Customer Reviews

Toshiba 32RV525R 32-inch 1080p LCD HDTV

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

 

 

Pros:
-Great picture
-Great viewing angle (practically 180)
-True Wide screen (no more stupid bars!)
-Clear QAM channels work great (nix your set-top box!)
-Lots of input options
-Toshiba Customer service reputation
-Good documentation
-Light weight (30 pounds)
-Decent sound (you will still want good speakers though)
-Very Nice looking
-Good for Internet TV & HTPC use
-Remote glows in the dark
-Allows 1920x1080 computer resolution if you want with HDMI cable
-Screen is virtually glare-free
-Nice Picture setting presets & customizable too.
-Nice buttons on remote for PC use ("PIC Size" button is key for 16:9!)
-Can hook multiple PC's to it and flip monitor inputs instantly (no kvm switch needed! 5 PC's could be connected.)
-Same computer can be input multiple times for different desktops (haven't tried this yet though.)

Cons:
-Doesn't automatically turn off with PC (keep remote near by)
-No difference in 720p & 1080p (see below)
-PC Text looks better in 1360x768 (768p) than in 1920x1080 (1080p)
-Too big for some low quality Internet Video
-Shows finger prints
-Connecting PC with S-video was almost unusable. Looks terrible.
-Half inch border all the way around in default 1080p or 765p mode. Use 768p with a PC if you can.
-Remote buttons are a little stiff and small. Hard to navigate if you have long nails.
-Only 1 custom preset available for picture settings.
-No DVI connection

Generally I think this is a fantastic TV and monitor. I use it as my primary HTPC monitor with Windows 7 media center and a simple indoor TV antennae. I really enjoyed recording the Olympics in HD and playing back stop-motion ice skating. My roommate has the same TV and is using Comcast clear QAM with no set-top box and no computer. He gets all the digital tv channels.

I surf the Internet and watch a lot of Internet TV and it works great for this too. (Hint: turn down the backlight level for better text reading with less eye strain. Use the "Sports" mode for Internet TV which tends to be very dark.)

All the various inputs allow many advantages over a regular monitor (see pros above.) I can read text clearly from up to 15 feet away. (Great for lounging in bed or on the couch.) The only disadvantage of using the HDTV this way is the limited variety of resolutions.

I saw no difference in quality with HDMI or VGA cable as some other people said. I am not sure what the story is with the S-video PC input. It looked really terrible when I hooked up my laptop. However it looks great with a VGA cable. I will report back if other devices such as DVD players have this problem.

Watching Internet video is good but sometimes not great on a 32 inch. You really wouldn't want a screen any bigger than this because Websites save space by converting the videos to very low quality. I have opened some Youtube videos that I actually could not see. My 14" laptop handled them better.

As you can see from the list above my Cons are no biggy: I find I need to switch the picture modes a lot when going from Recorded TV to text reading to Internet TV, so I wish there were more customized presets allowed in order to tweak them.

The only big thing I regret is that some reviews told me I might need 1080p if I were using this TV as a monitor. It actually looks worse in 1920x1080 and the the text is harder to read (even zoomed.) In TV mode you will not see a difference with 1080p unless you use a Blue Ray DVD player and sit 2 or 3 feet away on a 32" screen. I could have saved $100 by getting a 720p Samsung. However I am still very happy with this and feel I got a top of the line product for a steal.

I hope I've provided some good information that is hard to find for people looking for large monitors.

*Note: to get Clear QAM channels in Windows Media Center without a cable card or set-top box you need a TV card known to receive them. For example: Avertv MTVHDDUWB HD Duet (White Box) & Here: Hauppauge 1229 WinTV-HVR-2250 White Box for System Builders Dual Hybrid PCI-E TV Tuner Board

Great tv for a great price! Fast shipping! I highly reccommend buying from Electronics Expo

The offer was much better at the beginning. Buying a tv with shipping like this one for $390 was great! the sound quality is not excellent though and this is the only major problem

I bought this TV for my camper. When the AC is on you can not here the TV!!! I will have to buy a converter box because it is not HD ready and therefore will not pick up local stations without cable service. We stay a some campsites that do not have cable service so we would be out of luck, I am hopeing that a converter box will fix that problem. As far as the sound goes we are looking into installing surround sound reciever so that we can here the TV when the AC is on. I cannot believe that Toshiba can make a HD TV with 1080p and it not have a built in tuner to pick up loal stations withou cable service. Not such a bargain after all !!!!

perfect for my bedroom. easy to set up - good picture and sound. I'm completely satisfied.