Home > Consumer Reviews > Toshiba 37HL66 37-Inch Diagonal TheaterWide 16:9 Integrated HD LCD TV

We're upgrading from our 15 yo Toshiba tube TV. SDTV comes out so-so as with all LCDs, the pixelating is somewhat annoying, but HDTV comes out superbly. We're getting in-the-clear QAM and analog channels on cable, but I find that the tuner is a little slow, as picture an sound lags as we compare it to our old analog TV set. This might just be digital tuners in general. And the initial programming channels took a long time, about 5 minutes for the tuner to scan all the channels on cable. We get about 10 digital channels, and the rest (~30) are analog. As the other reviewer noted, this TV actually fits a standard cabinet, so we jumped on this TV over some other models with much wider bezels. The 37" size is also perfect for a small living room, so that you are far enough back so you don't see all the pixelation that is apparent up close. The set is a simple matte cabinet, which is what we prefer over glossy which I find distracting. The menu system is easy to use and feature loaded: you can customize the CC settings (font, color, etc.) for each channel, picture size settings seemed to be remembers across all analog channels (we usually leave it at 4:3 (Natural setting)), picture freeze setting is very useful for phone numbers, weather forecasts and sports. Incorrectly noted in another review is that there is no built-in DVD player. But DVDs nevertheless play very nicely, I'm using component video with a cheapo Cyberhome DVD player, so that speaks well of the built-in video scaling in the TV. Composite video sucks, so don't bother unless you really want to use your VCR! Have not tried HDMI or VGA, so I cannot speak of those. Sound is good but not great. I do not use SRS WOW because it distorts the sound to my disliking. SRS Focus is good for dialogue, but again, I prefer the unadulterated sound. I use TruBass at low, but at high it's a bit distracting. StableSound is a very useful feature, for those annoyingly loud commercials. For a larger room, I would definitely use a surround sound setup.

I do wish some things were made easier though. There is no direct way to turn on CC, you have to go into the menu system to turn it on (for each channel), or mute the TV. I find this cumbersome if I just want to use CC occasionally. I would also have liked a direct button to change the picture settings, like if I'm switching from a movie to sports, again you have to go thru the menus to do this. The power save feature is nice, but it takes about 5 seconds for the TV to power on, which takes some getting used to. I also find the channel browser feature a bit useless, even though I am tuning directly from the cable, and not using a set top box. You cannot label the channels, so I find that annoying, as the channels are all jumbled and don't correspond to the actual channel number, so labelling would make it easier to navigate channels in the channel browser.

Overall, I bought this TV because of its superb picture quality, which is something that you cannot get with a cheaper set. The features are good, the sound is OK, but those do not factor in as much as the picture quality.

Toshiba has been making leading edge TV sets for many years and they have really delivered with the REGZA series. Outstanding picture quality at all resolution levels. HD at 720P and 1080i is amazing. Extremely wide angle of view with great color and contrast. Sleek and stylish design looks great. We have the set hooked up to DirecTV satellite with the HD channels upgrade ($9.99/month) and the first night of viewing blew us away. The price here on Amazon can't be beat... no tax and free shipping. TV arrived by truck with professional driver who brought it in the house and unpacked it for us to make sure there was no shipping damage. Big 5 Star rating for this Toshiba TV!!!!!

We ordered this TV just over a week ago, in part based on these reviews, and it is everything everyone says. We chose this size to fit in our cabinet, and it looks like a custom fit! It took a week to arrive - standard shipping - and although it was supposed to be delivered on Friday, Fedex delivered it Saturday morning. I had already gone to the Comcast store and got the HD/DVR box (and RCA? cables), and got the HDMI cable from Best Buy, so was good to go when it arrived. We are pretty low-tech, but were able to hook it up, no problem, with the help of Comcast, whom I had on speaker phone the whole time (took about 2 hrs). The picture is great, even without hi-def. We are very pleased with the whole experience - price, order, safe and sound delivery (just a little late), and the final result.

After doing my research through Consumers Reports and any one else that had an opinion, I found the Toshiba 32HL66 to be the best pick. I took a chance and also bought the Toshiba 37HL66. I'm not sorry! Amazon has the best prices anywhere.

I originally purchased a Samsung 40" LCD from Amazon. Delivery was about 10 days and the set did not work when it arrived. Amazon was very good about the return, and the shipper came back to pick it up in a couple of days.
I didn't want to wait for another shipment (Super Bowl coming up), so I went shopping locally and found this Toshiba on sale (although still higher than Amazon's price).
I haven't experimented with any of the picture or sound options. I get local HD channels off-air, and have SD cable. The HD is terrific, and the SD is better than I expected. Widescreen DVD's look great too.
I was looking forward to the Samsung, because I thought it had the best picture when I compared it in the stores, but so far I am very happy with the Toshiba.