Customer Reviews

Toshiba 32AF41 32" FST Pure Flat Screen TV

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is truly a wondrous set: the flat screen gives every image more depth and range, and the picture is tremendous. True, it doesn't have a built-in clock feature (which is fine as long as you have a VCR that does), and the set is massively heavy, but its well worth these minor inconveniences.

I checked into many, many different sets, researched for months, and kept coming back to the Toshiba brand. Regular programs look spiffy and DVDs postively resonate. For the money, this is about the best there is.

One thing to take note of, though: if you buy this set, be prepared to buy a special TV stand you can mount it on. This TV is heavy enough to flatten anything undersized, so be forewarned.

I did a lot of research and narrowed it down to two brands: Sony and the Toshiba. I went down to a nearby electronics store and compared the picture quality and color and the Toshiba, by far, has the better picture. This is, no doubt, the best tv for the price...Sony jacks up their prices way to high for the quality of product they are selling.

I recently graduated from college, got a good job and moved out of my folks house. I knew my first big purchase for my first apartment would be a television. I started out practical looking at 32" tubes, but after a few visits to ...[the local store] I was hooked on flat screens.

...I compared Sony and the Toshiba, the display units were side by side and it seemed to me that the Toshiba had an obviously crisper and clearer picture, and it ...[costed] less! Also with it's silver finish and side mounted speakers the Toshiba's design was more eye catching. It might have been cheaper but it looked more expensive that the Sony to me. At first I was nervous because I had never bought anything this expensive before, but within 5 minutes of setting up and flipping through channels I knew I had made the correct decision, flat screens rule! And this Toshiba rules them all!

I do have one complaint though, the remote is a bit hokey, seems like a cutting edge flat screen television should come with a back-lit universal remote, or at least one that can control a DVD player. To me the remote just seemed cheap, that's ok though I got a universal remote to fix that problem!

TV delivery went smoothly. Six days after the order, the delivery company called to set up the delivery time. The delivery guys arrived on time, carried the 150 lb. TV up two flights of stairs, unboxed it, carefully set it down on my stand, then took the packing with them. Kudos to Amazon and Eagle Delivery. Great job.
The TV has exceeded my expections. Great Picture! Easy set-up and ajustments. I did read the manual two days after I wired it up to the home theater, dvd and vcr, and had played with all the settings, but needn't have bothered. The good speakers and sound was unexpected. I only use the home theater sound for DVD viewing.

I considered buying a pure flat screen tv or an hdtv larger projection screen. I went with the pure flat screen for several reasons. The first was that only the pay movie stations are broadcasting in hdtv. For movies, dvds will give great sound and picture. The networks won't be using it for most of their programming for a while. When that time comes, the price of Plasma sets will be what hdtvs are now. That being said, the pure flat screen is about 1/2 the price of the hdtv projection screens and I actually liked the picture better. The picture on the Toshiba looked better than the Phillips and the Sony (comparison at (retail store)). I am extremely happy with my purchase. (...) If you're accustomed to a 26-27" standard tv, you will notice an unbelievable difference in the extra 5 inches and pure flat screen technology. Also, the sound quality is excellent. Sony and Phillips may be more watts per channel. But, there is no difference.

edit - June 2005

I still have the tv. But I have recently purchased a widescreen HDTV and use the Toshiba as a second tv. My guess is that with the growing affordability of HDTV, interest would be pretty low in buying such a large non HD type of set. I wouldn't buy this set now.

(edit on July 28,02) - this tv was great for 8 months and my picture tube died = defective. probably bad luck. [Local store] is replacing tube at not cost but am without tv for over 3 weeks.

When I was going for a flat-tube TV I was going to buy a WEGA. They're popular, and they have nice features. Then I saw this Toshiba TV next to it. The picture on the Toshiba was much, much sharper than the Sony, and I couldn't see any huge horizontal lines the Sony had. So, if your going for a good TV check this one out. It might be worth it.

There are so many "bests" associated with this purchase I hardly know where to start. The picture quality is fantastic. The sound quality superb. The flat screeen looks like a million even when its not turned on! I love the remote control. Its very user friendly. I have had a 25 inch Toshiba for 15 years. This was the replacement for it. As the old Toshiba is still works like the day I took it out of the box, it is going to mom and dads to replace a "dead" samsung which is at least 7 years newer! I strongly suggest that you limit your choices for TVs between Sony and Toshiba. The last off-brand I bought whined (that irritating high pitched variety) so bad I took it back to the store. With respect to flat screens, there is little difference in price so let your eyes decide between the Sony and Toshiba. I have a Toshiba DVD player and hooked it up to the color stream connections. WOW! I never thought that you achieve such picture quality at home. The Technics amplifer works great to augment the sound quality as well. The bottom line is if you are looking for a 32 inch flat screen, this may be the one. One last note. The delivery guys were great. Even took it out of the box for me and let me plug it in before they left. They would have carried the set upstairs to the master bedroom if that was its ultimate destination. If that had been the case, it would have a been a lifesaver given the set weighs 170 pounds! As it was, they placed it, at my request, within 10 feet of its ultimate destination (which gave me the opportunity to clear out the old set and install the new one within a couple of hours). Keep all that in mind if you are thinking about buying one locally and picking it up from the store. Thanks Amazon!

After reading other purchaser's comments about the picture, I had somewhat high hopes, I suppose, but for "$...", I'd expect to get a picture without so much noise and distortion. The problem consists of a quite noticible line pattern. Perhaps this is a problem with all larger screen TV's, but this picture really compares poorly to my 6 year old JVC 27 inch set. I just received the set and may return it if I can't improve the picture quality.

...

I received two of these sets from Amazon. Both were defective.

The first set had a picture tube problem. About two inches from the top of the set, a thin bar ran the width of the set causing a discoloration.

After returning it to Amazon, the second set's problem was worse than the first. Anytime a bright colored scene comes up, the set buzzes internally toward the back of the tube.

I have since returned both sets. I don't know if I am simply unlucky, or it is a quality issue with this set. Philips makes the picture tube in the Toshiba flat TVs, and my newest TV is the Philips 32" Flat screen, and it, too, is defective. So, it might not be the Toshiba TV, but the Philips component within it.

I decided to get this tv after doing all the research. Wow! What a dissapointment so far. The 1st set had tube problems. A very visible and anoying picture distortion. Verticle and horizontle lines bent inward and the picture seemed to be offcenter. I had a second set delivered and it has very bad moire patterns in addition to the same (but visibly worse!) pincushion effect. So far a piece of [junk]! My 27" 5 year old magnavox...tv has a better picture....JVC, here I come.