Toshiba 46TL838

This model is the 46'' version of the 32'' TV that we tested in our labs, the Toshiba 32TL838.

It has a PVA display made by Samsung-Sony, with a matte finish and LED backlighting around the edges.  Connected features are provided via DLNA and a rather mediocre media player.  The USB port can support devices formatted using NTFS, but can't handle many codecs.  During our files only MTS files encoded using AVC were recognised, which left us rather disappointed.

In the lab, our tests revealed a below-average diaplsy, with a ghosting time of 15.5 ms.  colour reproduction was inaccurate, with a deltaE of 6.4.  The contrast ratio was better, at 3020:1.  But as with most LED TVs, light leaks from the backlighting around the outside into the corner of the display, which can be irritating if you're enjoying a movie.

Although it has a Full HD display, we were disappointed by the picture in 3D.  There's too much crosstalk which leaves many viewers seeing double.

The TL838's speakers didn't impress us either, with a tinny, metallic sound that isn't at all pleassant to listen to.  Worse still, there's virtually no bass.  You'll definitely want some separate speakers.

One virtue of Edge LED technology is its low energy consumption, which here is quite simply excellent.

For more information, you can consult our full review of the Toshiba 32TL838.

Everything we said in the original article holds true--the only thing that's different is the size!

The only exception is that some manufacturers fit different sized televisions with panels from different sources.  In that case, our comments are only valid for the panel that we originally tested.  Contrast, black levels, colour handling and ghosting are all subject to change from one panel to another.

Manufacturers who do fit the same panel in all of the TVs in a range can expect the same results across the whole range.  The only factor which could be prone to slight variation is the brightness, producing slightly different contrast.  According to our own tests, and assurances from manufacturers, the results of one TV can accurately be applied to others in the range.