Toshiba 50L7300U 50-Inch 1080p 240Hz Smart LED HDTV with Built-in WiFi

I’ve had this TV for a week now, and I can’t get the smile off my face. The picture quality is among the best I’ve seen anywhere, in fact, I’d even go so far as saying it is outstanding. I’ve been shopping around for an LED/LCD TV for some time now, and had my heart set on a Samsung or Lg. Why? Because they’re the ones you see advertized everywhere — they’re the big boys of the industry. But a really low sale price on this Toshiba made the 58L7300 an offer to good to refuse, and I’m glad I didn’t.

For me, the magic number to buying a TV was below $1,000, as long as it had certain must-have features. They include:
– at least a 55″ screen
– at least 4 HDMI inputs
– Wifi

The Toshiba not only met all of these requirements, but it threw in a beautiful wireless keyboard, and a web browser as well. And the keyboard also works with my Samsung Galaxy 10.1 tablet, and my laptop. I’m sure I will get a lot of use from it.

I gave this TV only four stars because the Internet set-up procedure was a pain, and the apps are kind of sluggish. I’m sure Toshiba is working to correct that situation. But the Internet setup is a one-time thing. The features are only the icing on the cake, and right now are not something I plan to use that often.

The most important thing for me about a TV is picture quality, and this TV has gobbs of it. The funny thing is, I almost didn’t buy this TV because the store I purchased it at had it right next to a $3,000+ Samsung TV, which they had adjusted to maximum jaw-dropping “come-buy-me” effect. It looked like the store personnel had made no effort to adjust the Toshiba’s picture at all.

To make matters worse, the store did not have any of its TVs hooked up using HDMI cables, so none of the sets was showing a true 1080p picture. But like I said, the sale price of the Toshiba was so incredible, that I had to buy it. I figured, Toshiba is a major TV manufacturer, and the 7300 line of TVs was only introduced a couple of months ago. So it’s not like all of those leftover 2011 Samsungs that I was seeing on sale. And when I took delivery of the set, I went into the menu settings and and adjusted the picture settings, and it is now breathtaking.

In addition, when connected to my HD satellite via a HDMI cable, the TV’s picture looks, to me at least, better than my friend’s plasma Lg set.

Most people probably don’t think of Toshiba when looking to purchase a new TV, but I heard awhile ago that they are the largest maker of laptop computers. Well, their experience with LCD technology sure shows up in their high-end TVs. I am extremely happy with my purchase.
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Update on 6/26/13:

I have owned this TV for two months now, and continue to be amazed by it. The picture is sharp and clear, the colors wonderful and the sound quality is very good.

There are a couple of things I want to point out again. When I first received this TV, I was not happy with the picture. So I went into the settings and adjusted the contrast, brightness, sharpness, etc., to make things to my liking. But I know what I’m doing; a novice might have a difficult time with this and would want to consult a professional.

I have not had any problems with my HDMI or USB ports at all. I have four different accessories plugged into my HDMI inputs, and they all work flawlessly.

Two days I ago I turned on the TV, and a message appeared that a software upgrade was available. I clicked “OK,” and it downloaded and installed itself, no muss, no fuss.

The TV’s Internet experience is not the smoothest, but I have not seen another TV brand that has implemented this feature to be as easy to use as your personal computer. That being said, I don’t really care about this because I have both a Roku box and an Apple TV plugged into my Toshiba TV, and they both work very well.

As with anything mass produced, there are bound to be some that ship with problems. I guess I’m one of the lucky ones, because my TV is simply awesome.

This is my second Toshiba television. I purchased the 58 inch unit, in part, based on the outstanding picture quality of the 40 inch Toshiba I already owned. I waited three months after purchase and use of the television before commenting on what I perceive to be the pros and cons of the unit.

The pros:

First, I use a wireless connection. I have not had any of the difficulties mentioned in some of the reviews regarding losing the wifi connection, and never have seen the “blue screen of death.” Make sure your router is of sufficient speed to stream video seamlessly. I use a Belkin N600 dual band router, with one band dedicated to the wifi connection to the tv. Make sure you “save” the wifi connection per the instructions. This could be the reason for losing the wifi connection. There are several steps needed to connect to wifi and then save the wifi setting. See my comments in the “cons” section.

Second, I have not experienced the “delay” in the volume button, or switching from the internet connection or the Netflix app back to television. It takes my unit less than 2-3 seconds to do so. On start-up, unlike many led or lcd televisions, the Toshiba is almost an “instant on” unit.

Third, the picture quality is outstanding, though tweaking of the factory settings will be necessary dependent on its placement in the room and the television’s position in relationship to windows. This would be necessary for any large screen tv, no matter the manufacturer. Right now I just have the unit set to the “dynamic” setting for normal television viewing. The picture in this setting is bright, crisp and clear. If anyone would be interested in sharing their color settings I would appreciate it to potentially improve my picture quality.

Fourth, my unit is used in a rather large room. I sit approximately 15 feet from the screen. Both direct on and side viewing are excellent. I have concluded that I do not need a sound bar.

The cons:

First, connecting and saving the wifi settings is confusing when you do it for the first time. The manual is not very clear. You have to use the remote, not the wireless keyboard that is included, to connect. Once connected, however, the only time I have lost my wifi setting is after a power failure when the router went down.

Second, there are limited apps, but I imagine over time additional apps will become available.

Third, I am very disappointed in the wireless keyboard which was provided. It seems sluggish and the built in pointer function is not precise at all. It takes some getting used to, I imagine, but after three months I have not yet been able to master it. If anyone has experimented with a different keyboard with better results, I would appreciate the information.

Fourth, I too agree that having only one set of component inputs is a problem for those of us who don’t have other devices with HDMI connections. On the other hand, there are 4 HDMI connections.

In conclusion, for everyday television viewing the unit is excellent. The picture is crisp, bright and clear. DVD’s are just as good, even without an HDMI connection. I do not seem to notice any problem with the sound level being inadequate. Football has just started and watching the NFL broadcasts in HD this past weekend was awesome: no blurring, no hesitation, and bright, vibrant color. My other Toshiba is 4 years old and has never had a problem. If this unit performs just as well I think it was a steal at the price I paid.