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User Submitted Toshiba 30HF66 30" Upconverting Widescreen Pure Flat CRT HDTV Reviews Date: 2008-07-04 For the price -- I like it!! I got my unit 2 years ago from a sale at Kmart- the unit cost a third of a grand. I needed a HDTV for the apartment living room but didnt have the budget for the plasma/LCD types so I settled for CRT. So far, so good. Since then, a lot more channels upgraded to HD, so I wasn't "left behind." I now have the budget for a 46" or bigger LCD TV. When the time comes, this CRT will be moving into the bedroom, the perfect spot for it's size! Date: 2007-12-08 excellent picture after tweaking I bought this tv from kmart as a display, not one problem yet, set does need to be tweaked to get best picture, and weighs an amazingly hefty 120 lbs. not for the faint of heart. as with ANY HD crt, watch out for magnets!!!! the can pull these tiny pixels enough to ruin your evening trying to get the set back to normal :)... db Date: 2007-03-14 An amature speaks up I read all the reviews and bought the set early in 2007. It seems to me most the reviews were a bit harsh based on my experience thus far. Besides, in scanning the ratings in Consumer Reports it became obvious that Toshiba consistantly ranks high in [...] tubes. They didn't rank this particular set real high, but for the money, it seemed like a steal. I bought mine on sale from Amazon for four C-notes, shipping included. A great price for a top-name 30" HDTV-capable set. Reading all the technology info in the product description is enough to put a graduate Electrical Engineer in the fetal position. In laymans terms, the set has it all and can do everything. I chose the infamous 'free shipping' option and waited 3 weeks for my set. No big deal- the price was right for a 130 pound box that can hardly fit through your door. The set arrived packaged well and undamaged. I have only an outside antenna for reception, and live on a hill about 25 miles from the nearest transmitting towers so I expected to be reception-challenged. The set up went well as the installation/set-up guide is very well written. I plugged the set in and, as promised, the set automatically conducted its own set-up, scanning the input signals for all stations that could be received. When done, I found I could receive several more stations than I had in the past, including two HDTV signals. That's the good news. The bad news is that I get a message 'signal strength too weak' whenever I try and tune to the HDTV frequencies. My hunch is that I will get reception once I mount my antenna higher above ground level. Stay tuned! The picture is much better than my previous set- even with the factory settings. Other reviewers are correct when they say you should expect to spend some quality time adjusting the set for the best picture. There is a ton of new technology in this set and if you want to make the most of it, take the time to learn the menues and various settings. Once I figured out the best settings for various inputs (Video, DVD, antenna), the picture proved to be all that was advertised. I am especially impressed with DVD's- the picture is sharp and color accurate. Those reviewers who are more electromagnetically sophisticated may be let down, but so far I'm more than satisfied. Update 3/25/07. Regarding the automatic channel scan feature: this is one of the ways to add receivable channels to memory. The TV is supposed to scan all available frequencies and automatically add the ones with good signal strength. I chose this method during the initial start-up, and the set found 6 regular stations and two HD frequencies, but the HD signals were so weak I was never able to actually get a picture. On a hunch, I later tried adding some channels manually. Much to my surprise, I have been able to add 8 HD stations! And here's something else- I have never seen such unbelievable clarity in TV reception. The HD stations come through with absolutely zero interference, static, etc. The pictures are perfect. I was unaware that HD had this advantage over analog signals. Even during times of very poor weather the pictures remain perfect. All this with just an antenna! (I did buy a good antenna- it's a Turk model 36 meant to receive both analog and HD signals). The cable and dish companies are certainly in trouble. I can't say I feel bad about that. UPDATE 8/07 OK- the honeymoon is over. After performing flawlessly for months, I can no longer access the main menu and the channel number is no longer breifly displayed. I've tried several things to fix it but now am faced with resorting to warranty coverage to fix. Bummer. Revised rating- 2 stars. Date: 2006-11-16 You get what you pay for I bought this TV at BestBuy, and got my friends to lug this beast into my room. The first thing I noticed while setting it up, was that the batteries it came with were dead. Next, I noticed there were tiny bits of dust behind the screen, where to this day I can see two black specs if I look for them. When I got it set up, the geometry was a bit messed up (4:3 mode's lines weren't straight). By boldy entering the service menu, I was able to correct this issue for the most part. Next, I noticed bold colors (especially red) ran, and blurred the overall image. I was able to fix this by lowering the contrast to no higher than 17/50. Also, as a previous poster had mentioned, black details are lost in darker scenes. I fixed this by calibrating my TV off of the 'Movie' preset (which keeps contrast low, and brightness medium-high). However, after much tuning, I went from having a crappy bargain-bin item to a beautiful 1080i picture, and an amazing step up from my SDTV. I can't quite say I recommend the set, but if you feel confident in your abilities to tweak the overall image, and you're on a tight budget, then this set may just do the trick! Date: 2006-08-15 Disappointed I got this TV from BestBuy at a knockdown price as an open-box item. Although it's got a great picture and is feature packed, the TV turned out to be faulty and randomly turns off for no apparent reason, or doesn't turn on at all. BestBuy offered to replace it with a brand new one, except it's been discontinued, so I opted to return it and get a refund, though anything brand new will be nearly double the price. Quite disappointed though. Any TV randomly turning off is a big problem, and coupled with the fact that Toshiba are outsourcing the manufacturing of their tube TV's to Orion, and BestBuy discontinuing this new-ish TV so soon rings alarm bells for me. I'd stay clear of this product.
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