Toshiba, the creator of the new HD DVD disk format, has just launched the 32C3030 equipped with a panel in simple HD definition (1366x768) and Active Vision which is supposed to improve images on four levels:  the amount of detail, colors, movement and contrast.

With digital television or a DVD player as a source, the first part of the test started rather well. There was no bothersome video noise, curves suffered from aliasing, but the contrast measured at 700:1 was still high enough to give a satisfactory depth to images. Rendering with HD sources such as a HD DVD displayed a slight shimmering, but it was acceptable. 

In HD, there was a good level of detail, nevertheless, we have seen better with Samsung or Philips.  The PC connected on the HDMI input required a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels to obtain a stable well readable image for such uses as web surfing.  Note that you will have to adjust the zoom when using your PC in order to avoid overscan.  If you decide to use the analog connection such as the YUV, 1080i is supported while the VGA input is functional up until 1360 x 768 pixels.

Color temperature, as is often the case, was unreasonably preset at 12500°K (you may recall the norm is at 6500°K) when you unpack the TV. The result is that the image is very cold and this of course serves in flattering the eye in store windows. The average deltaE is still too high at 11 (should not be higher than 3 if we want good color fidelity), but in delving into the OSD we luckily find many new functions to modify colors.

Toshiba really made an effort on its OSD that is really rich in functions. We not only find the possibility to adjust the base colors of red, green and blue but also yellow, magenta and cyan. There are two settings with nuance or saturation on a scale between +15 and -15. This is well thought out, however , in setting to maximum values nothing happens – and is a big disappointment for colors which remain as they were. In the end, we just changed temperature to warm.  So the « famous » 3D color management is not very efficient and doesn’t add any real benefit to images. As for the dynamic backlighting, it serves its purpose well by reinforcing contrast in darker areas. Finally, the last  optimized adjustment that is offered concerns depth in black, which seems to be set to 100 by default.  We can’t be sure if this is the original setting because there is no reset option directly accessible in the OSD.  Moreover, the OSD with the usual Toshiba format has been shortened and takes up a large part of the screen. It’s therefore difficult to see the changes you make in real time.  

Another small disappointment was Active Vision that appeared so promising in the beginning. Finally, we come to the announced response time of  8ms, which is pretty much standard these days. There were no visible light trails behind objects in movement.