Toshiba 36ZP38 Review

Overall Rating

Stunning picture, small(ish) size

Geometry is a little off at the moment

Hmm, where to begin. Three days ago I swapped my 13 yr old 25" Sony for this beauty and the difference is remarkable. About a year ago I bought a Hitachi 32" 100hz widescreen and had to send it back because the digital artefacts were so offputting I couldn't watch it, but no such problems here. The picture is smooth and lifelike, the colours are bold, the contrast is good and there is no digtisation that is noticable to my eyes, no smearing or pixelation at all. The only negative is the right hand geometry is a little out with a noticable vertical rise towards that side, I'm waiting for an engineer to come and, hopefully, adjust it for me, I tried myself with the facility in the set but it's to extreme. Funnily enough I saw the same set in a shop today and it was doing exactly the same thing, maybe it's a common fault on this model, we'll see. FYI, I'm running Supra AV3 component video for DVD and watch mostly NTL cable digital via a Thor Scart, once NTL sort themselves out with their bandwidth and broadcast sizes things should be just about spot on. I bought my set from Robertsons Online, great price, great service, free DVD and video thrown in and £525.00 cheaper than Currys or Dixons, what more could you want.

Members' Comments onThe Evil Tharg.'s Review

• Jonny. on 22nd May 2003

  it is not very helpful. it does not tell the reader how stylish the set is because that is what i really want to know. what is the connectivity like and is the sound worth listening to?

• The Evil Tharg. on 24th May 2003

  If you're worried about how the box looks rather than how the picture looks then may I suggest you have your priorities wrong. However, it looks great, very contemporary, I actually chose it because of the small footprint compared to the screen size but I have to say it looks much nicer than a 'normal' tv. As to connectivity, it's good, three scarts, two of them RGB contrary to some reviews and component video in, which I use. The sound is good, it won't match a separates system but it's more than adequate for most living rooms. On the downside, the engineer who came out could not fix the geometry, he could adjust verticaly but not, strangely, horizontaly, so I'm waiting for a new set.

• kevinw. on 3rd Jun 2003

  Can you please explain what you mean by the geometry being out? I was looking at buying the predecessor to this model, but unable to get stock (except showroom models). I have seen similar comments regarding the older model as well, and want to know what this means.
  
  I am now waiting for the 32" to become available in the shops so that I can compare the 2 for size, prior to buying.

• The Evil Tharg. on 6th Jun 2003

  What I mean is basically how 'true' the picture is from one side to the other. On my set the picture rises or curves slightly upwards on the right hand. It is most noticeable when there is a bar along the bottom of the screen, like during the news, when you can see a curved line instead of a straight one.

• sceptic. on 9th Jun 2003

  Hi,
  
  Thanks for the review. I have a couple of questions, which I wonder if anybody can comment on.
  
  1) Is it possible to connect a DVD using the component input (AV4?) and still have AV1-AV3 free, with the 2 RGB's?
  
  2) Is it possible on the Toshiba to program AV inputs to channel numbers? You can do this on Sony sets i.e. 7 = AV1 + RGB, 8 = AV2+ S-Video etc. Failing that how do you switch between channels/AV inputs and back to channels etc?
  
  3) Can the Toshiba cope with single channel numbers or does it need a 2 digit channel no to directly jump to a given program.
  
  4) Does it have a PiP facility?
  
  I'm interested in 2) and 3) primarily because I'm a confirmed channel hopper!
  
  Thanks.
  
  

• Simon. on 10th Jun 2003

  To Evil T.
  
  What was Robertsons Price like? and service also which models of DVD and video did u get free?? Cause I have just ordered the TV from Robertsons and they keep changing the models of the Video and DVD and price of the package.
  Thanks ..lets hope i have made a good choice...

• The Evil Tharg. on 13th Jun 2003

  Sceptic,
  
  1. Yes you can connect a dvd player on the component input and still use the three scarts with two of them being RGB. So five inputs in total including the front AV.
  
  2. You can configure either of the digital audio inputs to any of the five inputs, eg. coaxial input to AV4, which is component in.
  
  3. Yes you can have the channels as single digit numbers.
  
  4. No, it does not have p in p.
  
  
  Simon,
  
  Robertsons were cool although they've been a bit slow getting my new set sorted, they blame it on the service engineer who came out and then did not file a report. I got the set with a 330 dvd player, the latest model, and a 652 video recorder. I see now they are offering the 852 as a video which is a better model and retails for £50.00 more than mine, but as I hardly ever watch it I'm not complaining and the set alone is still £2,000.00 in Currys.

• sceptic. on 17th Jun 2003

  >3. Yes you can have the channels as single digit numbers.
  
  Can you confirm how this works? I downloaded a manual from the website (after loads of looking) and it states :-
  
  "For programme positions below 10 use 0 and the
  required number e.g. 01 for programme position 1."
  
  This is not what I was looking for. If I press 1 then I'd want it to go immediately to channel 1, with no delays whilst it waits for a possible second digit.
  

• meanester. on 19th Jun 2003

  I have bought one of the 36ZP38 and also have the geometry problem, there is a review you can access through the toshiba minisite www.pictureframe2.net and go to awards "what video" award, they also point out that there is a flaw in the geometry. I only get when not at 100% full screen, when u can see slight black borders then i can see the strange slight curves on the right hand top of the picture. This set is a really good tv but the sound is a bit poor and awkard hanging external speakers. I get cab noise from the sub, although the sub is not that bassy. I suppose its like when u buy a camera u pay for the lens, but in this case you get a lot of style, top picture but poor sound - no separate channels for sub or centre speaker.

• Fred129 on 16th Dec 2003

  Had My 36" Toshiba for just over a year, and i have to agree with the sound, Hardly any Bass, in fact the sound was very dissapointing compared to the Toshiba 32" i had before. apart from that no other problems, excellent picture, The time spent waiting for the text to load can be frustrating, but an advantage once loaded.