Good HDTV, November 12, 2010

EDIT 12/14/2010: I’ve now had this HDTV for almost a month and I feel compelled to update my review because the picture quality is absolutely remarkable! From the first, I changed the “Pic Mode” to “Movie” and made no other picture adjustment. The apparent depth is just stunning — as close to 3D as I’ve seen in a non-3D television. This is particularly noticeable when I switch from watching one of my other HDTVs to this one. With this “Movie” setting, black levels are very intense for movie viewing. But it was watching the football game on Sunday that was so stunning. Realistic is the only word for it.

Otherwise, everything I said previously holds and I won’t make any other updates unless some problem should come up.

EDIT 11/12/2010: This review is updated 5 days after purchase. My initial “r:” will appear where I added later comments. I recommend you also read the comments for this review and the comment I made to another reviewer ( http://www.amazon.com/review/RN9YJSLNGTBBF/ref=cm_cr_pr_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B003XU6D6Y&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=#wasThisHelpful ). I’m doing this because I am extremely satisfied with this TV and believe it deserves careful consideration whether on sale or list price. My “4 star” review is based on my experience with large (37 – 53 inch) HDTVs at all feature levels. If considering this TV only against other HDTV of the 37 or 40 inch size and at this lowest feature level for standard brands, I would say this is a “5 star” HDTV. r: updated 11/20/10

I was able to get this TV at Best Buy as an “early Black Friday” offer for 0. At that price, this is a fantastic deal. I was also able to stand and compare the video image side by side from very close up (2 ft) with the Sony KDL40EX500 and EX400, the Toshiba 40E200U, and a Panasonic TCL37D2 — frankly, it was like looking at virtual copies except the Soney EX500 had a SLIGHTLY better image (less edge flicker on football players in motion). Without brand names, you couldn’t tell one from the other whether they were turned on or off (they all had a similar matte screen finish). Keep in mind that these TVs were all set in the store to a very hot, bright picture. On the audio side, they all sounded decent with none standing out as “better” (in the showroom at least). With that comparison, it was easy for me to choose to save more than 0 and buy the Toshiba 40FT1U. (The little information I could actually find about the 40FT1U says that it is basically the same as the Toshiba 40E299U but with only 3 HDMI connectors instead of 4.)

Getting it home, assembled (very simple and well-engineered 4 bolt base assembly) and connected (using HDMI), I wasn’t disappointed at all by the product when in the quiet and soft natural (window) lighting of my bedroom. The tv has 5 “Pic Modes” with the mysterious names (probably the typical Toshiba names) of Sport, Standard, Movie, PC and Preference (I think this one is customizable). These are really brightness/contrast alternatives with Sport too bright for me — Movie turned out to be my preferred mode and seems to provide real deep black levels. The audio is clear (w/o much low end), offers plenty of volume and has a really good surround synthesizer.

r: My one real regret about this supposedly “low-end” tv is that Toshiba (like most manufactures with their low-end tvs) does not provide any audio outputs that would allow me to easily plug in some better speakers or a headphone (since this is a bedroom tv for us). They do provide optical digital audio out for a receiver or peramp for use with a sound system.

The menus are pretty clear and easy to move through, but offer far more alternatives than are covered in the manual (r: for a complete manual, see below). Some are not immediately obvious to me and I’ll have to explore the Toshiba site just to see what they mean. All in all with only a couple hours experience, I’m very happy with this HDTV and would recommend it even at it’s normal price. I’ll try to add more after I’ve had it a while.

r: I did just find a detailed Operators Manual in the Customer Support section of the Toshiba product site. It covers all controls, I/O and menu functions.

r: My main purpose for the edit is to say how, after 5 days and now having finished setting this TV up with full DirecTV Whole-Home capability and spending some time watching familiar programming, my wife and I are absolutely awed by what we got for 0. This tv picture quality is at least comparable to our Sony 37″ and 53″ rear projection LCDs (3 and 5 years old respectively) and I think the black level is better. DirecTV recognizes the tv as 1080p and properly displays 1080p content. I watch a lot of sports and both football and basketball games are beautifully displayed. The TV handles all lighting levels (from near dark to our bright sunlit windows) without needing any…

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Just bought it at Bestbuy as Early Bird Black Friday Prior to Turkey Day, November 13, 2010

I have to agree with the previous reviewer that this appears to be a great deal but not much written on this model. Bestbuy had ten of these in stock for 9, and within two hours all were gone. I am not a great fan of Toshiba but I would think they are in the top five to six brands. I have only had the TV for a few days and so far I like everything about it. The stand was easy to put on, the remote and setup was really easy, and the picture is as good as any I have seen lately. I will let it run continuously for two to three days for my own ‘burn in’ test. I figure if it is going to go bad it probably will within the first 72 hours or so. Also I will have to January to return it and make sure it is working correctly. Normally on a more expensive TV I will purchase the extended warrenty for an additional 0, but on this cheap of a set it doesn’t make sense to me. Hopefully this will be a good deal and I certainly couldn’t pass up a Toshiba 40 inch LCD for this low of a price. Only time will tell.

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Great TV but not perfect, November 13, 2010

I bought this TV from Bestbuy and I liked it very much. However, it has some missing properties that you might expect to have on your TV.

Cons:

- There is no stereo output and you can not connect the TV to a speaker system, but since there is an optical audio output, you can buy a home theater system instead and this means a lot more money.

-You can not play videos (movies) using the USB port. Only photos can be seen and music can be played, but NO videos !!!

Other than these, it has a great image quality, I’m totally satisfied and recommend this TV…

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