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The sound is NICAM, with two front speakers, and bass
provided by an onboard subwoofer with the option for an external active
subwoofer as the first step to proper external amplification.
But it's the picture you really want to know about,
and the good news can be summed up in a word - stunning! Bright,
crisp and vibrant, the rear projection system puts CRTs to shame with its'
accuracy and geometry and kills plasmas with unmatched contrast. Free from
artificial digital processing which serves only to hide inherent
weaknesses, the Toshiba just pumps out the source unfettered in a truly
cinematic presentation style. BBC feeds from a Panasonic Digibox,
or component input from a Toshiba SD220E DVD player allow
pictures of breathtaking quality. But be warned, as with computing the old adage
of Garbage In, Garbage Out holds true for these televisual behemoths.
Low quality analogue feeds, over compressed shopping
channels, dodgy VCDs and poorly transferred DVDs are shown up in the harsh
light of day. There is no hiding from digital artefacts when the presenter
is sat in the corner in life-size! Give it good "food", though and the
42PW23P flourishes. Hearteningly for those of us with VHS collections good
quality tapes are presented with a softness that recreates the cinema
feel, albeit in 4:3. "Super Live" will stretch these pictures
in an intelligent way, in fact at times completely unobtrusively, causing me
more than once to press the "Screen" button on the simple, well laid
out remote to check if the stretching technology was actually in
use. Two SCARTS (one RGB) and
component inputs as well as front connections for the camera or console
complete the spec. More details at http://www.toshiba.co.uk
Purchased from http://www.comet.co.uk They have special online prices, but I would
confirm be telephone after placing an Internet order as their systems
leave something to be desired. At your own risk see http://www.bus.ucf.edu/cwhite/theater/ToshibaTips.htm
It's big. Do not be fooled by how it looks in the
vast environs of an electrical warehouse, this is no shrinking viloet. On
or off it will dominate a large room. However, it is (relatively) shallow.
Less than 18 inches deep, it can leave a suprising amount of floor space
available if you are replacing a conventional CRT. It is also quite light
at only 50kg or so and will slide easily on a carpeted
floor. Silver is the finish of choice these days and the Toshiba is
certainly silver. Screen surround, cabinet front and speaker covers are all in silver. How these
will be to keep clean I have yet to find out. Still,
in its' corner of the room setting it takes up less floor space than
a 32" CRT and no more than a table with a plasma mounted on it -
add to that a price per inch cost of 20% of plasma at a size
no CRT manufacturer can even dream about and Toshiba have a winner.
