Customer Reviews

Toshiba 37AV502U 37-Inch 720p LCD HDTV

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Like many shoppers who buy their first HDTV, I did my homework. I determined what size screen I needed (37 inches to 40 inches) what size screen would fit in my space (40 would been tight) and whether I needed a 720p or 1080p LCD. When a TV salesman told me I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between 720 and 1080 on a 37-inch screen - and I verified that in his store - I found myself basically left with a brand-name issue.

Fortunately, I was able to view my major brand name choices - LG, Sharp, Sony - side by side. That's when I discovered the Toshiba 37AV502U. Compared to off-brands and the LG, it had a distinctively radiant picture. Could have been the settings in the store. I'll never know. But it did give me the confidence to include the Toshiba in my online shopping.

Even in the stores, I cold see the Toshiba was priced lower than the Sharp and the Sony. When I found it online (Amazon and elsewhere) for about $150 lower than in-store prices, I was sold.

The TV came promptly and was easy to set up with the clear and concise manual. The on-screen adjustments and choices of inputs are simple to follow. The variety of inputs (component, composite, HDMI, PC, S-video, audio, cable) and outputs are complete enough for most users. The only complaint I have is that the remote's electronic commands seem to be a little weak.

That ends up not mattering a whit because in today's environment you actually interact much more often with the cable receiver through its remote than with the TV. In fact, I am surprised that more manufacturers are not producing monitors without tuners for use with cable and satellite feeds.

The Toshiba works perfectly with my cable receiver and, so far, has produced clear, sharp images from analog, digital and HD sources. And I have about $150 extra in my pocket.

I'll give you a few quick hits to start before adding some lengthy details at the end, including my thoughts on shipping.

PROS: Great picture, vibrant color range, numerous picture settings to find the best one for each source, plus it remembers your choice, easy to set up, included stand is sturdy, beautiful shiny black case, plenty of inputs (2 sets of component HD and 2 HDMI) though not the most in its class, great price, awesome starter HDTV, great with HD gaming systems, remote included is a universal remote, shipping was free and quick, and no sales tax.

CONS: Switching between inputs is not a one button process, you bring up a menu and choose the source from that, but that is probably due to the number of inputs. There is also no digital audio input, only a single output. This means that if you want to run your digital audio (DTS, etc) through the TV and only have 1 input on your receiver, you must use HDMI. SD broadcasts look grainy, but it is an HDTV afterall. If you do not currently subscribe to an HD package, you will want to shortly after making this purchase.

OVERALL: Definitely a recommended purchase. I have been fortunate enough to get to use several different makes, models, and sizes of HDTV, and I feel like I have made a great purchase with this Toshiba. The few negatives are far outweighed by the overall quality and picture of this awesome LCD HDTV.

Alright, enough of the quick and dirty. What follows are my thoughts and opinions on this television. I have gone into probably way more detail than needed, but I wanted to provide as much information in one spot as I could, to help others on the fence make a decision.

My wife and I decided to purchase our first HDTV as a Christmas gift to ourselves. I had been doing research online off and on for a while, and knew what I was looking for in a new set. It definitely helps to have an idea of what you are looking for before narrowing down your choices. Keep in mind that bigger is not always better, in my case 37 inches is prime for the size living room I have. Also, from what I have read, it isn't until around 50 inches or so that you will start to see a difference between 1080 and 720. Simply put, the average person just won't be able to tell a difference, so it isn't worth the extra money (I never was able to tell in a store).

I decided on Toshiba for its reliability and picture quality. If you have not been to a store to do a side by side comparison of different TV's do it, but bear in mind what you see in the store may be different than what you see at home. Ask the salesperson to show you a few different movies, maybe some video games, and hopefully some TV. When I turned this TV on the first time, it asked if I was using it in a retail display or at home, and I can only imagine the settings are different for the two (with the retail setup being more vibrant but burning out quicker maybe?) so keep that in mind when window shopping.

One of the reasons that I purchased this TV was with the intent of using it with my XBOX 360. I have been floored at how much better the picture is on the new TV vs. my old one. I have had no issues with lag or anything else while playing, so have no fear if you are planning to play games on this set.

This TV has the standard features you would expect, like a sleep timer, but one of the neatest is a half mute setting. When you press mute once, it cuts the volume in half. Press it again for full mute. A third press restores the volume. From half mute, pressing up or down on the volume restores it. A really handy feature for loud commercials or if someone is talking to you from the other room and you want to pretend to listen but still pay attention to your show (just don't tell my wife!).

After opening the box, I attached the stand, which actually uses 4 screws for attachment rather than just clipping on like other stands I have seen. I feel that this gives a much better attachment, and lessens the chance of accidental tipover. It may all be in my mind, but it makes me feel better.

I have not had to change the settings of the TV at all so far, the picture quality with factory settings is perfect for my tastes. The viewing angle is good from all the seating positions in my living room, and even in a brightly lit room it is easy to see the picture. The images and colors pop off the screen, and it really is immersive. Even the cabinet of the TV looks great, it's black shine is modern and sleek.

The biggest gripe I have is swapping between inputs. You press a button, a menu comes up, and you must choose the proper input from the menu. I liked being able to set up my old TV to be a one button press to go between my gaming system and the TV, but this is a minor complaint. Being able to label the inputs makes this a much simpler process. Also, for each input you choose the picture type that you want, aspect ratio, etc. It makes it easy to optimize your picture quality for each different input type you have, and it lets you see what it will look like before closing out the menu. Also, once you make a choice, it remembers that choice after you change inputs, so you can set it and forget it. I have not needed the game mode setting, so I can't speak as to whether or not it works. I have had 0 lag issues with this TV playing all manner of games.

Also, the lack of digital audio inputs on the back of the set is disappointing to me, though an HDMI cable will solve my problem. My satellite receiver does not at this time provide an HDMI out, only digital audio and S-Video, so I have to do without surround sound when watching regular TV since my receiver only has 1 digital input. Hopefully when the HD satellite box gets here, that problem will go away (I have not specifically said it yet, but HDMI carries the digital audio and HD signal in one wire instead of multiple wires).

The universal remote is a nice touch, but my satellite remote has buttons I can't live without. In fact, I have never had a cable or satellite remote that could have been replaced by a different remote, but in my case the Sat remote is universal as well, so it was an easy fix.

One feature I haven't mentioned yet is that the TV will freeze an image on screen, which is a neat trick, but the audio continues to play and you can't fast forward or rewind, only go back to live TV. Pretty well worthless, it won't replace a DVR.

I would also like to take a moment to discuss my experiences with the shipper, CEVA. I bought this TV from Amazon because they offered to ship it for free and did not charge me sales tax. In my state, that saved me nearly $65 over buying it locally, not to mention the cost of gas, etc. However, after making the purchase, I began to worry. For starters, Amazon told me that "This shipment does not have an associated tracking or delivery confirmation number." I was alarmed that on a purchase of this amount that I would be unable to track its whereabouts! The original email from Amazon also stated that I would receive the TV in about 2 weeks at the earliest! That was alot longer than I had anticipated but I was willing to deal with it. After doing a little research on the shipper, I was even more nervous, because there are a ton of horror stories online about how bad CEVA is. Let me tell you, all of these concerns were for naught. A quick call to CEVA and an email to Amazon resulted in a tracking number for me. Not only that, but CEVA had the TV to me in a grand total of 3 days, 10 whole days before Amazon's best case scenario. CEVA called to set up a delivery time, and the driver was very friendly. He brought in the TV, showed me where there was a little damage on the box, and helped me set it up and run through a few things to make sure there was no damage (there was not, the TV is perfect and we absolutely love it!). I have come to the conclusion that happy people are busy enjoying their TV, and the only ones that take the time to complain are the ones that had a negative experience.

In closing, let me say, from soup to nuts I have been very pleased with this purchase. I would not hesitate to do business with either Amazon or CEVA again, and I would not hesitate to purchase an identical TV should the need arise. For the money, I do not think you will find a better TV. In fact, unless you are a total videophile, you may be hard pressed to find a better TV. The average consumer should be well please with this purchase. I hope my review has helped and that it did not bore you too much! Good luck in your shopping.

I bought this television about a month ago after doing extensive research on HDTVs. If you're in the same boat, I'm writing this review to try to help out. I couldn't find a ton of info about this TV online...it's out there, but you do have to dig a bit...so when it came down to it, customer reviews ended up being very helpful.

Overall, I'm very happy with my purchase and think the quality of the product and the value it offers are worth a look. Getting right down to it:

The Good Stuff:
1)This television offers a very, very good picture. And let's face it, when it comes to buying an HDTV, this is the absolute most important thing you need to concern yourself with. I spent over two hours on two different days in three different Best Buys comparing HD pictures on comparable models of various brands of HDTVs, and I was very pleased with the Toshiba. And as a side note to buyers who are not necessarily looking at this model, but just as a sheer comparison, it will be hard to go wrong buying a brand name HDTV. I personally think that Samsung, Toshiba, and LG are the best out there (in that order), but for the average person, the differences in these sets will largely be negligible. And to be honest, the pictures offered by some so-called "second tier" sets are similarly excellent. I've read some reviews of this set that say that the black levels aren't of the highest quality, and that the overall image quality it offers is only solidly average, but I will say this: For what it matters, I'm a professional television camera operator with a background in post-production color correction and editing. I used to make a living reading color bars and properly adjusting for proper gain and chroma. Basically, I have a decent eye when it comes to images, and this set has not disappointed me. Overall I find that color perception is pretty subjective...get ten people in a room and try to get them to agree on what HDTV image looks best, for example...but this model holds true to good color and image clarity.
2)The value. Like I said, in my opinion this set was in the same class as comparable Samsung and LG models. However, the Toshiba was, at least at the time of my purchase, significantly cheaper. Honestly, I favor Samsung. But for me, it wasn't worth spending the extra money for a minimally better television set. Also worth noting, I like LG quite a bit but they tend to be more expensive and I think their picture is just slightly inferior.
3)This TV has some pretty sweet features. Although I do not currently own a new generation gaming system, I'm planning on purchasing a PS3 because I'm confident this set can handle high-demand gaming, and, the set does offer a Gaming Mode, which can be useful by cutting down on render times for particuarly fast-moving games. I also like the quick "Pic Size" feature that lets the user pick the image size they like best. I also find inputs to be adequate...getting two HDMI inputs is a nice touch.
4)Size/image quality/price ratio--Again, in terms of value, you can't go wrong. Don't waste your time getting a 1080p 37 inch set. Getting a true 1080p via the airwaves/cable isn't really realistic anyway, and at 37 inches, you're just not going to see the difference if you have a 1080p set. Buying something over 50 inches? Probably worth investing in 1080p.

The Bad Stuff:
1)The sound. It's not woeful, but it's not good. It's just ok. I'm not going to waste a ton of words on this, but it's not a minor gripe. I have this TV in my bedroom, and by tweaking the levels a little and turning the volume up a notch or two higher than I normally would, I'm happy. But if you want this TV in your living room and plan on watching a lot of movies, sports, and playing games, the TV's speakers will likely not please you.
2)The TV's menus are a little difficult to navigate. It's hardly a hedgemaze, but a few times I have found myself getting a little confused as to where exactly I am within the TV's menus. I do consider this a minor gripe.
3)I'm not a huge fan of the TV's base. It's not unattractive, and it's not unsturdy, but it's not quite attractive, and it's not quite sturdy. I do find myself staying the hell out of the way of my television stand when I'm moving around my bedroom...the TV does seem to be a little front-heavy and not sit completely level in its base, and this is a concern to me. I have tried to make adjustments, but it seems like this is just how the TV is designed.

The WTF:
1)Reading other reviews, I have to say, I have no idea what some of the complaints regarding the high-pitch whine of the set while in operation are. I personally hate...hate...when electronics whine in or out of operation...I used to have a DVR that did this even when it was off and it drove me to near insomnia...but this set is not a culprit.
2)If you're planning on using the included remote as a universal remote (which you can do), the mode select isn't a button...it's a moveable switch. It's not a bad thing I guess, but it is kind of weird.

In conclusion, I think this is a great buy. Excellent value, very good picture, good features, average sound. Just about sums this up.

I bought this TV from Best Buy on sale right after Thanksgiving. It is my first HDTV and overall I'm pretty impressed.

The good: the picture on this TV is great. My Xbox 360 is razor sharp and HD content like Blu-Rays look wonderful in native 720p. It has a huge assortment of connections on the back. Even the integrated speakers sound decent for what they are.

The so-so: The dynamic contrast is pretty useless. It end up making the picture look very artificial and amplifies digital noise from some sources (DVD's in particular). The menu system is comprehensive but a bit annoying to navigate. Instead of one master picture menu, you have three separate areas with different settings. Also, settings like the noise reduction and MPEG DNR are applied across all inputs and are not independent. It does have a high pitched whine when in operation, which seems to be related to the ballast on the CCFL backlight (hint, lowering the backlight level does decrease the noise).

The bad: The black levels are fairly poor. There is a lot of light leakage around the edges of the screen (I can see it on the floor of the room) and as a result blacks are always grey. If there is ambient light in the room it's not so bad, but in a dark room it isn't very pretty. The HDMI inputs also seem a bit twitchy. I have an Onkyo receiver hooked up to one and my cable box hooked up to the other, and sometimes the cable signal will distort quite badly (even to the point of locing up the TV). Turning on the amp clears it right up. Not sure why this is happening, but it is incredibly annoying having to have the amp on even when not being used.

Overall: this is definitely a good bargain for what it is. It has a great, finely detailed picture. But it's not a high end model, as the black levels are poor, the backlight is noisy, and the native contrast (not the dynamic contrast) isn't as high as other comperable models. If none of this bothers you, then this is a great TV to buy.

We had this TV for just six months and the screen went black. Since it was still under warranty we were told to bring it to the certified Toshiba service center in our area. A panel inside failed (common for these TVs according to the technician). The first part that Toshiba shipped to the repair center was damaged. The second part was the wrong part and now we were told that the part was on backorder. We fought for a "return order" which now will take another 7 to 10 business days. We have not had our TV for almost two months. If not for my husband calling incessantly...we would still be waiting for a backordered part. We will not buy another Toshiba TV again and will be searching for a reliable product with customer service that will stand behind what it sells.

I ended up paying $569 for this 37 inch TV with all discounts and free shipping which was clearly about what most brand name 32 inch TVs cost. Pros: Great picture, sleek styling, numerous features and great price.
Cons: Slight humming background noise that is present for a brief period after turning the set on. I understand that this is common with most LCD TVs and on this set it originates with the backlight, the brighter the light the louder the noise. Also, the channel change function is slow unless you take an additional step and hit the select button after entering the new channel numbers.

Overall I am very pleased with the set and would recommend it at the price I paid.

Frank in Florida

The sound is a little soft, other than that, great TV for the price I paid!
Very fast shipping

In my opinion, this tv offers the best value for your money. It is not the BEST 37 inch HDTV on the market, those rights belong to Samsung and Panasonic. The picture quality is excellent, although the red colors look too bright at times (I'm used to watching a DLP as opposed to LCD, which has more accurate colors). I agree with other reviewers about the mediocre sound. Just the right size for a master bedroom tv and won't break the bank.

This is my third flat panel set that I have purchased in the past two years.

I already own a 1080 plasma from Hitachi, a 1080 Sony Bravia and now the Toshiba.

I have to comment that this new set that we installed in our ski home has as good a picture and easy to use features as both the other sets.

The LCD design is great due to its lighter weight - that is a big consideration when you need to move the set or update software as I have done twice on my wall hung plasma....

The Toshiba has a crisp picture, great sound with HDTV cable box, not so good with regular digital signal though....we connected first to a Comcast digital cable box and the picture and sound were average but when I had Comcast upgrade the box to the Hi Def version the picture and sound were amazing...

easy to use features. has all the jacks and outputs one would need for components and gaming. One nice feature is the Toshiba has RCA jacks on the left side of the panel for quick connection of gaming consoles that are not permanently installed. We have the set back against a wall so to move it out when I want to install a game would otherwise been a nuisance.

We shopped around and paid $649.00 for a 37" set...how can you beat that?

Definitely recommend it.

I bought this TV for my living room space to complement the larger rear projection Samsung that we have in our basement. Seeing that Samsung LCDs are the best-sellers at Amazon, I made multiple trips to Best Buy and Circuit City to find out if it was worth paying the extra price premium for a Samsung. It isn't. This Toshiba has excellent picture, pretty decent sound for a 12*12 living space and surprisingly intuitive menu navigation system.

If you are looking for a sub-42" flat screen, I think this Toshiba should be very high, if not at the top, of your list.