» Toshiba 26HF85 26" Widescreen HD-Ready Flat Screen TV

Toshiba 26HF85 26" Widescreen HD-Ready Flat Screen TV Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: Died in under a year.
Comment: The power supply died in ten months. It was covered under warranty but this is a common problem I've come to find out. This shouldn't happen.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: You get what you pay for...
Comment: I bought a Xbox 360 in early August last year, and the standard TV I was using it on essentially blew up, so I had a great reason to upgrade to HD.

I bought the 26HF85, knowing Toshiba had a good reputation and the price was very good. The first thing I realized when I did research (this was after I had ordered the TV) is that Toshiba doesn't make HD CRT sets anymore, they outsource them to a no-name company called Orion. Orion also makes sets for cheap Wal-Mart brands, but since I thought Toshiba's name meant they at least had a quality standard, I didn't worry too much.

Turning on the 360 in HD for the first time, I was reasonably impressed. There were quite a lot of colour issues, as well as contrast though. The factory settings make the TV too dark in HD, especially when there's a lot of light in a scene. Let's say you're in a dungeon, and you can see all the dark detail, but once something bright comes on the screen (like a flashlight), the bright object is all you can see. Also, the color was bland, but that was fixed in the service menu.

Now, I had another issue that a lot of 26HF85 users seem to share. In 1080i, the displays flickers badly. Like, the image constantly shakes. This was random, and resetting the input source seemed to fix it. Once again, it would fix itself randomly, but would not go back to flicker once the problem was solved (thank God).

Now, all 26HF85 sets have a faint horizontal "line" of brightness at the very top of their screen, and that problem can NOT be fixed. The scaler in the TV was badly designed, hence the result. It didn't bother me that much, but it WILL drive some people crazy. It looks like bad backlight leakage on a LCD; that's the only thing I can compare it too.

Now, everybody should know ALL CRT HDTV sets don't have full lines of resolution. They have a physical limitation on scanlines, and they do their best to look high-def. Now, some sets like the Sony XBR960/970, and their XS line look wonderful, arguably much better PQ than a top-line LCD. The 26HF85, like all cheaper HD sets, can not compete. There is no way the 26HF85 even comes close to 1080 scanlines. It's probably closer to 700-800 lines of resolution. I upgraded from the 26HF85 to a Samsung LCD for the Xbox 360, and it looks at least twice as sharp. It doesn't even compare, and they're supposed to run at the same advertised resolution.

If all you can afford is a cheapo HD set like this one, don't bother. Go into debt if you have to and get a decent LCD like a Samsung or a Sharp. The 26HF85 is a poor excuse for high-definition.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Nice product, great deal
Comment: After reading many questionable reviews and forums about the product, I decided to take the chance as the price had dropped to $350 (refurb). Received the set last night and after set-up here's what I see so far. Hope this helps:

Standard Definition:
My biggest concern was how SD would look upconverted to 1080i. To my pleasant suprise, it looks significantly clearer and brighter than on my old 27" JVC SD CRT. I have a 56" Panny DLP that SD looks much worse on. But with the large screen size it amplifies the picture weaknesses. With the 26" screen, need to be within 2 feet to clearly see the picture imperfections
Design:
Because speakers are on the bottom, the width of the 26" model will fit in almost any entertaiment center. That was also a selling point. We did not want large TV in Family Room and didn't need a new entertaiment center. Very basic design, nothing flashy, but nothing gawdy.
Price:
At least for now, can't be beat.
Picture:
SD looks very good, DVD looks better (see below), but has more artifacts than the 56" DLP.
Whites and Blacks/ contrast ratio off the charts compared to DLP - very good.
DVD:
I have a good upconverting Panasonic DVD. Best picture is sending 480p to the 540p. 1080i to 1080i caused very visible screen shaking. Using HDMI connection.
Ease of Use and Set-up:
Plenty of connection options, plug and play for the most part.
Very simple to use on screen menus, took 2 minutes to figure them out.

Drawbacks:
Pic Size:
TheaterWide 1, 2, & 3: Manipulate the picture in different ways, but each cuts off part of the picture.
Full: Stretches the picture evenly to fill the screen but nothing is lost.
Natural: Retains aspect ratio but has gray bars on either side, big concern for burn in.

DVD:
1080i with HDMI caused the shimmering

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Inexpensive HDTV
Comment: I purchased this set as my first HDTV, on a recent-college-graduate budget. It works great. The picture is clear, and with a little work, the colors look great. I did have to use some of the service menus to perfect the picture, but nothing too major.

My only annoyance is that there aren't enough consumer-accessible options. Also, the aspect sensing could be a little more accurate. But for a first HDTV that will probably end up in a spare room after a year or two, it's great.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Avoid this like the plague
Comment: Three months and it died. Even though Toshiba has made good on their in-home warranty, there is no excuse for such a failure. Spend the money; go into debt, but get an LCD instead. This line of Toshibas is riddled with problems from the picture quality (which mine was fine) to power supplies dying. I've read these complaints online repeatedly. Toshiba should be ashamed of such poor quality. Supposedly, Toshiba didn't even make these - Orion did, if what people say is true.

---

More Reviews for Toshiba 26HF85 26" Widescreen HD-Ready Flat Screen TV