Toshiba 20AF44 20" FST Pure Flat Color TV with Stereo Sound

by Toshiba

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 19.1 x 23.2 x 17.6 inches ; 50.6 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 59 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0001YHY0O
• Item model number: 20AF44
• Batteries: 2 AA batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #127,868 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 26, 2004

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Note: Toshiba 20AF44 20" FST PURE Flat-Screen TV is no longer being manufactured. You may want to consider purchasing the newer Toshiba 20AF45 20 inch FST Pure TV (Silver) instead.

Enliven your kitchen, bedroom, or living room with Toshiba's stylish, 20-inch 20AF44. The compact but versatile set is equipped to deliver vivid, high-contrast pictures via the FST PURE flat picture tube, which looks great and minimizes geometric distortions in the process. Generous connection options and parental controls let you and your kids use the set for a variety of applications.

The 20AF44's three-line digital comb filter further enhances resolution by removing blurred edges between colors and reducing dot crawl (tiny, moving dots of color along a sharp color separation in a vertical line, as in a depiction of a character's striped T-shirt). Meanwhile, velocity-scan modulation improves the definition at picture edges, creating sharper images by slowing the CRT (cathode-ray tube) beam's horizontal scanning during demanding work--say, when rendering transitions from light to dark parts of an image--and speeding it up when scanning easily rendered sections, like broad dark areas.

A shadow mask is a thin sheet of perforated metal behind the screen that restricts electron flow, each hole in the sheet corresponding to a single pixel. An Invar mask uses an alloy that's especially resistant to the high temperatures generated by the electron beam, allowing in a brighter, clearer picture.

The set receives stereo audio programming and SAP (second audio program), often used to broadcast an alternate-language track. The 20AF44 derives a heightened sense of stereo separation from its double-baffle speaker system, and BBE High-Definition Sound improves speech intelligibility and restores the dynamic range of compressed musical passages.

A ColorStream component-video input provides the ultimate picture quality from interlaced component-video signals; standard composite-video inputs accommodate all DVD players and most other video sources. You get two sets of rear A/V inputs (one of which has S-video) as well as one set of front A/V inputs for easy connection with a camcorder or gaming console. A rear A/V output lets you hook the set up with a surround receiver. The 20AF44 also features V-Chip parental controls, a sleep timer, and a glow-in-the-dark universal remote control.

What's in the Box
Television, remote control, remote batteries, a user's manual, and warranty information.

Product Description

The FST Pure set incorporates an absolutely flat picture tube, for pin-sharp corner-to-corner focus with unprecedented detail and color purity from every vantage point. A 3-line Digital Comb Filter converts and stores 3 scanning lines, for much more accur

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice TV marred by flaws, June 11, 2004

By 

Mizkreant (Arlington, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Toshiba 20AF44 20" FST Pure Flat Color TV with Stereo Sound (Electronics)

After looking for a small 20" TV for my bedroom, I recently purchased this model. At this price point you probably shouldn't complain, but this set does have serious flaws you might want to consider if you're thinking of buying it.

First, like most inexpensive consumer TVs, this model's color decoder is extremely inaccurate. It's heavily biased towards red, to make it look "good" to the average buyer. You can try to correct it using Digital Essentials, but you won't get it even close to right. As Digital Essentials points out, this is usually done to compensate for a bluish white point, in order to create the illusion that the screen is brighter than competing models.

The 20AF44 also only has one memory setting, although it has 3 video inputs. If you use several different sources, such as cable TV, a DVD/VCR, and/or a game console, it's very hard to find a setting that looks correct for all, and since it only saves one setting, you'll either have to compromise or keep resetting it.

The most annoying aspect is the VSM (vertical scan modulation). Although it's touted as a positive "feature" by the literature, believe me, it's not. The effect on the picture is rather like turning the sharpness control all the way up, giving edges in the picture bright white outlines. It especially makes text (such as in video games) look awful. Unfortunately, even turning the sharpness control all the way down doesn't help matters. This set doesn't offer any way to turn VSM off (not even in the service menu). I can only imagine this was done to make the picture look "sharp" to the uneducated viewer.

Furthermore, the set is filled with consumer level gimmicks to make the screen look brighter, such as the presence of an invar shadow mask. Invar shadow masks help prevent the phosphors of the television from burning into the screen at insanely high contrast levels. It doesn't make the picture quality any better. It's no surprise then that out of the box the TV is set to maximum contrast: not good for the TV or the picture quality.

At the under $200 price point I really don't know if you can find a decent television without such problems. I hear the Sony models allow you to turn off VSM, even on the low end sets. It might be worth investigating the Sony if you're in the market for a set similar to this.

42 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First Quality TV, Jaw Dropping Price, May 20, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Toshiba 20AF44 20" FST Pure Flat Color TV with Stereo Sound (Electronics)

I ordered received this Toshiba on 5/17 via UPS and it has the best picture I've ever seen on a 20 inch television. The manufacturer's specifications on the Toshiba site say the tube has an invar shadow mask, which is only found on the best tv's and is never found on sets selling at this price. The jack asssortment included is more than is found on many 27 and 32 sets.

Sound also is superb. I'm stumped by Robert Stewart's negative comments on his set. There's no buzz on my sample and the picture, as I said, is first rate. Perhaps he's got a line-noise problem with the his power source or one of the devices he has hooked up to the tv. If not, remember that sample defects like the ones he mentions can happen even with store-bought tv's, though in the latter case, making an exchange is a lot more straightforward.

The manual that came with this Toshiba is the best written and most thorough I've seen on an appliance in years, even perhaps a little too exhaustive ....like the complicated-looking remote, it might daunt some folks who like simplicity in their electronic gadgets. But both the manual and the remote are only as complicated as the set is versatile.

The lack of a TV/Video button on the front of set itself is a bit unusual, but a minor inconvenience, and it isn't true, as another poster writes in these reviews, that "you are out of luck" if you lose the Toshiba remote: Any programmable remote you can buy in a store will operate this tv, including the TV/Video function -- I've programmed a store-bought remote to work with this tv and it works all the basic functions, including TV/Video function fine.
Also, Toshiba offers replacement remotes for the AF series of tube tv's on its site under "accessories" for $10 each.

Tip: the price next to the image on this page of the Toshiba 20AF44 tv is $176.95 and seems to be an Office Depot offer . Check the "8 used or new" link, lower left of the picture of the Toshiba 20AF44 on this page for other, possibly better, offers, one of which may eliminate shipping as well as local tax.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Toshiba Delivers !!, February 10, 2005

By 

Robert M. Lisanti "Metal Rob" (Peekskill, New York USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Toshiba 20AF44 20" FST Pure Flat Color TV with Stereo Sound (Electronics)

I bought this over buying a Sylvania which was awful, as soonas I turned it on the picture was sharp and clear colors sharp, and clean. the sound is perfect, in fact I leave this TV on everynight and so far (since Xmas 2004) it has no buzzing or problems. The upper Digital channels from my IO Digital cable provider are sharper than ever!! I was going to buy a Sony, but Toshiba has always been a good product, and reliable
Here is a little trick i learned selling TV's when you purchae a new set leave it on a few days non-stop ( yes I said non-stop! )
this will surely test the set, if there are any flaws they will happen right away, then you can bring it back within your warranty with the store. They will never tell you this at a retail chain!
Anyway I highly recommend the 20AF44 Toshiba, make sure you use Monster S-Video or Componet Video Cables when hooking up DVD and Cable Box for best picture qulaity!