Ratings: 3/5
Price: $825
Toshiba
40TL963
At $825, this 40in TV is the cheapest set in this test. But don’t let that fool
you into thinking Toshiba has scrimped on features. This set is fully kitted
out with internet-enable smart features, has four HDMI ports and two USB ports,
Freesat and Freeview HD tuners, and active 3D.
Toshiba Places is where you can view online
multimedia content, and the media hub is organized into categories for TV,
Movie on demand, Music, Social Place, News, and Games/Apps. Along with the
now-standard BBC iPlayer and YouTube, you can also watch movies via Acetrax and
view pictures from Flickr. You can make different accounts in Toshiba Places
for different users, making the smart experience customized to your personal
settings.
You can also connect your TV to your home
network via wired or wireless connection to pull up images, music and videos
stored on external devices. You can also plug memory sticks into either of the
two USB ports. Files supported are JPEG pictures, MP3 and MP4 audio, and
DivX+HD and MKV videos. WAV files are not playable.
Active-shutter 3D glasses aren’t included,
but you can buy them online for around $67.5 a pair.
Set up is a bit of a struggle
This is a good-looking set, with a thin
grey bezel surrounding a screen that turns at a convenient angle on its stand.
It also comes with a rather large remote control, as well as a smartphone app.
Setting up the TV, however, is more of a
struggle compared to the others in this test. We always use a THX calibration
disc for optimizing the picture, but even after that we spent a long time
fiddling with the brightness and contrast levels to get a more satisfactory
picture. The contrast on this set is not strong enough for colors to make an
impact; dark scenes are swathed in murky shadows that overwhelm subtle details.
Brighter scenes such as those in daylight fare better, and you can appreciate
the clean and decently detailed picture, especially when watching standard-def
daytime TV.
The color balance is on the lean side, and
this lack of enthusiasm gives a dulled picture even with high-definition
Blu-ray pictures: details blend into the background as edges between objects
aren’t as clearly defined. Skin tones aren’t as natural looking as others
either.
A more overriding issue is the LED
backlighting, which struggles to be uniform. There are splotches of uneven
backlighting that clearly permeate the screen and affect what you’re watching.
Watching DVDs on this set, on the other
hand, is a much more pleasant experience. We put on Luc Besson’s Leon: The
Professional, and when up scaling to 1080p the TL963 is capable of
delivering clean and smooth images that are decently detailed. The contrast
issues are still there, but still, it’s good news for those with a more DVDs
than Blu-rays in their collections.
The bargain price means this set could have
been a four-star product like its fellow 42VL963 to the right, with its decent
standard-definition viewing and spread of features, but the backlight issue has
to knock it down a star.
Remote control app
Name: Toshiba TV Remote
Ratings: 3/5
Price: Free
Devices: Android, iOS
The grey design looks dull and outdated,
and while there are plenty of controls they’re not intuitively laid out, and it
doesn’t take advantage of a smartphone’s flexibility. Compared with the other
apps in this test, it’s an underwhelming experience.
