Customer Reviews

Toshiba 30HF84 30" TheaterWide HD-Ready Flat-Screen TV

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I initially purchased this hdtv on the first of september, simply due to the fact it was an outstanding deal and I was happy with previous toshiba products. When the tv arrived two weeks later, however, I was deeply dismayed. Picture quality is terrible. Sources fed through the colorstream component inputs are full of grain and poor coloration. The geometry of the set is so bad that any vertical lines in the middle of the screen bend around. Anytime a window, building, or doorframe appears in a DVD, it curves at the center of the screen. I have calibrated the set with DVE to no avail. Even the service menu does not seem to contain a way to fix the poor geometry.

Whatever you do, do not purchase this set from amazon.com. They will not accept returns on tv's larger than 27". Speaking to other members at the AVS forum, many other people have 30hf84's with the exact same problems I do. Adding to this is the fact Toshiba completely denies any problems with this set and shows no level of caring or support for the consumer.

Buy this set at your own risk only from a store with a good return policy. Don't be fooled by the cheap price on amazon which is obviously too good to be true. I hope not everyone has the same negative experiences with this set that I have.

I also hope someone from Toshiba reads this review because they do not seem to want to reply to my emails. Thanks Toshiba.

Anybody who is still interested in this TV, PLEASE, PLEASE, take a look at Brandon Conover's comment below. Remember: amazon does not take return for TV with a size > 27 inch. If anything is wrong with your TV, your only hope is Toshiba's warranty service or the God.
I purchased the 30HF84 at early Sept. from amazon and I am in my deepest regret right now. My TV's problems are as follows:
1.Serious geometry problem. Just like Brandon Conover's descriptioin, I can hardly find any straight lines on the screen when I use grid test pattern in Avia.
2. The more serious problem is the picture quality of this tube. Excessive grains and out of focus problems when showing the progressive DVDs. Sometimes I can see the shadows to the right of the characters on the screen. I have used Avia to tune the brightness, contrast, sharpness and they helped little. My Xbox and PS2 games all look jaggy and grainy and like craps.
3. Toshiba's service is terrible. Since the first day I received this TV, I called to request a service. Now two weeks passed, I am still waiting and might still need to wait another 1-2 weeks because the service manual is even not available for this TV. Toshiba couldn't care about less about my situation. After multiple calls to them, what they can do for me is to tell me wait patiently. That's what they call customer satisfaction!!!
I learned this lesson hard: Never buy a TV from a place that doesn't allow the return and Never buy a TV blindly just because you think the brank is good. I have made this mistake and Please don't repeat my experience.
If by any situation, after reading both Brandon Conover's and my experience, you still want to purchase this TV. PLEASE, PLEASE, do yourself a favor and buy this TV from a store can accept the return.

Note: The following is the update of my situation.
After 5 weeks waiting and numerous calls to Toshiba and my local service center, finally two technicians come to my home to see the TV. They did nothing to repair the TV and said they need to ask Toshiba first. When they were in my house, they did admit my TV has problems and they cannot fix them. But they changed the story later and told Toshiba there is nothing wrong with my TV and no service will be performed. Today I even spoke to a supervisor in Toshiba customer service but it still didn't work. They said if I need 2nd opinion, I need to pay myself to find other technicans to take care of my TV and my case is gonna be closed. Till now, I haven't been able to speak to the technicals myself to ask why what they told Toshiba is different than what they said in my house. Now I am stuck with this defective TV becuase Toshiba refuses to admit my TV is problematic and refuses to repair it. I feel so frustrated during these contacts with Toshiba and I can't tolerate it any more. Their customer service people seems polite but actually do not care about the customer.
I trusted Toshiba's product and service before and that's why I bought this TV from Amazon.com, an online store that doesn't take the return of large TV even it has quality issue. I am now deeply disappointed at not only the poor quality of my new TV, but also the lack of help from Toshiba and the fact Toshiba is trying to deny the existence of problems on my TV.
This is the worst TV I have ever seen and this is the worst company and customer service I ever dealt with. I also do not understand how a company can be so mean to a customer.
I want to say good luck to all of you who still want to purchase a Toshiba product. I am sure I will never touch any Toshiba product in my life and I will try my best to persuade my friends and relatives not buy their products!

For anyone considering this unit, consider our experience:

We selected this unit because it was the best fit for our existing TV cabinet.

Apr.29, 2005- Ordered the TV via the internet from a very reliable supplier.

May 2- TV delivered and installed, and tested out OK, but within a couple of days, only the green image appeared at first, and it took several minutes for the red and blue to come up. It took longer to stabilize each time it was turned on.

May 5- Checked Toshiba website and located nearest authorized service...approimately 75 miles away. The service center advised that we would have to obtain special authorization for service from Toshiba, because of the traveling distance.

May 6- Faxed all necessary information to Toshiba, and were advised that authorization was being sent to service center.

May 9- Service center advised us that servicemen would come May 12.

May 12-Two servicemen came, checked out the TV, and decided they would have to take it back to their shop.

May 28- Checked with service center and were advised that the picture tube was faulty, that a replacement had been ordered and was expected following week.

June 7- Checked with service center and were advised that the replacement tube was also faulty, and that another was on order, and expected in 10 to 15 days.

At the moment it would appear that at very best, we are unlikely to have our TV back before June 17, and more likely well onto the next week...and that is assuming that Toshiba can come up with a picture tube that works!

Edgar L. Parks,
PO BOx 26, St. Mary's City, MD 20686
Tel: 301-862-9675

Ordering this TV from Amazon is a risky venture. The Toshiba model has a spotty reliability history. Amazon will not accept returns or assist in resolving problems. Toshiba is uncooperative in fixing any defects.
My experience: I purchased this TV from Amazon thinking I had gotten a good deal on a good TV. After turning the set on, the picture became erratic before completely failing soon after. The next day I contacted Amazon and was told there was nothing they could do and I needed to contact Toshiba.
Toshiba was slightly more helpful. They had a factory authorized service center pick up the TV. The TV has now been gone for six weeks and I still know nothing about its status. My calls to the repair shop go unanswered. My calls to Toshiba are equally unhelpful. Toshiba verifies that the repair shop is a factory authorized outlet and that they pay them for their work, yet Toshiba says they also cannot contact the shop.
No one is able to tell me when or if I can expect the return of my set. It could be days, weeks, or months, or even longer. If the set still doesn't work correctly, I get to go through this experience again. This is standard acceptable customer service for both Amazon and Toshiba.
If you are considering purchasing a TV from Amazon, you would be wise to ask yourself a very important question- "do I feel lucky?"

I bought this 30 inch TV from Amazon back in July or August 2004. I recently got a DVR from my cable company (RCN). I got the Monster Cable silver-plated copper HDMI cable and the HDMI-to-DVI-D adapter cable (also silver-plated copper) and plugged the TV's HDMI port into the DVR's DVI-D port so that I have a 100% digital signal. I then calibrated the TV with Digital Video Essentials. The picture is excellent. The high-definition channels (HDNet) are spectacular, and any channel in HD looks fantastic. The standard definition channels look much better. Some channels have the graininess that others have mentioned but I think this is more to do with the signal quality coming in on the cable and not the fault of the TV. My only complaint is that the channels that have an HD signal but with a 4:3 picture. The picture is shown with black bars on either side; right? The left side of the picture; instead of being perfectly vertical; the lower half of the vertical bar curves out to the left just a little. I've tried to adjust this but without success. Sitting at the normal distance from the TV it's not really noticeable. Still; this TV is a major step up from my old RCA purchased back in 1989. Having the cables so that I have an all-digital signal does make a distinct difference. This TV was the lowest-cost way ($717 + shipping) for me to step up to a HD 16:9 digital TV, and I'm glad I did.

I was extremely apprehensive when I ordered this TV, especially after reading all the negative reviews. But I can say confidently that any and all apprehension was completely unnecessary.

The TV came delivered ahead of schedule by Eagle Direct. The delivery men were very helpful and insisted on setting up all aspects of the TV, which I didn't mind at all.

On regular digital cable the picture is just what one would expect. The picture as good as a standard digital TV signal can provide.

I hooked it up through a component video cable to my PS2, and the picture is better than any PS2 picture I've seen before.

As we speak, I'm watching HDTV. No vertical line problems, no focus problems, just a great clear sharp picture.

I have yet to view a DVD through a progressive scan DVD player so I can't comment on the performance through one at this time.

The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is because under certain conditions, the interactive guide menu appears out of focus. It seems to depend on the brightness of whatever show is in the background.

For the price, I really believe this TV delivers it's money worth. If you have the extra 1/2 g to spend, you're probably going to get a better picture with another TV. But if you're on a budget and would prefer to get the most bang for your buck, go with this TV. I am more than pleased with my purchase and am certain I found the best deal around.

I risked buying one of these, because it was the maximum amount of TV I could fit into my 32" cabinet. But I should have listened to the warnings. When I got the TV in the cabinet and turned it on, the screen was spotted by blobs of pink, green, and blue. The picture tube was shot. I have no choice now but to wait for Toshiba to bring another and hope it works better.

I don't know why other people had problems. I bought this television and everything looks stunning. HD is mindblowing, and I love the widescreen. My Digital Cable and Xbox are hooked up through the component inputs and everything looks spectacular. Sound is great, and I didn't even have to adjust the picture one bit. The default TV and Movie settings are just fantastic. I highly recommend this TV to anyone on a budget. And because it's CRT, you can view the TV from anywhere.

I bought this TV on September 12th, 2004 and I am not quite sure if I am a moron for not seeing the faults on this TV that others have found. I couldn't be happier with the 30HF84. I currently have HDTV through Comcast and while the channels currently are limited by quantity, the quality is exceptional! I am a HUGE sports fan and have enjoyed watching my Sox win the World Series in HD. I would agree that watching non-HD channels in "Widescreen" may be just ok, the HD is great and DVD's are even better. I find that I only end up watching the major networks and ESPN anyways on HDTV. I didn't have a progessive scan DVD player, so I ended up buying a $39 Cyberhome DVD player from Best Buy and movies look great! I have a Cambridge Soundworks System, so I do not use the speakers at all.

It was toss up between this TV and the Sony 30", but this TV was smaller and less expensive by $100. I was told that Toshiba made the better TV from stores that didn't even carry the Toshiba. My only wish was that I could have convinced my wife to get the 34" model. Oh, well! I agree with one of the prior reviews that this TV is to bridge the gap that plasmas will become more reasonably priced. After having this TV for more than a month, I have become a snob and can not stomach watching a Patriots game on any TV other than mine. Good luck!

I bought this TV because it had the biggest HDTV picture that I could fit into my wall unit for the lowest price. When I read some of the other Amazon reviews, I got worried, but fortunately there was nothing to be concerned about in my case. I am thrilled with this TV. The picture is spectacular from both my DVD player and my cable box (I get HDTV programming from Cablevision in NYC). I also hooked it up with top of the line component video cables (from Monster) which is supposed to increase picture quality, but I haven't done any comparison tests. All in all, I can highly recommend this product.