Customer Reviews

Toshiba 37HL95 37-Inch Cinema Series Flat-Panel LCD HDTV

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Wow-wee wow, wow... Wow, wow, wow!

Ok, maybe you can tell I'm a bit excited about this Toshiba 37HL95. Who would have thought I could have gotten this excited over a bunch of chips and wires, but WOW!

For the longest time I was use to viewing my neighbor's Sony KDE-50XS955 50" Wega Plasma because our last bedroom TV (starts with a Z and it's bENITH [yes, I know I'm spelling the beneath wrong] me why my husband wanted to keep that crummy TV over my other awesome Toshiba) died. I figured, "how could anyone top that Sony?" --Easy, our new Toshiba 37HL95 does the job perfectly.

First off, my Toshiba is an LCD, not a Plasma. It weighs less (only 26 lbs total vs. 88 lbs+) and is only 36w x 26h x 4d inches. The image color is pure and crystal clear and you can easily adjust it to meet your room lighting needs ("Normal", "Preferred" [which we chose and is the second brightest and most vivid], "Sports" and of course "Theatre"). The fine details on actors' skin are amazing! I can finally see movies the way they were meant to be seen since the 37HL95 is a Widescreen TV.

Another "wow" feature is the HDMI connection and the CableCard slot. The HDMI delivers an absolutely flawless image. The non-degraded signal reduces flicker and produces an ideal picture. Since we use a cable service, we chose the HDMI connection. Even the regular digital shows come out looking fabulous. It has a built-in analog/digital tuner that will receive free over-the-air HDTV signals and is Digital Cable Ready (via the CableCard slot), so you can enjoy digital cable without a box or remote using a CableCard (sorry, you gotta buy that from your cable company). For a lack of space, CableCard can come in handy.

I also love the fact that I can treat this as an extra PC monitor if I needed. There is a connection on the side and on the back to hook up my laptop, my camcorder or my digital camera.

Even though the 37HL95 comes with a table mount, we have a small apartment and the wall is the best place. To have it mounted on a wall was a piece of cake. I chose to have an OmniMount UCL Universal Plasma TV Cantilever Wall Mount to hold up our new LCD (that's what Toshiba recommended). Now we can move the Toshiba all over the room, high or low, pull it close or push it away and our TV is where we want it to be. Even if we didn't push the 37HL95 around the room, you can still see the screen perfectly, from where ever you are in the room. That was a problem with LCD's, but not with the 37HL95... no graying or weird shadowing.

Sound isn't bad. It comes with one large speaker at the bottom and if I really wanted to let `er rip, I could probably blast my upstairs neighbor out of her apartment. I'd prefer to have the bottom speaker removable, but that would only come from the perfect TV. You could easily hook up a Home Theatre and blast the paint off the walls, but sad to say, there is amazingly only one Digital Optical Audio Output and ZERO Digital Optical Audio Input.

Whew! What else can I say about the Toshiba 37HL95... and why did Toshiba wait so long to release it in the US? All I can tell you is the picture and features are wonderful. The downside is the Digital Optical Audio Output/Input (only one output and no input), the non-moveable speaker and the lack of PIP (Picture in Picture). Quite frankly, the downside isn't that big of a deal. We'll live.

If I had a choice to buy the Toshiba 37HL95 again, would I do it? Absolutely!

Toshiba has been balancing quality, design, and price since the late 1990's, and in my opinion, they are the best competitor to Sony, which is still regarded the best TV in the business. Toshiba now has a 37" flat panel LCD monitor that is low-maintenance, high-quality, and well-designed. I purchased their 27HL85 a few weeks ago for my bedroom, and this was the logical choice for the living room. The two sets are identical in specs, except for contrast ratio, which defines how "black' black tones appear on the set. The 27" model has an outstanding contrast ratio of 900:1. This set has a less spectacular ratio of 600:1. The best LCD flat panel monitors can have a ratio of 1000:1. ut I have to say that having switched from an LCD rear-projection TV with a ratio of about 300:1, this big TV is a very nice upgrade. Like most budget HDTV's, it really shines when you watch a DVD through the component input, or watch a high-definition 720p broadcast (usually sports is shown in 720p). Considering that Toshiba's only other 37" flat panel has a contrast ratio of 800:1 for $500 more, and the value of this unit becomes clear.

I also like Toshiba for their quality. All my Toshiba's have lasted more than 10 years since I started buying them in 1985. My 1985 TV was sold used in 1996 and I wouldn't be surprised if it is in-use today. I know my 1997 unit is in-use as well.

And a key feature that Toshiba has that Sony doesn't have is closed-captioning on mute. When you mute the TV, closed-captioning kicks-in. It's a simple bonus, but it makes a huge difference if you have to take a phone call or want to multitask (like put music on) if the program you're watching doesn't require close attention.

And with HDMI input, this TV is future-proof. So you get size, quality, cool design, low maintenance, and the reliability of Toshiba. Go for it!

Based upon my experience, I could not recommend this be purchased online. I did see the set at a dealer, and it seemed to perform fine.
I ordered the set from Amazon.com on 26 Dec 2005. Amazon brokered the unit to One Call. OneCall shipped the unit on 27 Dec. When I received the unit, it had a column of LED's out (verticle red line on set). OneCall required me to go thru the local Toshiba warranty facility to evaluate set. On 14 Jan, the locl warranty rep evaluated the set and stated that the LCD panel needs to be replaced. OneCall gave me authorization to return & exchange the set. I returned the set to Spokane WA on 20 Jan at my expense.
The replacement was shipped to me on 26 Jan. The replacement has a loud mechanical hum whenever a signal is applied. OneCall stated their terms & conditions do not permit returns. I was to have the local warranty technician come back to look at this set. The local tech does not know what the problem is. It went into their shop 2 weeks ago so they can work with Toshiba America to see what's wrong. As of 2/23 the set is still in the shop.
My experience with two different Toshiba HDTVs has not been very good.

This is my first flat screen HDTV and it has more than lived up to my expectations. It has a wealth of inputs and outputs, a feature rich remote control, and a great picture. I use it in a room that gets lots of daytime sun and with its ability to swivel on its base I get a great bright picture all day long.

The only issue that I have is that I have been unable to successfully get the TV Guide feature to work through my cable provider (Comcast), however since its hooked up to an HD DVR cable box with its own guide there is no real need for it.

The other caution would be that if this is your first experience with HD TV it gets pretty complicated very quickly so be prepared to do a lot of reading and research and experimentation.

Likes:

Picture is 99% as good as a Sony Bravia, without the outrageious Sony price tag.

Dislikes:

Mute button, pic size button and brightness button or "pic mode" buttons need a better location on the remote, where they are easily accessed by ones right thumb, as well as the channel up and down for scrolling and the volume.

We have Time Warner Cable and opted for the CableCard which is mfd and diestributed by Scientific Atlanta. We had problems with the first USED card installed in the PCMCIA slot. Never worked. Technician installed a second USED card. Worked for 15 minutes then crapped out. Pulled the card, restarted the TV, turned TV off, put the CableCard back in, restarted, reset all the info for HDTV and the card worked for about 5 hours while we watched the Winter Olympic Games on a Friday night.
Saturday Morning the TV upon starting up (booted up, it's a computer driven LCD) and the TV starts again from scratch, doesn't recoginize the CableCard. Finally it goes through reprogramming the channel and ALL of the audio on the HDTV channels is gone. All the 1100 series channels have HDTV pictures with no sound. All the analog channels have sound. Go figure.

Later in the day, all the regular analog channels like CBS,NBC, ABC and Fox get updated by our cable company, TWC, to "digital" and now they are without sound also, in addtion to the HDTV channels.

A search on the internet has the cable companies point the finger at Toshiba's software having a glitch. Funny, my take on it is when I pull the CableCard, yes I loose HDTV, but I lost the problems associated with no sound also. My gut feel is that TWC is pulling a "bait and switch" to get you to use a box and not the cable card. Be patient, don't do it, the cable box offers an inferior compressed picture compared to the cablecard.

The Cable card also slows down the channel changing process to about 4 or 5 seconds between changing channels, or for that matter any input from the remote. Irritating how slow it is if you are a channel flipper.

I've had this set for about a month so far haven't noticed any problems. The only small suggestion I could make to the manufacturer is to design a better TV stand(TV only turns sideways). I live in Brooklyn and the floors aren't exactly even so it would be nice to have the option to tilt the screet a little bit up or down.

The picture is awesome. And the brand Toshiba was a great consideration in decision making. Changing channel is slow, but that's no big deal. I have it for about 10 days and bought it right here.

This Toshiba has performed wonderfully from day one. Picture quality is great plus the unit is easy to use. We have recommended this unit to friends, some of whom have bought it and thanked us for alerting them. This unit is also a great value for the price.

Picture quality is great. Remote is easy to use. Easy to connect. Great to be able to get such a wide TV screen of 37 inches that comes in a panel that is only 36 inches wide. It's the only one like it. Audio through the TV is also very good. High Def channels available via my new digital cable box are great. Big challenge setting everything up at the start due to incompatibility of my existing TiVo and cable box. Upgraded to a HiDef cable box and tried to use TiVo with it but missed out on HiDef programs. Upgraded again to a HiDef cable box with DVR (from Time Warner). Can now record the HiDef programs but the DVR usability is very poor. Once you've used TiVo, it's impossible to go backwards. TiVo doesn't know when they will support HiDef. May consider satellite tv if it offers TiVo and HiDef.

I purchased this TV in the Summer of 2006, with the sole purpose of having a cableCard slot. It has a great HD picture and I am amazed how beautiful the colors are. To this day, Feb 12, 2010, I still get remarks from friends that I have an amazing TV. I will hand this down to my sister and I intend to buy another Toshiba, this time a 52". This TV has served me well.