Toshiba Regza 37CV505D review

Toshiba Regza 37CV505D Review

Reviewed by: Ian Morris

Reviewed on: 7 May 2008

If you're on the hunt for a stylish budget TV, your eye may come to rest on the Toshiba Regza 37CV505D. It should: for around £750, this TV has much to offer and at a decent price too.

Design
There isn't much to say about the way the CV505 is styled. It's attractive, simple and will fit into any room with the minimum fuss. Toshiba seems to be learning from other brands, applying simple, rounded edges to the design to give it a classy look.

At the rear of the set, you'll see a pair of Scarts, a pair of HDMIs and component and VGA sockets. On the side, there are S-Video and composite sockets, as well as a third HDMI. The location of this HDMI socket is for people who have hi-def camcorders or games consoles and want easy access.

The remote control is slender and nice to hold. The TV reacts quickly to button presses and all the controls are sensibly laid out. It's guilty of having quite a number of controls you'll never use, but so do most remotes.

Features
Toshiba makes a big deal out of the 'full power down' option it includes. It's just a power button, but off switches are a dying breed, so it's a relief that it's making the effort to bring them back. Turning your TV off instead of leaving it on standby will save you real money each year.

Toshiba's Regza Link is present on this TV, just like its older brother, the Regza 37XV505D. In theory, if you hook up a compatible Blu-ray player you'll be able to control the player from the TV remote. It also names the input to the device you're connected to. For instance, our HDMI 1 input carried the name 'BD' when we connected a Sony BDP-S500 to it. This feature is handy, but it doesn't always seem to work brilliantly. That said, powering off the TV when you're watching a Blu-ray disc does seem to turn the player off as well, which is pretty nifty.

You also get audio description, designed to assist people with sight problems. It enables you to hear what's happening on-screen, and can also be handy if you're doing something where you can't look at the TV the whole time, like ironing or pretending to do the accounts.

When ambient light in the room drops, Toshiba's 'luma sens' technology kicks in, automatically dimming the TV or increasing the backlight in a bright environment. Although it's not necessarily a new idea, it's a good one and can be handy if you watch TV in a room that has different light levels at certain times of the day.