Toshiba 50L7300U Review: A 50-Inch LED HDTV With Wi-Fi
You've seen us dramatically increase our display coverage over the last year, and now we're reviewing HDTVs too. Our first screen is Toshiba’s 50-inch L7300U Cloud TV with Wi-Fi. We run it through our lab and usability tests to see how it measures up.
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.
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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.
Current page: Results: Grayscale Tracking And Gamma Response
Prev Page Results: Brightness And Contrast Next Page Results: Color Gamut And PerformanceChristian Eberle is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware US. He's a veteran reviewer of A/V equipment, specializing in monitors. Christian began his obsession with tech when he built his first PC in 1991, a 286 running DOS 3.0 at a blazing 12MHz. In 2006, he undertook training from the Imaging Science Foundation in video calibration and testing and thus started a passion for precise imaging that persists to this day. He is also a professional musician with a degree from the New England Conservatory as a classical bassoonist which he used to good effect as a performer with the West Point Army Band from 1987 to 2013. He enjoys watching movies and listening to high-end audio in his custom-built home theater and can be seen riding trails near his home on a race-ready ICE VTX recumbent trike. Christian enjoys the endless summer in Florida where he lives with his wife and Chihuahua and plays with orchestras around the state.
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cats_Paw A bit expensive. Give me a good plasma 50-60 inch, low input lag, no smart, wifi... maybe 3d and usb play, but even that not necesary for a low price and im sold (like maybe LG 50PN6500, althou most reviews say its not too good).Leds are a bit more pricey at 50 inch >DReply -
iam2thecrowe Toshiba have always made good stuff, i had a toshiba tv a while ago and it had a better picture and more picture adjustments than anything else on the market at the time.I fully disagree with the above about a plasma, regardless of input lag or whatever, the picture quality is total garbage with all the speckles, all plasmas have it.Reply -
toddybody Love Toms...truly.BUTWhy are they reviewing a Ho-Hum 1080p TV from Toshiba? Seems more up CNET's alley to review blase consumer tech. Tom's is special for it's in depth and technical reviews of less heralded techie gear (i.e., CPU/GPU/HDD/Special Peripherals/Technical Prototypes...etc) What Im really trying to say is, Where is Half Life 3 and nVidia Maxwell? :DReply -
cangelini Love Toms...truly.BUTWhy are they reviewing a Ho-Hum 1080p TV from Toshiba? Seems more up CNET's alley to review blase consumer tech. Tom's is special for it's in depth and technical reviews of less heralded techie gear (i.e., CPU/GPU/HDD/Special Peripherals/Technical Prototypes...etc) What Im really trying to say is, Where is Half Life 3 and nVidia Maxwell? :D
Christian is writing Tom's Hardware-style display coverage for us, and doing a fantastic job applying the same deep-dive methodologies we use for other components to help quantify the strengths and weaknesses of monitors/TVs. Don't worry; you'll see us cover Maxwell when the embargo lifts on it ;) For Half-Life 3, you need to talk to Gabe. -
Nintendo Maniac 64 Toms, could you please confirm/deny if you actually tested that the Movie preset was the best and didn't just assume it was like many people do? While it doesn't sound like the TV model you tested has this specific issue, it's definitely something to keep in mind that the "Movie" preset may not always provide the best picture. I own a Toshiba 39L1350U and the Movie preset reduces the contrast and black levels considerably. To quote myself from the following post I made on AVS Forum:Reply
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1477874/toshiba-l1350u-series-2013/30#post_23923173
"Using the same settings on both Game and Movie, via OCD-levels of eye-balling I found that Game and/or PC modes (which look identical) have similar white levels with backlight @ 50 compared to Movie's backlight @ 68. By comparison Movie's backlight setting had to be set to 40 just to get black levels similar to Game and/or PC with backlight @ 50. And for reference,"Standard" seems to be about the same as Game and/or PC except that the backlight @ 42 seems to equal Game/PC's backlight @ 50."
For reference, CNET seemed to have assumed that the the "Movie" preset was the best when reviewing the L2300U (which is the same as the L1350U but in a different color) and then went and criticized the TV for having poor contrast and black levels. I just want to make sure Tom's doesn't make the same mistake in the future. -
ceberle 12613485 said:Toms, please do not just assume that the Movie preset is the best. I own a Toshiba 39L1350U and the Movie preset reduces the contrast and black levels considerably. To quote myself from the following AVS Forum thread post:
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1477874/toshiba-l1350u-series-2013/30#post_23923173
"Using the same settings on both Game and Movie, via OCD-levels of eye-balling I found that Game and/or PC modes (which look identical) have similar white levels with backlight @ 50 compared to Movie's backlight @ 68. By comparison Movie's backlight setting had to be set to 40 just to get black levels similar to Game and/or PC with backlight @ 50. And for reference,"Standard" seems to be about the same as Game and/or PC except that the backlight @ 42 seems to equal Game/PC's backlight @ 50."
This also means that your calibration settings are most likely incorrect for Game mode.
It's important to note that CNET made the same mistake by calibrating via the "Movie" preset when reviewing the L2300U (which is the same as the L1350U but in a different color) and then went and criticized the TV for having poor contrast and black levels.
We did not assume that Movie mode produced the best contrast, we measured every mode to determine which was the best starting point for calibration. Our black level measurements take into account the full rendering of detail down to the lowest brightness steps. It's easy to drop the brightness control and measure a better black level but detail will be crushed. In the game mode, we couldn't get any better black levels than movie when you take detail into account. Check out the article where we talk about the use of dynamic contrast. That will give you a pretty good idea where the balance is between contrast and detail. Remember also that Game mode does not have the accurate color gamut or flat grayscale and gamma tracking possible in Movie.
When referring to forum posts, a statement like "via OCD-levels of eye-balling" means that the writer is expressing an opinion, not facts arrived at by science. We suggest taking information like that with a grain of salt.
And yes, our calibration settings would be incorrect in Game mode.
-Christian-
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Nintendo Maniac 64 We did not assume that Movie mode produced the best contrast
Could you please read the edit I made to that post? I attempted to remove (or at least greatly reduce) any accusatory wording I may have used.
When referring to forum posts, a statement like "via OCD-levels of eye-balling" means that the writer is expressing an opinion, not facts arrived at by science. We suggest taking information like that with a grain of salt.
I stated that I was quoting and linking to a post I made myself; if look at the user name of said AVS Forum post you would see that it is my own. Therefore I don't exactly appreciate it when you say that my results have no scientific merit and are purely an opinion...not all of us can afford multi-hundred dollar calibration tools just to provide exact numbers on what we're seeing. (for reference, I was not even the person that insisted on buying the TV, I would have been fine without one)