Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Toshiba 50LF621U19 50-inch Smart 4K UHD TV

Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2018

I usually wait a month or more to review a product to insure I give a fair accounting of it. But this Amazon Alexa enabled TV is just to good to wait in the face of some poor reviews from people who didn't realize what they were purchasing or never used Fire-TV and Alexa before, both of which require a learning curve to love it.

PRO's:
Ease of setup - Took it out of the double packed boxes installed the stand legs, connect the power cord, and antenna cable, put the batteries in the remote and turned it on by the remote. It immediately went through the setup process where I put in my Amazon account information. That fast there was all of my Amazon Fire and Prime programs and history. Next it scanned the antenna for channels and found 15 more then the old TV could fine. In 30 minutes (I'm a Old man a younger man could do it in half the time) it was up and running.

Video - Great looking video. Played moves off the air and 4K content frome prime all of which is as good or very close to the much more expensive TV's.

Sound - The audio was great for vt speakers. I later hook up my old surround sound system which was even better.

Ease of Use - With Alexa control and the one putton channel guide finding just the right thing to watch is a breeze, but once again a learning curve to it.

CON's:

Shipping boxes - Good news / bad news the shipping boxes weighs as much as the TV. No pissedoff delivey man is going to hurt that TV. The bad part for me is I'm a 74 year old disabled veteran. If I do this again I'll ask someone to help.

Manual (what manual) - Other then a small quick setup guide there is no printed instructions. Maybe soon Toshiba will put one on their website. For me with little to do all day I was able to hunt and peck my way through it but others might not have the time.

All and all this one great TV especially if you are vested in Amazon Prime. All the feathers at this price is a great value.

1,714 people found this helpful

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Kissell

Exactly what I was looking for.

Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2018

Verified Purchase

So first, let me point out by far the two worst things about this TV. 1) It is meant for the cord-cutters, if you primarily use only streaming apps then it's great, but if you want to use HDMI input or something like that it's not as good, although a new setting does promise to default to your last input I haven't tried it. 2) It is thick, many other posts have mentioned this, but even though I'd read those I didn't expect it to be as thick as it is, it's literally inches thicker than the old samsung it replaced, like whatever you're thinking on thick, just add a few inches, cause it is seriously thick, so thick that I want to buy another one of these for my main living room, but I'm not going to put a TV this thick into such a prominent public space. I thought people were just complaining about it being thick, but that "thick" had to be okay still cause it was many years newer than my old TV. Anyway, not a problem for me cause I use this as a TV in a back bedroom anyway, but I wouldn't be happy with how thick it is in my main living room.

Now that all that's out of the way, I still give it 5-stars. Why? Cause it's freaking amazing. First off the picture is 4k which was an upgrade for the TV this replaced, and the picture looks great. I am also just using the stock TV speakers for now, and they're surprisingly decent for built-in speakers. But what I love most about it, is how gosh darn quick and responsive the interface is. When I power it on, it powers up near instantly, and when I open an app it acts like it's just alt-tab switching to it like it was already open, and when I navigate the apps, they move so quick. I primarily use Plex, and on my old TV I had to wait for Roku to boot up, took forever, then I had to launch the plex app, which also took forever, then Plex was slow to navigate and would sometimes crash. All those issues are gone with Fire TV built-into this TV. Plex just opens instantly and navigates flawlessly, so quick, I love it, and since I primarily just use that one app where this TV is, this is perfect for me.

Also, I didn't expect to care at all about the alexa-enabled feature, as I already have a bunch of echo dots and a lot of home automation... however, I actually love the alexa remote. I often ask alexa to do something, like set an alarm, or adjust lighting, ect... and when the TV is on this can make alexa not hear me well. However, with the alexa remote it automatically pauses the video while I press-to-talk to alexa, and automatically unpauses when I let go, and this surprisingly works out really well for me.

This TV was seriously cheap, I got the 50" for under $300. That was a huge plus. Also the whole reason I got it was it was one of the only 4K TV's on the market with Fire TV built-in. That was important to me because I had having several remotes just to use the TV, I want to just always use the native TV remote, so buying a 4k TV and then adding an external Fire TV box wasn't an ideal solution for me. Plus being alexa-enabled I can turn it on by voice with the other echos in the house, not a huge deal, but it is nice to be able to turn it on by voice as I'm walking towards the room it's in so it's ready to go when I get there, even though it does turn on extremely fast anyway.

Overall, I just love how fast the menu is. That's something you never really know until you get your hands on it, and it's such a stark contrast to the TV it replaced, that I want to replace more TVs with this for their 4k Upgrade, however, the thickness bothers me for a main living room. I'd pay three times as much if they'd make a thin 65" version of this and I'd buy it for the main living room.

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Joel Perry

Absolutely amazing for the price!

Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2019

Verified Purchase

This review is specific to the 55" model.

I have only one complaint about this TV and want to get it out of the way first. Buying a Fire TV gives EVERY person who uses it FULL ACCESS to your amazon account. This includes product suggestions based off your shopping history, and the ability to make purchases on your credit/debit card. I would be happier if the TV turned on with a profile selection like Netflix does when you launch the app.

I was concerned after reading other reviews for the Toshiba Fire TV; however I do not think they are all for this model as Amazon is well known for "fluffing" the reviews on a product by using other product reviews.

Things I found different in my experience than other reviewers stated:
1. I can easily view the display without color distortion at 177 degrees or so, it is clean, clear, and no distortion or color changing at sharp angles.
2. The sound is fantastic, I normally watch this TV between 8 and 16 depending on the noise level around me (open living/dining room AND kitchen, plus I have small kids and a wife in the house, with no other common space in the home besides these rooms). My kids watch their shows between volume 4 and 7, again, unless the ambient noise is too high. I returned my sound bar as it popped and clicked, I then took a 23 year old Sony 1100Watt Receiver out and connected 650W of speakers (no subwoofer) to the TV via Optical cable; however we almost never use the receiver, the sound is good enough as is. I have the TV catercornered, so the speakers are not close to the wall (they are down firing to the best of my knowledge). I have never had any issue understanding voices at ANY volume level from 4-26 on the TV (plus I love being able to say "Alexa set my fire TV volume to 12" and it does it!)
3. The TV arrived in the box you would expect to see it in at Best Buy (note that Best Buy has their logo on the product sticker on the back of the TV, where the Serial Number and FCC ID are located), it arrived in the rain and sat on my front porch (in the rain, not protected) for about 8 hours before I became aware of it (I was asleep, I work nights and everyone else was away for several days). The water while completely covering the exterior of the box did NOT get inside at all. The TV was wrapped in a thin foam "blanket" that should have protected it even if water did get in. The box was easy to remove and the TV is light enough for one person to lift (a good 10-15 pounds lighter than the 40" I replaced with this 55").
4. I have had no issues with screen defects and have been using the TV since about 6 days after Black Friday 2018 (almost 90 days now), as much as 20 hours in a day. I have watched 4k content, 1080p content, and even 720p content on it, all looked good (although the 720p, from youtube, was a good bit blocky and I don't intend on doing that again! I do not know if it was upscaling and at the time I did not check to see if it was or could)

To be honest, I have not used the built in Alexa since day 2, which was simply to show my wife it actually was there. I have an Echo sitting next to the TV and simply tell it to manage the TV for me, all commands work, even watching a show in the Netflix app will launch from Alexa, even if the TV is turned off. I have recommended this TV several times at this point and will continue to do so. I am expecting a good sale price on it for Prime day and quite possibly will be ordering another in the future (but not likely this year).

I hope Amazon works to make the overall experience better (profiles for the love Hawking!)

One person found this helpful

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arev

Initially good but suddenly washed out/ defective display

Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2018

Verified Purchase

Initially we were happy with the product especially since we got it a very good price last Amazon Prime Day sale on July 16, 2018. We liked how we can watch and stream shows easily thru various apps like Netflix, Amazon video, Dramafever, Rakuten etc. Very lighrweight tv and just right for our needs. However to our surprise just awhile ago August 22, 2018, while streaming a drama series, the on screen display turned washed out/white screen. Turned on and off the tv several times to see if it will reboot/restart properly. Unfortunately nothing remedied it. Either you get back to that washed out screen or a totally black screen no apps at all. I have just submitted a replacement request thru Amazon customer service so we will see what happens and how fast they will address our complaint.

Just an update, so we ended up being told by Amazon, to contact Best Buy and we did that by email at the same time indicating in the letter we want a replacement. Best Buy replied to us that it is outside of the return period if we want contact Toshiba directly. So, we did just that..with sheer frustration of course being tossed around. Toshiba nicely told me that they will send the techinician and I asked which company handle this techinician is it Toshiba or a third party. Ironically, they are coordinating with who else. The Geek Squad. Oh dear..back to Best Buy then. The Geek Squad guy came on the appointment date, just a few minutes late, but was nice enough. His assessment as discussed with whoever was on the other end of the line came down to an approval for a replacement. So we were asked to bring the tv over to our local Best Buy, gave us the confirmation and work numbers. Even gave us his business card and that of his manager if in case we encounter problems. For some reason it seems it is not common for them to service products sold by Best Buy throught the Amazon website.

So we went to our local Best Buy. The lady was nice enough, and honest enough to say she was not familiar with an Amazon sale of a Best Buy product. So I had to tell her again the long story of how we got the tv etc etc. Finally someone helped her encode the return correctly and we had a store credit for the complete amount we paid for. However when we got the replacement tv, the price in store is slightly higher so we had to shoulder now the difference. Well, we just paid for it. So in short losing the advantage of that Prime deal sale price which did not work at all with a defective product. We do wish these three companies, Amazon, Best Buy and Toshiba iron out the way they handle requests for replacements and returns....seems initially both Amazon and Best Buy did not want to shoulder the return. If we had not insisted on availing the limited manufacturer's warranty, we would just have been left with a useless crap of a tv.

So we are now watching on this 2nd toshiba tv we got in store at our local Best Buy. Will see if this one will work much better.

So beware fellow buyers, was it a good buy now?? Not really after all that ordeal to get a defective product replaced. So buyer beware!!

6,366 people found this helpful

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Seb

The Apps suck

Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2018

Verified Purchase

So, I got this TV crazy cheap during Black Friday (under $200) so my expectations may be different from others but for the price I paid, the TV is decent. The screen looks nice (maybe my standards are low, its my first 4k), the audio is loud and clear (I put it at 50 out of 100 so I can hear it from 25 ft away while cooking and generally have the volume under 20, to give you an idea of how loud it is).

And yeah, its an Amazon TV so you're getting Amazon promo stuff. I never notice it, I just instinctively scroll down to what I'm actually looking for. My main problem with this TV is that the apps for it are terrible. I'm a news junkie and CNN takes forever to load, MSNBC (actually just NBC, there isn't a separate MSNBC app) rarely if ever loads, in fact, only Fox News works properly. Plex is also a risky proposition with this TV, sometimes it works great, sometimes it doesn't work at all. I suspect it has something to do with the TV telling the server it can handle a format that it actually can't and so the server isn't transcoding it properly, but I haven't actually figured out the exact problem, so I'm just making an educated guess. I've found myself having to go into the settings to manually reset the TV several times trying to interact with those apps. Ultimately I found myself sideloading my Verizon FIOS app to watch TV, and yeah I had to sideload it because Amazon doesn't have a Verizon app of its own. Which caused its own problem because the app needs a mouse to work (not a big deal for me, I had a spare wireless mouse, but just be advised).

But, now that I have that all sorted out, I have a relatively lovely TV that I am pretty happy with (especially for the price) that has all the cable channels I pay for without actually having to pay extra for a cable box (or even be connected to the cable outlet). The wifi works well, I can watch Plex (with the caveat mentioned above), TV (via the FIOS app), Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. without stuttering despite the router being on a different floor. Still, if there's ever an open source OS so I can jailbreak this puppy (maybe just replace its Amazon OS with something like OpenELEC), I'll be all over it.

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ContraAl

Simplicity is the key. Good picture, great price, single remote = Nirvana.

Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2018

Verified Purchase

I've tested a few "Smart" TVs and found that most of them come up short. When shopping I looked at Roku TVs and the interface seemed like an afterthought. I really had sworn off all-in-one units but pulled the trigger on Prime Day and <poof>, there was a Toshiba 50 in my living room.
Picture = 7/10 It's better than most units in the price point but it's not a 480 Hz Samsung.
Sound (internal) = 4/10 I found the internal speaker to be bright and tinny. (more later)
Price = 9/10 If you add up a 50in 4K, FireTV stick, Ethernet adapter, and Sideclick remote for volume, it would be very close.
Remote = 9/10

Ok, sound... Ugh.. The internal speakers by themselves we not so great, so idea #1 was to add on a sub. There are two outputs (3.5mm headphone jack and optical out) so sure why wouldn't it work? Turns out, when something is connected to either outputs the internal speakers turn off. I tried connecting a sub to the optical out but that would require more gear with an extra remote. My final solution was to run headphone jack to RCA into a BOSE Cinemate Series 1. Problem solved.

Now on to the stuff I really, really like about the TV.
1) It is a complete FireTV interface not a Toshiba TV and an add-on app. All the TV functions are run through FireTV menu items for a super clean integration. I just hope the engineers thoroughly test against the TVs because that could be a bad day.
2) The price ('nuff said)
3) The OTA tuner has a channel guide built-in. I don't watch a lot of terrestrial content but it's nice to see the schedule of upcoming shows. Gone are the days of blind channel surfing. Hurrah! There is also a built-in buffer so you can pause and rewind live TV.
4) The TV automatically turns off. Now I'm not talking about a sleep timer that you have to set. Oh no.. This is so much better. If you are watching a video and it ends, first it goes to the screen saver, waits, and then turns itself off. Great for watching movies at bedtime.
5) There is now only ONE, easy to use remote sitting on my table. Change channels, switch inputs, adjust volume, power on/off all from a single remote at no extra charge? But you say... "Al, all TVs do that." Not in my world. There were 4 remotes to keep track of, checklists how to watch different media, training classes for the family, tech support calls when I'm on the road, but best of all I didn't have to spend hours programming a $150 universal remote that needed to be kept in sync.

Overall, I'm very happy with my purchase and my fingers are crossed that I didn't get a dud.

2 people found this helpful

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orbofshingeki

One of the Best Tv's for the Money

Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2018

Verified Purchase

Now. let me start off with saying that i'm not an expert on TV's. My first HDTV was a Vizio 42 inch 1080p that i bought almost 5 years ago after high school. It looked great. I Paid $420 for it. I thought i got a pretty good deal on it. Fast forward to 2018 and 4k is still settling in and technology is moving forward. I was at work during Prime week and the website was terribly slow but i still wanted to see what they had in stock. I stumbled across this TV as i was going to be in the market for one during the holiday season 2018. When i found this TV, I was shocked at how much it was! $280! For a 50 inch 4k Fire TV with Alex built in, That's almost half the cost of my old vizio. I thought it was too good to be true. Reviews were mixed but i wanted to take a stab at it anyways. I ordered it and it was here 3 days later. My initial impressions were "eh". Setup was a breeze but there was more than that i had noticed. I decided on comparing it with my vizio with some Good Mythical Morning on YouTube. I Know it's compressed video but it was the best i had to work with at first. I watched one episode and I was kind of Disappointed. The Brightness was good but the color was kind of dull overall and over saturated on some parts of the image like a person's face, but i wasn't giving up there. Setting the TV's Picture color setting from default to natural completely changed the game. The Color was great! Everything seemed correct with pulling up a color correction test on YouTube and it looked great! The Speakers were OK but that doesn't bother me because i have a dedicated 5.1 Surround System that blows the socks on the TV speakers. I really wanted a bigger size TV overall since the 42 inch wasn't quite the size I wanted. The 50 Inch was the perfect size for my TV stand and it matched the room which is a pretty small living room but it worked just fine. Now it's $400 and i still think it's a good deal considering my 42 inch was $20 more. I run the TV 1080p still because my laptop does not output 4k but It still looks great. The Fire TV portion is good for what it offers. More Ad's than I liked but for the value, No big deal. The 4k Netflix Shows look great. HDR Looks really good. The only downside to this TV for me is when i'm playing Dolby Digital through any apps on the smart portion of the TV, the volume seems to fluctuate. I'm sure this can be fixed with a software update but It's what i experienced. I would give it a go if you're interested in getting a good TV for the Money and hey if It doesn't work out, 30 Day Return!

63 people found this helpful

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sheri lemrick

Best Smart TV Period

Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2018

Verified Purchase

Got this TV on prime day for $290 which was an incredible value. For that price I didn't expect much more than a working television and while I'm aware the specs aren't the best on the market I have no complaints about what I got. I'm not a television connoisseur so I can't really see any real noticeable difference between this and more expensive TVs. At least none that I would feel are worth spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars on. The refresh rate is lower but most movies are shot in around 30 FPS or so. To my eye that just makes higher refresh rate TVs have an uncanny fluidity to them as it has to flub in extra frames. I much prefer this, though that's a personal taste and you might find it bothers you if you're used to higher refresh rate TVs.

Where the TV really shines though are in the smart features. A friend of mine had a much more expensive Samsung smart TV and the functionality is day and night. Rather than just offering the ability to download and log into a handful of apps like Netflix Hulu or Prime Video the market for apps is much larger on this TV even including some games and things that can be downloaded and play directly from the TV without requiring a console. The voice functions are great and can search between apps. Know what show you want to watch? Just say it and the TV will tell you what app has the content you're looking for and if you have the app downloaded and a subscription (if that particular app even requires one) you can just press play and watch. Outside of just video apps there are the games as I mentioned earlier and two web browsers if you just want to surf the net. You can even shop Amazon right from the TV.

If I have a complaint it's that there are a few apps it won't search through. I don't know why it knows what's on Tubi but not Crunchyroll when I had never even heard of Tubi before getting this TV. Maybe I'm just out of the loop. All in all though the complaints are pretty minor. The setup is easy, the functions are great and intuitive, and the picture looks good to my untrained eye. There's enough free content to keep you entertained even if you don't want a subscription to any of the major streaming services and it likely has an app for any streaming or television service you do have. Some people don't like ads but I appreciate how the TV lets me know what's available. They aren't intrusive and just appear as a banner dividing different content feeds. Easy to ignore. At 400 dollars it's a great TV for the price if you find yourself in the market for one. If you can get it on a sale like I did it's almost stupid NOT to buy it. $290 feels like the cops are going to come bust me for buying stolen merchandise. I can say without any reservations, I've very much enjoyed my purchase.

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MICHAEL P EDWARDS

5 Stars, great TV

Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2018

Verified Purchase

Firstly, YOU *CAN* CHANGE THE SETTINGS SO THE TV DOES NOT ALWAYS START AT THE HOME SCREEN when it turns on. I almost did not buy this TV because of all the negative reviewers who said it sucks so bad because there's nothing you can do about it......... that is simply not true. The TV does factory default to start/turn on at the Amazon Fire home screen, but THERE *IS* A DISPLAY SETTING for you to set the TV to turn on/start at the last input/channel you were on when you turned the TV off last. (See picture).

Now that being said, this really is a great TV; I am entirely happy with my purchase (and I have never really been that excited about buying a new TV). I remodeled my bedroom and I was looking to replace my 20-year-old tube TV for relatively cheap. This TV fit my budget, it sits great on my dresser, and because of the angle of my roof/ceiling I really could not fit a bigger TV even if I wanted.

At the same time I also "cut the cord" and got rid of cable in my house. I wanted a smart tv so I could use my streaming apps (DirectTV Now, Netflix) and I already had a Fire stick in my living room, so having the "Fire" platform built into the TV is a great option. There are certain things I don't like about Amazon Fire but having used other platforms (Roku, GooBang Doo/ MXII & XB-III/Android Box), Fire is the best option for my bedroom. And I didn't want to have additional hardware/boxes & separate remote controls to deal with in my room, so I love that it is all integrated into the TV and I only have 1 remote to deal with.

I have a fairly large master bedroom, and I have my desk at the other side of the room with a PC/router and a separate amp/speakers for the PC. Before setting up the TV I ran some wiring (3 wires) along the baseboards from my desk to the TV -- a Cat5 (wired network for TV), HDMI (video from computer to TV), and a RG6 coax (digital sound FROM the tv back to my amp). The TV itself doesn't have a digital coax output (it does have SPDIF out); a 50-foot fiber optic cable would have been way too expensive, so I bought a $20 SPDIF to coax converter for the back of the TV. I like that the TV has a wired ethernet connection, because I'm not a fan of streaming over wireless, especially when there are like 20 other wireless devices already on the network.

With my cabling in place, I was ready to rock-n-roll. Opened the box, plugged the tv & wires in, turned it on. We had lift off. There was a first-time setup video that played; I skipped past it but for the novice user it might be informative. On screen programming was fairly simple and straight-forward. The biggest decision was whether to set the TV to "Full" or "Basic" mode (which was probably explained in the video but I skipped past it). BASIC mode is just native OTA channels, inputs, and 6 built-in apps (NetFlix, PSVue, HBO, etc). FULL mode gives you access to the entire Fire application and app store, but you will need to already have or create a new Fire account. Obviously I chose Full mode.

From there, I was determined to show all the reviewers wrong by finding the setting that controls start up behavior. I knew it had to be there. It is. Settings > Display & Sounds > Power On > Last Input. GOOD, because I am one of those people that likes the TV to turn onto the last channel/input I was watching. So there we have it, my only real reservation to initially buying the TV was found and fixed. I went through all the other settings and set them to my preferences. Then I went to the App store and downloaded the apps I use. I also deleted the pre-installed apps that I will never use.

I also bought an OTA digital antenna. Since I've had cable for the last 20 years, I never dealt with that analog-to-digital conversion that happened 10+ years ago, and I never experienced all the new .2 and .3 digital channels there are now. Wow. After scanning stations, I had 84 OTA channels available. Honestly, there's enough on regular TV for me to watch that I don't really use the streaming apps. Why didn't I get rid of cable 10 years ago???

THE ONLY CON I have with this TV, is the way it displays OTA channels in the guide and in the quick-view bar.
1) The guide sorts by channel ID (alpha). I wish it sorted by channel number, or gave me the option to sort by channel #. In fact, it doesn't even show the channel # until you select a channel. I know in the modern era we are getting away from #'s. But I still like my channel #'s. If I want channel 9, I want to go scroll to channel 9, but instead I have to scroll all the way to the bottom to find WGN.
2) I miss having channel up and channel down buttons. Everything is through the "guide" now. You can press the down button, and you get a quick-select menu, which I find more convenient that the "guide." I would still rather flip from one channel to the next with 1 click and not have to go through menus.
3) YOu can set stations as your "favorite" and then show only favorites. But that only applies to the guide. The quick-select menu still shows every single station available. Since the quick select menu shows recently viewed stations first, my solution was just to go view each of my favorites, and then they show up first before all the other channels.

Given the few "cons" which are negligible, I would still buy this TV again, and I may end up buying a larger version of it for my living room the next time my projector lamp goes out. Definitely 5 stars for value received to cost.

2,385 people found this helpful

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Rudy

Great TV, but alexa integration isn't quite ready for prime time...

Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2019

Verified Purchase

I have been looking for about 6 months or so to replace my aging, but still functional 39” insignia 720p Tv that i purchased in November 2014. This is a 4k tv, with fire tv interface (no need for fire tv stick) or anything else. It’s really a TV geared for a cord cutter. I’m close to cutting my ties with directv, But i am not quite there yet. Now on for the review...

Saw a sale running locally, and got this beauty with a free echo dot.
Brought it home and unboxed it. Mounted to my tv stand in the living room.
Setup was pretty straightforward. Connected to my wifi network and it downloaded the software updates from amazon.

I signed in with my amazon prime account and was able to navigate the menus with ease. If you had a fire stick prior to purchasing, the interface will be exactly the same with a few differences. But, if you had the fire stick the learning curve won’t be as challenging as for someone that has never used a fire tv interface. If you don’t have amazon prime, you may want to sign up now. I have read numerous complaints from non prime members that the TV constantly bombards you with ADS if your not a prime member.

Product Documentation/included in box- there is literally NO documentation with this. Except for all the warnings about mounting it so children don’t knock it over. There is one small pamphlet in the box that gives the most BASIC of functions. Also included are feet (if not wall mounting) and the screws so you can secure the tv to a wall mount! I loved that Toshiba included these. It looks great on my TV stand in my living room. Hopefully in the future Toshiba will include a more detailed instruction booklet, perhaps. But to be fair, amazon updates the system frequently and different features are changed and or eliminated frequently, so the booklets would be out of date in no time.

-Build quality I would give this TV a 7 out of 10 build quality rating. Corners are well defined, but it’s mostly a very hard plastic. Definitely indicates this is a budget TV.

-Picture quality- I would say this is a 8 out of a 10. I am coming from a old 720p set. So, my review may not jive with someone that had a higher end LG or samsung. The colors look natural and well defined. A very nice upgrade from 720p. I actually went to the following site to help calibrate the picture. https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/toshiba/amazon-fire-tv-2018/settings
There are tons of settings, way to many to get into in this review, but i used the above link and it really helped to get the best quality picture.
It’s also worth noting that you should purchase a 4k high speed HDMI cable. Amazon has these for a reasonable price. Don’t buy at retail and pay 30.00 or more. Buy on amazon and save.
Apparently, if you use a non high speed cable, you can have issues witth the display flickering and stuttering. My older amazonbasics high speed hdmi cable appears to be sufficent. But, only time will tell.

Blu ray disc picture quality-a perfect 10! Rich, vibrant colors, and great skin tones. Nearly perfect as far as i can tell! Great sound and no hesitation.

Directv picture quality-I would give this a 7 out of a 10. I believe that directv compresses the signal to save on bandwidth. It should be noted that I don’t have the 4k package. My receiver is a few years old, but still functional and I am very hesitant to upgrade my equipment/and or
switch to a 4k package. I am hoping to cut my ties with them within the next year or so.

0TA antenna-I have one of these mounted on a pole about 20 feet up. I can receive normally about 10-12 channels. I live in a rural area and there is repeater that is about 15 miles away, only problem is the repeater only re-broadcasts the signals in analog. There are about 3 to 4 digital channels that come in crystal clear. It’s worth noting if your receiving the signal in ANALOG you will NOT get program information on the guide. It will just say “UNAVAILABLE” this won’t be a issue if your in urban area, only rural areas.

Interface experience- I am still learning the ropes with interface. The great thing about this TV is that the fire experience (based on android, but created by amazon) is built right into the set. No extra fire sticks or other things to clutter the back of the TV. Simply switch it on, and go to your favorite streaming service (netflix, hulu, playstation vue) whatever the case may be. If you currently don’t subscribe to cable or satellite, there is even LESS clutter behind the tv. But there are ample hdmi inputs. More on that later. The TV really hammers the point of “alexa” being able to control many aspects of the TV. while this is true, It can be cumbersome. For instance I will say “ALEXA, turn ON directv” and you would think alexa would just do it. But, she says “did you mean directv?” I reply “YES” then she sends the command to the directv receiver to turn on. The interface, to give it credit is pretty intuitive and easy to use. But, if you are a newcomer to the amazon fire tv platform and have no experience with previous fire sticks, etc.. you should read up and watch youtube videos to make sure you are a little familiar with the interface BEFORE buying this TV.

Sound Quality-since getting my first HDTV back in 2014, I have always purchased one that had a headphone jack. I have a very nice set of logitech computer speakers with a subwoofer. The quality of speakers in these TV’s is marginal at best, given the very small and slim cabinet size.
I really can’t give you a honest review on the actual sound quality..because i have issues with one my ears, and have lost around 50 percent of my hearing in that ear. It’s loud enough for me when connected to the speakers, but once again, I don’t feel comfortable giving it any kind of rating due to my medical issue with my ear.

Remote control- The included remote is very easy to hold in your hand. It’s basically a fire stick remote with voice search and some dedicated shortcut keys. All the buttons are layed out in a straightforward fashion. You can purchase a sleeve to go around the remote. I will be ordering one soon. The remote is rounded and slides very easy on your chair or end table next to your couch. Middle way down the remote is a small TV icon. That is the button you press to access the guide for OTA antenna (if you have one). The remote comes with 2 AAA batteries.
It’s worth noting that by default, the tv will turn on to the HOME SCREEN. If you prefer, you can change this to the last input that you were using in the settings of the TV. I have read other reviews complaining about the TV defaulting to the home screen. And actually, another reviewer pointed this out to me. (i did extensive research prior to buying this TV).

Inputs- Toshiba didn’t skimp on inputs. This tv has the following inputs on the back of the TV.
1 USB Port-can plug in flash drive or hub to operate keyboards, mice etc.
3 hdmi ports- for connecting blu ray players, cable boxes, ETC.
1 headphone jack
1 optical out port-for connecting to surround sound.
1 Lan port-if you want to connect tv directly to router.
1 Antenna in- to connect OTA antenna.
1 RCA composite cable connectors-if you have anything older you want to connect. For example, a VCR.
Toshiba was very generous with all these ports. Even though this TV was intended for cord cutters, it’s very nice to still include all of these ports for us that are still on the fence about finally getting rid of our ridiculous cable or satellite providers.

Here is the nutshell version of my review

PROS-
-loved the attractive price.
-4k but haven’t really watched anything in true 4k format yet.
-amazon fire tv built in
-beautiful picture
-voice search built into remote

Cons-
-alexa commands are slow and sometimes hard to use (keep in mind you need to have amazon echo or dot close by)
-the guide for OTA doesn’t show program information if the signals are in analog
-NO signal strength indicator for OTA channels
-replacement remotes not readily available (have to get from toshiba)
-if the software in the TV fails, looks like i will be stuck with a 18 pound living room wall ornament (the software has to boot the TV up so i could change the input and use a fire stick if the interface failed)

I was a little nervous buying this tv honestly. I have noticed mixed reviews on here and other sites, but for the price i decided to take the plunge. If your upgrading from a older set say 720p, the difference in the picture is night and day. Now, if your coming from a samsung, LG, or other high end set, you may be disappointed. This TV is budget priced. And for the price i paid (199.00) it was a deal. Give it a shot, you don’t have anything to lose.

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