Toshiba 27AF41 Standard Televisions
Toshiba 27AF41 Standard Televisions
USER REVIEWS
[Mar 19, 2003]
Rich
Casual Listener
Weakness:
see review. I just bought the Sony 27" WEGA KSF200. I've been reading reviews about many different brands of TVs having a greenish hue around the edges and in the corners. After watching my 27" for a few minutes, I noticed this greenish color, particularly noticeable when the screen is white - like during a hockey game.. Dismayed, I returned the TV to Best Buy and had them put up another brand new Sony next to my TV. The new TV had the same problem.. With my interest piqued, I began evaluating every flat screen Best Buy had using a DVD I brought that had a totally white screen. Every single TV I tested, Toshiba, Panasonic, Samsung, and Sharp had the same exact problem. I thought it might be due to the speakers being on the side of the TVs as speaker magnets can corrupt the picture.. This theory failed as the Sharp TV had the speakers on the bottom, and the green was present at the top and on the sides. The Samsung was a HDTV - it had the same problem. I did not test this on Plasma or Regular TVs. So, TVs are basically crap these days... no way around it.. be wary of 'de-gaussing' as this can screw the picture up more. |
[Jan 22, 2003]
unclepen
AudioPhile
Strength:
Picture quality, flat screen, audio.
Weakness:
Minor. I cannot add any more relevent opinions than those that have already been posted. Also read Consumer Reports review in the Dec. 2002 issue. I had already purchased the JVC AV-27D303 reviewed in the same issue and was very happy with the set. This Toshiba was above my budget price. While looking for some cables for the audio output, I checked the 27" TV's and found this Toshiba at $449.99 BEFORE a $100.00 mail-in rebate at Best Buy. An excellent set at only $349.99! This offer is good until Feb. 28, 2003! The JVC is going back next week and I'm getting a second Toshiba next month! Similar Products Used: JVC-27D303 |
[Jan 09, 2003]
Lazzdog
AudioPhile
Strength:
Picture, sound, decent remote.
Weakness:
Very heavy, a bit hard to visualy adjust settings. I paid $650 less than a yr ago and know its $450. I suggest buying an HD Toshiba for a few more $. Compared this tv with the sony and panasonic that sat on either side of it at Tweeter and the picture was much better than both. Sound is good to, with surround sound mode pushing sounds about two to five feet outside of tv. I tweeked it up a bit by using the Avia home theatre disc and a monster cable catv line enhancer. The picture is simply stunning. No matter how many times I sit and watch I am always impressed, as are all who have watched it. My only problem is my high end Onkyo DVD running component video only looks slightly better- that is how good the normal picuture is. Very dense, excellent color, and no scan lines. I thought component would look awesome and it does the colors are as true as life but clarity is only slightly better than TV mode-oh well cant have everything, but I was hoping for HDTV quality. Of all the tv's i've owned this is by far the best. Similar Products Used: JVC, Hitachi, Sony, Panasonic |
[May 26, 2002]
MarkTAW
AudioPhile
Strength:
Great picture quality, very accurate looking, no pink bars. Excellent TV for the price.
Weakness:
Definately not HDTV quality (nor is the Sony), and doesn't do the smoosh that the Sony does. The setup mode doesn't let you adjust screen like the higher models. The Sony's setup mode lets you adjust more elements. I bought this TV after reading the reviews here. Note that there are two listed here, so read reviews on each before you make your decision. After reading the reviews here I was torn between this TV and the 27" Sony Wega. In reviews I learned about these pink bars on the Sony, so I had to go to the stores and see it for myself. They're for real. I wouldn't call them bars as much as a faint halo. The Sony can squeeze all of it's pixels into a letterbox version of the screen allowing you to watch 16:9 images in a letterbox format. I saw this in the store as well and the Sony was near HDTV quality in this mode. I have to admit it was a tough choice. The Toshiba had a more accurate looking picture, even after fiddling with the Sony's settings the Toshiba had a crisper quality, less visual distortion around the edges, no pink bars. It was a tough choice. The Toshiba looks great normally, but the Sony has that widescreen mode that looks awesome. The Toshiba has a sleight visual distortion that you can only see sometimes. Along the left side, there's a sleight bowing inwards. It's not a big deal and it only shows up sometimes. Watching letterbox movies, you don't notice it at all. My DVD player is a newly acquired Sony PS2... Not the best DVD player in the world. I don't think it supports progressive scan, but I don't have any progressive scan DVDs so I haven't been able to test that. The Component Video connection really does make a difference. It's most evident is when looking at something generated. Text for example. The PS2's "Browse" blue text is fuzzy on Composite Video... But with the Component inputs it's flawless. From about 8 feet away on my couch, I can still see the pixels a bit, but you forget about them. An anomoly of flat screen TV's I guess. I can see the whole screen from the side, even at 2:00 from the center (12:00 being straight on where you would view the screen). I just spoke with my girlfriend. "I was wondering if we should get the Sony," I said. "What are you crazy? The Sony's got those pink bars, and the picture is so clear. You should compare it to some other another TV." I guess I have no choice in the matter. The sound quality is good but not great. The balance between bass and treble is hard to get just right, but I plan on using it with external speakers anyway. The pseudo surround mode is a joke, as it is Similar Products Used: Old small TV with knobs. Compared it to the Sony & Samsung. |
[May 07, 2002]
John Kennedy
Casual Listener
Strength:
First off, very clear. No blur, and the colors are vibrant. I have regular RCA hook-ups on the gaming systems-Gamecube and PS1 and the VCR pipes in directly from the cable coaxial cord-no big deal there. but, even with that, the picture is really stunning. I have paid estra now to have my local channels through the sat system just due to the increased enjoyment out of the screen. I also myust say that you cannot even see the screen, and the falt screen really gives a three dem. presentation-almost as though you could reach out and touch the scfreen characters. Also as noted, the speakers are fantastic in sound. However, like usual, if u really are going to watch a DVD or VCR movie, playn it through your surround system-that is where it is at. But, for everyday viewing, it is the clear winner there also. Also, and this is minor to some but was maor to me, the WEGA weiged 101lbs whereas the Toshiba weiged a scant 91lbs. Now, for me, that was a biggie as well, mine is up high on a shelf, and I dont want it to come crashing down.
Weakness:
White needs a bit of manipulation to be pleasing to the eye. I fuond that the setting from the factory-50 was too low for me. After viewing some sitcomes with inside and outside scemes, I settled on 63 as a nice setting there, and left the rest at factory pre-sets. Also, and this may be m lack of knowledge on the set, the sudio chnnel out will not manipulate the sound level through the video setting of my stereo. My old Panasonic did it, and I was perplexed that this did not. Now, again, this may be user error, so I will do some other research-got to watch NBA and NFL on the stereo if you know what I mean. I am sure you have all read the specs on this model-particulalry if you are looking for a flat screen TV. When shopping, I nailed it down to three models to compare, and took my current version of consumer reports with me. As it stood from CR, the Sony 27AFS13 and the Toshiba 27AF61 were a dead heat for #1. This is where the value of this machine came in. The 27AF41 is essentailly the same TV as the 61 model except no picture in picture. Now, who really uses PIP? Not anyone I knew, so shave 150 bucks of the price, and walla-same TV, no PIP. We compared very hard to the Sony WEGA 27AFS13, and it really was a toss up on the picture, both had superb clarity, with some features butter on one that the other-both ways, so it was a push. Now, the seperation occurred at the speaker level-no comparison-Toshiba beat it wit the sound, and when you further discover that there is the bass option response, it is evident. The Toshiba has the front firing side spekers, so projection is full whereas the Sony has the small front bottom firing. Styling is also much nicer on teh Toshiba-and well lets face it folks, you do have to look at this set for most of your time at home. Now, this is on closeout, so the stock is scant. if u find it-dont bargain shop-just buy. The only store that had it was Fry''s in my area, and Best Buy, CC, and Good Guys and Sears were out of it. Similar Products Used: Panasoncic 27 inch (broken and replaced) Sony 13 inch. Mitsubishi 20 inch |
[May 01, 2002]
molnars
Casual Listener
Strength:
Sound. Although you really can''t simulate surround sound, the sound is pretty good. On-screen functions for setting up the tv. Picture is as clear as every other 27" flat-screen brand of tv. Plenty of a/v outlets which is nice for surround sound, dvd, and ps2. Also, best mode to view tv, games, and movies in is the "movie" mode.
Weakness:
The picture tube. I can''t tell you how disappointed I am. I only hope it doesn''t get worse. Outer construction, the back wall where you plug in your a/v components is a little flimsy. Feels like you might push the plug right through if you push too hard. Maybe I''m just not fully educated on the subject, but I thought the picture would be clearer (this goes for flat-screen tv''s in general). This was the first tv I''ve purchased since graduating college 2000. I compared the Toshiba with the identical Sony 27" What won me over were the reviews I had read and complaints about the Sony having light pink bars down the sides of its screen. While the Toshiba isn''t perfect either. I''ve owned it less than 3 months and I''ve had it in already to have the picture tube replaced. A green tint formed in the upper left corner of the screen. After having the tube replaced it is still there. The authorized Toshiba repair man told me that Toshiba has recently had many problems with their picture tubes since they have started using Phillips brand tubes in their tv''s. He said one tube he replaced was Phillips LC I believe, which he said is another name for the Goldstar brand. He also told me that mine was the third one he''s fixed in a month. Needless to say I''m very disappointed in Toshiba for using lesser quality parts. I can have it replaced again, but there''s no guarantee it''ll be fixed since it may be the picture tubes in general are defective. This may be the beginning of a plague. There''s not much else I can do, other than file a case with Toshiba, so when the warrenty expires on the tube, if the tint gets worse I may be able to get it fixed after the warrenty is over. I''m giving this tv an average rating, b/c the defective picture tube ruined the tv for me. If the picture tube was fine it would''ve recieved the highest rating possible. Similar Products Used: None |
[Apr 24, 2002]
Steve Greward
AudioPhile
Strength:
Colorstreams component input for Amazing vivid color.clarity
Weakness:
geometry,sound The PURE fst toshiba flat tv are the best of the best for color sharpness picture.you never loss any detail when you''''ve watching movies.UNIQUE Amazing vivid color sharp. The top line of vivid color tv its toshiba.much better color than any flat screen tube. better than WEGA ,I would give the Toshiba a 5 star rating if it weren''''t for the vertical distortion. The Sony rates a four. I would suspect that for most people, the Toshiba would be the more enjoyable choice since the picture (aside from geometry) is dazzling. The Sony has a softer picture due mostly to the color balance, and that may be appealing to some. I find that the "warmth" (or washed out quality) of the Sony is not very involving. On the other hand, if the Toshiba were not there for comparison, you would never know what you were missing. Similar Products Used: WEGA ,TAU ,DYNAFLAT. |
[Apr 22, 2002]
tetsuo
AudioPhile
Strength:
Amazing picture for video game and DVD. Vibrant color with the component input. Sharp picture quality
Weakness:
only 1 component input feature white level a little weak found it out when I was calibrating the TV If anyone is looking to purchase a flat screen TV, I definitely recommend this product. I was trying to decide between the Sony flat screen panasonic and the Toshiba flat screen. I am very happy I chose the Toshiba. The design is much better than the Sony and the color quality is 3 time superior than JVC flat.Better than wega for video game. i am a hard gamer. Similar Products Used: Wega,panasonic tau,samung |
[Apr 22, 2002]
tetsuo
AudioPhile
Strength:
Amazing picture for video game and DVD. Vibrant color with the component input. Sharp picture quality.
Weakness:
only 1 component input feature white level a little weak found it out when I was calibrating the TV If anyone is looking to purchase a flat screen TV, I definitely recommend this product. I was trying to decide between the Sony flat screen panasonic and the Toshiba flat screen. I am very happy I chose the Toshiba. The design is much better than the Sony and the color quality is 3 time superior than JVC flat.Better than wega for video game. i am a hard gamer. Similar Products Used: WEGA,TAU |
[Apr 20, 2002]
shesmeana
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Picture
Weakness:
remote, sound Well, I have now had this TV for about 6 months and I am very satisfied with it. The flat screen picture is almost perfect and the colours are beautiful. We bought this TV to replace our old Toshiba 20" concave that had been going strong for 8yrs (left over from grad school days). My husband wanted to purchase the 32"concave but I knew we could get the flat screen 27" for the same price. I convinced him that bigger wasn''t necessarily better. I was fully aware of the tube replacement problem with the flat screens but I didn''t care. I wanted the better picture. We looked at the comparable products (Sony and Phillips) but chose the Toshiba because the picture looked better. The sound on the Sony seemed a bit better and there was the widescreen enhancement feature but I still liked the Toshiba''s picture. And that''s what it came down to. When we bought the TV there were no reviews of it on this site. We took the risk anyway. Ultimately, we are happy. My only complaints are that the sound is a little weak and the remote control is hyper-sensitive. On the positive side, the picture was even better when I got the TV home and adjusted the colour and plugged in the DVD and dish! Retailers always push the red up and exagerate the colour for the showroom. Also, once I got to adjusting the picture in movie mode, I was able to clear up any blemishes. So, we like it even more than expected:) Similar Products Used: Toshiba 20" |