Toshiba 13A23 13" Mono TV (Black)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent value, good picture quality
Review: First, I should mention that I have not seen any of the other TVs in this price range and size range. This TV replaced a 25-year old TV the same size (which still works), which I use next to my PC. (I also have a modern set in the living room and have used a variety of 19 inch TVs in hotel rooms.)

I'm quite pleased with the performance of this TV. The color rendition is excellent - I'm sure that this aspect of the performance is as good as you can get in this price range and comes close to more expensive sets.

The detail and clarity are good, but do represent the limitation of what you can get in a low-priced set. I'm sure the high end 13-inch sets that cost about twice as much would give better resolution, and a flat screen would provide that life-like, three-dimensional quality that I see in my living room TV.

If there is any flaw in the picture of this set, it is the *slight* "buzzy" quality to the image. If you visualize the difference between a scene lit by fluorescent lighting and one lit by incandescent lighting, then you understand what I mean. But again, it is slight and undoubtedly found in most or all sets in this price range.

The sound on this set is cleverly engineered. The amplifier has very little power, due to the cost limitations, and the speaker is small, due to the small size of the TV. So, Toshiba engineered the sound to have great clarity. Speech is very intelligible, and music is clearly heard, although far from impressive or loud. The result is entirely adequate for the usual living room/office/bedroom use - if you are going to use this to view movies in your (small) living room (or dorm room), get one of the sets costing about twice as much instead.

NOTE: In order to get a good picture with this set, you are going to need to turn down a lot of the settings (which is not unusual - factory settings are solely designed to make the set stand out in showroom lineups). I had to turn the sharpness down to zero, and even then, I think that I would like to have it yet lower than that (to help with the "buzzy" quality). I also had to turn down the contrast setting to "8", although I sit close to the set and so need this a little lower than if I were sitting across the room - but even then the setting would need to be significantly lower than the factory setting.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent value, good picture quality
Review: First, I should mention that I have not seen any of the other TVs in this price range and size range. This TV replaced a 25-year old TV the same size (which still works), which I use next to my PC. (I also have a modern set in the living room and have used a variety of 19 inch TVs in hotel rooms.)

I'm quite pleased with the performance of this TV. The color rendition is excellent - I'm sure that this aspect of the performance is as good as you can get in this price range and comes close to more expensive sets.

The detail and clarity are good, but do represent the limitation of what you can get in a low-priced set. I'm sure the high end 13-inch sets that cost about twice as much would give better resolution, and a flat screen would provide that life-like, three-dimensional quality that I see in my living room TV.

If there is any flaw in the picture of this set, it is the *slight* "buzzy" quality to the image. If you visualize the difference between a scene lit by fluorescent lighting and one lit by incandescent lighting, then you understand what I mean. But again, it is slight and undoubtedly found in most or all sets in this price range.

The sound on this set is cleverly engineered. The amplifier has very little power, due to the cost limitations, and the speaker is small, due to the small size of the TV. So, Toshiba engineered the sound to have great clarity. Speech is very intelligible, and music is clearly heard, although far from impressive or loud. The result is entirely adequate for the usual living room/office/bedroom use - if you are going to use this to view movies in your (small) living room (or dorm room), get one of the sets costing about twice as much instead.

NOTE: In order to get a good picture with this set, you are going to need to turn down a lot of the settings (which is not unusual - factory settings are solely designed to make the set stand out in showroom lineups). I had to turn the sharpness down to zero, and even then, I think that I would like to have it yet lower than that (to help with the "buzzy" quality). I also had to turn down the contrast setting to "8", although I sit close to the set and so need this a little lower than if I were sitting across the room - but even then the setting would need to be significantly lower than the factory setting.