HD PICTURE QUALITY HD picture quality fell short, overall. Reproduction of fine HD image detail was Excellent. But color accuracy, while acceptable, was below that of most models. Very Good contrast—the difference between the darkest blacks and brightest whites—gave images convincing depth and dimension. Black levels were OK and maintained some contrast in darker scenes, but they fell short of the better TVs—this quality appeared worse as we viewed from the sides—see our Viewing Angle results, below. Image brightness was moderately low, dimmer than most even with the backlight control turned up—OK for a dark room but not the best choice for a bright room. Its reproduction of smooth edges on image content was Very Good with minimal "jaggies" (jagged edges) for both "up-converted" HD-to-UHD images, and deinterlacing of 1080i video. Film mode detection from 1080i content was Excellent.
VIEWING ANGLE This Toshiba model has a narrow viewing angle overall, below-average performance among TVs. Only those seated directly in front of the screen will see the best picture quality. We examined the image quality at various viewing angles—its image quality notably decreased as we moved away from the center position. When we viewed the TV from the sides image quality degraded significantly. The picture showed a strong loss of color, so flesh tones looked very washed out. Black levels brightened significantly, and made dark scenes look hazy. Lastly, we viewed the image from above and below center screen, and noticed Good vertical viewing angle performance, with only slight changes in color, contrast, and black level.
