Toshiba 34HF84 34" TheaterWide HD-Ready Flat-Screen TV

Rating:
Summary: Excellent value for the price
Review: After buying our first HDTV last year (a Sharp 37" LCD) it was clear that we would never buy a regular analog TV again. But when we needed to get a 16:9 aspect ratio HDTV to fit in a 37" wide wall unit in our family room, we found the choices very limited. None of the Sony 34" models would fit. Only 3 models fit and the Toshiba seemed the best choice.

After getting it home and hooking it up to a HD cable box and DVD player, we are more than satisfied. The HD pictures are excellent - much, much better than our previous analog set could produce. Same for DVD. Although clearly less Hi Def than HDTV (the DVD is only 480p whereas the HDTV is 1080i), DVDs look much better than they did on our older Sony analog TV.

The set is easy to use and almost all of the controls on the remote (which can easily be programmed to handle the most basic features of your receiver and cable box) are very intuitive.

Make no mistake about it. This 34" HDTV is nowhere near as crisp or clear as our 37" LCD HDTV. As far as I can tell, rumours to the effect that CRT (picture tubes) still deliver a better picture than LCD are just plain wrong. One can easily see that in the showroom or at home. But this CRT HDTV only cost about 1/3 the price of an LCD. For 1/3 the price, you get all the same digital HD features, and a picture that, while not quite as sharp and clear as an LCD, is still far, far better than the best picture you can get on an analog, non-HD TV. IF you don't need the thinness of LCD (or plasma) and want a mid-sized 16:9 HDTV, consider this Toshiba. I think you will be pleased with the picture and the cost/value ratio (<$1150 delivered to your door).

Rating:
Summary: Very Happy
Review: I researched consumer TV's for several months. I waited for the introduction of this product in August '04 and tracked its development at the Toshiba site. I had some specific space requirements. Toshiba puts their speakers at the bottom of the unit, which was advantageous to me. TV speakers sound fine for general TV viewing, and besides, I use my sound system for DVD's and TV viewing where sound is important to me. But the picture! WOW! I'm feeding the TV HD cable, and the 10 or so HD channels I receive just blew me away. Georgeous sharp picture. All component hook up. Other digital cable (not HD) look good too...but HD is terrific. If you want to get into HD at a reasonble price point and a fabulous picture, you should consider a tube TV. Plasma and LCD are expensive and have their respective issues. This is a great transition TV to the future. Cost $1399. I love it.

Rating:
Summary: Great picture, but what's with the grey bars?
Review: I thoroughly researched my first HDTV purchase, settling on a 34" widescreen for my small space, not to mention the cheaper price for these sets, plus their reputed superior picture. I bought this Toshiba sight unseen, so I was a little nervous about the picture quality. Once I got it a couple of days ago I was quite impressed. I have both digital satellite (DISH) and basic cable, and even the cable looks great. One thing that did bother me was the grey bars on the side of the screen when watching a 4:3 standard TV source (SAT, CBL). The manual warns that burn in caused by these bars is not covered under warranty. So why the heck didn't they make the bars black, which don't pose the same kind of risk? Fortunately, the Toshiba set offers a multitude of modes to stretch the 4:3 image to fill the whole 16:9. And much to my delight, the image doesn't appear badly distorted. In fact, in many instances, it almost looks more natural, as if that's the way it was originally filmed. Mind you, I don't yet have an HDTV source.

Movies on DVD are spectacular. The TV upconverts the 480p signal from a progressive scan DVD player to either 540p or 1080i.

I was also impressed with the sound from the TV's built-in speakers. In fact, at one point when I was testing them, I even forgot that I was getting the sound from the TV rather from my audio receiver, which is how I'll normally watch it.

PROS: connectivity options, picture quality, stylish design (small footprint, 33 1/2 in. wide, with speakers below screen), stretching modes, sound from built-in speakers, lighted remote.

CONS: grey bars for 4:3 sources and POP; minor geometry problems; upconversion of standard TV (480i) to 1080i is automatic (can't deactivate it) and may make some programs look "shimmery" esp on basic cable.

On a side note: the first set I got through the Amazon marketplace retailer BeachAudio arrived busted up. I refused delivery, called BeachAudio, and they had a replacement out to me in 3 days. Excellent customer service. It sometimes pays to go with an established online retailer.

Updated 12/12/04: I recently saw the following posting on AVSforum.com: "The grey is used by Toshiba to delay burn in, as it uses the pixels underneath the grey, rather than leaving them not activated or activated with black." At any rate, I suggest not letting the grey bar issue effect your decision.


Rating:
Summary: Excellent widescreen high-definition TV
Review: If you currently have a conventional TV set with the traditional 4:3 aspect ratio but watch a lot of DVDs, you're probably tired of black spaces above and below the picture wasting much of your TV's screen size whenever you watch the widescreen movies which have become the norm on DVD. The cure for this problem is to get a widescreen TV with a 16:9 aspect ratio. This Toshiba is an excellent 16:9 TV with a very sharp picture. Also important, this is an HDTV set which is ready to display the dramatically improved picture quality characteristic of the new High Definition Television broadcasts to which all networks are rapidly converting and which are now available from most cable and satellite providers. Although this Toshiba's 34" screen may not be as huge as projection TVs and some of the new thinscreen plasma TVs, it is still quite large. Furthermore, it's picture quality is equal to plasma TVs and better than projection TVs -- and its price is much lower. All things considered if you want a widescreen TV that's ready for HDTV and you don't want to break your budget to get one, this excellent Toshiba set may well be the answer.