Home > Consumer Reviews > Toshiba 30HF83 30" TheaterWide HD-Ready TV with PURE Flat Screen

I focused my search on a TV that would fit into the furniture where my 24" TV sat. I did not want to pay for a thin Plasma. Most of the TVs today have the speakers on the side which limited the picture I could get. Because Toshiba places the speakers on the bottom (Great speaker system by the way -- double baffle speaker system w/ sub-bass) it allows the TV to fit into the same wall space as my 24". TV is only ~30" wide x ~22" high x ~ 22" deep

I was looking for HDTV compatible and this fit the bill. I always heard that HDTV are a better/brighter TV no matter what the incoming signal but I guess I just never realized how much so until I got this one home and turned it on. Even the kids (who have never seen an HDTV) asked how I got the TV so colorful and bright.

There are 4 options for the picture - normal (i.e. like my old set) and 3 different stretch options ... all 3 do very little distortion around the edges ... great/bright picture. As a matter of fact the distortion is so little I can never envision me using the "normal" mode.

The remote comes with batteries and is easy to use in fact it has a little button that lights it up for ~ 5 sec along with the standard soak in the light and dims after awhile in the dark. Once I plugged in the set/cable/DVD/VCR/Stereo I had the TV in full-up mode by following the on-screen menu in less than 5 min.

The TV also has a neat POP (pict-out-pict) feature which allows you to watch two video feeds side-by-side. You have the option of making one smaller while the other goes larger ... they never overlap. There is also a neat favorite channel scan where while you are looking at one station and hit the CH SCAN button the TV automatically enters a POP mode and the station you are watching is edged to one side while your selected fav channels pop up in mini screens along the top and down one side ... so you are looking at 8 channels at once! The main large screen keeps moving while the mini screens are like tiny snapshots rotating between all of your selected favorite channels ... when you see one you want you just slew over to one of the mini pictures, ENTER and presto you are looking at your selected station ... pretty cool.

Because this is the most expensive purchase I made over the net I decided to stick with a reputable company that was a Toshiba authorized internet dealer. Glad I did ... they even brought the TV ~ 120 pounds in the house ... normally most companies will only do curbside service. That was the best price I could find just before the holidays.

Have a great holiday season

Very impressive TV - has all the features of more expensive sets, like 2-tuner PIP, 2 component-video inputs for your DVD and Satellite - and the great HDTV picture quality as well. Eight inputs total, will direct access between them.

Extra surprises include built-in subwoofer (so movies sound awesome right out of the box) and 4:3-to-16:9 'stretching' that is almost imperceptible. Great menu system and many options. Built-in speakers are beneath the screen, so the footprint is similar to standard 33" sets (don't have to buy new entertainment center!)

One minor drawback to me is the PIP is actually POP, picture-outof-picture. The two images are side by side, but use the screen area inefficiently and no overlapping or PIP option.

Would buy another...

Like a lot of people who bought this TV I had a small space to work with. I went so far as to buy a Philips 27" HDTV that fit the space I had and ended up taking it back when I saw that this baby had the speakers on the bottom and the width was all screen. The sale price from Amazon sealed the deal.

On to the TV. It's amazing. When you first power up, the factory settings are a little off-putting (too bright, weird color, and a little rough), but after doing some rsch. on home theater sites, I came up with some settings I'm happy with. And, if you can believe it, the sound is better than the picture. My dog started to bark at the TV because the bass was so rich.

Based on my research, here's what the experts suggest for picture settings on this model:

Flesh Tone: Turn this off, Color Temp: Set to Warm, DNR (Digital Noise Reduction): Turn this Off, Mode: Set to "Movie" which kills SVM (Scan Velocity Modulation) a feature which gives the picture a rough quality. Finally, set contrast, color and sharpness between 55-65 according to taste, tint at +5 or so, and brightness to the high 40's (for black blacks). Hope this helps

I shopped around for a month trying to find a good 30 inch widescreen HDTV. All the other brands had badly pixelated pictures on regular cabe and ok picture on hdtv. I then found the newly released Toshiba 30hf83. I just had to get it. This TV has everything you could want. A good speaker syetem, Awsome HDTV and DVD picture in widescreen progressive scan. And a undeniably clear regular broadcast cable picture in 1080i. Not to mention all the inputs and outputs in the back. If your shopping for a good little HDTV and don't wanna spend the extra $$$$ for a Sony get this TV. I love the remote! it glows! yeahh!

My only complaint....The POP menue is kinda cheezy and a little slow but otherwise it works just fine.

I've had a bad experience with my 34HF83 TV set. It worked fine on standard definition, but on high definition I noticed periodic (once in 5-10 minutes) horizontal jerking to the left. The problem is more likely to appear if the set was switched off for about 5 minutes prior to testing. After about two hours the problem disappears. Picture quality is very good, excellent design, but I hate this problem with horizontal jerking. I called for service and they confirmed that this is a known problem and they are working to find the solution. The problem was also found in some other TV sets, like 30HF83. Unfortunately most customers don't notice the problem because it happens only on high definition, and noticeable only on relatively static scenes. I am happy that I noticed this problem before my warranty expired. But my concern it that most people don't have high definition receivers these days. I think they will be very unhappy in a couple of years when they connect their Toshiba HDTV to a high definition source and realize they have a jerking picture. They would have to pay big money to fix their TVs and this is'nt fair. If you are the owner of any Toshiba HDTV set, you should connect it to a high definition signal (cable, satellite, HDTV computer adapter or special signal generator), switch your TV set off for 5 minutes, then switch the TV set on, switch the source to a HIGH DEFINITION static picture (for example, HDTV receiver setup menu, just make sure the output is high definition) and carefully watch it for 5-10 minutes. If you notice any horizontal jerking, make sure to call for service before your warranty expires. If you can't get the problem fixed, you should at least get the warranty extension. This problem is found in all 83 series Toshiba TV sets: 30HF83, 34HF83, 34HFX83, etc...