Customer Reviews

Toshiba 26HF84 26" HDTV-Ready Flat Screen TV

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A couple of things to note about this TV:

First, it uses a picture tube rather than an LCD or plasma display. So while the screen is flat, it's not thin. You can't tell by looking at the pictures, but this TV is 19" thick.

Second, although it's pretty thick, at 27.5" wide it's unusually narrow for a 26" HDTV. The narrowness comes from having the speakers below the picture, rather than on each side. This is very handy if you want to put the TV in a cabinet that's short on width. The Syntax Olevia TVs are handy this way as well because the side speakers are removeable.

The bottom line in terms of picture quality is that the picture is gorgeous. When displaying HDTV programs the quality is everthing you could hope for.

Before you get too excited though you should check with your local cable company, or your satellite provider, to see how many programs are actually available in HD format. This has nothing to do with the TV itself, but I've found that less than 5% of the programs I actually want to watch are available in HD. When the TV reverts to displaying standard TV broadcasts it's no longer stunning and becomes just a nice TV. HD availability will undoubtedly improve over time but you might want to check what's available to you right now.

26HF84 manufacture date: November 2004

When I turned off SVM via the menu, then the analog signal was not so grainy. To get a perfectly normal, somewhat blurry analog picture (chuckle) you just need to push the analog signal through a tuner on something like a dvd recorder or the 75 ohm connector on the 26HF84. Otherwise, the analog picture is slightly grainier but slightly sharper (Note: see my settings below to soften analog viewing if not using a tuner or the tv 75 ohm connection, and yet still looks great in HD mode). For $500, I ain't complaining, especially since all the digital stations above channel 100 and the HD stations come in great.

This is one hot little box and it is my backup TV and upstairs TV. For downstairs it's the 30HFX84. By the way, the 30hfx84 Remote works perfectly with the 26HF84 with no manual configuration required.

The manual is a little ambiguous. For example:

Quote 1:
"The HDMI input is designed for best performance with 1080i high-definition video signals, but will also ACCEPT and DISPLAY 480i, 480p, and 720p signals." This could be interpreted as displaying in the native 480i, 480p, and 720p modes.

Quote 2:
"The DISPLAY FORMAT feature is available only for 480p input. 1080i is always output when a signal other than 480p is input. If you notice flicking in a 480p image, try setting the DISPLAY FORMAT to 540p."

Forgot to mention that I use the HDMI input for my Comcast HD/DVR box. I split the comcast signal so I can traffic the lower 100 stations into the 75 ohm connector for perfect analog reception. And the digitial and HD stations still come in perfectly. Works great. Then I still have two color stream inputs, and two rca inputs along with 2 S-Video inputs for really good flexibility for a little tv. Heck, I can even pick up the 26HF84 all by myself.

Here's the settings I like. It provides a little softer tone for analog if you are not going through a tuner or the 75 ohm tv input, yet still looks great in HD mode, with a full color spectrum that can be seen well in light and dark shots:

(HDMI Input)
bright: 40
contrast: 35
color: 25
tint: -7
sharpness: 20
cool
Display: 540P (only affects 480P mode; sometimes I switch to 1080i)

I bought this set about 6 months ago and though it took me a while to learn to set it up properly, I've always been amazed at the quality and simplicity of operation. The set-up is the only real confusion I had, because there are just so many options.

I finally got it set properly though and it shows magnificent HD programming on NBC, CBS, ABC, WB, Fox, and DISH. I live 85 miles outside San Antonio in the hill country and bought a wonderful HDTV antenna for under $40 that picks up the local channels much better on HD than anyone else around here gets on standard broadcast. In fact, the way digital television works, there's no snowy picture simply because you're a long way off, it's either not received or it's perfect (well... there is a little problem if the signal strength is marginal, but it's a break-up rather than snow).

Things I love about this little TV: It's the same height as my 21" computer monitor, so they sit side by side in my computer room. The picture quality is so good (even on standard TV) that I can sit right in front of my computer and watch TV at the same time as I search the web or read an ebook during commercials. Try that with a medium screen standard TV... you see lines and blurr... not with this little gem, it's just about as sharp and clear as my computer monitor.

As an input I use the Dish 811 receiver. This allows me to receive the Dish programming in HDTV (an extra $10 a month for what is actually less than half a dozen channels.. there are others but they seldom have any programming going... there's TNTHD HDNet Movies and HDNet, all truly outstanding quality stations, along with Discovery HD and ESPNHD. ESPN seldom does widescreen programming even though it is a higher definition picture than their other channel. Discovery HD is also outstanding. There are other pay tv HDTV channels on Dish that I could get if I subscribed, but I don't. Dish also offers the old Voom channels in HD, which is mostly older movies and conversions of other programming... but I understand they have some good stuff as well. It's only $5 a month but I don't subscribe to that because I see no reason when I get plenty of that on the other dish channels.

Anyway I doubt anyone will read this since it says they are no longer in stock, but I wanted to make it clear that most of the reviews you read about hdtv's that don't set up right are actually more likely to be the user's fault than the manufacturer... other than the fact that the manual could have been a little more specific and complete.

what more can you say, an up-converting direct view set with all the inputs you could ask for. HD quality is excellent and it also upconverts SD signals and makes them look a bit better. To the person who said you can't connect it to a computer, you can. That's what HDMI does for you. Just get a DVI (or VGA if your computer doesn't have DVI out) to HDMI cable and you're all set. I have this set in my office and I use my PC to play dvd's and downloaded content, works great and has a great picture. I researched every dirctview set of this size (had to be 27" to fit in my credenza) and this was far and away the best I reviewed.

Here it is December 2006! Surrounded by displays = plasma, dlp and lcd I stumbled upon this two year old model being cleared out by BB. I know that 2007 will bring highly advanced LCD technology so I need a stop gap measure as my old Sony hit the dust...

Long story short, I am thrilled with this set. It has four options on how to display broadcasts and I love them all. One option upgrades standard cable by expanding the picture, cutting the top and bottom - but you can move the image up or down - generally I move it up as normally the lower part of the screen is useless information. First show I watched was Red Green! It has four options on display color etc settings - one which memorizes what you like. I play HDMI from my upconverting Sony DVD player - stunning movies!

TV can change the 'velocity' of the velocity scan system from low to med to high - so you dont miss fast moving action! I watched two movies, one Feature and one Animated on an LCD at 1024 by 720 and then on this TV which was set to 1080i. This TV blew the LCD away. Unbelievable color rendition and clarity. Do not know why the specs list 480 as this thing goes 540p or 1080i...

If you are fence sitting, pick this baby up NOW. When I do get a big LCD in 2007 this one is going into my bedroom. It's a keeper. It is light enough to pick up and move and not so huge that you can't find room for it. I was going to buy a 34" Sony Tube HDTV but it cost more than twice and you had to sit far away from it... You can sit right to this one. Got the 5 year in home warranty as well JIC. The colors and brightness of crt is still number one...

Thanks and a hat tip to everyone who reviewed this on Amazon. Keep your stick on the ice...

I purchased a Toshiba HDTV and had it fail just after the 2 year warranty expired. Toshiba explained there was nothing they would do back up their product. No TV should fail after 2 years. I recommend selecting another brand, you can get the same performance and price, and end up with a more reliable product.

My dad bought one of these tv's. It's nice and all, but I don't think it's woth what most people pay for it. You can't even hook up a computer to it.