How is the Toshiba 14AF41? (flat screen) (1 Viewer)

[John Wellman]

I am getting this model, and even though it is small, does it deliver a good picture? Any tips on it?
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[ThomasL]

John, check out the television section at http://www.toshiba.ca
There is a PDF document there that gives the specs for all the new Toshiba tvs.
I have the 20AF41 which is used as a small non-home theater living room tv (mainly for winter time tv watching in front of the fireplace) and it is a nice tv. I do have a SD1600 dvd player hooked up to it and have calibrated it with Avia. What I found was that the set pushes red about 10-15 percent after calibrating the color and tint using the blue filter. The set also has some minor geometry issues and a blueish grayscale especially noticeable in the low end. The latter two problems were alleviated with some tweaks in the service menu. I haven't found a fix for the red push other than lowering the overall color saturation. The set has great contrast and holds black level well. Some may find that blacks are too black/lack detail during bright scenes (e.g. someone's dark suit) but I tend to like it.
A few weeks ago I happened to be in Best Buy and I took a look at the 14AF41 just to pass the time and about the only negative I noticed was that the set does not have the BBE enhanced sound that the 20AF41/24AF41 models have. The latter, at least for me, really clears up the tinny sound that cable tv normally has, giving things a much deeper, crisper sound. Other than that, it looked to be a nice 13-14 inch size tv especially for the price and compared to the others that were available.
cheers,
--tom

 

[John Wellman]

Thanks Tom, I thought so too. I don't have that much excess money so I decided to get this small TV basically just for PS2 games and some DVD watching. I doubt anyone in this forum actually has it, as most are hardcore home theater fanatics.
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[ThomasL]

John, the only thing I can add is you may want to consider bumping up to the 20AF41 depending on the finances and space constraints. You do get the BBE enhanced sound, and a 3 line digital comb filter (the 14AF41 has a 2 line) but probably most importantly you get a picture size that is about 100 percent bigger. I was able to pick up a 20AF41 for $270 which is only $70 more than the 14AF41 price I saw at Best Buy.
cheers,
--tom

 

[John Wellman]

I was REALLY considering it, but i already have the 14" ordered (it's a birthday present). Oh well, it should look good enough.
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[John Wellman]

Oh, do you know if there is a way to do a 16x9 enhanced mode on this TV like on the Wegas? Like maybe through a service menu?
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[ThomasL]

John, you would have to do it through the tv's service menu manually each time. This would entail changing the vertical size of the image (VSIZ?) and then tweaking any geometry problems that may crop up. Also, on a set this size, it is questionable whether you'd see any difference between this and a downconverted letterbox image. Most people seem to think that you only really start to notice the difference once you get up to sets 27 inches and greater. Much of this depends on the physical layout of the phosphors on the screen. If you squeeze 480 lines of information into a smaller space, you'll only notice the increase in resolution if the tv can display 480 lines of information in that physical space. This eventually boils down to how close the lines of phosphors are. And of course, it depends on how well your eyes are at discerning distinct points of light at a certain distance. In other words, even if the tv can handle the increased resolution in the smaller space, your eyes may not notice it anyhow from the distance you're viewing.
Finally, you have to remember to go back into the service mode and change the settings back to their original values when you wanted to watch non-16x9 source material.
hope this helps,
--tom