Why You Can Trust CNET Toshiba AV502U review: Toshiba AV502U
Toshiba AV502U
- Although still awaiting his Oscar for Best Picture Reviewer, David does hold certifications from the Imaging Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Standards and Technology on display calibration and evaluation.
Toshiba AV502U
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
Editors' note (March 4, 2010): The rating on this product has been lowered because of changes in the competitive marketplace, including the release of 2010 models. The review has not otherwise been modified. Click here for more information.
When we say the Toshiba AV502U series can produce relatively deep black levels, the key word is "relatively." It's perhaps more accurate to say that its shade of black outdoes most other less-expensive, lower resolution small-screened LCDs we've seen by a narrow margin. It does fall short of the competition in terms of maintaining accurate color at every brightness level, however, and it will look best if you avoid feeding it any 1080i sources. Speaking of looks, the AV502U is also among the most boring-looking TVs we've seen when it's turned off, and that's saying something. Those caveats aside, this little LCD does do slightly better blacks for less, and that might be enough for bargain hunters.
Editors' note, November 30, 2009: After about a week of use, and after the publication of this review, the power supply on our 32-inch 32AV502U review sample failed, rendering the TV inoperative. We called Toshiba and a service representative replaced the defective power supply, fixing the TV. The issue is covered under the standard manufacturers' warranty and we have no reason to suspect it indicates a larger problem with the product series, but this is the first time we've experienced such a failure with a TV review sample. Aside from this note, the Toshiba AV502U review had not been modified from its initial publication.
Design
Unobtrusive bordering on unremarkable, the standard-gloss-black AV502U series lacks the rounded edges and softer curves seen on many smaller LCDs. The frame around the screen is a bit thicker, too, expanding the Toshiba's overall dimensions slightly in comparison. The still thicker frame below is interrupted by a pair of perforated, matte-black strips that hide the speakers and flank the company logo. The matching stand doesn't swivel.
The menu system contains more than its share of options and nested submenus. The arrangement of the picture menu in particular is a bit haphazard and doesn't welcome newbies, more so because the system lacks text explanations of selected items.
Continuing the AV502U's option-heavy theme is a remote festooned with no fewer than 46 buttons. Techies will appreciate easy access to functions like aspect ratio and the sleep timer, but all users will find the tangle of text and icons a jungle to navigate, especially since so many of the keys are similarly sized and shaped and placed too close to one another. Many of the buttons are reserved for operating other gear; the AV502U's remote can handle three pieces in addition to the TV itself. The buttons glow in the dark, an uncommon touch at this price level.
Features
Like most entry-level LCD TVs the Toshiba has a native resolution of 1,366x768 pixels, or 720p, as opposed to the 1080p resolution found on step-up models. Of course, at this screen size, the benefits of 1080p are negligible, except with computer sources, so we don't consider this feature omission a big deal.
More picture adjustments are available than we'd expect at this price level. One of our favorites is the ability to adjust color temperature beyond the standard four presets, although we'd like to see more than just blue and green sliders for doing so. We also appreciated the static gamma control, which also contributes to a more accurate picture.
On the downside, there's only one adjustable picture mode. It's called Preference, and anytime you make changes to a picture parameter like Contrast or Backlight, the mode automatically changes, if it's in one of the other four preset modes, back to Preference. We did appreciate that Preference is independent per input, however. There's also a Game mode designed to minimize lag between a controller and the onscreen action, although that's not usually an issue on TVs with minimal video processing to begin with.
Other advanced picture settings include two versions of noise reduction; a dynamic contrast control to adjust the picture according to onscreen content; a DynaLight setting to do the same with the backlight; and a Cinema mode for 2:3 pull-down detection.
The Toshiba's connectivity is average for the entry-level breed. The rear panel has two HDMI inputs, two component-video inputs, one VGA-style PC input, one AV input with S-Video, an RF input for antenna or cable, and an optical digital audio output. On the side there's an additional AV input with composite video only.
Performance
Those "relatively" deep blacks are the main story, which contribute to slightly better contrast, especially in dark scenes, but they don't do anything to ameliorate the Toshiba's inaccurate grayscale.
In the Movie setting and its default Warm color temperature, which was the most accurate preset combo available, the Toshiba was quite dim and plagued by an uneven grayscale; it became green in dark areas and blue as it brightened. Our calibration was able to improve the light output, achieving our nominal 40ftl with no problem, but none of the adjustments could do much with the grayscale. We were also disappointed that the gamma slider didn't have enough range to approach the target of 2.2; the TV achieved a best of 2.01 by our measurement. We definitely would have liked more range in the Toshiba's picture controls, but at least they're there. We also disabled DynaLight and dynamic contrast since both modified picture parameters on the fly.
We compared the AV502E with a few other entry-level LCDs we had onhand, including the Panasonic TC-32LX1, the Sharp LC-32D47U, the Sony KDL-32L5000, the Vizio VO302E, and the Westinghouse SK-32H640G. We also employed our trusty Pioneer PRO-111FD as a reference--obviously, it shouldn't be compared with any of these LCDs. Our Blu-ray of choice for most of the image quality tests in this comparison was the superb-looking "Baraka" played at 1080i (to ensure full compatibility) from our Sony PlayStation 3.
Black level: Among the LCDs in our comparison, the Toshiba delivered the deepest shade of black overall, beating the Sony and Vizio by a hair and outclassing the others by a bit more. The differences were slight, but definitely visible in dark scenes, such as the sky around the eclipse at the beginning of Chapter 20 or the dark silhouettes of the temples in Chapter 22. In brighter scenes, the apparent black level differences in dark areas like shadows and the letterbox bars evened out significantly, as usual.
The Toshiba's shadow detail wasn't as natural as we saw on the Vizio or some of the other sets, however. Details in the shadowy temple areas appeared a bit too bright, but at least they weren't obscured.
Color accuracy: Here's where the Toshiba fell a bit short of many of the others in our test. The distinct, at times severe, greenish cast to its grayscale showed up in mid-dark and darker areas, such as the temple pillars in Chapter 18 and the face and hands of the soldier in Chapter 17--the latter looked pretty sickly. In well-lit areas, like the faces of the subway riders in Chapter 12, on the other hand, colors looked a lot better, and the Toshiba's saturation in these areas, owing to its accurate color decoding, was among the best in our comparison.
Primary and secondary colors came quite close to the standard, which helped lend realism to the lush green jungle plants and the pale blue sky in Chapter 4, and we also appreciated that dark areas showed less of a bluish cast than any of the other LCDs in our comparison.
Video processing: The Toshiba tripped up a bit in this area. We noticed jagged edges along some lines, and a moire pattern of crossed lines in the stairs of Tiananmen Square in Chapter 18. The Westinghouse and Sharp showed similar artifacts, but none of the other sets did. The problem only occurred in 1080i and 1080p mode, so we recommend that Toshiba AV502U users set their HD output devices to 720p mode instead.
The Toshiba doesn't perform much overt processing, such as such as the dejudder seen on higher-end LCDs, and since it has 720p resolution our motion resolution test isn't valid. We expect that the Toshiba would perform about the same as other 60Hz displays, and as usual we didn't notice any motion blur in our viewing.
Uniformity: We don't have any major complaints in this area. The Toshiba's screen remained relatively even across its surface, with no obvious brighter areas, and off-angle performance surpassed that of the Panasonic, Sharp, and Westinghouse, remaining about the same as the Sony and Vizio.
Bright lighting: Like most matte-screened LCDs, the Toshiba performed relatively well under bright lights, attenuating ambient light admirably. It was no better or worse than any of the other sets in our lineup, which all have similar screens.
Standard-definition: With standard-def sources, the Toshiba performed slightly below average. It couldn't quite resolve every detail of the DVD format, although details in the grass and stone bridge looked better than many of the sets in our comparison. It eliminated fewer jaggies from moving diagonal lines and a waving American flag better than most of its competitors, however, including the Sony and the Vizio. Its DNR noise reduction performed quite well, removing nearly all of the video noise in lower-quality shots without softening the image too much; the MPEG noise reduction setting, on the other hand, had little effect we could discern. The AV502U also engaged 2:3 pull-down detection quickly and effectively.
PC: The Toshiba made an excellent PC monitor, albeit a relatively low-resolution one. It fully resolved 1,360x768 sources via both HDI and VGA, showing crisp text in both cases. The one drawback was some edge enhancement via VGA, which the controls didn't allow us to address.
| TEST | RESULT | SCORE |
| Before color temp (20/80) | 4985/6983 | Poor |
| After color temp | 5418/7183 | Poor |
| Before grayscale variation | 607 | Poor |
| After grayscale variation | 626 | Poor |
| Color of red (x/y) | 0.633/0.342 | Average |
| Color of green | 0.278/0.598 | Good |
| Color of blue | 0.147/0.062 | Good |
| Overscan | 0.0% | Good |
| Defeatable edge enhancement | Y | Good |
| 480i 2:3 pull-down, 24 fps | Pass | Good |
| 1080i video resolution | Pass | Good |
| 1080i film resolution | Pass | Good |
Power consumption: We did not test the power consumption of this size in the Toshiba AV502U series series, but we did test the 32-inch model. For more information, refer to the review of the Toshiba 32AV502U.