32WL56 LCD TV: A load of new Tosh

By Guy Cocker on 31 October 2005, 3:42pm

Flicking impatiently through TV channels this weekend, we stumbled across our first Christmas-related advert for a compilation CD, which means the season of good will towards everything but turkeys is well and truly here. And what better way to enter into the spirit of rampant consumerism than with a massive new LCD TV? Santa's little elves can probably get hold of one for you this year, and you may well find either Samsung's LE32R41BD or this Toshiba 32WL56 sitting in a rather large box under your almost-dead tree on 25 December. Both cost around the same (£1,200 RRP, but less than a grand online), are hi-def compatible and have picture processing that clean up video like some kind of virtual Mr Muscle.

Unlike Samsung's gorgeous LCD though, the Toshiba is a rather more mundane affair -- like a Ford Focus next to a BMW 3 Series. And it's not just in terms of looks that the Toshiba is trumped -- the Samsung has a digital TV tuner too. Sure, you probably want a hard-drive recorder these days, but if you don't want to make a recording then it's certainly much easier to have Freeview accessible all from one remote.

The picture from Toshiba's flagship LCD is powered by the company's Active Vision technology, and DVD sources look pretty damn spiffy. However, we found that the contrast range wasn't all it should be, and if you want to use component video then you have to use the included VGA adaptor. So if you've got a media centre and a progressive-scan DVD player, you can't plug them in at the same time.

Toshiba deserves praise for hammering down LCD prices relentlessly over the past year, but it looks like it'll take another revision to the 32WL56 to reach perfection. If you want to see how it fares against the other budget LCDs we've had in of late, make sure you check out our full review at the end of the week. -GC

Update: this review is now live here.