Toshiba TV LCD - 37X3030BD Reviews

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37X3030DB Review

I chose this 37X3030DB television for the price as you would struggle to find another television of this quality with the full HD experience (1080p). Even though i haven't tested this lcd tv with a Sky HD box, with a bit of fettling the picture is far better than on my previous tv.

I can't imagine how impressive HD will look. The picture you get when the 37X3030DB is turned on for the first time is not good; it just takes a little time adjusting the picture settings to get the right balance for various programmes i.e. close-ups on faces, distant-filmed sport etc. One thing though, with a tv of this size you need a decent sized room otherwise you'll notice some pixelation around people and objects by sitting too close (when watching Standard Definition broadcasts).

Sit at least 2 and a bit metres back from the 37X3030DB and you will marval at the richness of the colour and the detail on faces. I bought it with the Toshiba E1 HD DVD player (also available on Amazon) and with this you get 2 free HD DVD titles. They do make a perfect match. Make sure you have a look around; i bought mine from a large retailer because of the five year guarantee they offer on televisions. I haven't written the name of the retailer because Amazon will not allow it in my review. Just type in "5 year guarantee on all televisons" in an obvious UK search engine and you'll find the retailer i'm talking about. Set-up was straightforward, even with a Sky box and HD DVD player to connect-up. In fact the stand took about 4 times as long to assemble! Read more Reviews at Amazon

Toshiba TV 37X3030DB Review

I own this 37X3030DB television and I also own an Xbox 360 with the HD DVD player and both the VGA and component leads - here's what I have gleaned through hours of Internet searching, tens of pounds on HD cables and and a lot of worry. (Most of this information can be found online or in the respective item's instruction manual, but I thought I'd round it all up for anyone interested.)

The Xbox 360 can output 1080p through VGA or component connection. The Toshiba 37X3030DB can only accept 1080p through component and HDMI (with the VGA cable connected the highest setting is, I think, 1280 x 1024 - if you make the Xbox output any more the Toshiba will display a warped green image.)

Games such as Gears of War and Project Gotham Racing look AMAZING through the VGA connection (this will necessarily be at 720p - Gears can do 1080i, but as I have just said the TV will not accept it). If you want to use this television to play games and you use VGA then I cannot recommend it highly enough.

HD DVDs look very good over the VGA, but the colours are a little washed out and the options the telly gives you to configure the picture are limited because it thinks the Xbox is a PC, i.e. you have no access to Cinema mode etcetera.

Normal DVDs look very good played on the console over VGA because it upscales them (provided you have updated your Xbox by connecting to Xbox Live since last Autumn) - they really look great - no worries here.

Okay, still with me? It starts to get complicated now - over component HD DVDs look ABSOLUTELY STUNNING because you can set the Xbox to output 1080i or 1080p to this screen. The colours are richer and the whole picture looks more vivid and natural - you finally feel as if you are experiencing full, true HD. When we watched King Kong over VGA my girlfriend didn't notice the difference between HD DVD and normal DVD, but with the component cable in she was blown away.

Games, I think, fair less well over component. There's not much in it, but some of the edges are not as smooth as when connecting with VGA and the image as a whole feels a bit softer. You also need to pay atention to the packaging of the game as some, such as Project Gotham, only go up to 720p and if you put this game in the Xbox and set it to 1080i 0r 1080p it will look horrible. Gears of War and Dead Rising can both do 1080i and they both looked great over component with the Xbox set to 1080i.

So, you're probably thinking that component is the way to go, right? Well the only problem comes when you want to watch a normal DVD because the 360 doesn't upscale the picture over component - why? I don't know - I'm not very technical really. Perhaps a future update will remedy this, but for the moment, be warned - if you play a normal DVD on the Xbox and connect with component then the image will suffer from the flaws inherent in watching a standard defition image (420p) on a HD screen - pixelation (is this the right term?) and lack of detail. The DVDs fair much better than the picture I get from my VirginMedia cable box (watchable, but not as good as on my old CRT), but they don't impress like the upscaled picture you get over VGA.

Well, that's about it - I'm sorry if I've waffled, but I had to find a lot of this stuff out on my own and at my own peril and expense and didn't want anyone else to have to go through the same thing.

I suppose if you're intending to buy an Xbox 360 Elite, which has HDMI then you've got no problems at all because the TV will be happy as Larry.

Overall I am very pleased with this set - it's a shame I didn't know it couldn't accept 1080i or p through VGA before I bought it because I wouldn't have had to buy the component cable and spend hours testing things. It's also a shame that the Xbox doesn't upscale over component - but it's swings and roundabouts really.

I can honestly say that buying this TV has enhanced my gaming experience tenfold and that HD DVDs look fantastic. 4 stars for the lack of full HD over VGA. Thanks for reading. Read more Reviews at Amazon or compare prices for this Toshiba TV here; Toshiba TV 37X3030DB Prices