Toshiba 36ZP38 Review

Overall Rating

Sensational picture
Excellent on board sound

Constructing the stand takes a fair bit of artistic licence and a lot of patience

I had a fairly old Philips 4:3 29" tv blow up and it was replaced with a Philips 32PW9618 with Pixel Plus & DD.

Lucky me, or so I thought until the delivery chaps half demolished the stand in the street whilst failing to construct it and somehow managed to scratch the TV screen too.

Complained and elected to swap for the Toshiba 36ZP38 for very little extra.

Whilst waiting for stock, that bane of the electronics age consumer, had a good chance to check out Pixel Plus. Well, it's great, provided you're not trying to watch anything with any serious movement on screen when it just looks weird (and, yes, that's with Cinema Plus too). Sound was ok.

Well the Toshiba arrived and the guys took away the Philips after failing to build the Toshiba's stand correctly and then plonking down the TV on to it without having fixed the locating pins on the stand first. Guess that that's how it's going to stay as there's no way to lift this TV, it's very very heavy and then some.

But it doesn't look big. Scratch that; considering it's a 36" true flat widescreen CRT TV it's darn titchy. It's not nearly as obtrusive as the Philips was and the ugly silver and insubtantial feel of the Philips' finish has been replaced by a truly classy black surround and proper metal stand sides instead of the cheap 'n' nasty coloured MDF (?) of the Philips.

Auto tune is easy, didn't even bother with the manual as it was so obvious from the onscreen menu.

Hooking up DVD and Freeview STB a cinch.

Had a little trouble getting the DVD audio setup right until I actually read the instructions (Moral - don't run before you can walk) and everything is now fixed nicely.

The picture with DVD is sensational. Blacks rendered at least as well as the Philips, no motion artifacts at all, excellent colour rendition and all this on the factory presets. Guess if I tinker a bit with the settings it could get ever so slightly better but why should I bother. There was a slightly tilt to the picture out of the box but this was (very) easily corrected by using the 'Geomagnetic' correction slider in the menus. 'Geomagnetic?' I hear you cry, yes, something to do with the Earth's Magnetic Field and visiting creatures from a Galaxy far, far away. OK, I was joking about the last bit.

Haven't got round to fixing the (supplied) rear speakers yet as have still to convince wife that a pair of wires running round the skirting boards is a really neat idea. However, listening to the (supplied) extension main L&R + using the set's onboard speakers as a centre was a revelation and will be to anyone who hasn't heard what a modern TV can do these days.

Honestly, could not tell the difference between this set's sound and that of a full blown separates set up. I do have a very small lounge so I suppose that may have a levelling effect but then so do most people these days.

To sum up, this TV comes with everything onboard, looks fantastic, doesn't cost a bomb (provided you shop around that is - you can get a deal for around £1250 or £1450 with DVD and VCR), sounds as good as you'll ever need a TV to do, doesn't have any failings that I can find and feels solid enough to last far longer than the majority of the consumer disposable silver plastic monstrosities that currently plague our high street electrical retailers.

Members' Comments onandythebrave's Review

• jones721 on 20th Dec 2003

  Very interested to read that you first had a Philips Pixel Plus model and then changed to the Toshiba. We have a 36" Pixel Plus model that I am very unhappy with - shimmering and halo effect around moving objects. Fantastic still pictures, best I have ever seen on a TV but very annoying at times when someone moves their head . . . !! Not all the time but enough to complain on a TV at this price. Result is that the retailer has agreed to exchange it without any quibble and we are looking at the Toshiba 36ZP38 as we had a 29" Toshiba for 12 years like you and were very pleased wiht it. Am very concerned that I am going to get the same shimmering with it as the Philips or other problems. You are in an ideal position to compare the two. Any comments?
  Much appreciated.
  
  Tracey

• andythebrave on 23rd Dec 2003

  Well, the shimmering / halo effects on the Philips were pretty bad and it looks like you have the same thing with yours. If it happened all the time I suppose you could get used to it but it just smacks you in the face each and every time you see it. Such a shame when the more static images are so good.
  
  The Toshiba picture is very very good. The very first time you see it with a fairly still image you may notice an ever so slight reduction in ultimate detail compared with the Philips but get it on to the real world of a movie or sports and it is truly wonderful.
  
  I have not noticed any shimmering at all.
  
  You get a choice of DNR options 'Off' 'Natural' and 'Active' the last being an automatic variable setting. There is little point in setting this to anything but 'Off' with DVD/Satellite/Freeview/Cable as the video transmission is in the Digital Domain - I find that Active is best with Analogue Terrestrial channels as it will reduce the effect to Nil on fast moving images anyway.
  
  The fact that the set looks at most like a 32 in model because of the frame design is a huge bonus too.

• jones721 on 25th Dec 2003

  Thanks for the information. We are also looking at the Sony 36" too. May go for this model.
  Just watched MonstersInc on the Philips and not one bit of haloing or shimmering. Fantastic picture. But last night's Coronation Street was awful. Being picked up next week and taken back. Have to make a decision on the replacement then.
  Tracey

• JamesF on 21st Jan 2004

  I have already taken the plunge for the Tosh, am awaiting delivery at the moment. Interestingly I too was looking at a Philips Pixel plus 37" plasma as my first choice (I did not notice any 'halo' on the demo). Then thought I'd have the Toshiba and take the wife and kids to Disney Paris with the change.
  Your comments confirm my decision, thanks.