Customer Reviews

Toshiba 34HF83 34" TheaterWide HD-Ready TV with PURE Flat Screen

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

 

 

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 some of the new thinscreen plasma TVs it is still quite large. Furthermore, it's picture quality is equal or superior to plasma 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.

I have had my Toshiba 34 HFX83 for two weeks now and have been very pleased with the total package. I have the HFX model, but it is the same as the HF83 model with some cosmetic differences. The thing that I was most impressed with, is by the way it shows regular TV. I have it hooked up to HD cable and it is as good as you can get, but when I view regular broadcasts, it looks almost as good as the HD broadcasts. Since there are not a whole lot of HD programs now, it makes sense to get a TV that will show the regular stuff as good as possible. The picture in regular TV mode looks almost as good as a picture showing a DVD movie. The factor that sold me most on this set as compared to the Sony was the ability to select which screen mode you find most pleasing when not watching HDTV. I didn't want to look at the distorted pictures that most wide screen sets make you look at when watching a non HDTV program. This set has some settings to use so that you will not notice the picture has been doctored to fit in the wide screen.

This TV is a good value if you want to get a HDTV and don't want to spend a fortune on a plasma or one of those hard to view projection sets with all their problems. I was influenced by them, but after looking at all the negative things I always came back to the Toshiba.

I've had a bad experience with my 34HF83 TV set. It worked fine on standard definition, but on high definition I noticed periodic (once in 5-10 minutes) horizontal jerking to the left. The problem is more likely to appear if the set was switched off for about 5 minutes prior to testing. After about two hours the problem disappears. Picture quality is very good, excellent design, but I hate this problem with horizontal jerking. I called for service and they confirmed that this is a known problem and they are working to find the solution. The problem was also found in some other TV sets, like 30HF83. Unfortunately most customers don't notice the problem because it happens only on high definition, and noticeable only on relatively static scenes. I am happy that I noticed this problem before my warranty expired. But my concern it that most people don't have high definition receivers these days. I think they will be very unhappy in a couple of years when they connect their Toshiba HDTV to a high definition source and realize they have a jerking picture. They would have to pay big money to fix their TVs and this is'nt fair. If you are the owner of any Toshiba HDTV set, you should connect it to a high definition signal (cable, satellite, HDTV computer adapter or special signal generator), switch your TV set off for 5 minutes, then switch the TV set on, switch the source to a HIGH DEFINITION static picture (for example, HDTV receiver setup menu, just make sure the output is high definition) and carefully watch it for 5-10 minutes. If you notice any horizontal jerking, make sure to call for service before your warranty expires. If you can't get the problem fixed, you should at least get the warranty extension. This problem is found in all 83 series Toshiba TV sets: 30HF83, 34HF83, 34HFX83, etc...

The new model will start at 1,399, but will include additional features to this model. It seems silly to pay more for an old model.

I have owned my Toshiba 34HF83 for about 10 months now and just love it.

THe picture is the best I have seen in all the 34 inch sets, even beating out Sony, once I used a Home theater set up disk to calibrate the color etc correctly.

I owned a 34HDX82 previously and had to replace that TV twice before they sent me the 34HF83. THis model has had no problems so far and I have not experienced the HD Jerk that another reviewer talked about. I am watching the Olympics in HD this summer and it is just awesome on the TV.

Make sure you get a dvd player that upconvertes your DVDs to 720P or 1080i to get the best picture out of your set.

I agree this is an excellent TV. The picture is great, when paired with a progressive scan DVD in the 1080p mode the quality is stunning.

Unfortunately, my set has been in the shop since mid-December. There was a connection problem between the video inputs on the back of the set and the main circuit board. Sometimes the progressive scan inputs would not work. Turning the set around to check the connections sometimes jarred it back in to alignment. My authorized service center said it required a new "hyperboard" which is on back-order in the US, with no expected delivery date. Toshiba customer service is working with me and will make a replacement if the part is not in by January 23. I bought this to watch the SuperBowl in HD. We shall see!

"The person right below that says this model is discontinued and new model is $1399...LOL they are talking about a much much smaller model (again non widescreen if you compair non widescreen to widescreen models of same diagonal they are alwyas 1/3 to 40% cheaper!)!"

No, that person is correct. The new model (34hf84) has an MSRP of $1399 and should be out soon. And yes it is smaller (width-wise) but only due to the speakers being under the screen (as opposed to being on the sides of the screen).

The only reason I won't be buying the 34hf83 is because it will not fit my entertainment center (it's too wide with the speaker on the side) so I will be buying the 34hf84 (which will fit perfectly) as soon as it is available.

(...)

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.

the review below is for a 4:3 model! the person is posting that they are having bowing putting their 4:3 into 16:9 i.e. they have a 4:3.

The person right below that says this model is discontinued and new model is $1399...LOL they are talking about a much much smaller model (again non widescreen if you compair non widescreen to widescreen models of same diagonal they are alwyas 1/3 to 40% cheaper!)!

Ignore the sour grapes reviews about diffrent products when it is literally impossible for this product to have a conversion problem when it doesn't need to convert! Also ignore reviews with bgus prices

I purchased the 36 inch Toshiba HDTV. However, the picture set up is not good. The pictures bows from the center to the edges. A straight line towards the top or bottom of the screen noticebly bends to the corners. It becomes even more noticable in the HDTV 16x9 mode. I have had it serviced by one Toshiba authorized repair shop. The service technician told me there was nothing he could do after bringing it into their shop. I will try other repair shops, for $1400 the picture should be perfect. If I had purchased locally I would return the TV, but Amazon does not allow returns on large TVs.
The final word from Amazon customer service and Toshiba: I have spoken with the Toshiba technical support and they have informed me that this is a normal occurance and that the bow affect you are experiancing is a common in this type of TV and that it is within their specifications.

Therefore, the Toshiba 36HF73 36" Flat-Screen HD TV is not defective and we will not be able to offer further assistance or allow the TV to be returned for a refund.