Official Toshiba AV502U Thread

I've seen a few people posting here and there about purchasing them, but I haven't seen an official thread. I figured it was good time to get a thread together for those that have purchased to share experiences, settings, etc. I myself recently purchased the 37AV502U at a decent discount. I will post some of my own observations later.

Here is what I have seen so far. THis is my first HDTV, so I am somewhat of a noob on this. I feel its an overall solid TV for the money. The HD picture quality is outstanding. I have also tried 480P on DVD (component hookup) with great results. However, the quality of SD depends greatly on the quality of the source signal. SD from OTA looks pretty good. However, the SD off Dish connected via s-video has been spotty at best. You can tell easily when there is a great amount of compression or not. I watched Lost the other night and it looked fantastic. However, I was watching a movie on Spike the other day and it looked like complete crap. Even the same channels vary in signal quality at different times of day. On my old CRT it all looked pretty much the same quality, however, on a larger screen with a higher resolution I guess it all gets exposed. One of the biggest weaknesses is that it is not the best at smoothing jagged edges when dealing with SD. I also noted this oddly enough when watching Wall-E at 480P, which was surprising since every other DVD I watched looked fantastic.

As others have noted, the picture tends to be a little on the red side coming out of the box. I tend to prefer the warmer color so it has not bothered me too much. One of the quickest ways to remedy the problem is to change the color temp to cool, but you will need to make other adjustments. I have no issue with the level of black particularly with the Dynalight on. Since my TV is situated in a fairly bright family room, my settings are a little on the bright side compared to what a lot of others on this fourm would run them on. I also noted that I set the settings brigher for the DVD connected through component then on the other inputs. I have not set up anything through HDMI yet (I plan on upgrading the Dish to HD soon.) I am no expert on color and I don't have a settings disk yet, so I just eyeballed it to my taste right now, but here is what I got my settings at:

Satellite
Contrast 78
Backlight 40
Dynalight ON
Brightness 60
Color 58
Tint 0
Sharpness 0
Dynamic Contast ON
Color Temp Medium
B Drive 2
G Drive -2
CableClear/DNR LOW
MPEG NR OFF

OTA SD/HD - All the same except:
Color 52
Sharpness 8
Brightness 65

DVD Component - all the same except:
Contrast 80
Backlight 45
Brightness 75
Sharpness 12
Tint -6
Dynamic Contrast OFF
G Drive 0

I'll be interested to hear others comments and also what the results are from some more experienced calibrators.

Most LCDs have at least some trouble with motion as its the nature of the beast. I have watched sports with this TV and it is tolerable. I would say that as far as a 37" LCD at this price range, you would have a very hard time finding anything markedly better. Yes, there are several better sets at handling motion out there but at a higher price. The question is whether it is tolerable for you personally. I would try to get to some B&M stores and check it out in person or buy it and try it and if its not sufficient return it. Just like anything else, you need to balance what your needs are for performance with what you can afford price wise. By the way, there are a ton of reviews for this set at Amazon and Best Buy.

I have noticed a hum very briefly when I've first turned the TV on a couple of times, but otherwise I don't notice anything. My backlight is at 40-45 so see if its less noticeable if you turn down the backlight and increase the brightness a little. I generally have pretty sensitive ears for those types of noises so I wonder if its just some sets that have the issue and not others and I have tried to sit and listen specifically for any buzzing with my set. I don't think its related, but on another note, I have my speakers turned off completely since I am hooked up through my sound system.

Update on my TV so far. As far the hum some report: I did pop the TV into "sports mode" which cranks the backlight all the way up and I can detect a hum from my seating position with the volume quiet. At my normal 40-45 setting for the backlight, I do not detect any hum from seating position, even with the sound muted. If i were to go all the way up to the TV and literally put my ear right next to it, I do hear a hum at that setting, but I have found that is the case with almost any piece of electronic equipment to varying degrees.(DVD players, receivers, modems, you name it) Its definitely less anoying the high-pitched whine of just about any CRT I have ever experienced and I'd never be sitting close enough to the TV to ever notice it. I do have my TV in a cabinet which could also be helping to muffle the sound. In my experience with it, if you have your brightness set to the right level, I don't see why you would want the backlight set up above 50 anyway. In "Standard mode" the backlight is at I believe 70 and the picture does not appear any "dimmer" with my settings of 40 for the backlight and 65 for brightness. As i've said before, my TV is in a fairly bright room so if you have it in a dimmer room, you could probably get away with even lower settings. Maybe my TV is an exception, but that is just my personal experiences.

As far as any problems, every once in a great while, the screen will randomly go dark at which point you need to turn it off and turn it back on and it is fixed. It's happened three times total and it has been completely random with no noticeable pattern or condition. No correlation to run time or anything occuring in source material. I figure it is a firmware glitch of some sort. It hasn't happened again in a while so if it does, maybe I'll try a firmware upgrade.

My other annoyance is that the IR sensor is ridiculously weak. I have heard some complain about the remote for the TV. Having tried a few Universal remotes with the set now, I can safely say its not the remote, but the sensor. You literally have to point the remote directly at that sensor to get it to respond. It wreaks havoc on macro buttons if you don't have your remote pointed in the right spot. My kids have a heck of a time to get the TV to turn on and off and they can't get to the manual power button.

Yes the R just means its the 2009 model.