Toshiba 55G310U LCD HDTV Review

Conclusion

The Toshiba 55G310U ($1199 MSRP) is a large and basic television. This year, we saw televisions cramming in so much new technology, from 3D imaging to internet connectivity and LED edgelighting, that it was beginning to look like you couldn't find a regular, old-fashioned box that would show some quality images without the extras. Toshiba stripped the 55G310U of all these additions to give consumers an ordinary television with strong performance in all the major categories.

We liked what we saw with this Toshiba. The contrast ratio was excellent, stemming from a very deep black level that did not require a diminished peak brightness. The color set was mostly fantastic and the motion processing was some of the best we have seen in a while.

There were a couple drawbacks though (you would expect some at this price). The 7W speakers are an inappropriate match to a 55'' screen. The force of the picture is not supported by the weak tinny sound from the internal speakers. You can remedy this quickly with an external set. The color temperature showed some severe errors, but only at the darkest end of the spectrum where images will be so dark as to not really have any color. The biggest offense was the poor viewing angle. Even for an LCD screen, the viewing angle has narrow written all over it. Although, with such a big screen, even a narrow viewing angle will cover quite a bit of the room.

All together, this is a high performance television in this price range. We do want to emphasize how large the entire piece is. You will need to measure before you bring it home, and you should consider that it will take over the room no matter where you put it. If the size and look really bother you, consider the very similar Toshiba SL412U for approximately the same price. Otherwise, you can't go wrong with this big screen, at this little price.