Toshiba 42WH18B Rear Proj TV

[specky]

Hi all,

Does anyone own one of these and are they any good?

I seriously considering buying one and wanted to hear some reviews from some owners. I've managed to find a good price of £1449.99 inc VAT (they even throw in a Toshiba SD110E DVD for free).

I'm going to be plugging it into:
Sky +
Sony DAVS-300 DVD Home Cinema kit

Regards

[pip&pop]

At the risk of damping things a bit. Shouldn't you be able to get that or similar at ~£1100 via the internet?

I have a 43inch Tosh 4:3 at £1050.

See the massive Tosh RPTV thread for more details. (Search for Toshiba RPTV and spot the really old thread that's lasted 6+ months.

Lots of tips about where to buy.

[family man]

I also have the 43" (due to theese Forums!) Tosh and I must say it exceeded my expectations. Its massive and the picture is superb!! Also got it for £1050 and I beleive you can still get it, have a shop around.

Just make sure you have a big room, you'll be surprised how big these things are!!

[Rohan]

As a matter of interest what warranty can you expect to get when buying a RPTV off the internet?

r:nuts:

[HBK757]

Uh oh people, sounds like we've got another potential Dixons/Curry's buyer on our hands :D Do yourself a favour and buy it from TV+Video direct, fantastic company who went to great lengths to help me when my tv developed a fault. I got a new replacement sent out the next day. See the first page of this thread http://www.thedvdforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3472 for the TV+Video Direct phone number. I believe they do the 42" Widescreen for around £1300 inc shipping with a years warrenty. The Tosh RPTV's are fantastic and well worth the money.

[specky]

I've just read the entire thread as suggested but only one post mentioned the model I'm interested in (42WH18B).

Does anyone own anything other than a 43PJwhatitsname?

I've no doubt that a Toshiba RPTV is the way to go but I'd like to hear about owners experiences.

Cheers.

BTW - The price for this model is the cheapest I've found (I got the price from www.avshopdirect.co.uk) - If anyonw knows where I can get this model cheaper, please enlighten me.

[pip&pop]

I agree that that particular model is priced at round about £1500.

However the point of my 'help' was to suggest that if you were flexible on the exact model and features you required, you ought to be able to save some money and still get a well thought of product.

I noticed the model you are looking at is dolby digital. Is that something you must have (a lot of us use a dedicated separate sound system for our DVDs - don't know if your Sony home theatre has DD5.1.)

TV doesn't use DD5.1 (well except Sky+) but it is definitely something well worth having with a big screen.

A TV for say £1100 + £400-£500 on a fair AV amplifier and speakers might be a higher quality alternative.

RU set on a widescreen? or 4:3 OK

A 43inch 4:3 is equivalent to a 40inch widescreen but is 70% bigger than a 40inch widescreen's 4:3 picture

With a 42inch widescreen, 16:9 pictures will be bigger than a 43inch 4:3, but 4:3 pics will still be smaller.

Try http://uk.pricerunner.com/ProductList.jsp?autofilter=1&saved_products=0&search=&a_11=gte%3B40&a_12=&a_13=&a_14=&a_15=&a_16=&category=2

for a filtered view of what you can get (TV's over 40 inches)

eg 41 inch Sony for £1099 or 50 inch Tosh for £1650 or 43 inch Tosh for £1050 or the newer Tosh 43 inch for £1180 or Tosh 61 inch with free DVD for £2500

I'm not trying to push you out of buying your hearts desire, but just suggesting that there are other options.

[jon smith]

Originally posted by specky
I seriously considering buying one and wanted to hear some reviews from some owners. I've managed to find a good price of £1449.99 inc VAT (they even throw in a Toshiba SD110E DVD for free).

This sounds like the avshopdirect deal. This company is the direct arm of Robert Whyte ltd. I had major problems with them when my Samsung 43 inch went kapput. It has taken over 3 odd months from my insistence on a credit for a new telly for things to get sorted. They are also very slow on delivery (HBK757 and a few others cancelled over length of time they were waiting).

This price of near £1450 isn't as bad as some others have said (certainly not anywhere near High Street prices).

I almost went for the 42WH18b but went for the Panasonic 42 inch in the end. I would tell you what its like, but it hasn't arrived yet (after 2 weeks of being ordered from Robert Whyte).

I did think about going back to 4:3 (I had a 41 inch Sony 4:3 before the Samsung) but I just didn't want to. It looks better in the room and still gives a big enough size for 4:3 in my opinion.

There are also tons of threads about Rear Projections sets on www.avforums.com (Home Cinema Choice site). I think most people over here have gone for the 43inch 4:3 and have been very happy with it, I think that's why they were pushing it so much.

jon

[HBK757]

All I can say to anyone considering buying from Robert Whyte Ltd or AV Shop Direct (Same companies) is - DON'T. Once they take your money thats it, customer care goes completely out the window. You've been warned, so if you do buy don't come crying here when it all goes wrong. :brickwall

[specky]

You're right - it is the avshopdirect deal and by the sounds of it, I won't be buying from them. Thanks very much for the advice guys.

To answer a couple of points by pip&pop:

The DAVS-300 does output DD5.1 and the main reason for getting Sky+ was because it outputs in DD5.1 too (of course, there are a whole host of other reasons for getting it...)

I would be open to looking at other models but my wife isn't. Just to give you a bit of background - I looked at a variety of TV's in great detail (and must admit I'd missed the Tosh 42WH18B) when she walks into Comets and says "Ohhhh that's nice, I like the colour (silver), that'll go with....." so now I can't get anything other than a silver TV. And...we've already taken the decision not to get another CRT.

Anyway, can anyone tell me what the difference is between 4:3 and 16:9?

[mjb1975]

girls eh?!!! It's so funny to here them be more concerned with how a TV would go with the rest of the furniture....blahdiblah....

anyways, 4:3 is your general 'square' TV ratio, with 16x9 generally referred to as widescreen, although there are other aspect ratio's around this. Stuff like The Simpsons and Friends is in 4:3 and most digital broadcasts on the likes of BBC1 are in WS.

With movies, of course, most are in somesort of WS ratio these days - 1.85:1 or 2.35:1 mainly - but some films were meant to be shown in 4:3 - The Shining, for example - and would look sooo much better on a large 4:3 model than squashed in a 4:3 mode on a WS TV. I have the Tosh 43" 4:3 model and, although it's getting a bit tiresome to keep going on about how great it is (!), it deserves it! I got it so I've got the best of both worlds.

[specky]

Originally posted by mjb1975
girls eh?!!! It's so funny to here them be more concerned with how a TV would go with the rest of the furniture....blahdiblah....



The galling thing is...she picked, arguably the best TV on the market and I missed it! How do they do that?

I've taken a look at the pricerunner site and I've managed to find it for £1585 from 24-7 electrical - has anyone experienced problems with this retailer?

[pip&pop]

Good luck. Let us know how you find it.