Home > Consumer Reviews > Toshiba 36HF72 36" Pure Flat Screen HDTV-Ready TV

I initially was excited buying this product. It has component inputs and supports 480p and 1080i, so the picture should be great from an HD source. However as soon as I plugged it in, I started noticing problems.

First, just like the other reviewer for this television, when i play DVD movies, it bows in the middle of the image. Very strange, and yes very annoying. I tried international DVD's and American DVD's and same thing. The picture was very good, but NOT GREAT. The whole reason you want to go to HD is for the superiour picture, and I just didn't get that "wow" effect.

Second, every twenty minutes or so the screen goes blank and then comes back after a couple of seconds. Again, very strange. This happens when watching TV, DVD's or playing video games.

I have called Toshiba phone support and they just said that they haven't heard of these problems, and to return the product. Well, reading the other reviewer from Texas, they are going to hear more of these problems.

I am going to return this TV and most likely also go with the Sony Wega XBR. Its much more expensive, but at least I know it wont have these problems. I have been a loyal Toshiba customer for several years, I love there products. This is the first television I bought from them however, and I am dissappointed. I wanted this to be so much more.

Have had this set for 4 months and have been very pleased with its performance. Was disappointed by the ommission of two small things: not enough memory to label each channel on the on screen display, and the clock must be reset if the power is lost even for 1/2 a second. Read a another negative review here...have had no such problems with mine.

This is great TV, but only after I worked to find how to adjust the picture in diagnostics mode. In that mode I was able to fix all of the picture issues (bowing, centering, ect.) If you are not careful the adjustments can damage the TV. Get proffesional help if you are worried.

Compared this Toshiba with sony wega and toshibas wide screen. For the money, it is a much better deal than the sony, and until wide screen becomes more available for cable, the 36 inch is the way to go. The picture on a progessive scan DVD is AWSEOME. Plenty of video hookups makes pairing with most all video/audio combos a breeze. The picture with video cable is near flawless. The only worry was when Amazon delivered the set, the initial picture was a bit blurry at the bottom of the screen, but I attribute to condensation on components as it was cold when it was delivered. After the set warmed up for a couple of hours, the picture cleared, and has been perfect ever since. Have not experienced any of the quirks I have read about in this site. I love this set, and fully recommend this to anyone looking for the best big direct tube going. LOVE MY SET.

I was initially very impressed by the image quality. However, as time went on, I first noticed the problem where the image would get distored at the bottom part of the screen. When the Toshiba approved repair technician looked at it, he replace an integrated circuit card. However, after he did that, characters are not getting displayed properly. They look fuzzy (as though you are not wearing your prescription eye glasses). The color and picture quality are excellent. The TV is very heavy and thereore I strongly urge you to buy the in-home service warranty. Trust me you will need this.

Overall, I think that I good have bought a better TV.