I love this tv i got it free from work so the price was perfect im so happy to have this tv and looks beautiful with my video games

Great picture HDTV compatability Progressive Scan Decent internal sound system Great price compared to Sony

Not a flat screen Heavy

When I was looking to purchase, there really were only 2 contenders: the Sony Wega 36 and the Toshiba CN36X81. Both had HDTV capability and progressive scan built in. Those were the two requirements that I had when I started shopping around. No other TVs that I could find boasted these features - granted, the GAOO had a great picture, and I could have gotten an RP at the price I paid, but I wanted something HD capable (I knew I wanted progressive scan, but didn''t really know much about what it did at the time) and there was definitely nothing in my price range that had it. So, I was left to choose between the Sony and Toshiba - Sony, $4000 Toshiba, $2200.... hmmmm. That''s a tough call. In my opinion, the Toshiba offered a better picture anyway - I prefer the "blackness" of it (better contrast) as well as the fact that it offered a better sound system built in. (that''s not a high priority, but might make it easier to sell once I want to upgrade) Picture: This is obviously the most important thing to take into consideration (other than price range) when buying a set. The picture on this TV is incredible, especially from a progressive source. When used with cable, it is still very strong, but there are noticeable "jaggies" from the internal progressive scan/line doubler when viewing diagonal lines (yardlines in football) onscreen. This (to me) is pretty minor though as the overall picture is not even comparable to a standard interlaced image - it''s that good. Of course, this is assuming you sit farther back than 6 feet - any closer and you can see the effects of the line doubler and some artifacts. But, who would be sitting that close anyway? Sound: This set has a fabulous sound system built it - it has two large front firing speakers (I think rated at 30w each) and an internal subwoofer mounted in the back of the unit. However, I can''t comment pretty much at all on how it sounds; I''ve always just hooked it up to my stereo. :) Jacks: This TV is fabulous for connections. It has 2 Antenna (cable) inputs, 2 component inputs, 1 RCA inputs on the back and 1 more on the front. That is six devices! Remote: Once again, I can''t really comment on the remote - It can control several devices and even learn functions, but I own a Sony RM-VL900 which can learn the functions of any remote. I highly recommend it! Problems: None

Lack of scan lines, Great color decoder, semi-flat tube.

No vertical compression, motion artifacts.

I recently decided to take my xbr250 back and buy this set. I really love the set, but there are some things i liked better on the Sony though. The verticle compression on the wega is really nice, as is the flatter tube. There are tradeoffs to be made between each set. I do however like the hdtv ready option of the Toshiba. The line doubler in the Toshiba does produce motion artifacts as do most cheap doublers, but the lack of scan lines is an acceptable tradeoff. All in all, I don't think you can go wrong with either the Tos or the Sony, it comes down to personal taste. I did have my set ISF calibrated and that made a huge difference, as well as purchasing some Canare component video cables from custom audio/video connections. These cables are truly great, and I highly reccomend them to get the absolute most out of this or any set, the difference they provided over my m-1000 monsters was huge. Anyway, I am really pleased with my purchase and would get this set again if I could afford another. ps. I got my cables from CAVC, their # is (830)625-6745

Similar Products Used:

XBR250

line doubler, flexible video inputs indcluding component (colorstream)

design pretty plane - Sony has it beat hands down. Not quite a flat screen

All in all I am very happy so far with the television. Color and definaition is superb and having no visible lines is awesome even though I am sitting only about 10 feet in front of the TV.

As pointed out before the default contrast is a bit high. Only flaw I have seen so far and only noticeable on formats with top and bottom bars is an ever so slight tilt of the picture from horizontal. I will call and see if someone can come out and adjust this.

Regarding the gentlemen that pointed out a potential for the TV to not really be HD ready. I have no idea about that and my opinion is I do not care. On the picture quality alone it is a good value and beats the Wega line hands down except for looks and is a few hundred bucks cheaper that the Wega XBR.

Similar Products Used:

none

Picture quality

Conventional design.

I needed a 4:3 TV for old 1.33 movies and video games (the PS2 will be out soon). The HD type quality (I dont think this TV technically qualifies as HD due to the 4:3 ratio and scan lines once the picture is formated)is great. This is probably the best 4:3 set around.

2 component video inputs

no SVGA

I finally got the store to set up the Toshiba CN36X81 with the SD-5109 Progressive scan. They also left me alone next to the Sony WEGA demo. I haven't actually bought the TV but it is looking good.

USing the Sony DEMO disk (the one with the tack sharp train and safari animals), I swapped the outputs on the DVD player from progressive to interlaced component out. There is a noticeable difference and the progressive is definitely a better image. It is especially noticeable when the DVD player is paused. Flickering is almost (but not quite) eliminated with progressive scan. I am wondering if there is still some digital filtering going on in either the DVD player or the television. The flicker was reduced to almost single pixel flickering on a paused image. The Sony was much worse at this close-up range.

The Toshiba is very sharp but not quite as sharp as the sony WEGA. This may be the perception of the flat screen. The toshiba has less flickering in progressive mode.

I'd recommend both the 5109 and the CN36X81. I was very impressed.

Now, when are they going to introduce a television with Triple Component HDTV-capable input and an SVGA connector input? As I see it, the set of source that I would like are for the following: 1) DVD player - progressive out 2). HDTV converter for cable with Dual tuner PIP (two HD outputs) 3). Conmputer interface 4). S-video for VHS 5) S-video for cam corder.

I'd settle for a TV with 2 HDTV-capable Component inputs and 1 SVGA input. I'm surprised no one seems to have made this yet.

Similar Products Used:

Sony WEGA

Outstanding picture quality, connectivity.

Unable to "memorize" picture settings

I love this TV ! I purchased Toshiba's SD-5109 progressive scan DVD along with this set, and together they produce a picture of remarkeable clarity. The DVD player comes with a "Video Essentials" disk that allows the user to set G2 (black level), gain, and color balance quite well. It also had audio tracks to use for adjustment of your surround system. That brings me to the set's one downfall - once you make those adjustments, there isn't a way to "lock" them in. If you are using one of the set's two default settings, and you change any parameter - the change is made to the "memory" setting. As far as the 4:3 aspect ratio goes, that doesn't bother me. I had to purchase a set that would fit into our exsisting TV armoire, so it was a choice between a 36" 4:3, or a 32" widescreen. I figure that I'm getting about the same amount of viewing area out of a widescreen signale either way, and with the room properly darkened, the letterboxing is unoticeable after the first five minutes of the movie. There were some comments about this set not having SVGA inputs, but mine has two. As well as two component video, two composite, two coax, and plumbing for natural gas. The only caution I have about this television is that action and sci-fi movies seem much more impressive on this set than do "chick-flicks". So don't forget to pick up something nice for your wife on the way home from the video store.

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I work on visual systems for commercial flight simulators.

I am not a purchaser of the television, But being an home theater buff I had to write this review. For all those buying this tv, look at the New York Times, Dec 18, 1999 article in the business section- a must read.

The New york times article dicusses toshiba and hitachi selling hdtv ready sets that might not be up to industry standards of 16:9 ratio. Read the article for more info on Hdtv and is it really that.

Great color, HD ready!

Dine doubler leaves artifacts.

I got my set about 3 wks ago, so I feel like I know it pretty well now. The picture is really great if given high quality video feeds. DO NOT expect this tv's line doubler to make VHS, Cable and other low quality video feeds look good, it won't happen. I wish I could save more than 1 set of video calibrations at a time on this set. It makes it hard to get the best picture on more than 1 format when you can only save 1 set of video calibrations. I took the advice of many people here on audio review and ordered the Canare component video cables from Custom Audio Video in Texas (830)625-6745. These cables are really great cables, I highly reccomend them over the Monsters. Custom Audio Video also gave me a better price on them than bettercables.com did. The only real problem I have with this set is that the line doubler is only average when it comes to performance (leaves too many artifacts) I bet next years model will be better in that area. I havent hoked up to a progressive scan DVD player, so I can't comment on that yet, but the picture from my pioneer 525 is very good! Overall, I am very happy with this set, but at the same time, know that in the future we will probably see much improvement in the internal line doublers that come standard in sets such as this one.

Similar Products Used:

Compared it to the Wega alot in the stores.

Features, price, HDTV-compatibility, line doubler, inputs

Quality control

I purchased this unit from a local Home Theater store for $1,699. After taking it out of the box and hooking up the S-video cable from DirectTV satellite receiver and cable tv cable, several problems were revealed.

1) The color was way out of wack. Very reddish/purplish.
2) The geometry was very wrong. 4" black bar at top, 2" black bar on right side and the whole picture was skewed to the left.
3) After setting up the tv in the menu for cable and programming the channels, I could not get any video from cable tv channels and I only got audio from some of them.

I called Toshiba the next day and they gave me the name of the nearest authorized service center who would come to my home and fix the unit under warranty.

I called the company (who was 10 minutes from my house) and they set up an appointment for Nov. 26, 1999. They then said that since my tv was so new, they would have to check and see if they had the service manual for it. They did not and had to order it from Toshiba. Toshiba was supposed to expedite the manual to them so that they could keep my appointment. They called me back today and said that they had not received the manuals yet, so my appointment was cancelled till next week.

Fortunately, a very knowledgeable person on another digital forum told me how to access the service menu and adjust the picture both horizontally and vertically so that it would be centered. I did this and I can now view the picture on the whole screen. The geometry is still off and even though I adjusted the color using Video Essentials, greens are not very good. Also, I still cannot get the cable tv to work on the set. I will wait for the repair center visit and post a review after he "fixes" it.

I don't want to give a rating now since it appears that I got a lemon but since I have to I'll give it a 4 four value (based on features and other peoples reviews of the pictures) and a 3 based on my problems.