TV Reviews

This TV rocks. Packaged with lots of features and connectivity options and HDTV built in tuner. Picture quality is very good. No wonder Toshiba is better than Sony in Projection TV's (I own both). Wouldn't want to talk about all the features as those can be read by anyone in product features in many websites. A must buy. This Theaterwide series form Toshiba is real power packed in features. Sound quality and picture settings are very easy and crisp. The Auto TV guide one touch recording is fantastic. I was more interested in the IEEE and HDI connectivity. There is also SmartMdiaCard reader to watch pics out of the digicam. I bought indoor HDTV antenna from Jensen and it works great. Digital local channels off the air are free and you can watch HDTV prime time programs without any other cost (I am watching Fox, ABC and NBC digital ones). Sound output fascinates with 40W speakers and SRS Wow.There is another line from Toshiba known as Cinema Series. That looks little refined than this TheatreWide one but then if you plan to spend that much, you might as well buy an LCD or DLP projection TV.

My husband and I could not be happier with this TV. It was delivered on time and set-up by the delivery service. The picture is fantastic as is the sound. Highly recommend this TV if you are in the market for a large screen.

This TV is the best home theatre purchase i have ever made. The picture is sharp and beautiful. DVD's look incredible in their 16x9 widescreen format. This TV is the reason why i quit going to the theater to see movies. The settings are easy to use and set up and the picture in picture split screen is cool.
This TV is worth every penny of the price!

Many of my friends got big screen projection TVs. But I wanted quality, not quantity. Well. When my Toshiba arrived, I was not let down. The picture quality is unsurpassed. Not the largest. But no doubt, the best! No regrets. I have been watching DVD's like crazy. And with my 6 channel sound system. It's better than going to the theater... When you compare the cost of two tickets at the theater to you and the wife buying a DVD and watching it on a system like this at home. It's a no brainer. And you have a library of great movies for company. Great TV/Home theater! Especially at this price.

This Television is great. I have owned many other laerge screen TVs that are bigger than this and cost hundreds more, but i beleive this is a great tv because it has super clear picture, and excellent sound.

I highly recommend purchasing this product. The video quality is superb, and the audio is much better than I expected. The price offered by Amazon was not to be equalled by any other vendor. The TV/DVD was delivered and set up by a professional. Kudos!!!

I just picked up this great little Toshiba TV/VCR combo for my brother who is living the dorm life.

He says it is perfect in that it takes up much less space than a TV and a clunky VCR, the reception, picture and color are good and it's easy to move around or bring to another dorm room to watch movies.

I say it's perfect because it cost less than a hundred dollars and made my brother so happy. Thanks Toshiba!

This is one of the better combination TV-VCRs I have seen. Panasonic and Sony also both make good 9-inch TVs. Toshiba's combination TV-VCRs often gets overlooked. However, this is an excellent set and performs equally well. The picture is crisp and sharp. The built-in Digital tracking 2 head VCR makes VHS tapes look very good. You get front A/V (RCA type) inputs with a TV/game switch. The VCR has good high-speed fast-forward and rewind performance. It also has time-shift recording capability and a built-in head cleaner. The front panel features a useful headphone jack. The 'Black' cabinet design is uniquely handsome and looks better than other competitor models.

Picture quality is very good, no lines as seen on some rear projection televisions. Sound is clear

The Avermedia TVBox 9 does everything as advertised! This unit fits the bill for the 3 indispensable features I had in mind for a TV Tuner:

1) includes a remote control
2) lets you work on your computer while you watch TV in a little window
3) Full screen mode

Additional features that were a welcome bonus for me:

1) PNP - or Picture-in-Picture with See-Through Translucent Mode -- pretty nifty!
At first I thought the PNP feature refers to the ability to view other channels in a little window overlaid on the current channel I'm on. Actually, to my disappointment, this feature refers to the ability to view TV in a little window over the computer desktop, so you can work on your computer while you watch TV. The PNP terminology was a little misleading! What's nice though is the little TV window can be made translucent, so you can see through it to view what's on your computer. There is no way, however, to adjust the level of transparency. I use the translucency feature mostly on news channels, where visuals aren't that important. You can also position the TV window anywhere on the screen with the remote.

2) This unit is pretty much a full-feature TV. It includes your usual TV features such as Closed Caption/Parental Control, Supports Multiple Input Sources (Video, DVD, Game Console, etc.), OSD (On-Sreen Display), Sleep Timer (30 - 150 min, in 30 min increments), Favorite Channel Programming (haven't figured out how to work it yet), Full-Function remote (in other words you can control or set everything with the remote along with the OSD).

3) Multiple Channel Preview.
View 13 channels simultaneously. Well, actually, each channel is set in motion for about half a second and becomes a still. Regardless, you're still able to get an idea of what's on each channel, select what you want to watch, and watch it in full screen. I do find this feature very useful to quickly find the channel I wish to watch.

Pros
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In addition to the above features, this unit also has the following pros:

- Easy setup. Within minutes, I was up and running. No need to install any software. Just plug in your video and sound cables to the correct in/out outlets and you're ready to go. I didn't even need the manual! The only hitch I ran into was the PNP function. Whenever I was in the PNP mode, the screen would flicker on and off. Adjusting the TV screen resolution didn't help. However, when I messed with the color setting by changing from 32 bits to 16 bits, then back to 32 bits, the glitch stopped -- much to my relief! I suppose resetting of the screen color setting somehow helped the TVBox recognize the video settings on my monitor/computer.

- Watch TV without turning on your computer.

- Good picture quality. Allows you to fine-tune the picture and has Brightness/Contrast/Tint/Color/Sharpness adjustments. I'm using it on a CRT monitor and I'm pleased with the picture quality (I still prefer CRT's over LCD's. Plasma's great, but gosh, they're still so pricey!) If you have it hooked up to a LCD, I reckon the picture quality will rival that on the Sharp Aquos line of LCD TV's.

- Console is really slim, space-saving, and cool-looking.
The silver color will match most computer systems. It can be laid down or set upright.

- Remote control buttons are conveniently laid out and intuitive (A big plus for me.)

Cons
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- PNP TV picture not resizable. Regardless, the size is big enough to allow me to comfortably watch TV while I work on my computer. On my 17 inch monitor at a 1024 x 768 resolution, the box is roughly 1/9th the size of my screen. Also, when you turn off the unit and turn it back on again, it doesn't remember the last mode you were in (PNP or full screen.)

- HDTV not supported. Not a biggie for me. The picture quality is very good as it is!

- Surround sound not supported -- only stereo sound is supported.

- A little pricier than other comparable units. The TVBox 5, the predecessor to the TVBox 9, is significantly cheaper than the TVBox 9. However, TVBox 9 is an improvement over TVBox 5 with the addition of Closed Caption/Parental Control , Channel Preview, and image enhancement capabilities.

Features Not Supported
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- Video capture/recording.
Consider the Avermedia MDVDEZUSB External Video Capture Device that lets you do just that. Other companies such as Hauppauge and Startech also incorporate this feature in their tuners. The Avermedia version even lets you record your TV shows onto your DVD or CD.

Conclusion
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The cons and the lack of some additional features have not deterred me from buying this unit. Make no mistake -- I love this unit! I only wish it had a true PNP function. I have looked at Startech, Viewsonic, Hauppauge, Samsung and I find the Avermedia to be the best TV tuner unit for a basic TV tuner. In my opinion, if you're looking for a TV Tuner for your home or office that has a remote control and lets you work on your computer while you watch TV and supports full screen mode, the Avermedia TVBox 9 is THE unit to get!