Toshiba 37C3030D

Author's product rating:   

How is the Picture Quality?	Excellent
How is the Sound Quality?	Good
Ease of Installation	Very Easy
Range of Features	Above Average
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	HD ready, great picture, easy to use
Disadvantages:	Not 1080p, but costs half the price !

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I've had my 37C3030D for 2 weeks now and its the best £600 Ive spent in a long time!
I have a Virgin V+ cable box, so have access to the BBC High Definition channel, and Ive wanted a HD ready tv to try it out on for months. Having trawled through the websites for Comet, Currys and Dixons etc, I found this tv was selling for the same price as the top branded 32" screens., and was £90 cheaper at Dixons than anywhere else, with free delivery and a half price offer on tv stands. As I could not afford the new 1080p screens which are just becoming available, I ordered a 37C3030D for £640 with a 3 tier smoked glass and silver stand, and it was delivered a week later.
The first thing that struck me was the very nice matte black finish to the tv. With a silver 'claw' type stand already fitted, it was just a case of placing it on the glass stand (after I had put it together!) and plugging it in. The setup for the built in Freeview tuner could not have been easier, and the tv took a couple of minutes to find and sort all the freeview channels.
The connections on the back of the set are what you would expect for a modern tv, with 2 HDMI inputs, twin scart sockets, component video and VGA for PC/Xbox.
Having connected my V+ box via HDMI I was blown away by the picture quality. With a resolution of 1366x768, the 1080 signal from the cable box was displayed superbly with vibrant colours and excellent contrast between light and dark. This was with the screen still set up with the factory settings which are designed to make the set look good in a tv showroom. Having set the brightness/contrast/colour/sharpness correctly using a calibration DVD, the picture is simply amazing. The HD version of Panet Earth is stunning, and Ive watched it over and over again.
The speakers on the set are 20w and give a very good sound, with the usual bass boost and treble/bass adjustment options. The on screen menus are easy to use, and the remote control is nice and easy to use aswell.
There are no buttons on the front of the screen, but a panel on the side gives you access to the on/off, volume, channel up and down, and menu controls. There is also a compsite video in for a video camera.
This tv will upscale standard definition tv signals to near HD equivalent, and so even the freeview picture is very good, (although not quite as good as the SD picture from my cable box).
In conclusion, this tv is a bargain if you pick it up for under £600, with brilliant HD picture quality, and very good SD quality to boot. At 37 inches, all but the biggest of living rooms will get that home cinema feel, especially when hooked up to a surround sound system. Simple to set up and use, with excellent picture quality, I would reccomend this set to anyone wanting to take a first dip into high definition, or to anyone who enjoys their DVD watching and wants to upgrade to a big screen.