Home > Consumer Reviews > Toshiba 40H80 40-Inch HDTV-Ready Projection TV

After spending hours after hours online reasearching for my HDTV purchase, I settled on this model. Good sources was epinions.com and consumerreview.com.

That research paid off. The moment I powered this baby on my wife and I were blown away by the picture quality from our crummy basic cable service. I settled on this size since its the largest screen that would be reasonable in an apartment without needing frequent eye drops. What particularly impressed me was the vivid image from this rear projection TV! A word of advice, if you plan to sit less than 7-8 feet away from this TV, expect eye strain due to the size of the screen. (Imagine sitting in the fifth row of a theater!)

The UNIVERSAL remote is hugely useful. ( I have shelved all my other remotes). The remote has "Pic Size" button which you can easily use to toggle various screen modes (4:3 TV, 16:9 wide screen with non-uniform stretch, 16:9 with uniform stretch).

Even in the non-uniform stretch mode you have 3 choices to fill the screen with the image. With all these options, the downside was that my wife has one preference and I have another. We are able to toggle through all of these just from the remote.

The DVD (interlace scan/first generation) player gave a pretty good image when I used a component video cable (invest well on the cable. Monster MV3 component video cable is a good but pricey buy).

I haven't viewed High Definition images (don't have a HD receiver nor do I have a progressive scan DVD player) still I am bowled over by this TV. HD will of course only be better.

Not an iota of doubt in recommending this heartily.

I placed an order for a Toshiba 40H80 on July 8th and my television arrived just a few days later on July 12th. There was no physical damage to the box, but after opening it and plugging it in the TV would not turn on. Although the television never worked Toshiba said they do not have a policy of replacing products. They will only repair a defective item. I called every authorized service center in my area (one was on vacation) and the other two were both working on another Toshiba widescreen HDTV doing the same thing as mine (power light comes on solid for a few seconds and then blinks - no sound, no picture)and could not figure out what the problem was. My television could not be picked up by a service center until July 23rd at which point the technician told me that based on his experiences dealing with Toshiba it would be optimistic of me to hope my TV would be back in my home, working, in two weeks. Still, regardless of the fact that my TV never worked and should not be expected to work a month after it was delivered, Toshiba refuses to send a replacement. Eventually the TV will be repaired and brought back to my house. I will have a broken machine that has been hauled out of my apartment, down a flight of stairs, strapped to a trailer with no packing materials, driven across town, REFURBISHED, and then made the same trip back into my apartment. I paid for a new machine and will have a beat-up, refurbished machine. Toshiba is not interested. I would like to include impressions on picture and sound quality, etc....maybe in a couple of months, eh?

Ok, I know that the title is harsh and I don't intend to be mean, but if these people have problems with the picture they must be lame. I have had my 40H80 for over 2 years and it has been absolutely flawless.
The most critical thing with any RP set is to converge the colors and set up the tv properly. After the initial convergence was done the set held a perfect picture. Only after I had to move the set did the picture need to be re-adjusted. My buddies Mitsubishi needs converging every couple of weeks. The Toshiba filters and mirror assemblies are the highest quality available for a set under $6k.
I have a High Def DirecTV set up and when tuned to HDNet or the PBS HiDef feeds every single person who has seen it is blown away. Even my buddy who has the top of the line Mitsubishi projection admits that the true color and viewing angle are better with the Toshiba.
I cannot recommend this set enough.
There are no weaknesses with the Toshiba. If you do not like the stretched image of an NTSC feed, then you can just keep it on 4:3 format. But when there is a quality DVD in widescreen with 5.1 sound or a true Hi Def feed, you will be blown away. The only downside is that you will never be able to enjoy a lesser picture again, like at bars, neighbors, etc.
Hope this helps. Research knowledgable resources before you buy any electronic item! Never rely on a salesperson or their opinion!

I love this television. The picture quality is incredible, the sound is great. The size is perfect for me - I live in an apartment with a smallish sized living room, so there isn't this monstrosity taking up every inch available. It is easy to operate, and the instruction manual couldn't be easier. The different picture modes really make it adaptable to my preference. great buy.

Great TV, 16:9, auto-calibration works great. It takes you 90% there, still needs to manually correct the corners.

For some previous reviews that discuss a lady become fat and short, that's unavoiable when stretching a 4:3 input signal to 16:9 output format. You can purchase a high-end LCD or Plasma TV and that lady still look fat & short.

One note, try not to use this TV with the 4:3 mode. Similar to other rear projection TV, LCD, plasma TV, the 2 sides of the screen may generate color/contrast/brightness mismatch when being used in that mode for an extended period of time.