The 32CV711B's picture quality is similar to its features in that it's a real mixed bag.
The first problem you spot is the appearance of some fairly noticeable motion blur, especially when watching standard-definition stuff. The screen's native response time is quoted at an unimpressive 8ms and it doesn't appear that the Active Vision processing does anything significant to boost this.
The set's biggest weakness is something that's becoming alarmingly common across Toshiba's current LCD TV range: backlight inconsistency. While it doesn't affect sections of the picture as large as those seen with Toshiba's edge LED TVs, during dark scenes you can still clearly see as many as six patches of the screen that look markedly brighter than the rest of the picture.
Thankfully, many of these patches on the review sample were restricted to the screen's extremities, but that certainly isn't to say they aren't still very distracting when they do appear and adjusting the set's backlight and contrast settings is not a satisfactory remedy.
The 32CV711B further displays a rather limited approach to colours. Tones are quite bold and vibrant for a small-ish, entry-level TV and are also a little short on blend subtlety and range, resulting in images that occasionally look a trifle overripe.
Still, the lack of a little subtlety doesn't seem a major price to pay for having the sort of basic picture vibrancy that will grab and hold the viewer's attention even in a very bright room.
Motion blurring reduces quite a bit during HD viewing, enabling you to appreciate all that extra detail and crispness. This does not mean that the 32CV711B produces anything like the sumptuous hi-def clarity witnessed on the very best TVs around, though; there's still a marginal residual softness, even when there's not much motion going on in an image.
Dark scenes, meanwhile, enjoy solid amounts of shadow detail for a budget 32-inch set, despite it being able to produce a respectable enough black colour – except for where the backlight inconsistencies show up. As with most LCD TVs, though, the picture suffers some pretty major reductions in both contrast and colour saturation if watched from much of an angle.
The 32CV711B's pictures leave it tilted marginally towards the positive end of the quality scale, certainly if it's being considered as a second room set, but no TV that suffers from such blatant backlight issues can ever be given a wholehearted recommendation.
The 32CV711B produces a soundstage that's uncomfortably short of power and dynamic range. Even simple dialogue sequences struggle to convince, so compressed is the sound into a cramped middle range. So you can imagine how thin and generally unconvincing the sound quickly starts to become when pushed even slightly hard by an action sequence.
Unsurprisingly, with so little raw power and range, the sound features noted earlier prove to be nothing more than just ways to make the soundstage sound even worse.
If its low price, USB multimedia capability and bright, colourful pictures tick your boxes, the 32CV711B is a compelling option as a second-room set, but it doesn't pack enough of a performance or feature punch to become a truly satisfying main TV.