Customer Reviews

Toshiba 37AV502R 37-Inch 720p LCD HDTV

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

UPDATE: After only two months this TV has developed a dead pixel. The Toshiba customer service rep told me that "only" one dead pixel is not enough for warranty service, and that less that 5 or 6 dead pixels should not be noticeable at a normal viewing distance. Are you kidding me???!!!! Completely unacceptable. I am very disappointed in the Toshiba brand.

Picture: After setting up this TV the first source I viewed was over-the-air network HD programming - specifically CBS. I noticed instantly that the color detail is not super. Skin tones look a little like "water color," almost cartoon-like in certain situations. Reds are a little over-done as well, they seem to leap off the screen. The colors are very vibrant, but images just look a bit less realistic than on my Samsung. It isn't as noticeable in SD sources, such as DVDs, and the best quality HD programming seems to look better too. Otherwise pictures are super sharp and clear. I am very interested to see how HD cable channels look once I get my HD receiver.

Black levels are good as long as you keep the brightness level down - I keep mine set at 54, with backlight at 86, and the picture is still very bright with nice blacks.

I find the DynaLight feature to be useless. Essentially it turns the backlight down on darker scenes to make the blacks deeper, but the result is a noticeably dimmer picture. I have never been a fan of dynamic backlighting on any TV, and the Toshiba is very slow to adjust, making it quite annoying. I shut mine off, no big deal.

Sound: Sound is not great, but not terrible. I use a stereo receiver so that isn't a problem. The variable audio output allows you to control the volume through your TV even when a receiver is connected.

I have never noticed the buzzing sound that others mention.

Stand: The stand is more than adequate for most situations. My parents have a 26" Toshiba and it uses the same size stand, so it may be a bit small. However, it would take quite a bit of force to tip the TV over. I'm not worried.

Other features: The theater-wide settings are useful for many situations, especially expanding SD sources without distorting the center of the picture. As noted above the DynaLight feature is really useless, but this goes for any brand with dynamic backlight. Just turn it off.

The best advice is to look at this TV in person with an HD source connected. For the price it is a great deal on a name-brand device. In many ways it out-performs the cheaper brands. In a few categories, however, it falls behind.

Pros:
very inexpensive, deep blacks, good inputs, bright, vibrant picture, sharp, no discernable ghosting, thin chassis

Cons:
not 1080p resolution, not 120hz refresh, no LED backlighting, cheap stand

For the same price as some of the better 32" LCD TV's, you can now get a 37" LCD TV from a well-known manufacturer- the Toshiba 37AV502R. I was a bit nervous purchasing this TV, since the price really undercut the name brand competition. Because I trust Toshiba, I decided to take my chances. In short, I am happy that I did. You forgo some of the more advanced features, such as 1080P resolution, 120hz refresh, LED-backlighting and a third HDMI input. But what you get is a good basic 37" LCD TV with good picture quality in a compact design. Considering its price, I think it's an excellent deal.

I ended up paying $551 for this 37 inch TV with all discounts and free shipping which I think cannot be beaten by any of the competitors...
I am dazzled by the performance of this big box!
Pros: Great picture, sleek styling, great price for a 37".
Cons: Menus are a bit cumbersome to use and takes a learning curve. Most of the features need to be accessed from the menu (They dont have an easy button on the remote to select the picture mode or sound mode). Remote is mediocre, with only most common buttons.

I was looking for a good HD TV in our bedroom. I am happy with the picture quality of this TV. I got it for $650 at local store. Audio is fine. But I found it generating a pretty low humming sound when it should be quiet. Lets say you are one HDMI1 input and changed input to HDMI2 input. There are couple of seconds before the video/audio comes up on TV. This humming sound comes up during these couple of seconds. Not a deal breaker. But I came across this complaint on web about this series of Toshiba TVs.

We did a little research when switching over to "digital" TV and finally narrowed it down to the Toshiba 37AV502R at 37". It is a perfect size for our small living room and we can see the picture clearly at over 20 feet away, also the speakers are great (since my husband has trouble hearing sometimes), we can hear everything that is going on. We love the clear, crisp picture and the vivid color. The delivery was fantastic, Amazon shipped by Pilot Freight Services and the driver came on time and was extremely courteous and professional. We love everything about our purchase and we have never been disappointed when ordering from Amazon.

I got this tv using Amex points. Kudos to Amex for including white glove shipping at no charge. Maybe my expectations weren't all that high to start because the TV was free. But, I'm pretty satisfied with it. I use it in my bedroom and do not have it hooked up to an HD receiver yet. I wouldn't recommend this TV for a large room.

Pros: Good picture, decent sound, very easy setup, adequate number of inputs (HDMI, Component).

Cons: The remote isn't that great. It's take multiple steps to do things I've done pushing one button for many years; such as, switching input from satellite to DVD. There's no setting for CC on mute. I can't remember the last time I had a set that didn't have that option. There's an option to reset to factory settings that I was excited about-- it never worked, not even once.

Overall, I'm happy with the set. But, it's hard to say how unhappy I'd be about the cons if I had paid hundreds of dollars. Those are pretty basic things. But, in general, it's a good set.

My wife and I went out to get a replacement TV for our living room. We were looking for the 40 inch Sharp (because I have had great luck with Sharp and have a sharp 15 lcd in the bedroom).

Best Buy didn't have one, (even though the web said the store did), anyways they did have this Toshiba but it was a floor model, $100 off. We liked the picture and took it. The sound is awesome!!! We watch a lot of movies and well it won't knock you off your seat, it does sound great both voices and effects! The picture is great tested on Lord of the Rings, Braveheart, Pearl Harbor, ect!!! The remote could be smaller, other than that we are totally thrilled! In the future I may get a Sony ht ct500 but right now this sounds so good I can't justify it.

Bottom line: I would recommend it to everyone!!!!

I bought this TV last Christmas season and paid $649...and at the time I was thrilled, compared this to many many other brands, some cheaper, some more expensive. This had by far the best picture of all. Some complain about sound quality but for a TV with small 10w speakers the sound is fine, face it, you can' get theatre quality sound from a TV, if you want that spend the money on a home theatre system. I really have no complaints about the TV, the picture is great from Dish Network, over the air, and an upconverting DVD player. I would highly reccoment this TV.

We are happy with the look and price of this television. However, it constantly makes a low buzzing sound. We called Toshiba customer support who asked us to place the phone next to the tv so that they could hear it. The buzzing wasn't quite loud enough for them to hear it, so the rep. warned me if they sent out a repair tech, we would probably have to pay for the service call. We are returning the tv to [...]. I don't know if we will try another Toshiba. It takes an awfully long time for the picture to appear when we change channels.

This turned out to be a good size tv for the bedroom. We have a 42" Toshiba 720 in our living room and are happy with that. So this was a no-brainer. The price was good, and we use it in conjunction withour Directv DVR.