Home > Consumer Reviews > Toshiba 34HF81 34" FST Pure Flat Screen 16:9 HD-Ready TV

While there are many HD TV's out there, given my criteria the list became short very quickly. The criteria were roughly: tube-based (not projection), 16x9, w/out the HD receiver built in, between 32 & 36 inches (1080i is assumed). Cost was somewhat a factor, but given these criteria the costs were roughly equal. This is going to be our main TV and not placed in some "AV Room".

The Panasonic CT34WX50 & this Toshiba 34H81 were the finalists. Yes Sony & RCA were looked at but for one reason or another they were tossed out.

Feature for feature the Panasonic and the Toshiba were seemingly identical. For all of the high tech comparisons, the decision came down to placement of the speakers. The speakers on the Panasonic are on the side of the unit & the Toshiba's are on the front. I am placing the TV in a cabinet and thus the Panasonic's sound would be muffled to say the least. Yes, I have the TV connected to a full-blown Dolby 5.1 surround system, but did not want to have that turned on all the time just to hear a simple show.

The Toshiba has worked out fine. The multiple inputs and outputs are appreciated. The split screen and multi-channel "favorites" option work well. Four stars because it performs as expected after spending this much money, I reserved 5 stars for something beyond belief.

Using this TV, a Toshiba HD Receiver and a simple roof top antenna, watching the currently broadcasted HD TV shows is fantastic (I do not have satellite TV yet). Of course, DVD's look fine as well.

I purchased this wonderful Toshiba after many months of research, including consumer reviews as published by National Consumer magazines. Price was a factor which ended up in my eliminating Sony which had previously been my number one choice. Review of repair records then proceeded to eliminate RCA and Zenith. My requirements were simple, a reasonably priced, good reliable 34" HDTV, in 16:9 format with flat screen, 3 S-video and 2 wideband component video inputs to facilitate my progressive scan DVD player, DSS system, cable etc. Hookup was relatively easy, (as I am not an electronics wizard), and with programming of the remote I now have control of all systems thru one device. Dss picture is fantastic, analog is not as definitive but than that is analog, not high definition. DVD qualty is excellent with monster cable connection. This TV is a definite buy, I am very pleased with the performance and the purchase price. ...

This is an excellent widescreen direct view CRT, with native 480p and 1080i modes. All 480i signals are upconverted to 480p, allowing you to see all the junk that interlacing hides. Therefore, some old 480i material might look worse on this TV. But you did not get this TV to play VHS tapes and watch CATV, did you? No, you got it for progressive scan material like high-end video games, DVDs, and HD (1080i) content.

This set has virtually peerless video quality, and numerous zoom modes for both anamorphic and "dumb" widescreen programming. The downside to this is that now every single flaw in DVD mastering or game graphics programming is visible to you. Ignorance really is (was) bliss. For example, in 480p, you can really tell that Gladiator had a much better DVD mastering process than The Matrix or Braveheart.

This set is completely obsoleted by Toshiba's 82 line of products, notably the 34HF82. The 34HF82 can do 720p, and has a DVI input, two things the 34HF81 set lacks. Therefore there is absolutely no reason to get this set today, but for those who still have it, it still looks incredible.

I have no comment on the sound, since I mute the TV and run audio through my stereo system only.

Caveat: I have a major screen artifact on strong red colors. They all appear very pixelated, especially on the borders. Under warranty, Toshiba will replace the digital video board.

I recently bought this TV and while the price may seem a little steep for a 34" TV compared to other larger projection TV's, the quality of this product is well worth the money. Before I bought this Toshiba 34HF81, I also looked at other similar products such as Sony's KD-34XBR2 and Panasonic's CT34WX50. When I sampled these TV sets, the picture quality of the Toshiba is, in my opinion, comparable to the other two. At the same time, this TV set is also available for a very competitive price.

When viewing the HDTV channels, the colours are very saturated and blacks are extremely deep. It's unlike anything I have seen before as they look better than many DVDs. This Toshiba set also features versatile connection options with 2 component inputs and 3 S-video or A/V inputs. This allows very easy setup for those with lots of stereo equipments.

All in all, I'm very satisfied with this purchase and I absolutely recommend it to anyone interested in a flat-screen, 16x9, direct view (CRT) HDTV.

After deciding that a projection TV would completely dominate our living room, it came down to this unit and comparably sized Sony. While the Sony had a better picture overall, the Toshiba won out due to price and performance.

Pros: Two component inputs plus three additional video in. The ability to use the TV's internal speakers as the center channel. (BTW, the sound is really incredible for a television with such tiny speakers.) 4 different wide-screen modes to accomodate just about any source. SteadySound eliminates those loud commercials. Picture quality is just incredible, especially if you put it next to your old set with a progressive-scan DVD. Cool favorite channel scan that shows 9 channel matrix next to main channel. Not just PIP but side-by-side pictures. Dual audio allows main picture to play on TV's speakers and PIP picture to play on outside source. (Combined with headphones and you can imagine the possibilities.) Universal remote works well with many components for most basic functions.

Cons: Not even a month old and I get the occasional wierd picture--flesh tones are vivid blue. Good thing it has a good warranty. While the front of the screen is flat, the inside has a slight curve in the corners. PIP doesn't work with component sources. Channel labels are only 4 characters long, limited to about 20 channels and don't automatically assign themselves. This unit is huge and heavy (163 lbs) which limits what you can put it in/on.

Overall a good value for such a excellent picture. To get something better would cost nearly a thousand dollars more.