Toshiba 35AF44 35" Pure Flat TV

Rating:
Summary: Very good large screen TV
Review: Although Toshiba lists this as a 35" TV the screen actually measures a full 36"; I know this because I just bought one and have measured it. I bought this TV because I wanted a good large screen TV with a very sharp picture at a reasonable price. Sharp pictures at reasonable prices are typical of Toshiba TVs, which may well be the best buys currently available.

Yes, this model -- despite it's sharp picture -- is not high-definition and it has the traditional 4:3 aspect ratio rather than a widescreen 16:9 ratio. But my cable system currently broadcasts 175 channels in the traditional 4:3 aspect ratio and only 9 widescreen high-definition channels. Widescreen 16:9 TVs have smaller pictures with gray bars on the side when displaying traditional 4:3 channels. Furthermore, because the screen on this TV is so large, when I watch letter-boxed widescreen DVDs the picture size is quite acceptable.

Widescreen high-definition broadcasts and widescreen high-definition TVs will be the norm in a few years, at which time the prices of such sets will be significantly lower than they are now. However, with the current situation where most channels still display traditional 4:3 pictures and only a few are in widescreen and high definition, a large screen 4:3 TV is a good economical choice for many people at this time.