Toshiba 65L9300U Physical Characteristics
The 65L9300U is part of Toshiba’s premium line of HDTVs, and therefore comes with a fairly comprehensive set of accessories. Included in the box is a wireless keyboard with touchpad to help navigate the Cloud TV interface. You also get four sets of 3D glasses. There is no printed manual, though you can pull the instructions up on-screen once the 65L9300U is online. This doesn't make much sense to us. How do you connect to the Internet to read the instructions if you were previously having trouble connecting to the Internet? Fortunately, setup is quite easy. But if you really need it, the manual is also available on Toshiba's website.
Product 360
Again, this is a high-end TV, and it looks the part. The panel’s front layer is glass with an anti-glare coating. It only does a fair job of eliminating reflections, so care should be taken with the TV’s placement. The bezel surround is matte-finished aluminum like the base.
The aluminum base and chrome-plated support column are made from solid pieces of metal. You can swivel the panel about 15 degrees either left or right.
Measuring 2.8 inches-thick, Toshiba can't claim to offer the thinnest panel out there. But it's worth noting that some of depth is attributable to a bulge along the bottom edge. Otherwise, the thickness measurement would be closer to two inches.
Three of the four HDMI inputs are on the left side, along with USB connectivity and an SD card slot. Wall-mounting is easy with the included 400 mm VESA fittings around back.
Inputs are split between a side-facing panel and the back. As you might imagine, connecting devices is easy, unless the TV is wall-mounted. In that case, accessing the VGA and Ethernet ports is going to be more difficult because they are rear-facing. The analog component inputs point to the back as well.
You get one optical audio output and one 3.5 mm analog connector. The SD card slot is cool, but hard to reach when the TV is wall-mounted. There had to be a better place to put that.
Toshiba bundles the same Bluetooth-based keyboard we got with the 50L7300U. It works via a tiny receiver plugged into one of the TV's 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 laggy and imprecise. Using the Tab or arrow keys to navigate the browser and other cloud-oriented apps is quicker.
The remote is also similar to the 50L7300U's controller, with two important exceptions: it’s backlit and has a 3D button. Backlighting should be standard on every A/V remote, regardless of price point, and we’re glad to see it included with this premium display. The 3D button toggles between 2D and stereo mode whether the content is native 3D or converted 2D. Once the TV is in 3D mode, you can adjust the depth of the effect using the Quick Menu.
This wand can be programmed to control other devices, and it works fairly well within a reasonable distance and angle from the set. Our only nitpick is that the directional keys work differently than the other buttons. They click loudly and feel cheap, and for some reason they aren’t backlit.
