Toshiba 40XF355D

[admin_exported]

Hi

I am going to take the plunge and purchase the 40XF355D, where is the best price for this TV, as I need to ask John Lewis to price match this.

Any ideas ?

Also is this set due to drop in price when the 40ZF or when the newer Tosh picture frames come out this year with the 1inch bezel ?

Finally any other suggestions my budget is £900 max £7-800 ideally! Use for SKY HD and HD-DVD along with the standard SD content.

 

[Anonymous]

Digital Direct sell this TV for about £880, but the delivery is about £70.

 

[Andy Clough]

If you can get it for that price it's a fantastic buy. When we tested it back in January the guide price was £1700, which seemed way too high - that's why we gave it four stars and not five. But at less than a grand it makes far more sense.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi

Thanks very much for your time and effort in providing your replies, its much appreciated.

Andy if you reviewed the Toshiba 40XF355D at £900 would you have awarded it 5 stars ? what is its performance like with SD content ? I am getting SKY HD soon but there are only a handful of channels in HD, I also have a HD DVD player but many of the films I will be watching are in SD DVD.

What are this sets pros and cons ?

Also are there any other LCD's that can rival the Toshiba 40XF355D ? space is an issue for me so a rival LCD TV would have to be 37inch.

 

[Anonymous]

I bought this model four days ago from Pixmania for £893 which included delivery. It arrived yesterday at exactly the time stated so praise to Pixmania for that. I did a lot of reading up on which TV to buy and all things considered I plumped for this one. Id read that black levels weren't the best but with other factors to be considered I thought this was the one for me. I will be getting Sky HD installed later this week.However, it appears to be more of a problem than I first realised. After installing it and tuning the freeview tuner on an internal aerial I must confess I was very impressed when watching Life in Cold Blood last night. However, when it came to watching Collateral later on that evening on Channel 4 (in wide screen) the corners of the screen were almost white! It looked like there were four lights glaring of the screen. On further inspection there also appeared to be a band of grey down the centre and right hand side of the screen.I'm not being picky but this was incredibly distracting. I wasn't expecting true blacks by any means but this looked very cloudy. I switched the screen to PC input to see if they were visible what was supposed to be a completely black screen and the whole screen appears to be cloudy and blotchy, with the aforementioned areas the most affected.Is this normal? Is there anything I can do? Do I need to return it? The batch number is J666229

 

[Andy Clough]

[quote user="idv"]

What are this sets pros and cons ?

[/quote]

Our biggest concern was the price - at £900 (or less) it makes far more sense. Other gripes? Well, black depth is respectable enough, but there's not the insight into darker areas on SD/DVD material that the best plasmas provide.

That said, it handles motion with an assuredness not shown by older LCD designs, edges are sharply drawn (even with Freeview TV) and and background noise is kept well in check. And with support for 1080p/24fps it's a perfect partner for Blu-ray; you'll be impressed by the clarity and stability of the image, smoothness of motion and dynamism of the colours.

If you're looking for a high-performance 37in LCD, I'd point you in the direction of the Panasonic TX-37LZD70 (£1100 or less). It delivers incredibly detailed Full HD pictures.

 

[Clare Newsome]

[quote user="colinwatkins"]I bought this model four days ago from Pixmania for £893 which included delivery. It arrived yesterday at exactly the time stated so praise to Pixmania for that. I did a lot of reading up on which TV to buy and all things considered I plumped for this one. Id read that black levels weren't the best but with other factors to be considered I thought this was the one for me. I will be getting Sky HD installed later this week.However, it appears to be more of a problem than I first realised. After installing it and tuning the freeview tuner on an internal aerial I must confess I was very impressed when watching Life in Cold Blood last night. However, when it came to watching Collateral later on that evening on Channel 4 (in wide screen) the corners of the screen were almost white! It looked like there were four lights glaring of the screen. On further inspection there also appeared to be a band of grey down the centre and right hand side of the screen.I'm not being picky but this was incredibly distracting. I wasn't expecting true blacks by any means but this looked very cloudy. I switched the screen to PC input to see if they were visible what was supposed to be a completely black screen and the whole screen appears to be cloudy and blotchy, with the aforementioned areas the most affected.Is this normal? Is there anything I can do? Do I need to return it? The batch number is J666229

[/quote]

Have you tweaked your TV's contrast and brightness settings yet? (Click here for a simple guide on doing just that).

Most LCDs come with retina-burning brightness levels as default setting, so they look good in brightly lit shops...

 

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I'm new to the forum so would appreciate any help please. I'm in the market to buying a 37-40 inch LCD. I have been researching extensively and to be honest one can get even more indecisive when it comes to choosing the right one.

You'll probably need some information of what I'm looking for so here goes.

1. I'm not looking for a TV for gaming (perhaps later though as Blu-Ray have won the war, PS3 perhaps)

2. I have a viewing range of 3 metres from my sofa

3. I'm purchasing the Sony DAV IS10 for certain (so TV sound isn't important)

3. Want a Full 1080P LCD

4. 100Hz

5. HDMI v1.3

So far I've narrowed it down to these 3. Toshiba 40XF355D, Philips 37PFL9632D and the Sony KDL-40W3000. If anyone has either of these please let me know how you have found their overall performance.

Thanks.
Lee

 

[Matt_B]

Lee - the W3000 isn't 100hz, not sure how important it is to you. Cracking set none the less

 

[Anonymous]

I purchased this set 2 weeks ago and I can confirm it has light pouring out of the corners of the set, this is a problem that Toshiba seem to be aware of.

I am on my second set that was replaced and it has the same problem. The retailer has suggested picking a different set or having a refund.

This problem is widely reported on the web.

Its a shame because this would be a great set otherwise. Unfortunatly it is not something you could live with.

(I have turned back light down etc and had retailer support with settings)

 

[Anonymous]

I have been considering buying the Toshiba and have therefore been doing a fair amount of research on it. I'm now surprised at how highly this TV has been rated by What HiFi. Which? has rated it as a 'Don't buy' and given it a very poor 37% score (28 March 2008). To quote them...

"Toshiba has produced a fair few Best Buys of late which is why we were so shocked by the quality of the 40-inch HD ready 1080p 40XF355D LCD. It utterly failed to impress our expert panel in either the viewing or the listening tests and gets a well deserved Don't Buy award. "

They add...

"Our expert viewers detected a green tint to both standard and high definition images. DVDs are grainy and suffer from colour banding, while Freeview images are soft and grainy. High definition shows signs of judder on fine edges, although the resolution is quite good.

The sound generally lacks clarity and detail, and is a little hissy - especially in Freeview...

Cons: Poor standard definition pictures, cluttered and unresponsive EPG"

I'm starting to wonder whether What HiFi and Which? have been reviewing the same machine.