later,same problem. The tv is still under warranty,but toshiba refuses to fix the problem. They accused me of watching the weather channel 24 hours per day which is not true. Toshiba will not stand behind their warranty.

Strengths:
good picture

Weaknesses:
blue crt

Summary:
Overall I'm very pleased with the little Cinema Series RPTV from Toshiba. The biggest factor in my deciding to buy it vs. a 36" direct view was the shallow cabinet (only 18.5") and the fact that letter-box images on a 36" set still look pretty small from my seating position.

The smaller 43" size makes scan lines almost invisible at my 12 foot viewing distance. I found that the 50" TV's scan lines were quite visible at the same distance. The only negative about the set is its video performance from the tuner when displaying graphics(lots of dot crawl and hanging dots) and the geometry of the screen. Mine has a noticeable shift to the right and the image is smaller in width at the top of the screen vs. the bottom, making vertical features bow inwards near the top. I will be making a call to Toshiba warranty to see if they can sort that one out. The performance on DVD via the component inputs is very, very good and I think it is almost the equal of some of the progressive scan sets but at about 65% of the price.

I think that this was the best way to go to get a larger image in a product that will serve as a bridging component until I get a DTV. I looked at a lot of sets (Hitachi & Sony) but the Toshiba had the best set of features, performance and price for the money

Strengths:
Size, styling, performance on S-Video & Component Video, more PIP features than you can imagine, wide lateral field of view

Weaknesses:
lots of dot crawl on graphics from tuner sources, narrow vertical field of view to eliminate hot-spots, slow to change channels (can't surf!)

Similar Products Used:
None

Summary:
In general,I like this television. It is the first rear-projection TV I've owned. I had avoided previous models because of their limited field of view, but with this model, I get a viewable image from anywhere within a 45-degree angle on either side of the screen.

The screen looks pretty big in my living room, yet the unit is designed so that if fits on a fairly narrow table. It doesn't take up much more room than my old 25" Mitsubishi.

The flat screen is highly reflective, and I've found it best to dim the lights, but even when the lights are on, it's not much of a problem.

The on-screen menu structure drives me crazy. I really hate clicking from the TV input to the DVD (video stream) input. I have to toggle through four options, and each option has a built-in delay. It would have been great if they had a button on the remote for each option--then anything would be just one click away.

Strengths:
Bright image, flat screen, wide selection of inputs.

Weaknesses:
On-screen menus are cumbersome. Changing from one input to another is slow and tedious. You can't just jump to one of the five options; you have to toggle through them one at a time.

Similar Products Used:
None.

Summary:
I think the picture quality is alot better than the 50 inch toshiba. There is much less scan line visibility and the picture seem much sharper. All my friends and family were suprised that this is a rear projection set, as its appearance and picture quality more resemble direct veiw. If you can't afford a progressive scan set, this is the way to go.

Strengths:
Great picture. Does not overwhelm the room. Scan lines are alot less visible than the set just one size up.

Weaknesses:
The sound is just okay.