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Toshiba REGZA 32C3000

The Toshiba REGZA 32C3000 is part of the C3000 series and boasts a digital tuner, 2000:1 contrast ratio, and an intelligent 100Hz picture mode.

Ty Pendlebury Editor
Ty Pendlebury is a journalism graduate of RMIT Melbourne, and has worked at CNET since 2006. He lives in New York City where he writes about streaming and home audio.
Expertise Ty has worked for radio, print, and online publications, and has been writing about home entertainment since 2004. He majored in Cinema Studies when studying at RMIT. He is an avid record collector and streaming music enthusiast. Credentials
  • Ty was nominated for Best New Journalist at the Australian IT Journalism awards, but he has only ever won one thing. As a youth, he was awarded a free session for the photography studio at a local supermarket.
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Ty Pendlebury
2 min read

It's almost Spring, and the yearly deluge of TVs has begun. Sony, Philips and now Toshiba all have televisions waiting for release. Toshiba have just unveiled 12 new models, including the digital tuner-less WL68 series, and the C3000 series.

The C3000s come with integrated digital tuners, and come in sizes of 32-inch, 37-inch and 42-inch. Like many of their competition, they are 1080i-compliant sets.

Upside

 The 32C3000 is a 1366x768 pixel panel, and comes with features such as an 8ms response time, 2000:1 contrast ratio and 500 cd/m2 brightness. For users wanting to use the monitor as a PC screen -- either as part of a media centre or for occasional Web-browsing -- the Toshiba also includes a VGA input.

With so many different picture standards floating around at the moment -- including 24p -- Toshiba has introduced another which actually appears to work: Meta Brain Pro, or 100Hz. It removes the judder from quick movement and camera pans, by actually adding extra frames (!), and seems more effective than the 24p testing we've done.

Also, Toshiba informs us that the integrated tuner on this and other Toshiba products will incorporate the new, free EPG announced last week. This will enable users to pick their favourite shows and have the TV switch to them whenever they're on.

Downside

 If you're looking to buy a high-contrast screen -- the 32-inch is the one to get. The contrast decreases to 1200:1 as the panel size of the C3000 series increases, and this is due to the backlighting -- it's harder to illuminate larger screens effectively.

The lack of 1080p and 24p support may dissuade some potential buyers, with Sony close to announcing their own range of 24p sets.

Outlook

 The Toshiba 32C3000 is a decent looking set, but with the strength of plasmas we've seen recently it could make for a tough decision when you walk into your local electrical store.