Toshiba 32″ LED TV, May 28, 2011

I’ve had this television for about two months and it is everything that I expected and more. The only reason I didn’t give it a five star is because of the sound from the speakers. It is fine for a bedroom (which is where we use it) but not if you want to use it someplace different. Great picture and great quality. I would recommend it to anyone for the price.

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Good LED picture, bad sound, November 10, 2011

By 

J. Watson (Minneapolis, MN) – See all my reviews

  

If you always (and I mean for everything) run external speakers, the sound won’t be an issue. But if you’re like me and want to use external surround sound just for watching movies or your favorite action TV series, but feel it’s overkill for every day viewing, this may not be the TV- it reminds me of the old tin a.m. radio on my dad’s workbench in the garage. I don’t want to run surround sound for news, talk shows and regular sitcoms, but this TV sounds so bad that the speakers just are not adequate for every day viewing or for watching movies. I returned it and bought a Sony Bravia 1080 LCD. The extra inch or two in thickness was an acceptable payoff for the vastly better sound quality.. And the LCD picture is just as good if not better.

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Better than expected!, November 28, 2011

By 

H. Heuser – See all my reviews

  

We purchased this last year for the family for Christmas – our first flatscreen television! It is wonderful. The picture quality is excellent. We had extended family over for Christmas and my brother, an engineer who spent about eight months researching before he bought his last flat screen television, said the picture quality was better than his. We are very happy with it.

There is one thing that is a bit of a glitch though – the picture size changes mid-way through movies. We just re-set it to whatever size we want, and it’s not a big deal for us, but it can be a little annoying.

For the price we are extremely pleased with the quality of this television and would purchase a Toshiba electronic again.

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Every bit as good as I expected, April 2, 2011

This review is a little long winded. Skip to the bottom for just the pros and cons. Or, keep reading to waste 10 minutes of your life.

Over the last 5 years, I have been using a 58″ Panasonic Plasma TV. Not a bad TV, but not the greatest either. It was only 1080i, it got hot pretty fast (which made the room hot and the air condition kick on too often), and the dimensions were weird (I looked at entertainment centers that should fit a 60″ TV, but the TV still wouldn’t fit.). I felt an upgrade was in order.

I’ll have to admit, shopping for a TV was pretty fun. A lot of work though. The research was overwhelming at times. Websites upon websites, magazines, books, different people’s inputs, salesmen trying to sell you different things depending on which store you went to, etc. I narrowed it down to one of many Sony HDTVs or a Samsung C or D series. After narrowing it down to those 2 brands, it was a little easier. I went to about 4 different Fry’s Electronics and 7 different Best Buys to check it out in different situations. After that, it came down to the UN55D8000 (boy, did I memorize those numbers). To make the decision easier, I was looking on Amazon, and to my amazement, they had it for 0 less that everyone else, plus free shipping. Score!

With the free shipping, it usually takes a little longer. I would say, from the time the order was placed, until it got to my front door, it took about 1.5 weeks. It came delivered from Home Direct, USA and had no issues with delivery. They were going to set up the TV, but I told them not to, since my entertainment center hadn’t come in yet. I opened up the box, put the TV on a soft cloth (our bed’s comforter) and installed the stand. Eight screws, piece of cake. I connected the Directv receiver and a PS3. There are a few settings you will set in the beginning when the TV turns on. Takes about 2 minutes, literally. After that, the fun begins! Going from 1080i to 1080p is a huge difference! I had a recording of Chuck on the DVR and it almost looked live. I also watched some regular satellite programming and even the non-HD channels looked amazing.

After wiping the drool off the floor, I wanted to check out the 3D part of the TV. I popped in the free copy of Shrek the 3rd in the PS3, put on the glasses and waited to be amazed. Aside from the amazing colors, it looked exactly like 2D! WTH?! Then, I remember reading somewhere that the PS3 does indeed play 3D movies, BUT with an upgrade. I waited about 30 minutes for the upgrade to finish. After that, loaded up the dvd again, and there was the movie with that funky 3D image. Hey wait, I have 3D glasses on, how come I see that. Oh, oops. Batteries need to be installed in the glasses. Finally! The 3D image was awesome! Seriously, watching TV in 3D is amazing. I can’t wait `til there’s more media in 3D. As it stands right now, the only real movies in 3D are either documentaries or cartoons, with the exception of a few regular movies (i.e. Resident Evil, Step Up 3, etc.)

I just set it up last night, so I can’t give you a whole lot more information. But, even if I did have more time, I don’t think I can give you the detailed specs that you might be looking for. I’m not an expert on home theater. Here’s an overview of pros and cons:

PROS:

* The lack of a bigger bezel really does make a difference. Not only aesthetically, but in terms of functionality, too (better 3D viewing. It looks like you’re looking thru a window.).

* Images are spectacular. Whether it be regular programming, HDTV programming, or Blu-Ray.

* Price on Amazon was very good!

* Delivery was pain-free.

* A lot of settings options, so you can set up the TV to your preference and the viewing scenario (i.e. movie, standard, etc.)

* 3D movie watching is stunning! I just wish Panasonic didn’t have exclusive rights on Avatar.

CONS:

* SmartTV is a cool feature. But, not a necessity. I really doubt that I’ll Facebook or Tweet from the TV.

* Audio isn’t great, but it’s adequate. I wasn’t really expecting much from a flat screen TV.

* Did not come with the touch-screen remote as was supposed to be the case in the beginning of the year.

* Have to mail in the vouchers (or register online) in order to get the 3D glasses. True, you do get a 3D starter kit with this TV, which has the glasses, but those glasses are a little different and use batteries. Also, you have to send out to get the free copy of Shrek Forever and Megamind. I really shouldn’t complain, though, since these are free.

* Needs a more detailed manual on how to use most of the features. The manual it comes with is thick, but it’s just because it’s the same thing in different languages.

Sorry for the long review. Us Yelpers write a lot of gibberish, don’t we?

UPDATE:…

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It was a great TV until notice the screen uniformity issue, June 8, 2011

I have been playing with this TV for one week, the image a color accuracy was great until I notice there is a white halo in the left and right side of the TV. After reading other users and expert reviews, seems like the screen uniformity problem is persistent.

I chat with Samsung representative and this is what they told me:

Please wait for a Samsung Agent to respond.

You are now chatting with ‘Dennis’. There will be a brief survey at the end of our chat to share feedback on my performance today.

Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK4380954317X

Dennis: Hi, thanks for reaching out to Samsung tech support. How can I help you today?

Visitor: Yes I bought a UN55D8000 TV,

Dennis: Okay.

Visitor: have a problem with the image, there is a white halo when watching dark scenes

Dennis: Where is this located on the screen?

Visitor: left side (more intense) and right side (less intense), middle (center) looks fine

Dennis: Is it on the corners that you can notice this?

Visitor: no, more like a vertical line from top to bottom

Visitor: but is not exactly a line, it’s a halo

Dennis: Please set the TV to Standard or Movie picture mode and lower the backlight to 7.

Dennis: Use the TV with this setting for 3 weeks.

Dennis: This should go away.

Visitor: tell me more why?

Dennis: This occurs when the LED screen emits more light.

Visitor: are the LED supposed to emit less light after three weeks?

Dennis: Using the TV with these settings will eliminate the excess light.

Visitor: yes, but it doesn’t look good since doesn’t have enough light

Dennis: Please change the settings and try this for at least 2 weeks.

Visitor: can’t understand why 2-3 weeks? what happen after? can I go back and use whatever setting I want?

Dennis: Yes, you can change the settings after two to three weeks.

Visitor: Ok, just to let you know, I will post this in Amazon ratings, if this is not a fix I will say so… Samsung doesn’t say this to customer when sell the TV and this seems to be a problem with the design of the TV itself…

Dennis: These are the troubleshooting steps that we can try for this issue.

Dennis: We are not suggesting you to use the TV with these settings for ever.

Visitor: Ok, I will try…thanks.

I will try and let you know, although I’m considering returning it given this is a very pricey TV…

UPDATE: Here is an update on the troubleshooting suggested by Samsung on screen uniformity…

I don’t see material improvement using the setting that Samsung’s representative suggested, and honestly don’t think it will make any difference (or at least I do not understand why would be better just changing the setting temporarily). I could wait another week but don’t have more time to wait before having my window to return… so I have finally decided to return it since the white halo doesn’t go away and this TV is just too expensive to have this type of problem… if this TV would be 00 or less, I would keep it for sure.

To be very balance in my review, still think the colors are great and the exterior design of the TV is the best I have ever seen, but it seems like this great exterior design is the one creating the screen uniformity due to the thin bezel…I have also notice two additional minor issues with this TV, motion blur issues on fast pace scenes and the remote control range which is relatively short (8 feet or so).

So I’m switching to a recently announced Samsung PND8000 which is supposed to be top rated plasma… same interface and remote control than the UND8000, I will write a review once I get the chance to play with it…

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Not quite ready for prime time, in some respects, April 23, 2011

By 

P. Kalina (Midland, MI USA) – See all my reviews

  

  

I wanted to give this TV a glowing review; after all, it has some of the latest LED technology, and the style is trend setting. After a week with this TV, I am less than satisfied with the ‘Samsung Experience’. Let me get this off my chest first. Did you ever go to an event, like a county fair, early, when not all the rides and attractions were open? You’re excited because it looks like it can be a lot of fun, but it’s just a bit too early for the full experience. Well, that’s the way I feel about this TV. First of all, the 3d glasses that are supposed to ship with this TV were not in the box. Instead, there is a voucher you may mail in, or go online to order (which I did). After a week and no response, I called to find out why the delay. I was told to read the voucher’s fine print, which said there was a 10-12 week wait for the glasses. Not good. Secondly, I found an issue with the remote control unit, which is not a fun thing to have in your hand. It is sort of short and stubby, with two sides. One side has a QWERTY keyboard for text entry, and a touch-sensitive pointer. I find that the up, down, right, left controls do not work correctly with my unit, and called support to report this. They seemed very interested in the matter and told me they would call back in 45 minutes (after they set up a testing unit) for further info. There was no call back. Another reviewer mentioned the difficulty in pairing the remote with the TV, via Bluetooth. I also found this to be a problem and not consistently easy to do.

Samsung has incorporated a feature called Smart Hub into their ‘Smart TV’. This is a portal that has Netflix, Vimeo, YouTube, Facebook, Pandora, a web browser, and several games and applications that are either free or paid for. The feature is nice and I look forward to seeing it develop. You need to register your TV and create an account, similar to an Apple ID, before you can purchase any of the apps. You would think you could do this from the TV, but you can’t; you need to go online to do this. Not a big deal, but it was confusing. The Samsung website is not ready for prime time either. The discussion board is not yet running. One nice thing is the Live Help, which works VERY well. However, I was not able to get the level of help I needed.

Okay, enough with the gripes. This is one fine TV. It is very light, has a narrow profile and includes a nice, chrome-plated stand that lets you to rotate the TV about 30 degrees in either direction. A big factor for me was the thin bezel, which allowed me to fit a 46″ set into my 43″ wide cabinet. The TV has plenty of inputs, including some strange connectors that let you to connect component and composite video. I do have a non-HDMI DVD that uses the component connectors, and it worked well. The setup of the TV is not difficult if you have some experience with hookups, and I was able to get all the components and my receiver working in short order. As I mentioned above, I am not a big fan of the shape of the remote, and I am trying to duplicate most of the functionality in my Harmony universal remote.

One thing I did was hook up my TV to my iMac to show photos to my photo club. I was not expecting the quality to be better than my 27″ iMac, but it was FAR better. The color was most natural in Movie mode, Warm 1 setting. The sharpness was uncanny. I saw no obtrusive artifacts on the screen and was pleased as punch at the jaw-dropping quality of my photo images (and so were the club members). The TV is connected to our UVERSE system, and the HD quality is very good. I have no measurement or calibration tools, but I have a fine eye for photography. The color balance, contrast, and sharpness are excellent. The only thing I need to get a handle on is the ‘Film mode’, which can turn watching Modern Family into a strange experience; it almost makes some programs look like they were videotaped like a soap opera. I leave this feature ‘off’ for the time being. Tonite we watched the 10 Commandments (1956), and the quality was incredible! I have yet to see any Blue Ray DVDs, as I haven’t purchased a player yet. And, of course, I don’t have the glasses for 3D. I do plan to update my review as these things change.

This TV merits at least a 4-star rating. I may add another depending on how things develop.

Update 6/8/2011

Finally received my 3d glasses from the ‘Samsung Fulfillment Center’. They are active-shutter type glasses and come with standard USB cords to charge them. You can plug the cords into the back of the set and the glasses will recharge when the set is ON. We watched our first 3D movie together last night. The 3d effect was excellent and I could see no artifacts. The glasses fit over my lenses and were comfortable. They turn on automatically when they sense a 3d broadcast, which is nice.

The chunky remote usually just sits waiting to be used, as I have programmed a Harmony Universal remote to…

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Wake up, Samsung (Peeling Issue), June 29, 2011

By 

J. Reed “(‘www.realmofinfamy.com’)” (Washington DC) – See all my reviews

  

Customer Video Review Length:: 0:49 Mins

I purchased this marvelous television after countless research and first-hand looks at B&M stores. The PN597000 is a slight step-down from Samsung’s flagship 8000 model, but it’s also plagued with the same issues, most notably a “peeling” issue.

Samsung devised a solution to eliminate most of the glare from the 7000/8000 series sets, calling it the Real Black Filter. The RBF is a sheet of thin plastic laminated on the inside of the front set glass to mitigate glare caused by direct incoming light for those rooms with a lot of ambient light present. Kind of like a tint for a car window. Is it effective? Yes.

Does it at a huge price? Absolutely.

You see, what Samsung failed to predict and discover – and, more disturbingly, what they refuse to acknowledge even at this stage – is that this plastic sheet can PEEL on its own from the inside, possibly due to the considerable heat generated from the plasma set, creating air bubbles within the screen itself that will only EXPAND during the course of time, distorting or otherwise ruining the television.

I’ve learned about the peeling issue before getting the television set, since it seemed not everyone was having this issue (although a great number were). I thoroughly inspected my television around the edge using a flashlight and found no signs of peeling. It wasn’t until after 100 hours of breaking in the plasma did I notice a slight distortion on the top right corner of my set, and it was as I feared: my set was peeling.

I’m still one week into the purchase of this television, and I will undoubtedly return it toward the tail end of my 30-day exchange window as my television’s newfound problem will only accelerate over the course of time. Every report I’ve heard from other owners with this issue seem to indicate that matters will only get worse from here.

I urge both current and potential buyers to research this matter before it’s too late. I will exchange my set for a newer model, but I have very little hope that the new machine will not suffer from the same issue as my current one as the problem is inherit in the design of the set and not a mere random defection.

UPDATE: 07/09/2011 – A second peeling (air bubble) has appeared, this time on the top left corner of the screen.

UPDATE 2: 07/27/2011 – Just received my replacement TV from Amazon (Love you, Amazon!), and am currently in the process of breaking it in. By this time, Samsung has discovered the underlying cause of the peeling issue. Apparently, the television’s bezel is pressed too closely against the black filter, and needs to be separated slightly more. A solution has been devised and, from my understanding, Samsung will fix or replace any TV suffering from peeling issues with an updated panel provided that it’s still under warranty. Unfortunately, they won’t replace existing stock of their TVs with revised models, so new customers might still face this issue

UPDATE 3 (11/24/11): Second TV has not shown any initial signs of peeling or bubbling. I attribute this more to luck than anything else as the TV was built around the same time as the original defective one, and Samsung didn’t address the issue at the point of the purchase. I’ve read that, in some cases, signs of peeling might won’t surface until months later, and some owners are SOL as a result since the peeling occurred after the expiration of the warranty. I’ll post another update in 3 months (or sooner if any unfortunate developments occur). If it can last a year without any problems, I’ll upgrade my rating.

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Excellent Plasma, May 30, 2011

By 

David A. Oliver “Dave1000″ (Long Beach,CA) – See all my reviews

  

I just got the TV and have had it 2 days. My other TV’s are a 42in Samsung LCD and a 50in sony rear proj. LCD.

I read about plasma vs. LED and went for the plasma. It is in the livingroom which has full height glass windows on one side. We get direct morning sun as windows face S/E.

I bought the set over internet shipped free. Need 2 people to move very large box into home. Need 2 people to hang the set. I unboxed and mounted hanger by myself.

If considering plasma, here are my comments:

1. 3D is excellent. Get the largest set you can afford/ fit in home.

2. Picture on this set is very very good. Very vivid, yet realistic color and contrast.

3. Remote is good, but not a high end look. Possibly because many use other combo remotes.

4. Glare is not an issue. The sony used to be in livingroom and glare was more of an issue.

5. Off axis viewing is outstanding. 2D excellent. 3D excellent from any angle.

6. I bought the light rechargeable 3D glasses. Easy setup. Comfortable. OK over your perscrip. glasses, but not great.

7. TV looks great. Thin, high quality.

8. I mounted this set on new Walker Edison 60-Inch Cayenne TV Stand (black laquer and black glass). They are made for each other!! Looks great and size of stand fits perfect (width) with TV. TV “floats” above table- mounted on the stand’s rear pedestal.

9. Network/ wifi works good. Allshare works but sometimes buggy, as playing videos can abruptly stop (sometimes). I am still figuring the wifi and remote out. Plaing music through the wifi or network to livingroom is so cool.

10. I do not hear buzzing unless audio is off and my ear is very close. And I only heard once when setting up system. Buzzing to me is not an issue. I don’t hear/ notice buzzing.

11. Fast motion picture is excellent. No artifacts, no ghosting that I have noticed. 2D and 3D.

Update – 6/26/11. Still love this set. No screen peeling issue.

Update – 10.6.11. No screen peeling. Love the set.

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Beautiful TV (updated), April 26, 2011

By 

T. Black (Charleston, SC) – See all my reviews

  

Background:

I come from the land of LCD, and I have had this TV for about a month. This replaced a several year old Sharp Aquos 37″ LCD. As is typical with electronics, this 51″ brand new 2011 plasma costs significantly less than my 37″ 2 year old (at the time) refurbished model.

I have limited space, and my choices to fill it included the LG 47″ LED TV’s, Samsung 46″LED TV’s, and the Samsung 51″ Plasmas. (Just for the record, an LED TV is just an LCD with LED lights behind it instead of flourescent bulbs. I use the term LED TV only because it’s easier to type and read than LED-backlit LCD TV.) While I would have preferred an LED TV for my situation (which is a very bright room), The LG’s were not impressive. Though the Samsung LED’s were (to my eyes) the best looking TV’s on display at my local BB, 51″ is a lot larger than 46 and the seating is about 17′ away from the TV. The new 2011 “Plus 1″ models add an inch of screen, but are actually smaller overall. In other words, last year’s 50″ would not fit but the 51″ would (barely!). Panasonic 50″ would not fit either due to a larger bezel.

Buying on Amazon:

If you are a Prime member, keep in mind that this will not reach your house in 2 days. It will ship by freight, not UPS or Fedex. Mine arrived in less than a week on a mostly empty truck and the driver helped me bring it into my house. It was obviously well packaged and arrived in perfect condition. Well of course the price immediately went down after I bought it, so I took advantage of the price matching policy. Amazon has a list of retailers that it will match and you have 14 days to do it. Once again Amazon impresses in their customer service. Many other retailers do include other goodies like glasses or a Blu-ray player as a bundle though.

Setup:

After you turn it on, you go through a step-by-step setup process. The first question is whether you are a consumer or a big box store. It then adjusts the picture settings for home viewing as opposed to trying to look like the brightest one in the store. Nice! I went through the network setup (wireless works fine), and it learned my channels with no problem. It actually picked up many digital (cable) channels that I wasn’t getting before through the old TV, so that is great. Haven’t tried OTA channels at this point.

-Screen burn in/break in: Since I am new to plasma, I am a bit paranoid about screen burn in and image retention (IR). During the initial setup, ghost images of some of the menu screens remained for a few minutes. I burned a break-in DVD that cycles through full-screen solid color for 24 hours and ran it whenever I wasn’t watching TV for the first 3-4 days. I won’t make any comments on burn in yet, but I have played some Xbox/Wii and haven’t had any issues yet. There is a feature in one of the menus that will display scrolling vertical bars that transition from white to black. No evidence yet of any permanent burn in or IR yet.

-Heat: Plasmas have come a long way since I was shopping for my old LCD. Used to be they would dim the lights and heat the whole house when you turned them on, but new models are much more efficient. This one gets pretty warm in the cabinet but not hot enough to be a concern.

The Good:

-The sound from the internal speakers is actually quite good, surprisingly. I wouldn’t want to do any serious movie watching without 5.1 surround, but for TV shows it is adequate.

-The picture: Brightness is much better than my old LCD, but significantly less than today’s LED TV’s. That being said, I have a wall of south facing windows behind the couch which is opposite the TV. The picture is bright enough during the day to watch, but still looks much better at night when the room lighting is dimmed.

-Picture settings: I put in my old Avia HT setup dvd and went to the picture settings. The TV seemed to match pretty well right out of the box. There are boatloads of picture options though, more than enough to baffle the average user (myself included). This thing is ready to be professionally calibrated, if that’s your thing.

-I hear lots of complaints about TV’s not displaying standard definition material well. Okay, you have to understand what you’re watching. If you crank up your old VCR, it is still going to look like an old VHS tape. This TV does an excellent job of upscaling poor quality content on the large screen.

-I have done some gaming, and have not noticed any lag.

-3D. I have done some research but have not tried out any 3D content yet. The glasses have gone as low as thirty-six dollars lately! The glasses for 2011 samsungs are bluetooth instead of IR. The TV has 2D>3D conversion capability with a dedicated button on the remote. I’ve got 2 pairs of glasses on order, and will update…

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Solid High-Value TV, May 29, 2007

By 

Patrick G. Bridges (Albuquerque, NM USA) – See all my reviews

  

I just purchased this TV after looking at a wide range of TVs to go with my dual-tuner TiVo Series 3 player and an older progressive scan Toshiba DVD player, and I have to say that I couldn’t be happier with my selection. I let the TV do the upconvert from 480i from the TiVo and the result looks quite acceptable (assuming you’re not 3 feet away), and the HD detail on HD channels is spectacular. The Toshiba has a wide range of picture boxing settings to take care of properly framing the upconverted 480p DVD signal, and a lot of color settings so that tuning the color with Avia-derived settings I found on the internet helped as well. I have my own Avia disc on order to fine-tune the picture myself, as well.

The main products I was comparing against were all other 720p 32″ TVs. 1080p resolution seemed silly to pay for in this size, since you can’t see it, though the brands that put out 32″ 1080p TVs (e.g. Sharp) seemed to have better video processors in the 1080p models and skimp a bit in the 720p models. Specifically, I compared against the Sony Bravia 2010 S-Series (not the XDR2), Sharp Aquos 32D43U, and the Samsung 3253, as well as the Olevia 532/332s as a bargin alternative. The Olevia was by far the least expensive, but its picture quality seemed comparatively much worse, not to mention external styling. In the store I looked, the Sony and Toshiba were solid across the board, the Sharp had the best flesh tones (color setting issues with other TVs?), and the Samsung the best contrast for dark areas (e.g. air contrails behind a slow-motion spinning baseball). Given that the Toshiba was about 0 cheaper than the alternatives at the time, I opted for it and couldn’t be happier.

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Toshiba TV’s – Simply perfect, June 12, 2007

By 

G. CALICO (PELHAM, AL USA) – See all my reviews

  

If you are looking for a LCD HD TV but don’t know where to start, look to Toshiba first. I read in a leading consumer magazine that Toshiba spends more money (on an average of 5 to 1) on research and development than any of it’s other competitors (Example: Sony, Toshiba, JVC, Panasonic, etc….) and the REGZA is a result of that research.

After a very detailed 2-3 months worth of research, I decided on the 32HL67. Toshiba electronic products (especially TV’s & DVD players) have always performed very well for me. I will be utilizing this TV in my bedroom and it’s a good thing that I am. This television is completely amazing and is by far the best value for a very good HDTV for the bedroom. The design is truly a beautiful piece of electronics. It has a sleek curve stand with a piano black frame finish. The picture and the set-up right out of the box was brilliant. I utilize DIRECTV HD and the colors and picture quality is simply brilliant. The HD programming is very sharp with a very clear and very distinctive display.

The native resolution of this unit is 720p, but this HDTV will display all formats 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i and 1080p. However, it only receives 1080p when connected via a HDMI port. This TV comes with 3 HDMI inputs, plus a input port for a computer and two HD color components inputs.

The Toshiba is very easy to setup with its user friendly onscreen menus. All the speakers are located along the bottom of the screen, therefore helping to reduce the total width of the unit. I only had approximately 33″ to fit a TV into and this one fit perfectly. The DIRECTV gentlemen installing my HD satellite dish and setting up the HD receiver commented that the fit looked nearly perfect to him. This LCD is very thin and fairly lightweight (approximately 40 pounds). Easily handled by one person. The mount for the Toshiba 32HL67 was very easy to attach to the bottom of the unit, which is how I use mine. I’m sure this TV would be just as easy to use as a wall mount unit by installing the mount onto the rear of this unit.

Very impressed

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A pleasent surprise…, April 12, 2007

Shopping over at Best Buy for a HDTV a few days ago, I decided to give this REGZA a shot. The picture quality compared favorably to the Sharp and Samsung that I was looking at. Plus, it was under 00 unlike the other two, so why not?

Once I set it up and got a good look at it, it exceeded my expectations.

First of all, this thing’s got three HDMI inputs. I always thought that TVs of this size only had two at most. That’s pretty damn generous of Toshiba. I mean, it ain’t like I’m gonna be able to use them all, but it’s still nice to have them.

Second, when I hooked it up to the cable and had it scan for channels, I found that it was able to receive the unencrypted digital channels without a cable box. I sure don’t remember my old 23 inch Samsung HDTV being able to do that. Sure, I’m primarily gonna use this TV to play video games, but as with the three HDMI inputs, it’s just nice to have them.

Third, when I hooked up my PS3 and Xbox360, I found that I was able to set the picture size to ‘native’. Now this was a big deal to me, as my previous sets would normally cut off the top and bottom of the picture. This means that when I played certain games and viewed my pictures, some of the text would get cut off, and that annoyed me to no end. But thanks to the ‘native’ setting, I was able to see the full picture. I was absolutely overjoyed.

All in all, I am completely satisfied with this purchase. Great features, a beautiful HD picture, a very reasonable price, and a sleek looking design make this set the best HDTV I’ve bought so far. Only real complaint is that this model won’t accept a 1080p signal through component cables, but only through HDMI. Kinda disappointing, but since I can’t really see a difference between my Xbox360 in 1080i and my PS3 in 1080p, I’m sure that I can live with that.

I won’t hesitate to buy another Toshiba HDTV from now on.

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All I can say is WOW!, June 19, 2011

Let me preface by saying that I am no videophile but I am a software developer, and hence, a tech-nerd. I’ve been suffering with a 36″ CRT 480p TV for the past decade, so it was time for an upgrade. In this case, “upgrade” is an understatement. The VIERA blows my old TV out of the water. I know I’m not comparing apples to apples here but the VIERA is just plain awesome. The frame bezel is super thin and flush with the screen. The 1080p screen is just beautiful. Blu-ray discs just shine on this TV. The new VIERA Connect apps and interface work well and the streaming quality of Netflix, MLB.tv, Hulu Plus and Amazon is great.

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Panasonic Viera 42″ 1080p LED HD Television, June 28, 2011

By 

Jeff E. Fisher – See all my reviews

  

This is a great television – sharp, clear picture with brilliant color and lots of features that make this a very desireable product. Buying this through Amazon was very easy, extremely convenient and quite cost effective.

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Gamers LED HDTV, July 29, 2011

One of the great things about Panasonic’s new LED HDTV high end line (D30 & DT30) is the low input lag. This is something that gets ignored in a majority of LCD & LED HDTV reviews because quite honestly most LCD/LED HDTV’s have bad input lag. The average joe may not notice but it’s there. However with the D30 & DT30 models input lag is extremely good. (Around 30 MS and lower depending on your set which is amazing for a HDTV that isn’t a plasma)

Picture quality is fantastic and the design has finally caught up with the times. (panasonic is notorious for having great displays but crappy aesthetics)

Most importantly if you Game ALOT like me this and the DT30 line is the best HDTV’s you will find that won’t gimp your play.

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Pretty good, but…, November 13, 2008

If, like me, you live in a medium-fringe TV area, and you are going to be using the supplied (or other external) antenna, one of the first things to do when you receive this cute little TV is to connect it to the best antenna available to do your auto-scan. That’s easy because it has a standard antenna connector, and necessary because this TV will_not_tune to any channel not previously found by auto-scan. Manual tuning just selects a channel previously auto-scanned. At my location, the attached rabbit-ear antenna is virtually useless. But with my large, amplified home antenna connected, I easily picked up all the digital stations I usually get, plus one more, and with no problems from the many big trees around my home. So the tuner is very sensitive and not very subject to multipath interference. With the supplied external antenna connected, I eventually managed to get all the stations received using the big antenna, which was a nice surprise, although it took some fiddling with antenna position (Two inches can make all the difference). The digital TV picture provided is very good, with very nice color, resolution and contrast.

I didn’t expect great sound, since the speakers are tiny (about 1 inch diameter, on the front). It’s certainly not high fidelity, but it is intelligible at least. The sound from earphones is somewhat better.

Other surprises include no volume and no power on/off switch on the credit-card sized remote (No big deal. Gotta be almost within reach to see the picture details anyway). And the internal battery cannot be charged on the car adapter — It’s charged only when the TV is connected to AC power.

The Axion web site is listed in the manual as [...]

Follow-up 2/4/09: Still like this TV, but I’m now on the second one — The first stopped responding to the remote control after about two weeks, and was quickly replaced for free by Amazon. The second one performs at least as well as the first. Further thoughts: This TV is intended to be placed on a table top, like a picture frame, but if you must mount it elsewhere, well, there is a threaded hole like a tripod socket on the bottom. It doesn’t look very strong, and appears to be just molded into the plastic. The manual says nothing about it. Also, the AC adapter does generate some electrical noise (so does the TV), so AM radio reception may be affected, especially if the radio is close by.

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I LOVE this TV but…, November 18, 2008

By 

Beth C. Roman (HOUSTON, TX USA) – See all my reviews

  

I had a 5″ black and white in my kitchen and knew with the digital conversion, I would need something else. I ordered this based on the 2 reviews out there at the time and I am so pleased with this TV. I live in Houston so there are almost 40 channels available between the digital and the analog, I get channels on this that I don’t even get on my standard cable! initially I had trouble with some of the digital stations, I kept moving the TV around trying to pick up the signal (my problem was that I want the TV to sit under my cabinets and I guess that was interfering with the antenna picking up clear signals). I was getting frustrated and then remembered the other antenna it comes with. I unplugged the internal connection and plugged this extra antenna in and placed it on my window sill and all the channels came in perfectly without having to adjust anything. The cord on the extra stand up antenna is long enough to put it rather far from the TV which is very convenient because you can move it around to find the best reception. The picture is clear as a whistle and the sound is very good, not muffled or fuzzy at all. The wide screen is another bonus, most of the digital HD channels are in wide screen mode so it works out well. This is a no brainer to set up and I am so glad I took the plunge and bought it!

Update: I have not had to use this yet in a power outage but have occasionally unplugged it and brought it to the table to watch during dinner when I wanted to see a show I was in the middle of. The 1 1/2 hr. battery now barely works for 1/2 hr. and I have not used it often. I really bought this to use in my kitchen but also just as importantly, to work during another hurricane after having a small black and white that took batteries and worked beautifully last time I needed it. With the new digital change, I had to find something else to have on hand and apparently, this won’t be it. There is a new one coming out in August that does take regular alkaline batteries, I would suggest you go for that one if you want something to work in emergencies. Will still use this in my kitchen but now I will probably have to buy the other one just for emergency use since I live in a hurricane prone area. Very disappointed.

Update #2: Found a solution to the low battery power. The new TV that has the battery option is not well rated and apparently to get the battery power, you have to buy an additional piece. After some research, I discovered that Duracell makes an 100 watt inverter power to go unit, it is a supplemental battery that can be charged from any outlet and/or from your car as well, and it will provide additional battery power not only for this TV but for cell phones, ipods or any other small electronics. Not only will it provide power, it will recharge your devices as well. It provides 44 hrs. of charge for an ipod, 12 days for a mobile phone, and 2 hrs. for a laptop. And, it has several outlets on it so you can use more than one device at a time with this battery. This item sells for about and is a good solution for anyone who worries about being without power for any length of time.

Was asked for a link for the power source so here it is: Duracell 852-0281-07 DC to AC 100 Watt Inverter & 4.0 Amp/Hour Lithium Ion Mobile Power Source and I have this one which I picked up for about but it is currently : Xantrex Technologies 852-0281 XPower PowerSource 100 Watt Inverter

UPDATE #3: Finally found a real old fashioned battery solution that this TV will work with. You just need D batteries and can keep replacing them for long term outages. This will also work with other small electronics with the right cords (like cell phones and ipods and anything with a car charger). Unfortunately Amazon doesn’t sell it but here is where I got mine:

[...]

This should finally solve a lot of the problems with these digital TVs!

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Rechargeable battery powered portable television, March 23, 2009

Axion AXN-8701 7-Inch Widescreen Portable Handheld TV with Built-In Tuner (Black)

This hand held television has clear reception. For what it is, it is very good. The only draw back is that the battery is rechargeable for 100 minutes. A hundred minutes will not go far enough after you lose power from a storm.

This will not be a good choice during hurricane season when you really need a television that takes replaceable batteries that can be changed when they become weak.

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Sony KDL40HX701, November 27, 2010

By 

John H. Britland (Massachusetts, USA) – See all my reviews

  

Just bought this TV on 11/15/2010. I bought it at a Sony Outlet Store with a 5 year in home warranty. The TV was 8 for the 40″. The warranty was 0. I bought the warranty because we have another Sony that we have had fixed twice under warranty but bought another Sony because Sony is “Best in Picture” as far as I’m concerned. To me it plays a little darker than my older XBR set but it is still quite nice. Easy set up right out of the box. I have cable TV and am enjoying the picture quality. It has 3D capability and internet capibility but I am not using those features right now. Perhaps in the future I will. The sound of this TV is quite nice. It has a surround sound built into the set. Not to be confused with a 5.1 system mind you but still not bad. I would suggest you find a Sony outlet store if your considering buying a Sony for the best possible price. Or perhaps go online to Sonystyle.com.

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best tv ever, November 4, 2010

I have this tv for 6 month and is great , the 240 motion flow make your tv as real time video with full detail on your tv , this is the best ever tv I have . Sony you are the best TV maker in this planet

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Impressive., May 20, 2009

By 

R. W. Patton (St. Louis, Missouri) – See all my reviews

  

This is a very impressive TV. It replaces a 34-inch Sony WEGA tube-based high-def television that I bought in 2003, and I have an XBR6 in another room.

Picture quality is very good. I’m not an expert and won’t quibble about technical details. All I know is that I can see the makeup that doesn’t completely cover the news anchor’s face, and I can examine his dental work. That’s probably more than I really need to see. The picture seems to pop out into the room, and that effect is enhanced by the TV’s narrow frame. There’s a little bit of what I guess is called “mura” when there is no picture on the screen, but it’s hardly noticeable and vanishes completely when a picture appears, even if the picture doesn’t occupy the entire screen. Not an issue at all.

Sound quality is also very good. I use a separate speaker and amp system if I’m watching something where sound is especially important, but the built-in speakers here serve their purpose quite well and are amply adequate for routine use.

For me the most interesting thing is the ethernet connection, though this is not for browsing the ‘net. Sony is still in the process of updating its internet presentation, but I have used the TV to download high-definition movies from Amazon, and it worked very well. Some competition in that space would be useful. Why no NetFlix access? (8/4/09: After an automatic software update last night there’s a NetFlix logo and a message that NetFlix access will be available in the fall.)

With movies and TV programs available from Amazon and others, with the Bravia’s expanding internet access, and with local broadcast stations offering multiple digital channels with different content, this TV could compete with cable and DirecTV. DirecTV’s limited selection of pay per view movies just cannot compare to this. Also, the increasing capability for “a la carte” purchase of program episodes currently available only through DirecTV (or other cable or satellite providers) will reduce the value of my monthly subscription. Really has made me consider my DirecTV subscription.

The XBR9 can retrieve photographs (or music or movies) from my computer via my home ethernet network, or from a flash drive plugged into a USB port, so I’ll be able to make lots of people view my photographs and slide shows! (Of course, seeing your photos on this screen in superb color and detail will necessitate another visit to Amazon to upgrade your collection of photography paraphernalia.)

One little quibble: there’s a panel of switches located on the right side at exactly the position where I put my hand to move the TV on its mount (Amazon shows an image). Sure would have been thoughtful of Sony if they could have provided some kind of protective device to make it a little harder to accidentally flip one of those switches when I’m trying to adjust the position of the TV.

Finally, and this is important: I installed it using a Sanus wall mount Sanus Systems VMAA26B Universal Articulating Mount with Extended Reach for 30″ to 50″ Displays (Black). The TV has a lot of mass, and if the cables reach their limit while the TV is still moving, something has to give. So be careful to leave enough slack in the connecting cables to allow the TV to move freely throughout its range. That’s especially important with the coaxial antenna cable that screws into its connection and can’t merely be pulled out, but it seems possible that you could also damage other connectors, including the HDMI connections.

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Video Review: Incredible Image, Packed full of features!, December 24, 2009

By 

D. Bowman “Tech Dork” (LA, CA) – See all my reviews

  

  

Customer Video Review Length:: 5:53 Mins

I hope you enjoy the review.

I wish I could show the TV’s image quality better, it is amazing.

Please provide feedback, I’d love to hear from you if you liked

the video or wanted to see something I may have missed.

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Good, Also Dissapointing, July 1, 2009

By 

J. Schmidt – See all my reviews

  

I bought the 52″ XBR9 based on rave reviews (both consumer and professional) but I am sadly disappointed in it.

The picture quality is as good as you’d expect for an HDTV these days but the black level and backlighting are a let down. It gets pretty dark but not as black as I expected from a Sony XBR in this price range. The back lighting is this TV’s major flaw though. It is VERY noticeable. You can always see the backlights shining down from the top two corners in any dark scene of a Blu-Ray movie or in the letterbox bars. The backlight is also very non-uniform. In any dark scene or during a black transition you can see splotches of light scattered across the screen. It becomes quite noticeable when the camera pans across a dark room and you see the backlight splotches staying in place as the image on the screen moves around.

I don’t want to sound too negative because I haven’t compared this TV to anything else this size so I don’t know if there is a better TV in this price range. And the XBR9 has a lot of cool features such as the internet widgets and the Digital TV Guide (which is great for people with basic cable like me because it is essentially like having a digital cable box with a guide and program information built in) NOTE: everthing about the image quality mentioned in this review was based off of viewing Blu-Rays or Xbox360 through HDMI input, not basic cable. The 240HZ MotionFlow produces incredibly smooth, life-like images that truly look real, though I prefer to leave it turned off and preserve the “film” look of movies.

The Sony XBR9 is a fine HDTV with nice features and good picture quality but I can’t help feeling a little disappointed with the black level and backlight performance.

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Picture is Great, Sound is just OK, June 15, 2011

I bought this TV and installed it on a kitchen wall about 15 feet away from my large Sony living room TV two weeks ago. The picture is great, but I would compare the sound to that of a radio, instead of a stereo. I have this TV running off of a splitter from my DVR that is connected to the Sony in the living room. When I have both of my TV’s on at one time (which is a lot), I am mostly keeping the Vizio on mute. The sound of the two TV’s on at one time seems distorted. The Sony sound is very rich, while the Vizio is not. I can understand why sound bars are a must with a lot of flat screens. This is a great auxilary TV for a bedroom, den, or kitchen. For less than 0, it’s a good deal. When I am working in the kitchen and just have the Vizio sound on, it’s acceptable, but still not the quality of my nine year old Sony.

Programming tip: If you are going to connect it to a DVR, first disconnect the DVR and run your “in” cable directly to the TV (without the DVR in the loop). Go thru the initial channel programming and let it “auto run” to find the channels. When that is finished, then plug it into the DVR and it should be ready to go.

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5 star quality for the picture; 4 for the sound, July 7, 2011

By 

Reginald D. Garrard “the G-man” (Camilla, GA USA) – See all my reviews

  

  

  

As indicated by the rating in the title, the television deserves a 4 1/2 assessment. The picture is top-notch, making for a excellent visual experience. I have it in my bedroom and the DVD’s that I have watched on it exhibited superb color quality.

As other reviewers have stated, the sound is a little “tinny” but that can be overlooked due to the outstanding picture.

For the price, the convenience of the set-up, the easy-to-operate remote, this is a great buy and comes highly recommended.

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Great HDTV for the bedroom, at a great price., June 27, 2011

I have this TV thanks to my co-workers with having a birthday club + after days of reviewing & actually going to see this and other HDTVs on display & after years on a standard resolution LCD TV, I went ahead and bought this.

The LED/LCD factor + Price, made the difference with buying this .vs a Samsung or a Sony. This handles blacks & whites very well & overall picture is wonderful.

I love the buttonless touch controls on the bezel & the many ports on the rear of the TV.

My only dislike of this TV is the sound. I’m not an audiophile but if I had to toss a term, I’d say the sound was thin. The good news is, is you can toggle the settings just enough to get a good experience out of it, just not great.

All in all, its a great HDTV, delivering a great 1080p experience, that is at a great price, without sucking up great power to do it.

Buyer’s remorse? None.

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