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Toshiba Regza DV556DB
The perfect second set?
However, the speed comes at a price, as the DVD drive isn't the quietest we've heard. It's not really a problem on louder action movies like Dark Knight, but more a problem if you're watching something a little gentler.
The DVD drive's slot-loading and quick
The screen coped well with the amount of black and dark scenes in the movie, but when colours do come along, they are produced with a pleasing level of reality, vibrancy and snap. Control is rudimentary, however, with brightness, contrast, sharpness and colour tint the only options on offer.
More happily, the unit punches a above its weight when it comes to sound. With its array of drivers mounted across the base of the screen only producing 3W RMS, the sound is actually surprisingly clear and delivers pleasingly wide soundstage. Again, controls are basic and limited to just bass and treble, but we found that just leaving the set alone produced the best results.
As you might expect for a set of this size, the bass end is a little light weight and the set can't go very loud, but for a bedroom or study solution audio performance is better than we expected, especially for speech.
With a decent audio performance on DVD, we decided to give a CD a spin. If anything, a CD takes longer to come up that a DVD, but not so long as to try your patience. The CD interface is a little primitive with only very basic - again - track number and navigation icons shown. However, navigation via the remote’s central hub is quick and easy and again the sound was better than we expected.
Plenty of disc formats supported, too
Access to the TV part of the package is achieved from an easy-to-follow, uncluttered menu of icons. Tuning up both analogue and digital stations was achieved in under three minutes. The eight-day electronic programme guide is also easy to follow. Current and upcoming programme information, and a timer based around the EPG are all also easy to find and activate.