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Toshiba 50L7300U Review: A 50-Inch LED HDTV With Wi-Fi
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1. Toshiba 50L7300U Cloud TV: Tons Of Features At A Reasonable Price

The lines between computer monitors and HDTVs are pretty blurry. Aside from the most popular sizes, there aren't many technological differences between the screen on your desk and the TV in your living room. Nearly all desktop displays employ LED backlights. The same is true for large-screen HDTVs (and when I say large, I'm talking about 50 inches-plus).

In the not-so-distant past, a mainstream TV was 32 inches and high-definition meant 720p. Now, enthusiasts seem to start their research at 50 inches, while even the least-expensive models support 1080p.

Always value-conscious, Toshiba recently began shipping its line of Cloud TVs. The company sent over the 50L7300U for us to look at. This is a 50-inch LED edge-lit panel with a full array of network features. In fact, you could watch a tremendous amount of content on it with nothing more than an Internet connection. Selling at a list price of $1400 and a street price under $900, Toshiba's latest might just be a cord-cutter's dream display.

Brand
Toshiba
Model
50L7300U
List Price
$1400
Panel Type
IPS
Backlight
W-LED, edge array
Screen Size
49.5"
Max Resolution
1920x1080
Max Refresh Rate
240 Hz
Aspect Ratio
16:9
Response Time (GTG)
8 ms
Brightness (cd/m2)
443
Speakers2 x 10 W
HDMI
4
VGA
1
Component
1
Composite
2
Audio In
1 x 3.5 mm, 1 x RCA
Audio Out
1 x 3.5 mm, 1 x optical
USB
2 (v2.0)
IR Control
1 out
Panel Dimensions
W x H x D
44.8 x 29.2 x 9.5 in
1139 x 742 x 242
Panel Thickness
2.3 in / 58 mm
Weight
38.4 lbs / 17.4 kg
Warranty
One year

There are a couple of principal differences between HDTVs and computer monitors. First and foremost is that every television includes speakers and some sort of tuner. Believe it or not, those items are required by the FCC before a manufacturer can call its product a television. If they aren't part of the package, the device must be labeled “monitor.” Pioneer's now-discontinued PRO-141 and -151 plasma displays are good examples. They had neither tuner nor speakers, but were clearly marketed as televisions.

Another difference is video processing and scaling. While all fixed-pixel displays scale incoming signals to their native resolutions, HDTVs have more sophisticated video processing abilities used to handle the various cadences and refresh rates that exist in video-based content. This is a vast subject unto itself, and we'll go into more depth on page 11, along with a few tests we’re adding to our benchmark suite.

In addition to the usual image quality tests, which we tweaked somewhat, we’ll cover usability both for traditional content delivered via broadcast and Blu-ray, and streamed video, which the 50L7300U offers in abundance. We're retaining our response and lag tests because we know HDTVs are often the centerpieces for home entertainment. You probably won't connect a high-end gaming PC to this screen, but plenty of folks will hook up an Xbox One or PlayStation 4, we're sure.

2. Toshiba 50L7300U Physical Characteristics

The name of the game in HDTV styling these days is to make the bezel and panel as thin as possible. Even though a majority of consumers set their televisions on a bench or credenza, there’s something sexy about a super-thin display hanging on the wall like a piece of art. And because we all have family members who consider the TV an eyesore, manufacturers strive to create the most aesthetically pleasing experience possible.

Product 360

Toshiba follows this design principle by making its bezel only 14 mm wide at the top and sides and 23 mm across the bottom. The only other features up front are a small power LED, the remote’s IR receiver, and an ambient light sensor. The metal base attaches with four screws and allows for about 25 degrees of swivel.

The 50L7300U has a nice slim profile, which makes it very easy to achieve a flush wall mounting. The only thing that keeps the panel from being less than two inches thick is the speaker bulge at the bottom. As on most HDTVs these days, the speakers fire downward and are fairly small. Despite their diminutive form factor, though, they sound pretty good.

The back is well-ventilated at the top and bottom, although the set doesn’t run particularly hot. You can see the input panel at the right. Lower and further right is a small control panel with buttons for power, volume up and down, and a mode key. Pressing that turns the volume buttons into either channel up/down or input selectors. The threaded inserts for a wall bracket are here too. The 50L7300U accepts a 200 x 400 mm bolt pattern with M6 threads.

The side-facing input panel has three HDMI and two USB ports. There is also a composite video jack that requires a 3.5 mm to RCA adapter that is not included. Rounding out the side panel is an optical digital output.

Facing the rear is another composite video input plus RCA connectors for component video and stereo audio. There’s a 3.5 mm audio input and a VGA 15-pin D-sub as well. You also have the requisite antenna input, which faces down, an Ethernet port, and a fourth HDMI input.

Included in the package is a Bluetooth keyboard that works with a tiny receiver plugged into one of the USB ports. Pairing is immediate when you power the keyboard on. It also has a touchpad for controlling the on-screen cursor. The keyboard itself is great, though the mouse action is fairly laggy and imprecise. We found it quicker to simply use the Tab or arrow keys to navigate the browser and other cloud apps.

The remote is a pretty standard wand. It’s logically laid out and the TV responds quickly to most commands (except for when you access the Internet; then you'll have to wait a few seconds for anything to happen). When you’re sending standard TV commands, though, the remote works fine. My biggest complaint is that the CT-90428 is not backlit. It is fairly easy to operate by feel, fortunately. You can use it as a universal remote too, as it has multiple modes and transport keys to operate things like DVRs and Blu-ray players. Toshiba thoughtfully includes IR blasters that connect to the 50L7300U so you can operate components not in line-of-sight. You can also control other Toshiba devices through the HDMI CEC feature.

3. OSD Setup And Calibration

You’ll see from our photos that the 50L7300U, like a majority of HDTVs, has an extensive menu system offering many more calibration options than the average computer monitor. There are also plenty of settings for the set’s audio and network features.

We’ll go screen by screen to show you what makes this display tick. The moire pattern in the photos is not visible to the naked eye. Apparently, there is something in the screen's anti-glare layer that interacts with our camera.

Pressing the Setup button on the remote brings up a menu tree typical of most modern HDTVs. The categories are on the left side and specific settings are on the right. The first screen, Picture, has everything you need for a thorough and precise calibration. There are six picture modes and all have different purposes. The default is AutoView, which uses a built-in light sensor to manipulate various image parameters based on ambient conditions and picture content. Dynamic is the expected torch mode; it's extremely bright and defaults to a very cool color temp and oversaturated color gamut. Standard is fully adjustable, but uses an oversaturated color gamut. The place to do your work is Movie, which is fairly accurate out of the box and can be calibrated to a very high standard. For gaming, choose Game. That mode eliminates extraneous video processing and improves response time and input lag (we were able to confirm this in our tests). PC uses a linear gamma curve to optimize computer images.

After the picture modes, you can see separate controls for brightness, contrast, and backlight. Most LCD HDTVs have this feature and we like it. It’s much easier to set the proper light level and maximize contrast when you can adjust the backlight independent of the black level. Sharpness adds unneeded edge enhancement and is best set to zero.

The remaining image controls are in the Advanced and Expert menus.

When you turn on ColorMaster, the CMS is unlocked. Although it won’t manipulate the color points well, it’s very effective at dialing in the luminance. The gamut in Movie mode is pretty good without adjustment, but it can be improved with an instrumented calibration. Color Temperature is simply three presets. The actual white balance sliders are in the Expert menu shown below. Auto Brightness Sensor modulates the backlight to match ambient lighting conditions. It’s best to leave it off. Dynamic Contrast and DynaLight work in concert to increase contrast by selectively dimming the backlight and altering the gamma based on image content. We experimented with them and you can see the results on page six. Finally, ClearScan is the frame interpolation algorithm. It has three levels plus Off. All options produce smoother motion, which some viewers prefer. Video purists will usually avoid this due to the “soap opera effect” it produces. If you leave it off, the TV will repeat frames to match the native 240 Hz refresh rate. When 24p content is received, it does a 10:10 pulldown that properly reproduces the original film-based content.

Here is the CMS.

It’s laid out correctly, but the saturation control acts more like a brightness (luminance) slider since it won’t alter the color points. Hue works well on the secondary colors. As you can see, we didn’t need to make large adjustments to render an accurate gamut.

The Expert menu gives you a series of test patterns, and both two- and ten-point white balance controls. You’ll have to choose one or the other. We were able to achieve a decent grayscale with the two-point sliders, though the 10-point rewarded our efforts with near perfection.

To set the 10-point white balance, you need to use the TV’s internal test patterns, which are accessed by turning on Window Display. Then you enter the 10P White Balance menu to adjust each brightness level individually.

While IRE is an older term for brightness level (it actually refers to an input voltage), it’s pretty much interchangeable with percent. There are red, green, and blue sliders for each level from 10 to 100 percent. We found that it’s best to work from the top-down when setting these controls. It’s a time-consuming process, but well worth the effort.

Audio from the 50L7300U is pretty good, considering the modest speakers. You can adjust the bass, treble, and balance, and utilize the Audyssey algorithms to simulate surround sound. Turning this on increases the sense of depth and spaciousness in the sound stage. If you want to use an external sound system, turn off the TV speakers altogether.

The remaining menus cover networking, which is very easy to set up thanks to built-in Wi-Fi, and convenience options like sleep timers, USB port settings, and the Bluetooth keyboard that comes in the package.

Calibration

Since this display is used in a different environment than most computer monitors, we’re doing things a little differently with regards to setting the maximum light output. However, all other standards for gamma, grayscale, and color remain the same. Our spec is Rec. 709/sRGB for the color gamut, D65 for the white point, and 2.2 for the gamma. For our tests, we calibrate the set for a day mode of 170 cd/m2 peak and a night mode of 120 cd/m2 peak.

We use the basic controls, along with the 10-point white balance and color management system, to make adjustments. The list of settings is long. However, if you want to get the most from the 50L7300U, they make a good baseline. The results are completely worth the effect if you have the gear to calibrate this TV yourself, though.

Toshiba 50L7300U Calibration  Settings
Picture Mode
Movie
Backlight
50 Day, 35 Night
Contrast
75
Brightness
1
Color
0
Tint
0
Sharpness
0
ColorMaster

Color
Hue
Saturation
Brightness
Red
0
0
-2
Green
0
0
-1
Blue
0
-2
0
Yellow
3
0
-1
Magenta
0
0
2
Cyan
0
0
-1
10-point White Balance
IRE
Red
Green
Blue
100
-3
0
6
90
2
3
4
80
-3
2
-4
70
-2
0
0
60
-7
-2
1
50
-9
-2
2
40
-9
1
-3
30
0
0
0
20
0
0
0
10
0
0
0
Other Settings
DynaLight
Off
Dynamic Contrast
Off
Noise Reduction
All Off
ClearScan
Off
4. The Toshiba 50L7300U In Use

To put the 50L7300U through its paces with real-world content, we connected an Oppo BDP-93 Blu-ray player and spun a few discs, giving us a chance to evaluate its picture and audio quality. We made one discovery right away: the TV does not accept DTS bitstreams; only Dolby Digital and LPCM work. The best bet is to set your source to output LPCM for everything. Since, most Blu-rays are encoded with DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks, you won’t hear them unless you convert to PCM first.

Movies

First, we checked out the latest Pixar film Monsters University. It is true that CGI content makes nearly any display look good, but Pixar goes beyond other animated filmmakers when it comes to fine detail and texture. Our favorite example is the flowing blue and purple hair on the Sully character. The 50L7300U displays every strand without jagged artifacts or edge enhancement. Wall textures also stand out, in particular. It takes a display with accurate gamma and solid contrast to capture fine color gradations like this, and the Toshiba excels.

Next we put in Iron Man 3. There is plenty of rich saturated color in this transfer and the 50L7300U shows it all without looking overblown or cartoonish. We really like the quality of fleshtones in close-up shots of Gwyneth Paltrow and Robert Downey, Jr. During one dark sequence, when Tony Stark crash-lands in a small remote town, we decided to try the DynaLight and Dynamic Contrast features. Leaving Dynamic Contrast on Low works reasonably well. There is no clipping of shadow detail, but we could see the image brightness pump a little as the scene’s content changed. This is one potential side effect of any kind of dynamic contrast option. The TV has excellent contrast without it, so we left it off for the rest of our evaluation.

Our final film was Star Trek Into Darkness. Both this and its predecessor are filled with high-contrast and saturated color. The opening scene that takes place on an alien planet looks excellent. Despite all the vegetation being an almost-searing red color, there is no lack of detail. Many displays would show colored blobs instead of finely-textured vines and plants. Director J.J. Abrams is fond of tremendous contrast in all his material. Whether the content is dark or extremely bright, the 50L7300U renders every scene beautifully. This really is an excellent HDTV, especially when it's properly calibrated.

Cloud Content

The 50L7300U is marketed as a “cloud TV” so we expect it will be strongly considered by cord-cutters as an alternative to expensive cable or satellite feeds. Since Wi-Fi is built in and all the software is internal too, you can watch a tremendous amount of content with nothing more than an Internet connection.

To access the main screen, press the Home button on the remote.

You can see a row of options across the bottom and several windows showing the current signa,l plus other streaming options arrayed on the screen.

Like many smart TVs, the 50L7300U includes a browser. It also includes a Bluetooth keyboard so that you don't have to use the arrow keys on the remote to type, a major leap in convenience. This keyboard also has a touchpad, which emulates mouse actions. We found this to be frustrating to use. Often times, just as we were about to place the cursor over an object, it would suddenly jump to the upper-left corner of the screen. Mousing with any precision is nearly impossible. It’s much easier to use the tab or directional keys to make selections.

Our overall experience with the cloud apps was OK, but you need patience as you move through the different content. Even with a 60 Mb Internet connection and 802.11n Wi-Fi, we always had to wait for content to load. Once videos began, there were no interruptions. Image quality varies from source to source of course, but the fidelity of streamed content in general continues improving.

5. Measurement And Calibration Methodology: How We Test

To measure and calibrate monitors and HDTVs, we use an i1Pro spectrophotometer and version 5.1.2 of SpectraCal’s CalMAN software.

For patterns, we employ an AccuPel DVG-5000 video signal generator. This approach removes video cards and drivers from the signal chain, allowing the display to receive true reference patterns. Connections are made via HDMI.

The AccuPel DVG-5000 is capable of generating all types of video signals at any resolution and refresh rate up to 1920x1080 at 60 Hz. It can also display motion patterns to evaluate a monitor's video processing capabilities, with 3D patterns available in every format. This allows us to measure color and grayscale performance, crosstalk, and ghosting in 3D content via the 3D glasses.

The i1Pro is placed at the center of the screen (unless we’re measuring uniformity) and sealed against it to block out any ambient light. The Accupel pattern generator (bottom left) is controlled via USB by CalMAN, which is running on the Dell XPS laptop on the right.

Our version of CalMAN Ultimate allows me to design all of the screens and workflows to best suit the purpose at hand. To that end, we’ve created a display review workflow from scratch. This way, we can be sure and collect all the necessary data with a concise and efficient set of measurements.

The charts show us the RGB levels, gamma response, and Delta E error for every brightness point from zero to 100 percent. The table shows us the raw data for each measurement. And the area in the upper-left tells us luminance, average gamma, Delta E, and contrast ratio. The individual charts can be copied to the Windows clipboard to easily create graphics for our reviews.

Every primary and secondary color is measured at 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 percent saturation. The color saturation level is simply the distance from the white point on the CIE chart. You can see the targets moving out from white in a straight line. The further a point is from center, the greater the saturation until you hit 100 percent at the edge of the gamut triangle. This shows us the display’s response at a cross-section of color points. Many monitors score well when only the 100 percent saturations are measured. Hitting the targets at the lower saturations is more difficult, and factors into our average Delta E value (which explains why our Delta E values are sometimes higher than those reported by other publications).

6. Results: Brightness And Contrast

When it comes to HDTVs, light output requirements are somewhat different than what we're used to when we set up computer monitors. However, we still want to see just how bright the display can get. This may mean using a less-than-accurate picture mode, which will have an effect on color and visible detail.

The 50L7300U's brightest picture mode is Dynamic, and it is possible to work the settings to get an image with decent color and full detail. For these measurements, we left the DynaLight off but set the Dynamic Contrast to High.

For comparison, we’re including the NEC V801, Pioneer PRO-111FD, and the last three computer monitors reviewed at Tom’s Hardware.

There is more than enough light available for the brightest viewing environment. Dynamic mode isn’t particularly accurate with its oversaturated color. But if you want a decent picture in a room with lots of sun, it works. Setting the Color Temp to Warm removes the obvious blue tint from the image. If your room is like most environments we’re familiar with, you’ll get plenty of light from the Movie mode.

In Dynamic mode, the Dynamic Contrast control is set to High. Let’s see how this affects the black level.

At .0892 cd/m2, the 50L7300U outperforms most computer monitors in the brightest mode. A contributing factor is the Dynamic Contrast’s High setting. It pumps up brighter content and tones down darker scenes to create greater perceived contrast. We’ll show you later how this has a negative impact on gamma performance.

Here’s the max contrast ratio round-up.

A result of 4970 to 1 is a solid number for an LCD display. The only competition that comes close is NEC's V801. Remember that the Toshiba achieves this through a dynamic contrast feature, while the NEC number is its native on/off result. Pioneer's PRO-111FD remains in another galaxy, and is not likely to be eclipsed until we get an OLED-based screen to test.

Calibrated Day & Night Modes

For the Day Mode, we chose a value of 170 cd/m2. This is plenty of light for just about any media room or dedicated home theater. If you prefer the American luminance unit, it’s just under 50 foot-Lamberts. Some might consider this a little too bright for critical viewing, but it's a peak number. Most content doesn't display the brightest output except in highlights or the occasional sunlit scene. Ultimately, it’s up to viewer preference. However, we want a consistent value to which we can compare future displays.

For the Night Mode, we went with a max output of 120 cd/m2 or 35 fL. This is the value used in pro graphics systems, which assumes a darkened light-controlled space. It’s also the ideal level for watching TV in total darkness, or with just a little ambient light (like a small table lamp or light that bleeds in from an adjoining room).

We aren’t comparing these results to other displays because this is our first pure HDTV review, and our computer monitor reviews utilize a 200 cd/m2 standard. Once we compile more data, this list will be expanded.

  • Day White Level - 170.0533 cd/m2
  • Day Black Level - .0525 cd/m2
  • Day Contrast Ratio - 3236.1:1
  • Night White Level - 119.3712 cd/m2
  • Night Black Level - .0374 cd/m2
  • Night Contrast Ratio - 3193.1:1

This is why you want a separate backlight control with any LCD. When it’s properly implemented, as it is here, the contrast ratio will stay consistent no matter what peak light level you choose. That way you can tailor the image to your personal preference and room lighting conditions. Notice that we were able to precisely set the maximum white level thanks to the 50L7300U’s 100-step backlight control.

If you turn the backlight down to zero, you get the following result.

  • Minimum White Level - 38.4878 cd/m2
  • Minimum Black Level - .0132 cd/m2
  • Minimum Contrast Ratio - 2906.1:1

Even though you wouldn’t want to watch the 50L7300U at such a low light level, our result illustrates how consistent the contrast is, no matter where you set the backlight. The Day and Night modes only differ by a small degree. And when the backlight is set to zero, the contrast is still pretty good.

The 50L7300U has a zone dimming backlight, as well as a dynamic contrast feature. The next group of results shows the difference in contrast ratios between various combinations of those controls. DynaLight is either On or Off, and Dynamic Contrast is set to Low, Medium, or High.

The big takeaway is that turning on DynaLight reduces the maximum output by about 20 percent, but the black level improves enough to nearly double the contrast ratio. With Dynamic Contrast on Low, shadow detail is retained. At the Medium and High settings, you’ll see some crushing of shadow detail, though bright highlights are unaffected. Overall, the system is pretty good for improving perceived contrast. The only flaw is you can sometimes see the brightness level shift as content changes.

ANSI Contrast

ANSI contrast is just as important on an HDTV as it is on a computer monitor.. To perform this test, a checkerboard pattern of sixteen zero and 100 percent squares is measured. This is somewhat more real-world than on/off measurements because it tests a display’s ability to simultaneously maintain both low black and full white levels, and factors in screen uniformity. The average of the eight full-white measurements is divided by the average of the eight full-black measurements to arrive at the ANSI result.

The 50L7300U again returns a solid result. It’s impressive to see such consistent performance in a TV found for less than $900. Only the better computer monitors we’ve tested boast an ANSI measurement close to their on/off value. Toshiba is obviously not cutting corners in its choice of parts or its engineering quality.

7. Results: Grayscale Tracking And Gamma Response

The majority of monitors and HDTVs, especially newer models, display excellent grayscale tracking (even at stock settings). It’s important that the color of white be consistently neutral at all light levels from darkest to brightest. Grayscale performance impacts color accuracy with regard to the secondary colors: cyan, magenta, and yellow. Since computer monitors typically have no color or tint adjustment, accurate grayscale is key.

First up is the result from the 50L7300U’s Standard mode.

Believe it or not, this is the warm color temp preset. You can see that it’s far too blue. Errors range from 3 to 14 Delta E. That might work to help the set stand out in a store display, but it’s not what you’d want to watch at home.

Fortunately, relief is close at hand.

All we did was switch to the Movie mode and voila: an excellent result for an HDTV at this price point. None of the errors are visible. Only the 40 and 50 percent brightness points measure above two Delta E.

If you’re inclined to calibrate the 50L7300U, you’ll be rewarded for your efforts.

We're treated to another fantastic chart that shows almost perfect grayscale tracking. It's astounding that this is a $900 display; not long ago, that level of accuracy would have cost a lot more.

For comparison, we’re including the NEC V801, Pioneer PRO-111FD, and the last two monitors reviewed at Tom’s Hardware.

Grayscale accuracy in the Standard mode is marginal at best. Fortunately, all that’s required to improve the outcome is switching to the Movie mode. Then, the error drops to 1.58 Delta E. While there are gains to be had from calibration, the picture is perfectly watchable without it.

Here’s what the 10-point grayscale adjustment gets you.

A .67 Delta E is one of the best results we’ve recorded for any display. Considering the price tags of the first- and second-place screens, Toshiba scores major value points. The errors after calibration range from .12 to 1.04 Delta E, and those are excellent numbers.

Gamma Response

Gamma is the measurement of luminance levels at every step in the brightness range from 0 to 100 percent. This is important because poor gamma can either crush detail at various points or wash it out, making the entire picture appear flat and dull. Correct gamma produces a more three-dimensional image, with a greater sense of depth and realism. Meanwhile, incorrect gamma can negatively affect image quality, even in monitors with high contrast ratios.

In the gamma charts below, the yellow line represents 2.2, which is the most widely accepted standard for television, film, and computer graphics production. The closer the white measurement trace comes to 2.2, the better.

Given the grayscale results above, we're not surprised by the measurement trace. There are only tiny dips at 10 and 90 percent representing luminance errors of .35 and 1.86 cd/m2. It's good that the outcome is so favorable too, since the 50L7300U’s gamma is not adjustable.

One thing we’ve stated in computer monitor reviews is that any sort of dynamic contrast feature will have a negative impact on gamma more than any other metric. To illustrate our point, check out the trace below.

This is what happens when you turn DynaLight On and set Dynamic Contrast to Low. Of course, it's only a measurement. Whether you use Dynamic Contrast is ultimately a matter of personal preference and depends greatly upon the quality of your content. There are certainly times when it's appropriate to use. Fortunately, Toshiba’s implementation doesn’t crush shadow detail at the Low setting. The only drawback is that overall light output is reduced.

Here’s our test group again for the gamma comparisons.

Gamma tracking is nice and tight with only a .13 variation. Such a small aberration is not something you’ll see in actual content.

The average value is equally accurate.

A 2.27-percent variation is also invisible to the naked eye. The maximum luminance error of 1.8 cd/m2 occurs at the 90-percent brightness level.

8. Results: Color Gamut And Performance

Color gamut is measured using a saturation sweep that samples the six main colors (red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, and yellow) at five saturation levels (20, 40, 60, 80, and 100%), providing a more realistic view of color accuracy.

The 50L7300U’s picture modes produce different results in the color gamut test. The first chart was generated in the Standard mode at stock settings.

This is a perfect example of why we measure additional color saturation levels. Red, green, blue, and yellow at 100-percent saturation are pretty close to their targets, while cyan and magenta are fairly wide of the mark. The lower saturations are quite a bit off from their targets, too. The errors range from 11 to 19 Delta E.

The inaccuracy is compounded by super-high luminance values. Some colors are over 100-percent too bright, resulting in cartoon-like images that look unnaturally intense. A lot of the color detail is crushed as well, which removes all of the texture and depth from the picture.

This chart represents the Movie mode.

Even if you don’t calibrate, the 50L7300U’s color accuracy is far superior in the Movie mode. Our chart shows the gamut without any calibration, and the average error is 6.24 Delta E. The main problem is that the color luminance is still too high for every color (on the order of 15 to 50 percent too high). The CIE points aren’t too bad though.

Toshiba's CMS works very well for fixing these problems. Here is the result after grayscale and CMS calibrations.

You can see that it's well worth putting the effort into calibration. The average error is now only 1.53 Delta E, resulting in an image that's far more natural and smooth-toned than before. The CMS doesn’t require too much tweaking to achieve this result, either. Adjusting the luminance values has the biggest impact on quality.

Let’s see how the 50L7300U stacks up to our other HDTVs and monitors.

As we saw in our grayscale and gamma measurements, the 50L7300U ranks with the best displays we’ve tested for color accuracy. A few years ago, an HDTV at this price point would likely have performed poorly and lacked any calibration controls. We’re glad to see technology that addresses performance rather than just adding more bells and whistles.

9. Results: Viewing Angles And Uniformity

Off-axis image quality is super-important in any large-screen HDTV. Since only one person can sit in the center seat, everyone else on the couch is forced to watch at an angle. While most manufacturers claim large viewing angles of 170 degrees or more, 45 degrees is realistic to us. Given a 50-inch LCD panel viewed at eight feet, getting four people in front of it is probably a practical limit if everyone wants a decent picture.

With that said, the 50L7300U looks pretty good at the edge of our 45-degree cone. There is almost no reduction in brightness and the color shift is limited to medium brightness levels only. We see a slight green hue in the 30- to 50-percent bars of the side-to-side view. This is a great TV for family viewing. A larger screen would be even better, and Toshiba obliges by offering sizes up to 65 inches in the L7300U model line.

Screen Uniformity: Luminance

To measure screen uniformity, zero-percent and 100-percent full-field patterns are used, and nine points are sampled. In a change from previous reviews, we’re now comparing the results to other monitors we’ve measured. First, we establish a baseline measurement at the center of each screen. Then the surrounding eight points are measured and their values expressed as a percentage of the baseline, either above or below. This number gets averaged. It is important to remember that we only test the review sample each vendor sends us. Other examples of the same monitor can measure differently in this metric.

First up is black field uniformity.

One of the negative traits of early model LED-lit HDTVs was poor black field uniformity. It was pretty easy to see hotspots at the edges and corners of the screen. Modern panels largely minimize this flaw. The 50L7300U looks fantastic displaying a black field pattern. There are no visible hotspots; just a nice uniform tone.

Here’s the white field measurement.

Again, we get a pretty good number. But it doesn’t tell the whole story. Aside from the center measurement, the other eight values are within 10 cd/m2 of one another. That’s impressive for any LCD panel, large or small. Only a slight hotspot at the center keeps the 50L7300U from acing this test. And it’s a barely visible flaw at worst.

Screen Uniformity: Color

To measure color uniformity, we display an 80-percent white field and measure the Delta E error of the same nine points on the screen. Then we simply subtract the lowest value from the highest to arrive at the result. A smaller number means a display is more uniform. Any value below three means a variation that is invisible to the naked eye.

The outcome is once again excellent. Planar's submission is a freak of nature. Any screen measuring less than three percent deviation will show no color uniformity flaws.

10. Results: Pixel Response And Input Lag

To perform these tests, we use a high-speed camera that shoots at 1000 frames per second. Analyzing the video frame-by-frame allows us to observe the exact time it takes to go from a zero-percent signal to a 100% white field.

The pattern generator is placed at the base of the monitor so our camera can capture the precise moment its front-panel LED lights up, indicating that a video signal is being received by the monitor. With this camera placement, we can easily see how long it takes to fully display a pattern after pressing the button on the generator’s remote. This testing methodology allows for accurate and repeatable results when comparing panels.

Here’s a shot of our test setup. Click on the photo to enlarge.

The brighter section of the camera’s screen is what actually appears in the video. You can see the lights of the pattern generator in the bottom of the viewfinder. We flash the pattern on and off five times and average the results.

Here’s the screen draw result.

The 50L7300U has a Game mode, which, as you’ll see below, is necessary. The screen draw time is the same regardless of picture mode. The 240 Hz refresh rate is responsible for that first-place finish. Remember that this is an IPS panel. The only faster screen we’ve tested is the Asus VG248Q, and that TN-based display completed our black-to-white test in only seven milliseconds.

Here is the lag result in the Game mode.

We'd call this a fair result among HDTVs, but it won’t match any computer monitor we’ve tested. And the other picture modes are even slower. In Movie, we recorded a total lag time of 135 ms. Of course, most gamers employing this display will use a console, which is limited to 60 Hz. While the 240 Hz refresh rate reduces motion blur and judder artifacts, players with speedy reaction times will find noticeable input lag in their gameplay.

11. Results: Video Processing

This is a new area in our benchmark suite, so I’ll explain the results as I go. We use a series of pass/fail tests to determine the ability of an HDTV to process different kinds of video signals. Most of the time, you should let your source components do this because they're more capable. If you have an Oppo Blu-ray player, for example, it will exceed the processing ability of pretty much any display. If you set your player to output 1080p video, the display does no video processing whatsoever. An example of the reverse would be a cable or satellite receiver, which is usually poor for scaling and deinterlacing.

The first tests consist of a group of video clips from the Spears & Munsil HD Benchmark Blu-ray Edition, which is available to anyone online for about thirty bucks. Here’s a quick rundown of what's covered:

2:2 pulldown: This is the cadence most commonly found in content shot on a video camera, like a concert or sporting event. The original image is interlaced, two fields per frame. The display must integrate the two fields into a single progressive frame.

3:2 pulldown: The cadence most often used to convert 24p film to 60i video, its order is two fields of the first frame and then three fields of the next, in alternating sequence. If the display doesn’t integrate the extra field properly, there is a very obvious artifact that shows in our test clip and results in a failure.

Accepts 24p: Film content on Blu-ray is encoded at 24 frames per second, and all current players can output the signal at that rate. Most displays can accept this signal and process it to a refresh rate that’s a multiple of 24 by the use of repeated frames.

  • 2:2 pulldown - FAIL
  • 3:2 pulldown - FAIL
  • Accepts 24p – PASS

The 50L7300U failed the two most common de-interlacing tests. If you have DVDs in your library, or if you hook up a cable or satellite receiver, we recommend letting your source devices take care of the video processing. The TV does process 24p content correctly. If you set the ClearScan option to Off, each frame is repeated five times.

The second group of tests covers an HDTV’s ability to show signals below black and above white. Unlike PC signals, which range from 0 to 255, a video signal truncates that to 16-235. The areas above and below those values are considered head and toe room, and are not used in correctly-encoded content. It is desirable, however, for a display to be able to show the levels between 0-34 and 236-255. It makes calibrating levels easier and occasionally content does stray outside the limits.

The Chroma Burst pattern shows a series of single-pixel lines, in color, to determine if a display actually achieves its maximum native resolution. Most HDTVs return different results for RGB signals than for component (YPbPr) video. 4:2:2 is the minimum bit depth output from a source; 4:4:4 is more common. Some players can output RGB, which usually eliminates a conversion step in the display. Our test shows which signal mode provides the best resolution performance.


Above White
Below Black
Chroma Burst
4:2:2
Pass
PassFail
4:4:4
PassPassFail
RGB
PassPassPass

Signals below black and above white are passed correctly in all three modes. Unfortunately, the only mode that passes the one-pixel burst test is RGB, and some Blu-ray players don’t support that signal format. If that’s the case, you won’t see maximum resolution from the 50L7300U. If you can use RGB, there is no loss of resolution.

12. Toshiba's 50-inch Cloud TV Delivers A Lot For The Money

For less than $900, Toshiba delivers tremendous value in the 50L7300U, and in all of its Cloud TVs for that matter. Even if you’re just in the market for a new HDTV and you don’t plan to use the networking-oriented features, this display is a top performer.

HDTVs should be held to the same standards as computer monitors, we think. They should accurately reproduce the Rec. 709 color gamut, achieve a D65 white point at all brightness levels, track a 2.2 gamma value, and deliver excellent contrast. Toshiba checks all of those boxes. While some of the picture modes show oversaturated color and a cool grayscale, the Movie mode is pretty good out of the box. Though we don’t expect many users will pay a professional calibrator to tune a set at this price level, the benefit is worth the expense. We attained a level of accuracy equal to any high-end flat panel or projector thanks to the full color management system and 10-point white balance adjustment.

While Toshiba's contrast is lower than the average plasma screen, it compares favorably with just about any LCD out there, at any price point. Since the 50L7300U (like most HDTVs) has separate backlight and black level adjustments, you can dial in maximum contrast and maintain that at any light level. This makes the display extremely versatile, since it can be easily adapted to any lighting conditions your room may have. We couldn’t create day and night presets, but it’s very easy to simply change the backlight control when you want more or less output. Please try the settings we published on page three. While they won’t give you the same results as an instrumented calibration, you’ll get pretty close.

Even though the quantitative tests tell us that the TV's image looks great, we watched plenty of real-world content to be sure. And we were not disappointed. Every movie we ran through the 50L7300U looked like reference-level material. The set delivered naturally saturated color, excellent contrast, and sharply focused detail. We tried out Toshiba’s dynamic contrast and local dimming options and found that even though they work pretty well, the TV is good enough to do without those features.

The one weakness we need to point out involves video processing. Failures on the 2:2 and 3:2 pulldown tests means your DVDs won’t look their best unless you let your disc player do the deinterlacing. Fortunately, even the least-expensive models do a decent job with standard-def material. And we didn’t see any major issues with streamed content. The quality of Internet video varies greatly and you’re more likely to see artifacts from compression and bandwidth limitations rather than from anything produced by this display.

For cord-cutters considering the 50L7300U, there is plenty to watch on this TV with nothing more than a network connection. Thanks to the built-in Wi-Fi, you don’t even have to run an Ethernet cable to your entertainment center. You will need to exercise patience, however. The built-in apps don't run particularly quickly on the set's integrated platform. We do applaud the inclusion of a Bluetooth keyboard though, which greatly improves the user experience. Alternatively, you could hook your own media-oriented system up to the 50L7300U and leverage online services to free you from the cable or satellite bill.

Because the Toshiba 50L7300U delivers excellent performance and a lot of functionality at an extremely attractive price, we’re giving it the Tom’s Hardware Smart Buy award for value.

We hope you’ve found our first HDTV review thorough and informative. We plan on continuing this coverage to bring you more televisions, plus the latest OLED and 4K displays in the near future. If there are aspects of these products that you'd like to see us go into more depth on, please let us know in the comments section.