Price Paid:  $800.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
EXCELLENT PICTURE. No evidence of dot-crawl or major blooming of whites. Images are clear and clean. It is a joy to watch DVD movies through the component jacks. Regular coaxial cable looks good and solid. The best picture I've seen on a tube this size.

A few irritations : while adjusting menu items such as color or brightness, the menu remains displayed taking up the entire screen. Hard to see what you are doing to the picture when the whole menu is in the way. A small sacrifice.

Also, there are three picture modes: NORMAL, THEATER, and MEMORY. If you adjust the NORMAL or THEATER just a bit, it stores this update as your MEMORY mode. NORMAL and THEATER can NOT be adjusted and saved seperately. (Normal mode is too bright, which is not good since the extra white level could wear down the picture tube quicker; and Theater mode is not color-accurate)

Once you adjust to the perfect all-around picture, one that looks great with dvd movies, cable broadcasts, etc., you will be extremely satisfied and gratified with the look of the TV. For color accuracy and other helpful tools with regard to tv's and home entertainment equipment, I recommend AVIA's Guide To Home Theater DVD. It's a great source for setting up your TV and Stereo to its potential.

After almost 6 months with the Toshiba 36A50, I am very pleased with its performance, reliability and quality. If you are looking for a great TV for less than $1,000, this should be the one for you. It's very well made, and once you get your picture settings just right, you'll never have to enter the menu again.

Strengths:
Clarity. Black Level. Component Inputs.

Weaknesses:
Menu Layout. Only one user memory for picture settings.

Similar Products Used:
Sony. JVC. Phillips.

Price Paid:  $800.00 from Best Buys

Summary:
My Toshiba 36A50 shows green fringing especially evident on the left side of facial tones. It occurs on most cable stations, but not all of them. The problem doesn't seem to occur when playing DVD's while using component video imputs. I called for a technician to come repair my TV. He noticed the green fringing and said the problems was from my cable company. I have a 27" JVC TV hooked up to the cable and do not have any green fringing on that set. I purchased my TV at Best Buy's. I complained to them about the problem, and they agreed to send me another TV. I got a new Toshiba 36A50, and the exact same problem was evident on the new TV. Anyone else have this problem?

Strengths:
color stream imputs.

Weaknesses:
Green color fringing on cable reception.

Price Paid:  $799.00 from 800.com

Summary:
Since so many of you have asked me about the anamorphic squeeze via e-mail, I'm posting it here now. Please don't send me e-mail asking me how to do the squeeze:

Warning: Do this at your own risk.

Default Setings for Toshiba 36A50

To enter service menu:

Hit Mute on remote, hold down mute, hit menu button on TV, hit menu again for Service items. Use channel up/down to move through items. Use volume up/down to adjust settings. Cycle power to exit service menu.

Write down all settings first.

16:9 Settings for Anamorphic squeeze:

HIT 14H
DPC 0DH

Default Settings Below

RCUT 80H
GCUT 54H
BCUT 3CH
GDRV 40H
BDRV 40H
SCNT 0AH
BRTC 3AH
COLC 3AH
TNTC 4GH
HPOS 15H
VPOS 03H
HIT 2AH
LIN 08H
VSC 02H
VPS 1BH
VCD 03H
WID 2EH
DPC 17H
CNR 07H
TRAP 06H
HCP 0DH
VFC 0FH
DAC 03H
ATT 18H
STVC 28H
STRF 14H
WBAN 17H
SPEC 30H
SAVC 27H
PCOL 91H
PHUE 09H
PBRT 0DH

Strengths:
Great picture, no visible blooming at high contrast levels, good amount of inputs.

Weaknesses:
No automatic "squeeze" for anamorphic DVD's (can be done in service menu though), cannot turn off speakers, badly placed menu key on the remote. Some minor geometry problems, common to many larger sets.

Price Paid:  $500.00 from sears

Summary:
this 36" monster is awesome it blows away anything in the price dept. I got luck went to sears saw the $750 price tag and was going to buy it they told me they had none left in the box so sold me the floor unit with not a scratch on it for $500. this tv is heavy but you know when somethings heavy it feels well built! I am a video game player I currently have a ps2, n64, dreamcast, saturn, neo geo gold, snes, genesis, amiga cd32, and an old atari jaguar all hooked up to this unit through two selectable swith boxes. This tv rocks with my grand turismo 3 demo. Get this tv its a must then relax and watch your favorite dvd.

Strengths:
awesome price, picture quality, and color stream component inputs

Weaknesses:
cant shut built in speakers not really a big deal!

Similar Products Used:
sony 27" sharp 27" sanyo 19" rca 27" mitsubishi 20"

Price Paid:  $700.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
After alot of research in comparison between similar 36" TV's, I decided on The 36A40 as the best value based on price versus picture quality over Sony and JVC. My Model is listed as having 850 lines of resolution and a 3-comb filter which provides a slightly better picture than the competition at about the same price as the JVC and slightly less than the Sony. The added benefit for me is that I also have a Toshiba DVD and VCR so I benefit from the Colorstream features when viewing pre-recorded media. As for the pinkishness others have mentioned, when i set up my TV it defaulted to the warmest(theatre) picture setting. I changed the setting to a cooler one and had no more trouble with that since.

Strengths:
Price, compatibility with other Toshiba products, Picture quality

Weaknesses:
Built in speakers(not that I care), Weight(this baby is HEAVY)

Similar Products Used:
19" JVC