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Toshiba has recently experimented with Passive 3D TVs, but here it's active shutter 3D all the way. Using the slightly more advanced, though long-winded quasi-dimensional tech automatically means pricier 3D glasses that need to be recharged (though only every 100 hours or so).
Toshiba sent us its new FPT-AG02G active shutter specs to compile this review, which cost around £60 online.
Although comfy and lighter than in previous years, they're style over substance, designed with gaps around the lenses on each side. Cue reflected and ambient light, which can badly affect the 3D picture if watched during the day. Still, they're fine for a blackout home cinema environment.
The Toshiba 46TL968 also has a smart TV dimension. You can find a complete run-down of every app in the Toshiba Places smart TV portal in our recent review of the 32-inch Toshiba 32RL958.
But it's worth pointing out that it remains a sturdy, if sparkle-free choice if all you're after is BBC iPlayer, and perhaps the odd video on YouTube, downloaded movie from Acetrax, and access to Skype (though you'll need to buy the optional Freetalk Conference II Skype camera, which costs about £85).
For a budget big screen TV, the Toshiba 46TL968 certainly has plenty going for it, in it, and out of it. A jack-pack on the TV's left-hand side (as you view it) sports a Common Interface slot, an HDMI input, headphones slot, and some centrally placed manual controls - a standby button, volume rockers and an input changer that together navigate the main GUI. Below them is a USB slot.
The rear connections panel isn't down-facing, so anything you hook up here will jut out of the back of the TV.
This bad news for wall-mounters is good news for anyone wanting to attach multiple hi-def gadgets, though - adorning the back are three more HDMI inputs (one of them ARC-compatible), a digital optical audio output and a wired LAN (though there's a Wi-Fi module inside, too).
There's also a D-sub 15-pin PC input (fast becoming defunct, with laptops using either HDMI or WiDi - which the Toshiba 46TL968 is compatible with) next to the second USB slot, and a full RGB Scart (which are increasingly rare on TVs).
Also back here is an RF aerial plug-in for fuelling Freeview HD, and a set of component video inputs complete with left/right phonos.
If we had any gripes at all about any of that, we'd wish for a third USB slot, preferably on the side. Those USB ports are capable of making recordings from Freeview HD to a hooked-up hard disk, with recordings accessed from within a library on the TV's user interface.
A 100Hz screen, the Toshiba 46TL968 is otherwise light on heavyweight processing tech.
The picture settings menu's Advanced menu includes processing modes such as ColourMaster, Auto Brightness Sensor and Active Backlight Control. With the exception of Resolution+ (which effectively upscales standard-definition footage) and ClearScan (a frame interpolation tech exclusively for Blu-ray), these are best left de-activated.
An Expert menu adds tweaks for white balance and gamma, while there's a 2D to 3D conversion mode, too - though hopes for that aren't particularly high.
