Toshiba 57H83 57 in. HDTV CRT TV
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- Digital TV Standard: HDTV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9 14:9
- Weight: 204 lb.
- Projector Technology: CRT
- Built-in Tuner: NTSC
- Screen Size: 57 inch
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Clear picture for the price
Pros
Great picture, two RGB inputs, separates to get into a basement
Cons
screen is not anti-glare coated, bulky remote
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
I bought this TV three years ago and it is still doing great after a lot of use.
This Review is for the 57H83
This is my first big screen TV (a replacement for my Toshiba 36" tube). My understandings of HDTV and Projection technology are rather high level, but I feel that you should not have to be an engineer to operate a TV. Toshiba seems to feel the same way.
Out of the box the television looked good. Utilizing the automatic convergence function it was focused in about thirty seconds and the image was crisp and clean (considering the source – digital cable – not HDTV yet…) Although it took me the better part of a day connecting and configuring everything else. I should take a moment to list the components of my home theatre :
Television:
Toshiba 57H83 (rear projection HDTV)
DVD:
Pioneer DV563AS (Progressive scan, 3:2, DVD-A, SACD etc…)
Receiver:
Sony STR-DE995 (7.1 Dolby EX / DTS ES etc… 110w/channel)
Speakers:
Front: KLH 295w – Rear: Pioneer (bookshelf) 149w –Center: Polk 125w – Powered Sub: KLH 150w
Cables:
Whenever possible I used Monster Cable 2 (or 3) for all of my connections.
Back to the television. As with all Projection models that I tested, the best view is from the front with your eye level even with the middle of the screen. Practically a good view could be obtained from about 55 degrees off center in either direction though on the same eye level. The colors are outstanding. A couple of reference DVD's I used were Monsters Inc. and moulin rouge. The first for color and the second for movement and color artifacts. Both DVD's looked stunning. The colors were well defined and true. The animations in MI looked great and the dance sequences in MR were clean and there were no visible aberrations even in the most colorful and fast moving scenes. In a nutshell this television performed very well with very minor tweaking.
The menu system is straightforward and mostly intuitive. The auto contrast setting (there is a light sensor on the front of the unit) is useful if your lighting is subject to drastic changes (though be careful if you tend to watch bright images 90+ contrast- as burn in becomes more of an issue). I like Toshiba's menus as they will let you scroll through choices or simply enter the number of the choice you would like. Like I said, they had the general consumer in mind with this unit.
Some of the other televisions I tested did not handle a basic cable signal very well. One of the reasons I went with this model was its performance in this area. According to Toshiba there is a special chip that helps clean up your basic cable signal. It works pretty well. The images are a little choppy around text, but you have to look hard to notice it, whereas several of the other models I looked at around this price point were noticeably worse
The inputs are plentiful (2 HD, 1 DVI, 1 S video, 2 RCA, 2 RF. There is also video and audio output (analog only). The remote is nice, and lights up, but still rather large and bulky. The sound from the stock speakers (2 @ 20w) is good but not great, it is a little tinny, I prefer to use the audio out to run the sound through the receiver. The screen protector is nice, but it is rather high glare, you can easily see the reflection of anything in front of the TV even in a dim room (add glaring daylight and some areas of the TV become hard to see) but I feel that this is a unit for the home theatre, not the family room…so lighting should be less of an issue.
Overall I can easily recommend this TV to anyone looking to enter the HDTV foray. Though projections may be out of date in the next 7-10 years, for now it is a nice addition and performs very well.
This is my first big screen TV (a replacement for my Toshiba 36" tube). My understandings of HDTV and Projection technology are rather high level, but I feel that you should not have to be an engineer to operate a TV. Toshiba seems to feel the same way.
Out of the box the television looked good. Utilizing the automatic convergence function it was focused in about thirty seconds and the image was crisp and clean (considering the source – digital cable – not HDTV yet…) Although it took me the better part of a day connecting and configuring everything else. I should take a moment to list the components of my home theatre :
Television:
Toshiba 57H83 (rear projection HDTV)
DVD:
Pioneer DV563AS (Progressive scan, 3:2, DVD-A, SACD etc…)
Receiver:
Sony STR-DE995 (7.1 Dolby EX / DTS ES etc… 110w/channel)
Speakers:
Front: KLH 295w – Rear: Pioneer (bookshelf) 149w –Center: Polk 125w – Powered Sub: KLH 150w
Cables:
Whenever possible I used Monster Cable 2 (or 3) for all of my connections.
Back to the television. As with all Projection models that I tested, the best view is from the front with your eye level even with the middle of the screen. Practically a good view could be obtained from about 55 degrees off center in either direction though on the same eye level. The colors are outstanding. A couple of reference DVD's I used were Monsters Inc. and moulin rouge. The first for color and the second for movement and color artifacts. Both DVD's looked stunning. The colors were well defined and true. The animations in MI looked great and the dance sequences in MR were clean and there were no visible aberrations even in the most colorful and fast moving scenes. In a nutshell this television performed very well with very minor tweaking.
The menu system is straightforward and mostly intuitive. The auto contrast setting (there is a light sensor on the front of the unit) is useful if your lighting is subject to drastic changes (though be careful if you tend to watch bright images 90+ contrast- as burn in becomes more of an issue). I like Toshiba's menus as they will let you scroll through choices or simply enter the number of the choice you would like. Like I said, they had the general consumer in mind with this unit.
Some of the other televisions I tested did not handle a basic cable signal very well. One of the reasons I went with this model was its performance in this area. According to Toshiba there is a special chip that helps clean up your basic cable signal. It works pretty well. The images are a little choppy around text, but you have to look hard to notice it, whereas several of the other models I looked at around this price point were noticeably worse
The inputs are plentiful (2 HD, 1 DVI, 1 S video, 2 RCA, 2 RF. There is also video and audio output (analog only). The remote is nice, and lights up, but still rather large and bulky. The sound from the stock speakers (2 @ 20w) is good but not great, it is a little tinny, I prefer to use the audio out to run the sound through the receiver. The screen protector is nice, but it is rather high glare, you can easily see the reflection of anything in front of the TV even in a dim room (add glaring daylight and some areas of the TV become hard to see) but I feel that this is a unit for the home theatre, not the family room…so lighting should be less of an issue.
Overall I can easily recommend this TV to anyone looking to enter the HDTV foray. Though projections may be out of date in the next 7-10 years, for now it is a nice addition and performs very well.
