Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This was to be my first flat screen TV. After months of researching and analyzing nearly every aspect of modern TVs and agonizing over a decision, I finally chose this Toshiba model because it seemed to have nearly every feature I wanted at a much better value than similar models from other brands out there. Bottom line is that I am very happy with it and have no regrets. I wanted to write as thorough and comprehensive a review as possible to help others in their quest.
Setup. The TV was well-packed and protected in its box. It took two people to get it out of the box but after that I was able to attach the stand and set it up alone, although it is quite heavy. Connections and initial setup of the TV were pretty straightforward.
Appearance. The TV is very attractive and quite thin. The front is completely flat with no buttons. Power and other essential controls are in a small touch panel at the lower right of the screen. Just a light touch activates them, and then they fade away again so as not to distract from the picture. The blue power light is always on when the TV is on but it can be dimmed and is not objectionable. The screen is reflective, so you probably don't want to have lights directly behind you while viewing dimly lit shows or movies. The stand is simple but elegantly designed and functional. It and its connections appear quite sturdy. It rotates about 15 degrees in either direction. It would probably look very nice mounted on a wall.
Picture. I should first state that I am somewhat behind the curve technology-wise and have neither cable nor a Blueray DVD player. However, I am very impressed with the picture quality with even broadcast signals (some of which are in 1080i) and standard DVD. The internal processing or upconversion seems to be quite effective and I do not see the jagged edges and pixelation that I observed on many other models. I'm sure it would be even better with true 1080p HD sources. You can choose from a number of different display sizes to match the signal to the screen. There are also several picture modes you can select based on what you are viewing. Then of course you are able to make myriad adjustments, from basic brightness and contrast to colors to "expert mode," but I have not experimented in detail with these settings yet. Bottom line is it looks pretty good out of the box, but I am pretty sure you could fine tune to get it to look however you wanted. The picture still seems quite good when not viewed from directly in front. I have seen numerous complaints of bright edges/corners on edge-lit LED TVs. There may be some extremely faint leakage in one corner of this one. It certainly will not interfere with watching anything, unless you like to watch a pure black screen. It is so faint I may not even have noticed if I weren't looking for it.
Sound. In my research I read many complaints about poor sound in other models. I'm not sure what the standard is, and I can't compare to any other flat screen models from personal experience. But it sounds very good to me, certainly much better than my old CRT model. It has good left/right stereo separation and is sufficiently loud for general use. It has a number of sound modes, including surround, and you can definitely get some of that movie theater effect. But, if you want room-shaking volume you'll have to get external speakers. Unfortunately it only has an optical audio out so if you have an older receiver you will need some sort of adapter, or, better yet, a new receiver.
Media Player. The TV has USB and SD card inputs. Both worked fine for viewing images. I just popped the card or thumb drive in and it automatically pops up the option to view the contents. I have not yet tried songs or videos, but pictures display with no problems. The slots are recessed behind the front of the screen so they are fairly easily accessible but not visible from the front of the screen. The TV is DLNA compliant, which theoretically means it can act as a "media renderer" to play songs, images, or video files from a "media server," i.e. a computer running DLNA server software. I have an older Mac, though, and had a hard time finding a server program that was fully compatible. The free program Majestic almost worked. The TV displayed the file names of media files on my computer, but it couldn't seem to play them. I would attribute this to problems with my computer though, rather than the TV.
Networking and Internet Functions. Setting up the TV to access the wireless internet was not trivial, but probably about as easy as it could be given the number of routers, network types, options etc. there are. It just took some careful reading of the manual. The TV's wireless receiver is internal so there is nothing sticking out, but this may compromise its effectiveness. The router is one floor below, but computers used near the TV routinely register a strong signal while the TV usually says moderate or weak.
Initially, the only internet applications I could see were YouTube and the Yahoo Internet Widgets. I was able to very quickly identify the issue on the Toshiba support website. They already had an easy to follow fix posted. The TV was registered as being in Antigua. Setting it back to the US quickly restored Netflix, Vudu, etc. I have not tried these sites yet. YouTube works, although the interface is a bit clunky. There does not appear to be a way to pause and let the videos buffer, so with my standard DSL connection they are always stopping and starting. I have not yet tried most of the widgets, but it is handy to be able to pop up the weather at any time.
Remote. Seems a bit large, but I guess that is necessary to fit all the functions in. Most of the frequently used keys are within easy thumb range. It does have a backlight button for use in a darkened room. It is programmable to use with other devices, and I had no trouble setting it up to use with my old Sony DVD player.
In summary, I think this is a great TV and I would highly recommend it. It has a great picture, lots of features, built in wireless, internet applications, DLNA compliance, and effective upconversion and video processing. It avoids two of the most commonly cited issues, poor sound and bright spots in the corners. And it was a relatively good deal compared to the competition. I will provide an update if I get the DLNA working.
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