Toshiba 40TL868B 40-inch Widescreen Full HD 1080p 3D-Ready SMART Internet LED TV with Freeview

This may take some time so bear with me...

TV QUALITY

From having standard 26inch CRT TV for a number of years I decided to catch up with everyone else when I came across this 40 LED 3D TV which was on offer with a free Toshiba 3D Blu-ray player and free 12 months membership for Love film all well under £500. I always thought that if I was to upgrade it would be to a 3D. LED TVs are in my view a better allrounder than Plasma and LCD. OK plus points are the slim line size with 4 HDMI, 2 USBs, Scart and the other usual video and digital outs all easilt and sensibily situated. Like most TVs the set up was easy and of no fuss. Because of the backlight the quality and vivid colours are excellant. My brother, father and friends who have other makes which are not backlit all say that the Toshiba is a better picture. Even more so with the Blu-ray.

WOW 3D.

You can only view 3D DVDs through 'anti shutter glasses' These are not cheap and you do have to buy the Toshiba own make. Go for their latest ones and not the cheaper Toshiba set as they were specific for their Regenza range of TVs. The glasses are smart, and so far have lasted weeks with needing a re-charge. I made the mistake of buying a cheaper 'universal' second pair which I had to return as although the Amazon ad said they were compatible with Toshiba and other makes, they were not and the instruction booklet specifically said they will only work on a Samsung 3D TV. So be wary if you buy other than the Toshiba glasses. For your first 3D blu-ray film I would suggest buying Ocean 3D Adventure (£6) the effects are astonishing and a great cheap taster of 3D. However my advice to you would be that unless you were purchasing a 46inch+ 3D TV anti-shutter glasses give better depth and clarity however for TVs of the 37-42 inch then look around for passive 3D TVs as I'm told and from vaious reviews for our size TVs the qualities are similar. In which case passive glasses are so, so, so much cheaper.

INTERNET READY

By purchasing the Toshiba dual band dongle it was easy to connect and slots in at the side of the TV without protruding. I pick up broadband fine (through 2 walls) and can view BBC i-player and You tube faultlessly. Toshiba has it's own internet viewing section called Toshiba places where you can download/stream films and alsorts (there is even a dedicated childrens channel) however unless you want to view the free movies which are dated B movies then like most companies ie LoveFilm you will need a subscription. I do much good use of the BBC i-player though especially as it broadcasts in HD. When you are setup you can also update the firmware automatically. Although this TV didn't need it.

I have connected my Nokia N8 phone simply by usb and can watch my videos and photographs very easily.

BAD POINT IS THE SOUND.

I was spoilt with my old TV (although small by todays standards) the sound was excellant and had sorround speakers. Most slim TVs now are poor and the quality of sound on this one is no exception although you would have to accept that with such a thin TV with back facing speakers. I find there is sound distortion with TV sound that has bass however sound quality does improve when watching blu-ray. For me though after a couple weeks I decided to invest in a soundbar. I would recommend a soundbar to you all. I did not want to pay crazy £200+ prices for top notch sound. Unless you want to cause the walls to vibrate and for easy set up and compatibility I would recommend the Sharp SB250 Soundbar with SRS for £99 on Amazon. This sits perfectly on the TV stand without obscuring the remote sensor of the TV. The sound quality is superb including the bass from the built in subwoofers. The width falls within the TV dimensions so does not look odd. It also connects and works easily with built in presets for cinema sound, music, news etc. Also has remote control.

TOSHIBA 3D BLU-RAY PLAYER.

Not too much to say - works absolutely perfectly. Oh just one thing I have watched about 6 3D films with no problem but when I came to watching Captain America (don't judge!) on 3D it would not play. I had to download a firmware update off the Toshiba website onto a USB then slot this directly into the Blu-ray (not the TV) and follow the easy upgrade instructions which you can print off. But it's so easy to do you don't really need to. CA 3D then worked perfectly so this should not happen again.

I hope this helps some people but overall I am very satisfied with my Toshiba 3D TV and the deal I got this for. Unless the TV is offered with a package (ie 3d blu-ray player or a pair of antishutter glasses) I would suggest looking around at passive 3d LED TVs if this is the TV size you are after. Like I said above if you want 46inch+ then you should go for anti-shutter 3D anyway.

Writing this after a couple of weeks so I'm getting used to the quirks. Previous screen was a 32" Toshiba, this 40" screen is just right for movies viewing at 3.5m, feels much bigger than the 32"

Pluses -
Great picture even on the standard broadcasts, HD is startlingly crisp.
DVD's and recorded (hard drive) stuff are excellent connected via HDMI.
Very stylish, lovely thin bezel and remarkably slim body.

Less good -
You need to get used to the logic of the remote control, I actually prefer the Toshiba's to the Sony style but it does take some getting used to. The black on blue highlight on the guide is less than clear and it doesn't lose programs that finish off the half hour so can be a little confusing but it's okay.

Downside of the slim body are the inbuilt speakers which can sound a little thin, however with this technology you should really be connecting an external sound system, I use the headphone socket to connect to my hi-fi and the sound is excellent like this, full, dynamic and well synchronised with the picture.

You do need to experiment with the backlight and contrast to get a realistic picture. I find somewhere around 80% works in my room but everyone sees stuff a little differently, I haven't felt the need to mess about with the advanced controls.

Connected to the internet with an ethernet cable no problem but my broadband is too slow to give decent full video so can't really comment on Iplayer etc.

Conclusion - after a few tweaks it gives great performance, looks good and is really fantastic value. Very pleased.

Previously I had a 37 720P Toshiba LCD TV, and as it had served me well without a single problem for 6 years, I was happy to look at a Toshiba again. Initially I was going to go for the highly rated Samsung 40D5520, as friends of mine have it and the picture quality was fantastic. Then I read that this set had also been really well received by What HiFi, so I thought I would take a closer look as it has 3D too.

Now I appreciate I'm starting to look like a Toshiba fanboy here, as it's the third one I've bought in 6 years (the second being a 32 inch screen I use as my main computer monitor). I like other TVs too, it's just that Toshiba seem to be offering the best value every time I'm in the market for a new TV.

The specs are impressive, with 3D capability, 100Hz refresh rate, as well as being 1080P and having internet connectivity. It has a Freeview HD receiver, and of course being LED, also has low power usage. So, largely due to the fact that this set does 3D too, I opted for it over the Samsung, and awaited it's delivery nervously, hoping that the picture quality was as good. I was not disappointed. I'm not sure what the panel technology is, as I couldn't find any info on this, but it's probably either an IPS-A or MVA/PVA panel. Either way the blacks are much, ehm, blacker, and the contrast in general is a big improvement over the old TV. Push an HD signal through it and suddenly you are enjoying the promised land of HD TV. Both the HD freeview tuner and blu-ray from my PS3 look stunning. I have though had to buy a freeview HD pvr now as my old standard def pvr is a little exposed on this screen, although better than I feared. The optical out also meant that at last I could get great sound from the TV to my av receiver - a must as the sound quality on this is not great (but then I'm used to a reasonable quality 5.1 set-up with an active sub). Motion is handled pretty well, but it's not as smooth as a the pana plasma sets that I've seen - if super-slick panning is really important to you then a plasma is probably the way to go. Personally I felt the difference wasn't big enough to justify opting for plasma, as I wanted lower running costs and didn't want to go up to 42 inches (which they all tend to be).

There is some inconsistent back-lighting from the LEDs at the corner of this set but only when there is no signal coming through from what I can see. As soon as the TV has a signal coming through I cannot see any issues. I think it's a common issue with many edge-LED backlight TVs, I noticed the same thing on a Sony set. What HiFi found exactly the same issue that I have, but also commented on there being no issue with the TV once you are watching something, so I was not concerned by this.

The only thing I've not tried is the 3D functionality. Although I'm convinced, for now at least, that the active shutter glasses 3D technology gives the best picture. There are drawbacks to it (won't go into it here, search the forums, there's plenty of info), not least of which is looking like a numpty with the glasses on, but at least you get the 3D effect in HD. Passive 3D splits the signal reducing the resolution.

The only let down for me was the "smart" element of this TV. Now to be fair I have no idea what the other makes are like, but having been used to the offerings through my PS3 I was somewhat underwhelmed but this TV. The interface is ok and attractive enough, but I could find no simple way from the menu to pick up the content from my NAS drive, which my PS3 saw straight away and offered up content in a simple and user-friendly way. The PS3 also has a greater selection of content and the interface is slicker, so in short I'll probably stick with it.

Pros:
- Great picture quality
- Good handling of motion including sports and panning shots
- HD tuner gives great pics
- Digital optical audio output
- Good number of connections (4 HDMI and component)
- Super slim design, takes up same width as old 37 inch LCD TV (about 92cm)

Cons:
- Inconsistent back-lighting (although does not appear to affect pic quality)
- Smart TV is unimpressive (if you have a ps3 you'll be sticking with it for online content)
- Sound not great
- ARC??

Overall I probably would give the TV 4.5 stars, but it's sheer value for money makes me bump it to 5 rather than down to 4.

**EDIT**

Having played around with the set a little more I'm both more impressed and less impressed with the Smart features (confused? so was I). It's a little clunky regards the menu system, and I stand by what I said about the TV vs PS3, the playstation is sooo much easier and logical to navigate. Naturally I thought that if you go to "Toshiba Places", which is their online portal, and went to "Video" it would show all the online content and my network content. But no nothing from NAS there. I then went into the menu, over to applications, and then realised that there is "network content" (might not be exact wording, but similar to that). Viola, all my movies and music were there served up from my NAS, and all played faultlessly, if anything a little quicker than the PS3, and certainly drawing less power than having to have both the telly and the PS3 on. Hence, suddenly I'm thinking the TVs smart credentials are better than first thought. Ultimately I'll forgive the awkward "Applications" menu for the simplicity of only having to use one device to access my content. Also the Toshiba Places interface is not that bad.

So then I thought, lets try watching iPlayer. I go to the Toshiba Places portal, quickly and easily find iPlayer, and select it. It loads, or appears to, then suddenly says that you have to access iPlayer from the Applications menu. So why put a link in the portal that does not work?!! Irritating but not the end of the world, so then I go to the Applications menu and see that iPlayer is greyed out, and not selectable as an option. Grrr. It's probably solvable via a firmware update but still, it's a pretty glaring error, given that out of all of the online content, it's probably the one thing people really want.

So in summary, yes you can stream content via your network from a NAS drive, and yes it works pretty well. Just don't go selling your PS3 just yet.

Finally, I'm not sure that this TV has Audio Return Channel (ARC), I've got a new amp which supports it but I cant find any reference to it in the Toshiba info, so might be something to look out for if this is important to you. For those who don't know ARC is where the HDMI input to the TV from your amp can also carry the audio signal back down the same HDMI lead if you want the audio from your TV through your amp (as opposed to having to connect an optical cable).