Toshiba 24Z33 Review

Overall Rating

Great picture. Compact. Easy setup and OSD.

Weak sound. My unit had defects.

The Toshiba 24Z33 appears to be a great television in the rather small arena of 24" flat widescreens, but mine was marred by faults.

When it's working, the picture quality is very good. Black is deep and really black, colours are vibrant but not overpowering and the picture is sharp and crisp. Sadly, my unit developed two major problems within the first few days. Firstly, pincushion distortion was very noticable, particularly on static images at the edges of the screen and appeared to get steadily worse. This gave the impression that you are watching through a fish bowl, even on 4:3 images. Secondly, the unit became prone to flicking between widescreen modes at random for a few seconds intermittantly. Very annoying when you are in the middle of a film.

Sound quality is medicre at best, and is certainly not this unit's strong point. My old Philips 21" Nicam TV has a far better grasp of stereo than the 24Z33, which sounds distinctly one dimensional and bland by comparison. Certainly, external amplification is a must for those wanting to appreciate DVD's with this television.

I ended up returning this television for a full refund and was disappointed. Initially, out of the box and in store, it seemed great but quickly developed serious problems that really made it unwatchable.

Price-wise, this unit sits around the same price as the Philips 24" flat widescreen unit and less than the Panasonic or Sony offerings. There are even cheaper models available. If it worked, the 24Z33 would be reasonable value for money but certainly isn't a bargin.

Having had a previous Toshiba television that was faulty out of the box and a Toshiba DVD player that broke in less than a year, I think that Toshiba are losing their edge as a top quality manufacturer and need to tighten up on their quality control.

The 24Z33 has the potential to be a great television but is marred by poor execution. If you are considering buying one, I would seriously consider alternatives or, at the very least, buy from a local store with a good returns policy, should anything go wrong.

Members' Comments onLob's Review

• Michael Gillingham on 30th Jan 2006

  I was in a Comet Store a few days ago looking with interest at this model running on the shelf comparing the picture with other like TVs. I noticed that the vertical height of the picture was short.After asking the Zombie sales person if it could be adusted, he concluded in his "Comet trained brain" that as he said in his own words "thats the way they make it ". I believe it was faulty but perhaps they think we all come from planet Zonk.