Customer Reviews

Toshiba 26LV610U 26-Inch 720p LCD TV with Built in DVD Player, Black

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Like all Toshiba TV's, the picture quality is top-notch. I compared this TV to a Samsung of similar size. Toshiba's color was a tad better than Samsung, but the Samsung was excellent also. Built in DVD player is a plus when space is limited for a separate player. We use this TV in our bedroom and the 26" size is perfect, almost bought Toshiba's similiar TV in 22" size, glad I picked went for the 26", bigger is always better...

Two gripes, you cannot tilt the TV downward. We have ours on a 5 drawer dresser and we have to look up to watch the TV when laying down in bed. If you do not tilt the TV downward the picture quality goes away, and I mean away, so dark you can't even watch it. I made a wedge out of some molding I had laying around to raise the rear of the TV so it tilts down. No having the screen tilt is a big mistake by Toshiba, the smaller screens sizes of this similar TV DO tilt, I cannot see why Toshiba did not use the same tilt feature in the 26" model. Very bad design for Toshiba on this one. The other gripe is the sound amplifier could be a tad stronger if the TV is used in a room other than a bedroom. The best bet would be a set of amplified speakers if the TV is used in a noisey enviroment. Yes I know you shouldn't have to go out and buy external speakers, but this is a common problem with ALL flat screen LCD TV's, there is not enough room for quality speakers in the thin case design.

Overall this a great TV for picture quality and the built in DVD player is a plus.

To solve the tilting problem, I would suggest mounting the TV on a wall with a wall mount that will enable you to tilt the TV to any desired position. I am thinking of doing that myself.

I would highly recommend this TV/DVD combo.

Additional comment: Wall mounting was simple and easy, but you do need 2 people of course to do this safely. Find at least one stud in your wall, the spacing of the mount does not allow you to screw the mount into two studs of course. Use winged Toggle Bolts for the side without the stud if mounting on sheet rock with a hollow wall behind the sheet rock. If stud mounting is not acceptable, the use of the winged Toggle Bolts can be used to attach the mount to the wall. Make sure your mount has full tilt capabilites of many degrees.

Review of Toshiba 26LV610U HDTV/CD PLAYER COMBO.

This purchase replaced a Toshiba 3 way combination TV/VCR/CD analog unit which had given excellent service for at least a decade.

The new combo unit described above is excellent in every respect except sound. The volume control operates an 0-50 on screen scale. Set at 50-maximum possible volume, sitting no more than 8 feet away, the sound is too low for quiet conversation to be heard clearly. The problem is worse on some DVD discs.

It should not be necessary to buy aftermarket amplifiers/speakers. This report should be submitted to Toshiba---there may be a way to program the sound to fix this problem with the existing rear-pointing speakers.

Respectfully submitted,

Mike Jackson

I purchased this TV to replace a much smaller TV for the bedroom.

The picture quality and sound are about what I was expecting.
I am hard of hearing and have no problem in hearing the sound.
It is easy to plug in extra speakers to boost the sound and that
is what I have also done. I am getting sound from internal and ext.
speakers now. I don't expect theater sound, but with the extra spkrs.
(fairly cheap Altec Lansing), the sound is def. more than I need now.
The picture quality is better than most TV's of this type, but as
many have noted, it is far better when you are directly in front of
the TV and esp. not at an angle below the TV. I have manually tilted
the TV downward and the picture is much better now while lying in bed.

So.... even tho the sound was already good or better than most as is,
the sound is much more improved with the cheapie external speaker and
the picture quality problem has been solved. I do wish that Toshiba
had made the stand so it could be tilted w/o having to resort to manually
tilting it.

The built in DVD player seems to work OK. I have not used it much but
seems to function appropriately. Just played regular DVD's with it.
I did try to play some jpgs and it is one of the worst at doing that
I have used.... (comparing it to other DVD players much older). I
would have expected it to be superior in this area, but it is very
slow advancing from picture to picture. Nothing about this feature
(displaying jpg's) seems to be intuitive. Would be nice if there
would be a firmware update and fix this, but I doubt there will
be.

My worst grip is the remote. The features are labeled with lettering
that makes it very hard to find two of the most used features that I
use.... "picture size" (depending on air TV or DVD) and also the
"source" button. I use these often and am slowly learning where to
find them, but it is aggravating to have to spend time looking for them.
I am considering getting a marker or something to physically label
these two buttons.

All in all, it is a good TV and I believe I would buy it again even
tho I usually prefer the Sony brand which we have in the den.

This TV is very simple to use. Take it out of the box, turn it on, auto search channels, change picture mode to "Movie" and you have a decent TV. It sounds a little better than most HDTVs, but you buy an HDTV for the picture. If you want HDTV sound, you have to add a multi-speaker home theater system. The picture is good with "Movie" setting. Out of the box it resorts to "Sports" setting that is just awful. I even tried it with an HD football game and it blurred the grass. Picture suffers from some motion blur, but IMO all LCD TVs have motion blur. The remote is very intuitive - you can change aspect ratio on the fly. QAM tuner works well, so it plays nice with cable.

The DVD Player is what sets this combo TV apart from the pack. It upconverts DVDs and Divx beautifully. That's right it plays Divx!!! It also plays CDs, VCDs, Picture CDs, and multitrack WMA CDs.

This TV would be great for anyone building a home theater system in a confined space or confined budget. Thinking dorm room, first apartment situation. The built in DVD/CD player could be hooked to any home theater receiver with speakers via Digital Component Out.

Picture quality good, DVD combo seems to be having issues , but can manage.
The Sound is horrible , even with the maximum volume you can not enjoy a movie.

Not worth paying around 400 for this.

We bought this set over a year ago (i.e., out of warranty now) and it stopped working. It won't turn on and all that we get are three blinking yellow lights on the front. After this happened, I did a web search and found that this is a very common problem with Toshibas that usually occurs after the warranty period. And Toshiba will not help with this common problem. It will cost more to fix than the tv is worth, so we have to go buy another (not Toshiba) one. Also, the digital tuner frequently could not tune some digital channels after a while.

I am pleased with the design and performance of this Toshiba unit
except for the inadequate audio and the customer support I have received.
After having the tv set for 3 months I started noticing a random hiss in the audio. a month later now the hiss has advanced to a loud crackling/static sound
making it impossible to watch a tv show or dvd.
I have contacted Toshiba and was told to send the unit back for repairs
(it came with a 1 year warranty)
I just packed the set and spent $90.00 for ground transport to fix the unit.
If I had this to do all over I would NOT purchase this set.
Way to much trouble for a 26 inch TV.
I suggest purchasing a Sony from Costco and you are sure to avoid future problems.

TV arrived in excellent condition. It was easy to set up and is very attractive. Excellent picture and sound.

Buying televisions online have always been a bit nervous to me. The process of having a television shipped and hoping that it is everything that I saw online is nerve racking. However, I am very satisfied at the Toshiba product dvd combo I have recently purchased. Toshiba has a history of enduring quality and lasting products. As a current Toshiba television owner for 17 years, I am very impressed at this dvd combo flat screen hdtv. It is not too big if you are not a fan of the huge flat screen trend. Nor is it too small that you have to strain your eyes to see the scores of sports matches on ESPN or breaking news on ABC. It is light weight and easy to set up(just the power cord, owners manual and the remote and plug in).
The plus of this product is that there are two hdmi components which is rare because most televisions smaller than 32 inches only have one hmdi input. In addition, the quality of the sound is not overly loud and I am impressed at the high definition technology.
I am no television analyst or consumer report genius and don't quote me on this next statement, but I am impressed with the features of the Toshiba hdtv dvd combo 26".

I just set up the TV in the bedroom. It was pure "plug and play." Actually the TV I have is the 26LV610K, which Toshiba sells for a MSRP of $20 more than the 610U. But the only difference I can see is slightly different outside bezel. The picture is excellent, maybe even too sharp in its standard setup. Color balance is excellent, reds are red (not orange or florescent), and has many available settings if it is not entirely to your liking. The DVD works just as well as a built-in should work. But the reason I am adding my review is that I have seen comments about the sound quality suggesting that at full gain it is still not loud enough unless you add external speakers. My set, as is, will drive you out of the room on full gain. So I cannot explain the other comments. It is a perfect choice for bedroom, kid's room, etc.