Nice TV, no good choices for audio, April 21, 2011

I chose the Toshiba because of the tiltable stand and the placement of the dvd slot — left side, and the general quality of the manufacturer. What I didn’t realize when I went for the LED model instead of the LCD, is that this TV has no headphone jack, only an digital optical out. You would need the GefenTV Digital Audio Decoder to connect additional speakers. I don’t know why Toshiba took the headphone jack out of this model when no one is ever going to use such a small TV with a sound system receiver. TV manufacturers could also give up on putting the speakers on the back of the TV, since it makes the sound so muffled. It sounds like a cell phone or something equally not quite there.

Beautiful TV, if you could hear it or realistically connect it to anything.

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The Cost of Getting Good Audio, May 4, 2011

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Daniel A. Espina – See all my reviews

  

As another reviewer mentioned, this Toshiba LED television does not have a headphone jack. This means that many of our computer speakers or headphones aren’t compatible with this model unless you pay for it. Well I paid for it and now have fantastic audio blaring out my TV, but I thought others should know how much it’ll cost if they want to do the same thing.

What you’d need to buy:

1. A Toslink Digital Optical Cable (-15)
EX.Mediabridge – Toslink Cable – Optical Digital Audio Cable – 6ft
“One of these is needed as the Digital Optical Output has replaced the headphone jack.”

2. Gefen Digital to Audio Decoder (-95)
GefenTV Digital Audio Decoder
This box converts the digital audio signal into analog. What this means is you plug the Digital Optical Cable in one side of this, and get the Red and White RCA output on the other.

3. A RCA Male to 3.5mm Stereo Female Y-Cable (-10)
EX.Cables To Go – 03182 – 3.5mm Stereo Female to RCA Male Y-Cable
This cable has the traditional white and red RCA connection on one end, and a headphone jack input on the other. So you’ll plug the Red and White end of the cables into the decoder, and finally have your headphone/speaker input to plug in whatever you want.

So that’s -120 for a crazy headphone jack! The last thing I want you to know is that using this method, you can’t control the speaker/headphone volume through the TV. What this means is that if your speakers/headphones don’t have a volume nob on them, then you’ll only get one medium level of volume with no way of lowering or raising it.

—-

Now that I’ve gotten past the frustration of getting my Harman Kardon speakers attached, I’ve got to say that I’m pleased with my purchase. The TV is sharp looking, seems durable, the built in DVD player works great, and playing Xbox 360 on it using a HDMI cable looks unbelievable. I thought 19 inches might be too small, but it’s actually a perfect size for my compact den. The audio is poor which is why not having a headphone jack is such a big issue, but its worth stating that the vast majority of these LED television have poor audio, and that the headphone jack is being phased out of most 2011 televisions as well. I’m just glad there was a solution, because now that everything is set up, it’s pretty great.

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Toshiba TV with built in DVD Player, May 1, 2011

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John Heinz – See all my reviews

  

This Toshiba TV was the perfect birthday present for my wife. She loves it!! Quality all the way. Built in DVD Player is a real space saver.

Amazon is a great place to locate hard to find items. Purchase went like clock work. Fair price and no hastle shopping.

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