Toshiba 55TL515 – GarageHP.com previously wrote articles about LG Cosmos 2, Sony HDR-CX500V, and GE Power Pro X500. Now we are talking about Toshiba 55TL515, Includes Four Pairs of Lightweight. Although its attractive features, design, and passive 3D have merit, the picture quality issues of the Toshiba TL515U LED-based LCD TV lessen its appeal in the face of the stiff competition.
Along with Vizio and LG, Toshiba is the only other TV maker selling a passive 3D TV in 2011. That model, the TL515U series reviewed here, performs basically the same with 3D material as its LG doppelganger, and in short we like the image produced by active 3D TVs better. Meanwhile the Toshiba’s 2D picture quality, which is much more important in our book, didn’t quite match that of the LG or the better LED-based LCDs in our tests, due mainly to its overactive backlight. Given that the two are very similar in price–the LG is even a bit less expensive at press time–it’s tough to recommend the Toshiba TL515U series to people who want passive 3D or the best 2D performance from an edge-lit LED TV.
Toshiba 55TL515 Series information: We performed a hands-on evaluation of the 47-inch 47TL515U, but this review also applies to the other screen sizes in the series. All sizes have identical specs and according to the manufacturer should provide very similar picture quality.
Toshiba 55TL515 Design
The squared-off, angular Toshiba 55TL515 is understated yet sleek. The Toshiba 55TL515 TV has a subtle two-tone finish on its medium-width bezel, with a glossy strip of black that offsets the matte, textured finish of the rest of the frame. The sides of the frame are made of chrome strips angled so they can catch reflections to either side–which might be distracting in some rooms. The stand pedestal has an angle pointing at the viewer, which allows the panel to swivel, and sits above a glass-topped base.
Toshiba 55TL515′s clicker is not our favorite. Its buttons are too numerous, packed-together and similar, while their angled transparent faces distort the already-small labels beneath, making them even more difficult to read. Worst of all, the keys around the central cursor group emit a loud click at every press–the only thing that could possibly make using an onscreen keyboard more annoying. On the plus side nearly every key is clearly illuminated, making it one of the better in-the-dark wands, and it can control three other pieces of AV gear via infrared, either directly or via pass-through (see below).
Hitting the Toshiba 55TL515 menu button brings up an attractive two-tiered arch of icons, but the many settings choices quickly become confusing. Submenus are plagued by too much nesting, zero in-menu explanations, and confusing labels. Why do we need a separate Preferences menu, with all of seven setup options, in addition a Settings menu? The Quick menu with direct links to picture, sound and 3D settings helps a bit, but lack of an onscreen manual does not–we predict many users will have to resort to the online PDF manual to get a handle on the TL515U. At least they won’t be looking there for Netflix; a big red logo-infused key takes care of that.
The Toshiba 55TL515 set also evinced some unusual quirks during normal use. For some reason it takes seemingly forever–about 33 seconds–to turn on from a cold start (other TVs in our experience take about 5 seconds). Browsing the menus and calling up different functions, for example changing picture modes, the screen would often black out for a second or two before coming back up.
Toshiba 55TL515 Features
The Toshiba 55TL515′s principal differentiator is passive 3D, enabled by the same Film Pattern Retarder technology used by LG and Vizio in models like the LW5600 series and XVT3D650SV. A polarizing film coating the TV screen allows each eye, gazing through special glasses, to view every other line to create the two images necessary for the 3D illusion.
Toshiba, which sells both active and passive 3D LCDs, calls its passive 3D technology “3D Natural.” Both types of 3D TVs can handle any of the new 3D formats used by Blu-ray, TV broadcasts, and video games, and both require viewers to don 3D glasses, but each has its advantages and disadvantages. See our 3D TV FAQ for general information on active vs. passive and 3D in general, and the Performance section of this review for more the TL515U’s 3D picture quality.
The biggest market advantage of passive 3D is inexpensive glasses. Toshiba packs four pairs in with the TL515U, and while it doesn’t sell extras individually as of press time, you can opt for the ten-strong “party pack” ($60). Compatible circular polarized glasses are also available from online merchants, and if you swipe a pair of passive 3D glasses from your local theater, they should work too.
Aside from 3D the TL515U is well-equipped. It’s the only Toshiba LCD to offer an edge-lit LED backlight with local dimming. The LEDs along the edge of the screen can be dimmed or brightened in sections according to program content. Toshiba told us that all sizes, including the 32-inch model, have 16 dimmable zones (if true, it means they all have four more zones than the LG 47LW5600). Contrast that with the 200+ zones on full-array local dimming TVs like the LG LX9500 series, for example, and you’ll have some idea why the scheme is far from perfect. That said, it does improve black-level performance despite some trade-offs.
We appreciate that the TL515U includes built-in Wi-Fi, which saves the cost of buying a dongle or using an alternative. Instead of selling a proprietary Skype camera for use with the TV, Toshiba simply recommends getting any Skype certified camera. In the same vein it recommends purchasing any inexpensive IR blaster/emitter for use with the TV’s IR pass-through feature, which allows the TV to pass remote control signals through to other gear–a nice extra if you want to stash your equipment out of sight.
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