Toshiba 43PJ93B

[Zander]

I have just (because of the good people in this forum) bought one of the above rear projection TV's and am currently running it with a Samsung 709 DVD player.

I now think that my Samsung is not up to the job and am looking to upgrade it.

What would the people that have the Tosh TV recommend?

What do you have?

Is it likely to be much better than my Sammy 709?

Do you really get much more if you spend more i.e. if I spend £500 rather than £300 will it make much difference.

I have been looking at a Toshiba 210E as I have heard it is pretty good. My only concern is that it seems a little cheap and I want to make sure (having just spent quite a lot on this TV) that I am getting the best picture possible.

I want to spend around £400 (or less!)

Thanks!!!

[pjweston]

I'm surprised that you're finding the 709 is not up to the job; I doubt that you'll find another player out there that gives a massively better picture. I swapped from an Samsung 807 to a Pioneer 626 and, although the picture was better (a little more detail, slightly less blockiness), the difference was not dramatic.

How is the 709 connected to the TV? In order to get the best out of it (ie RGB), you should be using a high quality - Ixos or QED etc. - fully-wired SCART cable into the AV1 connector on the Toshiba. Note that if you're using a cheap SCART lead then you can almost certainly improve the picture more by getting a decent SCART lead than by changing the player.

Finally, if you watch R1 discs you should disable any NTSC-PAL conversion on the Samsung because the Tosh is NTSC compatible.

[Michael Brooke]

I had no complaints whatsoever about the picture my Samsung 807 produced, and I can't believe the 709's performance is significantly different. I upgraded my player to a Toshiba SD-500E shortly after buying the telly, but that was more for sound reasons (DTS/DVD-Audio) and practicality (playback of CD-Rs and home-made VCDs) than picture quality ones, and there was negligible picture improvement.

I also recommend checking your connections - if you're plugged in via RGB (I use the first Scart socket on the telly), the picture should be damn near flawless - I set mine up with the direct-to-digital <I>Toy Story 2</I> disc.

[Zander]

Thanks for the advice!!

Its not so much that the 709 is not up to the job its more that I have had it for about 2 years and I thought that DVD technology must have come on since then??

Its more that having just bought a decent TV I want to make sure that I am getting the most out of it.

The thing is you here a lot of different opinions that seem to completely conflict, some people have upgraded from a 709 to a Tosh 210E and have said the picture & sound is 10 times better.

Does everyone else agree that I am unlikely to get a better picture if I upgrade?

PS - I am currently using a standard scart lead into the first scart socket in my TV.

Ta.

[pjweston]

Well the first thing you should do is replace the SCART lead. A reasonable £20 lead from Richer Sounds made quite a difference to the picture quality on my old 807. If you then decide to upgrade to a newer player, the new SCART lead will improve the picture on the new player too.

Note that if your current SCART cable is not fully wired (remove the plastic cable cover and look) you will probably be watching composite video rather than RGB. The difference between composite and RGB is - to put it mildly - dramatic. If you are using a fully wired lead, check that the Samsung menus are set to output RGB.