Toshiba 20AF44 20" FST PURE Flat-Screen TV : Reviews, Cheap, Discount Tv Television

Average Rating: 3.50 out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Nice TV marred by flaws
After looking for a small 20" TV for my bedroom, I recently purchased this model. At this price point you probably shouldn't complain, but this set does have serious flaws you might want to consider if you're thinking of buying it.

First, like most inexpensive consumer TVs, this model's color decoder is extremely inaccurate. It's heavily biased towards red, to make it look "good" to the average buyer. You can try to correct it using Digital Essentials, but you won't get it even close to right. As Digital Essentials points out, this is usually done to compensate for a bluish white point, in order to create the illusion that the screen is brighter than competing models.

The 20AF44 also only has one memory setting, although it has 3 video inputs. If you use several different sources, such as cable TV, a DVD/VCR, and/or a game console, it's very hard to find a setting that looks correct for all, and since it only saves one setting, you'll either have to compromise or keep resetting it.

The most annoying aspect is the VSM (vertical scan modulation). Although it's touted as a positive "feature" by the literature, believe me, it's not. The effect on the picture is rather like turning the sharpness control all the way up, giving edges in the picture bright white outlines. It especially makes text (such as in video games) look awful. Unfortunately, even turning the sharpness control all the way down doesn't help matters. This set doesn't offer any way to turn VSM off (not even in the service menu). I can only imagine this was done to make the picture look "sharp" to the uneducated viewer.

Furthermore, the set is filled with consumer level gimmicks to make the screen look brighter, such as the presence of an invar shadow mask. Invar shadow masks help prevent the phosphors of the television from burning into the screen at insanely high contrast levels. It doesn't make the picture quality any better. It's no surprise then that out of the box the TV is set to maximum contrast: not good for the TV or the picture quality.

At the under $200 price point I really don't know if you can find a decent television without such problems. I hear the Sony models allow you to turn off VSM, even on the low end sets. It might be worth investigating the Sony if you're in the market for a set similar to this.

Rating:

- First Quality TV, Jaw Dropping Price
I ordered received this Toshiba on 5/17 via UPS and it has the best picture I've ever seen on a 20 inch television. The manufacturer's specifications on the Toshiba site say the tube has an invar shadow mask, which is only found on the best tv's and is never found on sets selling at this price. The jack asssortment included is more than is found on many 27 and 32 sets.

Sound also is superb. I'm stumped by Robert Stewart's negative comments on his set. There's no buzz on my sample and the picture, as I said, is first rate. Perhaps he's got a line-noise problem with the his power source or one of the devices he has hooked up to the tv. If not, remember that sample defects like the ones he mentions can happen even with store-bought tv's, though in the latter case, making an exchange is a lot more straightforward.

The manual that came with this Toshiba is the best written and most thorough I've seen on an appliance in years, even perhaps a little too exhaustive ....like the complicated-looking remote, it might daunt some folks who like simplicity in their electronic gadgets. But both the manual and the remote are only as complicated as the set is versatile.

The lack of a TV/Video button on the front of set itself is a bit unusual, but a minor inconvenience, and it isn't true, as another poster writes in these reviews, that "you are out of luck" if you lose the Toshiba remote: Any programmable remote you can buy in a store will operate this tv, including the TV/Video function -- I've programmed a store-bought remote to work with this tv and it works all the basic functions, including TV/Video function fine.
Also, Toshiba offers replacement remotes for the AF series of tube tv's on its site under "accessories" for $10 each.

Tip: the price next to the image on this page of the Toshiba 20AF44 tv is $176.95 and seems to be an Office Depot offer . Check the "8 used or new" link, lower left of the picture of the Toshiba 20AF44 on this page for other, possibly better, offers, one of which may eliminate shipping as well as local tax.

Rating:

- BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ
There is a buzz that is so loud from the back of this sets picture tube. Also The BBe sound doesn't work on video. The one I bought from Amazon had Pink and Purple bloches on the tube, Noticable on whites. Very Good Tv other then the mentioned problems. Velocity scan Annoys me perhaps you will like it better.