Video Asylum

Posted by bondmanp (A) on January 07, 2003 at 12:03:43

In Reply to: Advice for Buying Big screen TV? posted by SD on January 04, 2003 at 00:19:01:

SD gave some excellent advice.

In defense of Toshiba, I have been very happy with my 8.5 year old (!) 55" Toshiba RPTV. Of course it is not HD, but the picture remains fairly bright, clean and well-balanced.

A year ago the convergence board went. Due to financial and space factors, I decided to repair the set. It cost me $600, but I also had the shop tweak the picture a bit (especially making the greens a bit hotter, always a weak point of this set). It now looks terrific. Keeping the brightness and contrast at sane levels, using the Avia DVD, is prolonging the life-span of my RPTV. The repair tech couldn't believe how good my then 7.5 year old set looked ("Do you ever use this thing? You could get another 7 or 8 years out of it at this rate!").

I would buy another Toshiba in a New York minute.

Only one thing to consider not mentioned in this thread. Many new models have silver cabinets or cabinet accents. In a darkened room, you may get annoying reflections from this, and the cabinet may be visible. I love the fact that my RPTV cabinet is all-black. In a dark room, you can really get lost in the image on the screen.