Toshiba 55L7400U fifty five-Inch 1080p 120Hz Smart LED TV

Let me begin by stating that I didn’t buy this television on Amazon. I bought it direct from Toshibadirect site since the TV was first available there in the early part of May. Unfortunately for me, I paid almost $100 more doing so but hey I guess that’s the price to pay when you buy a “new release” product as soon as it becomes available. Ok, on to my review. Now, I’m not a TV expert by any means or do I claim to be but I do know some basics that I look for when purchasing a new HDTV. First off, I wanted a SMART TV that would offer me a beautiful picture with deep blacks, excellent color, good viewing angles, little to no ghosting, and didn’t move at a snail’s pace while using the SMART TV interface. Basically, I wanted a premium TV but I didn’t want to pay a premium price. Now, keep in mind the most I ever paid for an HDTV up to this point was around $800. However, those TV’s were “DUMB” and not “SMART”. In addition, I was willing to spend a little more because I was also looking to increase TV size, my largest before being 50″ inches. On a side note, I’m a gamer and I hook up my gaming PC to my HDTV. I’ll save you the details because I want to stay on point with this review but to summarize, I use my TV about 40% of the time for gaming, 30% for PC, and 30% TV watching. So a TV that doesn’t offer a “gaming mode” is automatically ruled out. Now, I did my research on CNET to see what TV’s had the best input lag but those Television were the Sony W900 series but at the time they were running close to 2 grand. If it wasn’t for the price, I probably would have purchased a Sony. But I wasn’t really looking to spend that amount. So I started researching different TV manufacturers and stumbled upon Toshiba. Now, I’ll be honest. I wasn’t really looking to purchase a Toshiba. I personally thought of them as a budget brand but I searched there site and low and behold, I found this TV. What drew me to this TV is that the SPEC sheet listed a “GAMING MODE” and all the things I was looking for in a TV as well as an interesting description of it having a Radiance Full Array Panel and also Local Dimming. I liked what I saw but couldn’t find a review anywhere. But what I did find was an interesting article about how Toshiba releasing their flagship 1080p set. So I took a chance and these are my impressions:

Pros

– Great color reproduction (Colors “pop”)
– Video games look amazingly crisp. Honestly, my games looked “enhanced” and I can barely see any ghosting (game mode with Chroma 4:4:4 definitely improves picture quality)
– I can’t detect a noticeable input lag ( This was a big fear for me but I am pleased that game controller inputs register promptly, keep in mind I was using the gaming mode picture setting)
– Smart TV interface isn’t lightning quick but it isn’t slow either
– Viewing angles are really good (Is this an IPS display? I can’t find any info on this but I suspect..)
-Bezel design. I love how the silver deco frame blends with the black bezel. It has a premium look.
– Sound is really good! When I saw the box it mentioned a Labyrinth Speaker System. Why in the world Toshiba didn’t mention this on their website is beyond me. I really was considering purchasing a sound bar before receiving the TV but I’m so impressed with the sound from this TV that I really don’t see a need to do so anymore.

Cons
– No 3D (at this price point I might expect but it’s not all that important to me since I don’t watch 3D often)
-Black Levels vary (I can see grey especially when looking at a black screen or movie but it’s subtle and by no means bad but if you’re looking for it, you’ll see it)

Overall, I’m very pleased with my purchase. I feel like I got my monies worth. This set has made me look at Toshiba a little different. Hopefully 3 months from now I’ll still feel the same.

Excellent color and displays of blacks. Blu-Rays produce very good skin-tones while maintaining the colors of grass. Used Spears and Munsil blu-ray set-up disc to establish the settings. Bought this as opposed to toshiba 6350 and LG 6300. Connections are nicely arranged on the side. Very happy with my purchase as is my fiancee (after her shock at how much larger it is than her old 40″ Sony).