Toshiba Regza 32WL68E (32-inch LCD)

By Philip Wong, CNET News.com
Nov 10, 2006

First appearing in the boxy CRT TVs, the 100Hz display technology is no stranger for the A/V industry. Designed to minimize screen flickering, it was adopted by many CRT vendors and was a standard feature in the late 1990s. Toshiba is reinventing the wheel by bringing this age-old visual enhancement technique back into play. This is implemented in its latest Meta Brain Pro 100 picture-processing engine in a bid to improve motion reproduction for its 68-series LCD TVs.

Design
The 32WL68E is an average-looking flat panel endowed with a clutter-free front. Conforming to the popular bottom speaker form factor, the shell is dressed in a tri-tone color scheme with an overall grey hue. The darkish facade is contrasted with strips of perforated black grilles and brushed metal lining stacked below a narrow 1.5 inch-thick LCD frame. Toshiba has also dropped the previous squarish stand in favor of a V-shaped Sharp Aquos lookalike capable of 15-degree two-way swivel.

Unlike most other flat panels we reviewed, the TV controls and easy-access A/V sockets are clustered in a vertical array, situated on the right corner of the 115mm-thick chassis. To keep the cords tidy and out of sight, the collection of input sockets is installed within deep recesses on the rear. Not only does this allow a near-flushed installation for wall-mounting, it also facilitates proper cable management for routing interconnects along the recesses with the aid of factory-installed attachment clips.

	The remote is a tradeoff between versatility and ease of use. (click for larger image)

Toshiba has shipped a higher-end controller which comes with multifunction capability for this Regza. Besides standard TV adjustments, it also supports video playback for the company's DVD players and settop boxes. While the matching black-and-silver remote are decked with well-spaced buttons and a large five-way navigation pad, we found these a bit unresponsive and too stiff in general. The lack of dedicated input, volume and channel buttons also added to our woes, hindering ease of use.

Fairing better is a well-structured software menu paired with a graphical user interface. Nested within the five submenus are a suite of video, audio and power settings which are more than adequate to customize the panel's operation. That's besides a group of specialized variants for configuring picture-enhancement functions, bass and treble tunings, among others. Just in case you need help deciphering some of the technicalities, Toshiba has also bundled a well-illustrated 30-page user manual for easy reference.

User Discussion

 

• Most Popular

• Upcoming

Latest Downloads

 

What's Hot