Home > Consumer Reviews > Toshiba 23HLV87 23-Inch LCD HDTV with DVD Player

We have this TV installed in our Bedroom and it has worked well for us over the past two years. The picture quality is good and the sound meets our needs. In fact I have few complaints about the TV. One thing I don't like is that it automatically chooses the aspect ratio. You can't watch regular tv in widescreen like I can my Sony Plasma tv, but this is a minor issue. HD signals look great.

I just got this a week ago, the picture quality is really worth it. The built-in DVD player is superb. So far, no complaints. Keep in mind that a 23 inch wide screen is suitable for a medium to small bedroom. I would have opted for a 26 inch screen, but I have space issues in this particular bedroom.

I had a hard time finding a good HDTV with a built in DVD player of any size. This is the largest one I could find that could also be wall mounted and would look "right". I've only had this one day, but its performing very well and pulls in all of the analog and digital channels in my area over the air. The picture is very good and there is good control over aspect ratio, color saturation and such. Videophiles might say the picture isn't good enough but it is for my bedroom.

The only drawbacks I can find: no way to punch in a decimal point when entering a station, for instance 29.1. At least I can't figure it out. Info display doesn't display the program descriptions that are available on HD channels. I get these on my Sony, but can't get them on this TV.

With all the connectivity options, outputs and control, this is a very good TV for now and the future. I really don't think you can go wrong.

I don't watch TV very often, so my primary reason for purchasing this was to save space by having a computer monitor that is also a TV and a DVD player. It was simple to hook up to my computer and worked without making any adjustments. I hooked up an antenna to the TV and channels come in very clear without cable or satellite service. The DVD player works well. I am very happy with this and am enjoying the extra space I've gained by getting rid of my old TV and DVD player.

I really wanted to like this television, given that I purchased it at such a good price, and it appeared to have all of the features I wanted. The picture quality on hdtv channels is very good - not quite as nice as my Sharp, but still very nice and certainly acceptable.

I wish I could say the same about the DVD player however. I was really disappointed with the picture quality from the dvd player and as a result this unit will be returned. I tried tweaking the picture settings to improve the picture, and while I could get it better, I just couldn't get to a level that I desired. Not to mention that it seems that you cannot have different picture settings for the different inputs, which is a big shortcoming, as the settings that provide a very good picture on the hdtv channels provide a very washed out image from the dvd player. There are 3 other preset picture settings, but none adjusted the dvd picture to a level I was happy with, and having to reset the settings based on dvd vs hdtv would be very cumbersome. Perhaps there is a way to save the settings for each input, but I couldn't figure it out, and the settings never adjusted the dvd to a good enough level anyway. I assume that the DVD player is not progressive scan like you can get on many competitors' models now.

I also must agree with others - the dvd startup is shockingly loud, irritatingly so. I also disliked that there appears to be no program info from hdtv channels being received, which I get from my years old Sharp. One other thing, small but very annoying, is the procedure to add a channel to you favorites. You have to go through several menu screens just to add a channel - a very tedious process. While this should be a one-time setup, it is so easy to wipe out the favorites list since the channel program button is mapped to one of the buttons on the remote normally used for the DVD player and can be easily hit by mistake.

Pros:
-Very good picture quality from HDTV channels
-Very affordable (when I purchased at least)
-Built-in DVD player
-Every connection that one could ever want

Cons:
-Relatively poor DVD picture quality (no progressive scan)
-No program info for HDTV channels
-Resetting the channels is much too easy, which wipes out all of your favorites, which is a very tedious process of entry
-Very noisy DVD upon startup and whenever going to DVD menu

All in all, an okay product if you are looking for a combination tv-dvd and this fits your price point. However, if you plan to use the dvd player anything more than occasionally, I suggest looking for a combination unit that includes a progressive dvd player, since the quality here just doesn't match the quality of the hdtv broadcasts, and there seem to be offerings around the same price point as this unit that offer the progressive scan.