Toshiba 26AV502R

The Toshiba 26AV502R is a good television that doesn’t really do much to stand out among the crowd. It features an all black chassis. The speakers are housed below the screen, keeping the profile slim enough to fit smaller cabinets and entertainment centers. The screen is supported by a matching black stand.

Standout Features

• DynaLight
• Cinespeed
• Gaming Mode

Features

Toshiba utilizes their DynaLight technology which monitors the brightness level of each video frame and adjusts the brightness accordingly. Doing this allows Toshiba to provide a contrast ratio that is 7 to 10 times better than before. It also allows for 256 levels of backlight control. This keeps dark scenes from being washed out and bright scenes will have more contrast.

With Toshiba’s Cinespeed technology, the 26AV502R is able to achieve a response time of 8 milliseconds or less. This keeps motion blur under control, especially while watching programs with a lot of movement such as sports.

This TV has a gaming mode which will bypass some of the processing, thus reducing the amount of time it takes for a signal to reach the screen. This is especially important for gamers who demand the fastest response times, where a few milliseconds can be the difference between winning, and starting over.

Summary of Reviews

Expert reviewers were impressed by the TV’s color accuracy out of the box. With a little tweaking, the colors were close to perfect. The menu system was easy to navigate, as was the remote. The time between changing channels was painfully slow. It took up to 5 seconds sometimes for the TV to lock onto a signal.

Users were also very pleased with the image quality. The colors were accurate and the picture was “amazing.” Even though it is only capable of 720p, the size makes 720p look as good as 1080p on larger sets.

Summary

This TV is a great solution for a bedroom or office/den. The only downside is its slow tuner, but this can be overcome by using your cable or satellite tuner.