We review the Toshiba REGZA 46WL800A LCD TV

Elsewhere, we’ve already looked at a newly released 47 inch Toshiba 3D TV. So why look at a newly released 46 inch Toshiba 3D TV? Pretty much the same, surely?

Well, in many ways it is. But it also differs in two major ways. First, the Regza 46WL800A under review here uses a quite different 3D technology. And second, it has a completely unique feature: facial recognition.

Features

Facial recognition? Yes, indeed! The TV has a webcam-style camera built into the bezel at the bottom and it watches you! Actually, it can watch up to eight people.

Various picture setup profiles can be associated with different people so it can automatically switch to an individual’s preferred picture and sound mode. And with the recordings the TV can make (if you plug in USB HDD), it can be set to optimise the list so that the recordings you made are most prominent.

As for the 3D tech, this TV uses the conventional ‘active’ method, with which the left and right eye images are shown in sequence, and the liquid crystal shutters which form the lenses of the 3D eyewear open and close in time, allowing each eye to see only the image intended for it. It also provides a 2D to 3D converter.

The 47 inch Toshiba we reviewed recently on GadgetGuy.com.au uses the competing passive system and doesn’t offer 3D conversion.

The TV is network capable, and includes built in WiFi, which is immensely convenient for those without an Ethernet port handy to their home entertainment equipment. It offers YouTube, Picasa Web albums and Facebook from the Internet, and support for the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) multimedia support for content residing on your home network.

As mentioned, it will also record the TV programs it receives to an attached USB Hard Disk Drive.