Toshiba 46WHO8B - Wow!!! (General Toshiba TV Opinions)

Member Name: macluke

Product:	General Toshiba TV Opinions
Date:	18/10/01 (757 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: screen size is awesome, digital sound etc. , different view screen formats, free DVD player!

Disadvantages: where to put it in room, doesn't come witrh its' own popcorn machine, warranty warning

I've been looking to replace my tv for awhile and after looking around settled for this (especially after having read write ups in trade mags.). I actually decided to look around and find out the best buy. It is surprising how much difference there is in price for this machine ranging from some £2500 in some well known high street stores to £1850 from some shops in mags and on the internet. I suggest you do as I did. First check out the machine specs etc on Toshiba site (www.toshiba.com or co.uk) in fact get them to send you glossy brochure.

Next go to local electrical stores and look interested (it's surprising how little they know and they'll leave you alone in charge of the remote control!). Having satisfied yourself on size etc. go home measure up (build up a model using the size specs and add at least 10%) don't forget other things like video, dvd digibox speakers etc. See if you can live with the size, it is immense and I have a large room to put it in, thank God I didn't go for my first option the 61". The point with this is that they look relatively small in showrooms as they have plenty of space to display them.

Once you've done all that check out magazines for telephone numbers of some places, don't believe all the adverts, I phoned one place that advertised they sold this machine only to find they did not. Don't believe the prices displayed as some don't include delivery costs and they can be up to £90 for this machine. Then check out the internet as some of these shops are online too and where they may have POR or please phone in mag they tend to show you the price and terms and conditions on the net. Don't forget to use some internet robots, like Dealtime (www.dealtime.co.uk),kelkoo (www.kelkoo.com) and Pricerunner (www.pricerunner.com)as they compare the prices for you and you will see what I mean about difference in prices! Finally don't neccessarily take the cheapest,
I paid £1850 for mine I could have got it at least £20 cheaper but this one came with a free Toshiba DVD player (110SE) which is worth about £170, so not bad at all.

Like all big machines this was delivered straight from Toshiba itself and was to my surprised installed as well, this was something I was not expecting. Add to this that I paid with my brand new Capital One Card which is interest free on new purchases (unlike other cards on transferred balances) until June 2002 and I should make that £20 back in the interest I make on the money in my Cahoot account!

Where did I buy it from in the end BE Direct (www.bedirect.co.uk) who still have it for slae although it had invreased the price to £1879.99, but it was still giving you a free DVD player, and what is it like - FANDABEEDOZEY - it is absolutely the bees knees all you need is the popcorn and you're away, I don't even need to put my specs on to read those annoying little subtitles any longer and except for the fact that you can't hear the words there's a great view of the screen from my garage some 35 feet away!

If you are inside then it comes with its' own rear speakers so you do get a bit of all round sound, but obviously you can buy another set if you so wish but these are adequate for now. It also comes with all sorts of options for how to view it and how to hear it and so on (I'm still sussing these out) and although you can get a stand for it (some £200 extra) I can't say most people would need it as it is sturdy enough on its' own and the only reason for the stand would be to put the extra equipment in (video player etc.) or if you have tall of the ground seating as when you stand up to view the screen it does get darker (the screen adjusts to the lighting available). The other reason for avoiding the stand would be that this also increases the height of the machine by some 12" and it already comes half way up my bottom set of windo
ws.

The only drawbacks I have come across were ones not mentioned in the glossy brochure or anywhere else so beware of the following. I already new that plasma screens did not last long (typically 3 to 5 years due to screen burn etc.)but I do think it was wrong of Toshiba not to mention the following and I quote: If staionary images generated by teletext, chanel identification logos, computer displays, video games, on screen menus, etc. are left on the tv screen for any length of time, they may become permanently ingrained. If you use your television to display completely still images, or moving pictures which have a permanent still image superimposed i.e. broadcast network logos, it is always advisable to reduce BOTH the brightness and contrast settings. Here comes the crunch line - this damage is expensive to repair and is not protected by your warranty as it is a result of misuse.

Now this does beg the question whose misuse, for instance channel 5 is a free to air station but it has a channel logo so if it gets ingrained am I misusing my tv or is channel 5, we shall see.

The other little problem that may occur is if you buy a stand and put your DVD player in it then it may not respond correctly so Toshiba have kindly given me a resource to overcome this problem which is a piece of card covered with foil! How interesting.

Since the latter problem is of no concern to me and since at the moment everything is AOK I am still happy to recommend this machine and also the company that I bought it from.

Forgot to mention if you do buy it from BE Direct they are members of iponts so you get these as well. Can't say how many at the moment as they don't add them for about a month, but hopefully it will be enought to buy a little something extra to go with the tv.

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