There's a new Fire TV for the holidays with the just-announced Toshiba M-Series, starting with the Toshiba M550KU LED 4K UHD Smart Fire TV. It represents a major first for Amazon's smart TVs, with 48 discrete dimming zones for enhanced HDR performance.

The new M-Series is Toshiba's follow up to the popular Toshiba C350 Fire TV, which is also our favorite Fire TV model of the best TVs, and features prominently on our list of the best TVs under $500. The new Toshiba M-Series TVs go on sale this month through Best Buy and Amazon.

In addition to getting an array of dimming zones — a feature sorely lacking in Fire TVs thus far — Toshiba's new M-Series set is also one of the first with hands-free voice interaction. That feature, previously offered only on the recent Amazon Omni Fire TV models, looks like it will be a key feature on all of the more premium Fire TV models going forward.

With Alexa baked in, you can power the TV on, adjust the volume, select a favorite app or show, or search for new content, all without ever reaching for the remote. Far field microphones embedded in the device let you use the TV as a smart speaker, letting you not only control the TV, but also smart home devices and Alexa skills just as you would with an Amazon Echo.

While Amazon's Omni Fire TVs boasted Dolby Vision HDR support, we were a little disappointed by the HDR performance in our testing and review of the set. With no local dimming, there's only so much a TV can do with any HDR format, and putting Dolby Vision on the Omni series felt like an unfulfilled promise. We hope that the new Toshiba M-Series delivers where the Omni fell short.

In addition to local dimming and hands free voice interaction, Toshiba is beefing up the M-Series with a sleek narrow-bezel design, more flash memory for faster performance and boosted brightness and color quality on the display.

The Toshiba M-Series Smart Fire TVs will be available this month, coming in three sizes, with 55-, 65- and 75-inch models. The 55-inch will sell for $799, the 65-inch for $999 and the largest 75-inch model for $1,199.

If you are looking for a midsize TV for a bedroom — and you’re a fan of Amazon Fire smart TVs — the Toshiba C350 Fire TV should be near the top of your list. The 43-inch TV does all the things you want a smart TV to do: Fire TV, and all its features, is fast and responsive; it’s easy to set up and use; and, best of all, it’s very affordable.  

The C350 doesn’t come with the latest bells and whistles, such as HDMI 2.1 or Dolby Atmos support, but it does Dolby Vision and HDR10 — though not very well. Its LCD picture quality isn’t quite as good as the TCL 4-Series Roku TV or Sony Bravia X800H TVs that come in the same size. But if you like Fire TV and you want a TV you can enjoy watching some shows on — and even play games — the Toshiba C350 Fire TV is a great value. 

Toshiba C350 Fire TV (2021 model) review: Price and availability

The 43-inch Toshiba C350 Series Fire TV (model number 43C350KU) that we tested for this review was released in 2021. While its list price is $369, you can find it for much less than that, and sales on the entire C350 line are available most the year. Amazon is selling it for $269 as of this review; you can also find it at Best Buy for $349.

The Toshiba 350 Series comes in three sizes; in addition to the 43-inch model we tested, it also comes in 50 inches and 55 inches.

• 43 inch (model 43C350KU) — $269.99
• 50 inch (model 50C350KU) — $369.99
• 55 inch (model 55C350KU) — $409.99

Note that Amazon has better prices than Best Buy on these models, too. 

The C350 Series has the same specifications across the line, except for the speakers: the 50 and 55-inch models have 8 watts instead of the 7 watts on the 43-inch model. We don’t think that small change will make a difference and expect our experience with the 43C350KU to be consistent with the other models. 

Toshiba C350 Fire TV (2021 model) review: Design

The 37.9 x 22.0 x 2.9-inch 43C350KU stands out a bit from the typical black-on-black plastic TV set: It has a silver plastic strip at the bottom of the panel and silver plastic feet. It gives it a more stylish feel, although it also attracts attention to the set itself — whether that’s a pro or a con is up to personal preference. 

It is a little deeper than other TVs in this size range, thanks to the large port box that sits in the middle of the back of the TV.

The feet, besides being silver, use the typical boomerang style. If you want to mount the TV instead, it supports VESA 200 x 300, and will work with any of the best TV mounts.

Toshiba C350 Fire TV (2021 model) review: Ports

The C350 offers four HDMI ports — plenty for most people — though none support HDMI 2.1, the newest standard that’s needed to take advantage of the latest game consoles. One HDMI port does audio-return channel (ARC) if you want to hook up a soundbar. The ports aren’t ideally located: they are on the side of a section in the middle of the back of the TV. Many TVs, such as the Sony XBR-43X800H, put at least a few ports on the side of the TV so you can access them without pulling out the TV. 

You can also connect via composite video, two USB ports or an RF antenna. For sound, in addition to ARC, you can use optical digital audio, two-channel composite stereo or the headphone jack. There’s also support for Bluetooth. For network connectivity, you can use Wifi or Ethernet.

Toshiba C350 Fire TV (2021 model) review: Performance

The C350 produces a good enough picture — it’s not going to wow you, but in most situations it does well enough that you can enjoy what’s on screen without getting annoyed by quality issues. It’s bright enough to watch during the day and produced good color. 

The TV looks best when you’re watching content that doesn’t need high contrast. While watching the USA men’s Olympic basketball team play France in 4K on YouTube TV, the picture was sharp and didn’t blur during drives down the lane. And the bright, daytime surf scenes in 100 Foot Wave were colorful and realistic. But Avengers: Infinity War, which engaged Dolby Vision, looked flat, likely a result of its mediocre brightness. During a scene in Loki with He Who Remains, the walls in the background looked washed out and lacked detail that was apparent when watching the scene on Sony’s XBR-43X800H. In the Good Joe scene from Blade Runner 2049, the TV couldn’t show details in the dark.

The C350 also suffered from dimming at the corners and washed-out edges, probably due to inconsistencies in its full array backlight. It also has limited viewing angles and definitely looked best when you sit right in front of it.

When I connected an Xbox Series X, the C350 switched to game mode and displayed rich colors while playing Forza Horizon 4 and Apex Legends. The game play was smooth and detailed — thanks in part to its low lag time, as lab testing showed.

Toshiba C350 Fire TV (2021 model) review: Test results

The C350 posted a couple of impressive scores in our test results, especially for a TV of its size and cost. With a 1.7 Delta-E, it had impressive color accuracy — the best among midsized TVs we’ve tested. By comparison, the Sony Bravia XBR-43X800H, which costs about twice as much as the 43C350KU, had a Delta-E of 3.6 (lower numbers are better). 

However, it reproduced just 95.0% of the color spectrum on our standard Rec 709 color spectrum test; most TVs will come closer to 99%. It was also toward the bottom of the pack when it comes to brightness, with 227 nits; by comparison the Sony X800H produced an impressive 426 nits and the TCL 4-Series Roku TV (43S435) came in at 291, about the middle in TVs of this size that we’ve tested. The relatively low brightness is likely what caused the flat appearance of HDR images. 

The 43C350KU impressed with its low lag time of just 10.7 milliseconds, slightly better than the Sony X800H’s 11.2ms and the  TCL 43S435’s 14.1ms. Its low lag time helped the C350 handle fast action well and will please gamers, even though it has a 60Hz panel and lacks support for variable refresh rate. 

Toshiba C350 Fire TV (2021 model) review: Audio

The 43C350KU has two 7-watt speakers in it, which is plenty of power for this size TV. It doesn’t support Dolby Atmos, but it does do DTS Virtual: X. That creates a fairly wide sound, though the speakers lack any bass to speak of. As a result, you get a wide, thin sound from the unit. Voices were still fairly easy to make out, including Loki and Sylvie bickering. But when Thor brings the lightning down on Wakanda in Avengers: Infinity War, there was no deep rumble to go with the sparkling visuals. Even a cheap selection from the best soundbars will be a welcome upgrade to the audio the C350 produces. 

Fire TV offers a few sound modes to help you make the sound more to your liking: Standard, Music, Movie, Clear Voice, Enhanced Bass and Custom. You can also adjust the bass, treble and balance. In the Advanced menu you can adjust dialog levels, TruVolume, which levels out high and low sounds, and Virtual: X. These are easy ways to tweak the sound, though they don’t make too much of a difference when using the speakers included in the TV.

Toshiba C350 Fire TV (2021 model) review: Smart features

The Toshiba C350 runs Fire TV, and if you’ve ever used a Fire TV stick, you’ll recognize the interface. The smart TV OS on the C350 is fairly responsive — though not quite as quick as Android TV on the Sony X800H. Apps launch in seconds, and there are plenty to choose from on the platform — pretty much every major one. 

Set up is simple. Start by connecting the TV to your network. You can then choose from the Full Fire TV experience, which requires an Amazon account, or Basic, which limits the OS to live TV and 5 apps. If you opt for Full, you log in on your phone or computer and enter a code. Then you’re ready to add apps.

It has an extensive main menu, including search, Home, Live, Your Videos, Free, Movies, TV Shows, Apps and Settings. Since this is an Amazon OS, Prime Video gets the priority — Your Videos, Movies and TV shows focus on those offerings.

On the Home screen there’s a lengthy list of things to launch that can keep you scrolling for a while (similar to Android TV). You see suggested movies, shows and apps; recently launched apps, movies and shows, another list of apps, and sponsored apps, movies and shows — and that’s just one scroll down.

You don’t have much control over the Home screen on Fire TV. You can pin apps to the home screen and rearrange the order; beyond that there’s not much you can turn off or add.

The 43C350KU includes Alexa, which you activate through a button on the remote. Alexa reacted quickly to my commands: it turned off the TV, launched Disney+ and changed the volume. It also told me the weather and turned on a Wemo plug.

Toshiba C350 Fire TV (2021 model) review: Remote control

The C350 comes with a standard Fire TV remote; it’s small and comfortable in your hand. At the top is a button to activate Alexa; below that is a scroll wheel to navigate onscreen menus. 

A bevy of small buttons for home, back, menu and more are included. A nice touch is a TV button that will launch a TV guide — unlike many other smart TV OSes, it can tell if you are using a live streaming service such as YouTube TV.

At the bottom are quick launch buttons for Prime Video (of course), Netflix, Disney+ and Hulu.

Toshiba C350 Fire TV (2021 model) review: Verdict

Fire TV fans have a few TVs to pick from in this size and price range, and the Toshiba 350 Fire TV should be among the top choices. It runs Fire TV well and has good overall color. While it doesn’t handle HDR content well, few TVs at this size do. With its color accuracy, low lag time and responsive Fire TV, it sets itself apart from the crowd. 

If you’re not wedded to Fire TV, the TCL 4-Series Roku TV (S435) has a better overall experience, at a similar price. For a premium picture — and a premium price — Sony’s Bravia XBR-43X800H, which runs the more complex Android TV, has superior brightness but costs twice as much. But if you’re looking for a Fire TV for your bedroom or small living room, the Toshiba C350 Fire TV is the one to get.

Earlier this year Toshiba unveiled its collection of 4K Fire TVs for 2021. Just a couple of months later and the entire range is currently discounted by $100 at Amazon, making this one of the best cheap TV deals we’ve seen so far this year. 

Right now you can get the Toshiba 50-inch 4K Fire TV 2021 for $369 at Amazon. That’s $100 off its usual price of $469. The discount has also been applied to the 43-inch and 55-inch models which have dropped to just $269 and $409 respectively. 

• shop all TVs on sale at Amazon

While the televisions are listed for sale at Amazon, the seller is actually rival retailer Best Buy. However, you can still checkout using your Amazon account and are covered by Amazon’s strong customer service if there are any issues once you receive your television. 

The Toshiba 2021 4K Fire TV range is a collection of solid displays that all take advantage of Amazon’s own Fire TV platform. This gives you access to just about every streaming service you could think of from Netflix to Prime Video, Hulu to Disney Plus. You can stream the best movies and shows in August without the need for a third-party accessory like a Chromecast or Apple TV. 

The gorgeous Regza Engine 4K panel on these televisions also includes both Dolby Vision HDR and HDR10 technologies. Which in layman’s terms means that whatever you’re watching, whether it’s Ted Lasso season 2 or The Suicide Squad, it will look even better than ever. 

Gamers might be a little disappointed with the refresh rate be set at 60hz. However, bear in mind that very few games on either the PS5 or Xbox Series X offer 120 fps support, so a 120hz television is somewhat overkill. For most players, any of these Toshiba televisions would make for a very solid pick. 

The included remote control has Alexa support. Amazon’s virtual assistant AI can be used to navigate through streaming catalogs and settings menus without even having to lift a finger. This is particularly handy considering plenty of the best streaming services might offer great content libraries but have frustratingly finicky interfaces. 

If you’re in the marketplace for one of the best TVs under $500 then you really can’t go wrong with one of the Toshiba 2021 4K Fire TVs. Amazon is currently promoting this deal fairly aggressively, so don’t be surprised if it doesn’t stick around for long. Pick up a new television for $100 off while you still can. 

A conventional 4K LCD TV, the 50-inch Toshiba 4K Fire TV Edition (50LF621U21) isn't just another bargain-priced 4K TV. It's also a smart TV for people who want the convenience of Alexa and streaming services in a single package.

For casual TV viewing, the Toshiba Fire TV holds up well enough, and the voice search afforded by Alexa and the remote control's built-in mic make it an attractive package. 

However, its picture performance is less than perfect. Color accuracy was found wanting in our tests and the panel's 60 Hz (versus 120 Hz) refresh rate limits its ability to deliver a solid, realistic image.

Toshiba 4K Fire TV Edition review: Price and availability

Available in three sizes, from 43 to 55 inches, this 50-inch model is the middle child of what the company calls its LF621 series. The 43-inch version is $100 less and the 55-inch is just $50 more. The bigger screen model has the same feature set and similar specification to the 50-inch model we tested. So the relatively small price jump is worth it for the larger set, especially if all you're looking for is a second set to put in the rec room.

• 43-inch (43LF621U21) - $229
• 50-inch (50LF621U21) - $329
• 55-inch (55LF621U21) - $379

Toshiba TVs have a limited distribution in the U.S. as of this writing. However, they are popular purchases that can be found at Best Buy and on Amazon.

Toshiba 4K Fire TV Edition review: Design

With bargain prices you get average looks and a functional approach to design. For example, the Toshiba set doesn't have a razor-thin bezel like leading sets; the black frame or border around the screen is over half an inch wide. Whether you find that noticeable or not depends on your aesthetic.

Light at just over 23 pounds including its stand, the 50-inch Toshiba is quite maneuverable. It can easily be lifted onto a tabletop, resting on a pair of V-shaped feet that attach at either end of the set.

The design proved stable and solid on a credenza that could accommodate its 45-inch width and 11.5-inch deep feet. If you'd like to put it up on a wall, the Toshiba 50LF621U21 conforms to the VESA 200 mm x 300 mm standard mount brackets.

Toshiba 4K Fire TV Edition review: Ports

The Toshiba set makes connections easy. On the back left side there's a panel of ports that includes an optical digital audio output and a 3 mm jack for analog audio output to headphones or an external speaker (making that connection automatically mutes the set's own speakers).

There is also a USB port and three HDMI ports. More expensive sets usually come with more connections, such as two or three USB slots and four HDMI connections. Toshiba doesn't specify if the HDMI ports are version 2.1.

On a downward facing rear panel, you'll also find an Ethernet port, composite video and audio outputs (for older equipment) and a coaxial cable port for an antenna. There is also wireless Bluetooth and 802.11ac Wi-Fi support.

Toshiba 4K Fire TV Edition review: Performance

The Toshiba 4K Fire TV Edition is a relatively unadorned LCD set. So it doesn't make use of quantum dot films to boost its color pallet or miniLED backlighting to improve contrast. It is a basic 60 Hz display (versus 120 Hz) with a standard LED backlight, rather than more advanced full-array local dimming. And those hardware facts are reflected in its picture performance.

Some of our favorite 4K YouTube videos of nature scenes and foreign language tutor looked satisfactory in the Toshiba set's default standard picture mode. We also found that the standard mode didn't completely oversaturate colors, which is surprising since most sets use it to drive colors to blindingly bright levels, particularly for in-store displays.

However, we found the best preset picture mode for the Toshiba Fire TV Edition was the movie mode, where flesh tones looked more realistic and brightness and contrasts levels were set to more reasonable levels. Still, some lack of subtlety was apparent. The 4K HDR version of Knives Out, for example, looked bolder in terms of contrast and color compared to other 4K sets, eliminating shadows in the corners of some scenes. And while some colors, such as green vegetables in the house's kitchen, looked faithfully reproduced, others tended to look preternaturally orange, such as in wood furniture and faces. This made the poor makeup on Chris Evans look almost clownish with bright red lips and exaggerated eyeliner. Such visual impressions underscore the fact that you won’t get all the picture potential out of the HDR and Dolby Vision support due to the lack of full-array backlight dimming.

Nevertheless, details in the Toshiba Fire TV's 4K picture were good. Wrinkled faces were natural and Daniel Craig's houndstooth jacket was crisp and free of any picture noise.

While some viewers will notice the less than solid picture due to the lower refresh rate, we also found that the 60 Hz frequency gave movies like 4K Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker a more cinematic or movie theater look. The picture was not as punchy as, say, that of a much more expensive OLED set, and the colorful alien market scene with its bright red and green costumes lacked some vibrancy. There was also some shading around the edges of the screen on some scenes, no doubt due in part to the lack of full-array dynamic local dimming.

On the other hand, there weren't any egregious picture flaws. The was minimal banding, for example, in color transitions in sky and desert scenes. And black levels were good enough to prevent letterbox bars from becoming distracting.

Upscaled material looked a little flat, again lacking some contrast. However, In spite of its lower 60Hz refresh rate, we didn't detect any obvious stutter or picture artifacts when dealing with lower HD material that was bumped up to 4K. And that's a positive note given that even today a majority of content is not yet available in 4K.

Toshiba 4K Fire TV Edition review: Test results

Our test results confirmed that while the Toshiba 50LF621U21 is fine for casual viewing of streaming and broadcast programming, it will probably disappoint serious cinephiles. Most notably, it lacked the color fidelity movie buffs cherish.

As with the majority of sets we test, the Toshiba was able to reproduce most of the Rec. 709 color gamut, turning in 98.6 percent of the full spectrum. However, accurately rendering those colors was another matter. In that regard, using our X-Rite colorimeter and CalMan calibration software it turned in a Delta E measurement of 3.3; lower numbers are better with most sets expected to turn in a Delta E of around 2 or better. The Vizio V-Series V505-G9, for example, had a Delta E of 2.3 in our tests and it's $50 less expensive than the Toshiba. If you want a more advanced and larger set, the $650 Hisense 55H9G turned in an impressively color accurate Delta E of 0.9.

While brightness issues tend to be less of an issue with big screens these days, we did notice that it was a slight weakness of the Toshiba Fire TV Edition. Under typical conditions, the picture is bright enough, but sun-soaked rooms will present a challenge. In our tests, maximum brightness with a 10 percent pattern size came out to 423.7 nits. That's not terrible but certainly less than quantum dot LCDs we've tested recently, such as the Hisense 55H9G (668) and the Vizio M-Series (647.2).

Toshiba 4K Fire TV Edition review: Gaming

In gaming, milliseconds count. Unfortunately, we found the Toshiba was a laggard when it came to fighting monsters and shooting bad guys. It turned in a relatively slow lag time of 30.1 ms in gaming mode using our Leo Bodnar signal lag tester.

While anecdotally we found it was good enough for a casual game or two, we're not in the championship class of e-atheletes. In general, lag times of greater than 17 ms tend to be noticed by serious gamers, so those looking for a second set dedicated to Call of Duty competition should look elsewhere. We've found quicker reflexes in the Hisense 55H9G (16.1 ms), a larger set costing $650, for example, and even the $300 Vizio V-Series V505-G9 did better at 27.4 ms.

Toshiba 4K Fire TV Edition review: Audio

The built-in audio of the Toshiba uses a set of downward firing speakers on the back of the set. As with most TVs, the Toshiba offers several pre-set audio modes (Music, Movie, Clear Voice, and Enhanced Bass). The default setting is Standard mode, which we found a bit sonically cramped but capable enough to handle most content without drawing attention to itself.

Movie mode tries to expand the sound stage using DTS synthesized surround sound software. It manages to do an adequate job delivering a more cinematic sound, especially from a budget-priced set, without obscuring the dialogue. However, blasting a 4K video of Aha's Take on Me revealed that the same mode tended to be very bass heavy to the detriment of the famous high flying vocals. Switching to Music mode brought the vocals back to life, boosting the high end and tightened up the bass (which sounded slushy in movie mode).

Interestingly, Toshiba does give you more options, allowing you to adjust bass, treble and balance within each mode. There's also an advanced setting where you can adjust dialog clarity (with middling results), the DTS Virtual X level (medium) and a volume leveling feature. In terms of volume levels, turning it up the 10-watts a side audio to 50 percent on a music video was enough to fill a modest living room with sound, as well as disturb the next-door neighbor, which we learned the hard way.

Toshiba 4K Fire TV Edition review: Smart TV features

The addition of Amazon's Fire TV smartTV software and interface is certainly a benefit. It competes against Roku and Google's Android TV for viewers affections and manages to hold its own against those two. Roku still holds the title for easiest to use and Android for most full-featured, Amazon TV has an ace in the hole: Alexa.

Setting up the set is relatively straightforward. Toshiba automatically first updated the remote and then presented me with options across the top of the screen: Home, Live, Your Videos, Free, Movies, TV Shows, Apps, and Settings. To set up the Wi-Fi connection, you skip back to the opening screen. If the set needs it, you can also update the software when setting up the TV.

The main screen on Fire TV shows 8 tiles of programming options with a mix of shows, channels and apps. You can skip around or pick a category. However, we did find the categories confusing. “Live,” for example isn't just live broadcast TV but rather a mix of local stations (assuming you've hooked up an antenna) and streaming services like Pluto.

Cord cutters will find the Toshiba set performs well. We found 46 stations after scanning our metropolitan area in New York City. Hitting the options button on the remote when watching live TV will invoke a handy electronic program guide, and you can pause live TV for up to 2 minutes. That's not up to typical DVR standards, but it's long enough to get a snack from the fridge without missing anything.

The competition for completeness—who has what streaming services—is a moving target. Amazon's Fire TV is comparable to Roku and Android, although it does not have as many apps but still manages to cover all the majors like Netflix, Showtime, and biggies like CBS and ESPN. There are two notable exceptions, however: there's no HBO Max or Peacock TV. Amazon has also joined the sets offering a “Free TV” section. It's still a little sparse compared to Roku, and draws primarily on IMDB TV, but it's bound to grow in the future and you can download the likes of Tubi, Pluto, and Crackle to supplement it.

Of course, the major draw for the Toshiba Fire TV is Alexa. Just press the remote's microphone button and you can use all the standard Alexa skills: ask about the weather, how far the moon is from the Earth, or the latest sports scores. Better still, you can do programming searches using Alexa and generally it works very well. Press the mic button and say, “Play Toto Africa video” and the YouTube video will kick in. Not all the TV apps are Alexa enabled, but the primary ones are and you can see which ones are covered under the Apps tab.

Toshiba 4K Fire TV Edition review: Remote control

Often the little things, like remote controls, go unnoticed and that's a good thing. It means they are unobtrusive. Unfortunately, we never got that comfortable with the Toshiba Fire TV's remote.

It is the essence of simplicity. There are no numeric or alphabetic buttons. A four-way directional circle with a center enter button, handles most tasks, along with a mic button, controls for pausing or rewinding/fast forwarding and dedicated buttons for invoking Prime Video, Netflix, HBO, and Hulu. Mute, home, back, menu and settings buttons complete the controls.

We had no complaints with the array of controls, and they are typical for smart TVs that use other software, such as Roku. However, we never felt at home with the remote. Its combination of smaller size and even weighting (about 50/50 front to back) made it feel awkward and irritating. And like a scratchy wool sweater, it was a feeling we couldn't shake.

Toshiba 50-Inch 4K Fire TV Edition review: Verdict

It would be too flip to say, you get what you pay for. While it is true that the 2020 Toshiba 4K Fire TV Edition (50LF621U21) is not a top performer, even in the category of bargain-priced sets, it is still an attractive option for casual viewing situations. That's primarily due to its easy-to-use smartTV features and the inclusion of Amazon's Alexa.

Gamers and movie buffs will want to look for better performers, however. We've found quicker gaming performance in the Hisense 55H9G (16.1 ms), a larger set costing $650, or even the $300 Vizio V-Series V505-G9. Those looking for a brighter more accurate picture are advised to spend more money for the aforementioned Hisense model or one of the Vizio M-Series sets.

The Toshiba 55-inch 4K Fire TV Edition (55LF621U19) is Amazon's second crack at selling its own smart TVs, the 2018 follow-up to last year's Westinghouse and Element Amazon Fire TV models.

While the new TVs are better in most respects, with improved display quality, HDR support and a more refined user experience, the end result is still weighed down by Amazon's reliance on third-party manufacturers and less expensive hardware. While the sub-$500 price is a strong selling point, it introduces some weaknesses that make it hard to recommend Amazon's solid smart TV platform, seeing as it's tied to less-impressive hardware.

Editors' Note: (Updated April 18, 2019) Amazon and Google have made up, and YouTube is now available on Amazon Fire TVs, fixing one of our biggest problems with the Amazon-powered smart TV.

Toshiba 55-inch 4K Fire TV Edition (55LF621U19) Specs

Design

The 55LF621U19's design is quite basic, with a fairly thick plastic cabinet. Without the stand, the TV measures 28.7 x 49.1 x 3.7 inches and weighs 32.4 pounds. The back of the TV cabinet is simple black plastic, but it's not one single piece. 

The rear panel is actually several separate pieces held together with visible screws, and the entire display cabinet is pretty chunky, thicker than the TCL Roku 55-inch 55S405 (3.0 inches) or the Insignia 55-Inch Roku TV (3.5 inches).

The stand consists of two crescent-shaped feet, made of glossy plastic. While the stand seems fairly stable, it's not the most aesthetically pleasing design we've seen. The footprint of the stand measures 29 x 12 inches and raises the TV up 1.5 inches.

From the front, the 55LF621U19 has a very basic design, with glossy black bezels that are fairly wide (0.7 inch). In the center of the bottom bezel is a Toshiba logo, while a single button for power and input selection gives you a physical control if your remote isn't handy.

The rear panel also has holes to accept a 200-millimeter x 300-millimeter VESA mount, should you want to hang it on the wall or attach a flexible mounting arm.

Ports

On the left-facing side, you will find one USB port, three HDMI ports (including one with Arc support), a optical digital audio port, and a headphone jack. While we wish these ports were closer to the edge of the screen — they are more than a foot in from the edge — they are at least visible and accessible.

On the back, you will find additional RCA composite-video inputs, a LAN connection, and a screw-on coaxial connector for antenna and cable. These ports are considerably less accessible, thanks to an inset, downward-facing position. Thankfully, the networking cable and antenna or cable connections are the sort that you connect once and mostly leave unchanged.

While you can use the LAN port to connect the TV over a wired Ethernet connection, you can also use the built-in Wi-Fi. The TV supports 802.11ac.

Smart Features

Amazon's Fire TV OS has an easy-to-navigate home screen, but it's got lots of content recommendations and advertising banners to deal with. Unfortunately, we couldn't find a way to disable this advertising, which makes sense given Amazon's retail focus. So, you'll need to simply put up with aggressive promos for movies and shows on Amazon Prime.

While many smart TV platforms include some form of advertising, usually in the form of recommended content from preferred apps and services, Amazon's Fire TV also includes ads for Amazon merchandise. This ranged from the obvious, like movies and home theater gear, to the interest-specific, like sports equipment and recommendations personalized to my Amazon history. Sometimes, it got a little weird, such as the time I turned on the Toshiba Amazon TV to be served an ad for the Samsung Q7F television.

Voice-assistant integration has become common on smart TVs, and Amazon's Fire TV is no different, with the same Alexa voice assistant built in that's found in the Amazon Echo and similar devices. Using Alexa, you can search for content, adjust settings on the TV ranging from volume and channel control to picture settings and some apps, and control any Alexa-compatible smart home device.

Amazon's app ecosystem is quite large, with the Fire TV OS benefiting from the years of app development done for Amazon's other Fire products. The most-popular apps, like Netflix, HBO Go and others, are promoted and easy to find on the home screen. You'll have to find the rest in the app store. These will be spread across 27 different app categories, including both common smart-TV uses such as Movies & TV, News, and Sports, as well as less common designations, like Business, Reference and Transportation. The Amazon ecosystem of apps numbers in the thousands.

One problem with the app store, however, is that it can be difficult to navigate. Some of this is due to an opaque browsing system that's broken up into dozens of categories. You can find individual apps by searching for an exact name, but there is no way to browse all of the apps available, short of digging through the app store one category at a time.

Another problem comes in the loading times. Scrolling through a menu of available apps can take quite some time, because not all app icons will load immediately, and you will often miss entire rows of apps because they weren't even on the page when you tried browsing through the available options. Search manages to be even slower.

Another issue is quality control. Many of the apps available are of low quality, and you'll find strange listings in the app store. One entry in the Food & Drink category is simply titled, "Ilovemangoes," with the not-so-helpful app description reading, "mangoesmangoesmangoesmangoes." It's far from the polished experience offered by the more tightly controlled, proprietary app stores seen on other smart TVs.

Categorization is of varied quality as well. For example, the popular anime-streaming app Crunchyroll is filed under the Novelty category, alongside fart apps and repackaged YouTube channels. Finding a specific app is easier with a search rather than by browsing category by category.

You'll also have to deal with some company politics. Amazon and Google have frequently butted heads, pulling each other's respective services from the list of supported apps on their devices, meaning you can't get the YouTube app on your Amazon TV. However, there is an app tile found on the home screen, which simply says YouTube.com — no YouTube logo, no familiar red branding, just plain blue tile with that URL.

It's actually a redirect to a bookmark that lets you use YouTube through the TV's built-in browser. It's an irritating extra hoop to jump through just to use an extremely popular app. If you want a dedicated app for YouTube, you can find some. I quickly discovered at least four in the Amazon app store, but the official YouTube app is nowhere to be seen.

Editors' Note: (Updated April 18, 2019) This issue has been fixed, with Amazon and Google publicly agreeing to work with each other again. This means Fire TVs will get an official YouTube app, along with other YouTube apps and services, such as YouTube Kids, YouTube Music and (most-critical for cordcutters) YouTube TV.

Performance

The Toshiba uses direct LED backlighting with no local dimming, which results in some expected deficiencies. When displaying solid colors, such as blue sky or title cards, the panel has distinct shadowing in the corners.

The television offers HDR support, with compatibility with HDR10 but not Dolby Vision. Oddly enough, the TV doesn't list HDR10 Plus as a supported format, even though Amazon Prime Video is one of the few sources of HDR10 Plus content. That said, the HDR support does provide excellent midtones, with plenty of subtle detail in shadowy and dimly lit scenes. While the HDR support is not perfect, it is still a significant step up in quality from standard dynamic range.

The 55LF621U19 has some deficiencies in light blooming and backlight consistency, but it does offer rather excellent detail. Bright objects on screen are also a bit hazy, with indistinct edges, but that's a minor issue.

When I watched scenes from Blade Runner 2049, the unwanted blooming was evident in scenes of an abandoned casino. A halo of unwanted light surrounded a brightly lit doorway at the end of a dark hallway. In another scene from Blade Runner, a cloud bank over a futuristic Los Angeles was striped with banding where there should have been a smooth gradient.

I watched a scene from Spider-Man: Homecoming in which a gang armed with alien weapons shot up a bank branch, with glowing, purple energy beams punctuating the action. While these elements popped on screen, a faint glow surrounded them, the result of the Toshiba's less precise backlighting.

Viewing angles also leave a lot to be desired. Horizontally, sitting off-center by as little as 30 degrees causes noticeable color shifting. It's actually worse when looking at vertical viewing angles. What looks good on the TV while sitting on the couch will have significant color issues once you stand up, even with no other change in position.

Our instrumental testing bore out this mediocre performance in our anecdotal tests. Color reproduction is rich, but inaccurate, as the Toshiba reproduced 98.2 percent of the sRGB color gamut — slightly better than results from the Insignia (96.7 percent) and last year's Westinghouse Amazon Fire TV (98.1 percent) but slightly behind the TCL 55S405's showing (98.4 percent).

Accuracy was another matter, with the Toshiba scoring a Delta-E rating of 5.05 under the best picture mode available. Lower numbers are better in this test. Again, the Toshiba scored slightly better than last year's Westinghouse Amazon Fire TV (5.5), but it was significantly less accurate than either the 55-inch Insignia Roku TV (2.03) or the TCL 55S405 (2.16). This inaccuracy was especially noticeable in pink shades, which all skewed purple.

Brightness was more in line with the competition, with maximum brightness landing at 358.89 nits in our testing. With competitors' scores ranging from 314.14 on the TCL 55S405 to 385.13 on the Westinghouse, the Toshiba offers middle-of-the-road brightness; that's common for a budget-friendly set.

Audio

The Toshiba is outfitted with a pair of 10-watt speakers with DTS sound. The overall sound quality isn't great, but the volume gets quite loud. It easily filled our testing lab, and it steers clear of the buzzing and distortion that often plagues less-expensive TVs. Regardless of the volume and clarity, you'll probably still want to get a soundbar, because overall audio quality is decidedly mediocre.

MORE: Smart TV FAQ - The Pros and Cons of Smart Televisions

Listening to "They Can't Take That Away from Me" by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, the unmistakable vocals and distinctive trumpet tones came through quite clearly at most volumes. However, when volume was turned up to 75 percent or higher, the sound quality got thin and reedy, and there was some noticeable clipping at high volume.

With no built-in subwoofer on this TV, bass is virtually nonexistent. When listening to "Resistance" by Knife Party, the lack of bass severely muted what should have been a thumping, driving bass line. What's worse, some of the treble sounded muffled and indistinct.

Remote control

The remote that comes with this TV is rather minimal in design, looking far more similar to Samsung's one remote than the button-festooned models that come with Sony's TVs. The Toshiba remote feels rather light and flimsy, but no more so than the Roku remotes that come with a TCL TV or similar. The remote has a glossy ring that functions as a four-way directional pad, surrounded with dedicated buttons for home, back, menu and media playback controls.

Another button lets you switch to live TV, while an up and down button lets you adjust volume and another button lets you mute the sound. There are four app-specific buttons at the bottom of the remote. These are labeled Prime Video, Netflix, HBO and PlayStation Vue. Thankfully, the branded buttons are located at the bottom of the remote, where you can be easily them.

Up at the top of the remote is a microphone button used to speak to Alexa for voice control. This is especially handy when searching for content and apps, because it eliminates the need to enter text with the on-screen keyboard, and search is frequently a much faster method for finding a specific app or show.

Bottom Line

The smart TV category is ripe for the appearance of another strong competitor to Google's dominance and Roku's ubiquity among less-expensive sets, but the Toshiba 55-inch 4K Fire TV Edition (55LF621U19) won't be the model that turns the tide in Amazon's favor. The 55LF621U19 may offer a better picture than last year's Westinghouse Fire Edition TV, but the improvements in picture quality — adding HDR support and improved color gamut and accuracy — don't do enough to strongly recommend the TV on its own merits.

As long as Amazon sticks to budget-tier hardware and competes with Roku as a bargain-price smart-TV OS, it will continue to seem second-rate compared to the proprietary platforms used by LG and Samsung, or Sony's Android TV offerings. As such, we recommend sticking to budget-friendly Roku sets in this price range, like the Insignia Roku TV 4K Ultra HD 55-Inch (NS-55DR620NA18) or the TCL Roku 55-inch 55S405.

Amazon Fire TV platform isn't bad as smart TVs go, but it leaves me wondering when Amazon will put this platform on a decent TV.

Credit: Tom's Guide

A few weeks ago at the Toshiba 2012 conference in the UK, the company showcased a prototype 13.3-inch tablet packed with Nvidia's quad-core Tegra 3 SoC. It featured a USB port, HDMI output and an SD card slot. There was also a camera on the front for video calling and a camera mounted on its backside.

Given that the monster tablet was merely a prototype, a Toshiba spokesperson said that it may never reach the market -- its future depends purely on consumer reaction. That said, availability dates or final cost is not on the board, and at this size, we have to wonder why consumers wouldn't just go the extra mile and purchase an ultrabook.

But for those who wouldn’t mind fondling a 13.3-inch tablet, German-language site Techfokus has provided a few additional specs. According to the hands-on report, the gadget actually has a built-in TV tuner. The antennae resides at the top right edge, and can be pushed into chassis when not in use.

The hands-on also reveals that the camera on the front is 1.3MP whereas the rear-facing camera is 5MP. The prototype even has 32 GB of internal storage and runs Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich." Additional details like RAM, screen resolution and network connectivity are still unknown at this point.

Five well-known companies have banded together to collaborate on a new content protection technology for flash memory devices.

Under what they call the "Next Generation Secure Memory Initiative," Panasonic, Samsung, SanDisk, Sony and Toshiba will start preparing for licensing and promotion of high-definition security for SD cards and embedded memory used in devices like tablets and smartphones. This new security measure will be able to protect HD content through the use of unique ID (identification) technology for flash memory, and "robust" copy protection based on public key infrastructure.

According to the party of five, this initiative should allow for HD network downloads, streaming broadcast content while on the go, and HD Digital Copy/Managed Copy from Blu-ray Discmedia. "With these applications, users can enjoy HD content on a wide range of devices, including Android-based smartphones and tablets, TVs and Blu-ray products," the group promises.

"Samsung believes that the time is ripe for an advanced security solution and welcomes the opportunity to deliver a highly viable solution using flash memory chips. Samsung's ongoing commitment to technology excellence will now further extend to early market availability of high-performance NAND technologies implementing the new advanced security solution," said Young-Hyun Jun, Executive Vice President, Memory Business, Samsung Electronics. Co., Ltd.

On Monday, the group said their combined efforts should enable them to start licensing the new secure memory technology early next year. This will likely lead to actual products sometime in 2012 although they didn't specify an actual projected quarter.

"This technology will open a new door to flash memory applications. As a flash memory manufacturer, we are pleased that our flash memory technology will contribute to bringing people more convenient and exciting experiences of HD content. We will continue our development efforts to create surprising innovation," said Yasuo Naruke, Corporate Vice President, Vice President, Memory Division, Semiconductor & Storage Products Company, Toshiba Corporation.

To learn more about the Next Generation Secure Memory Initiative, head here.

3DTVs have been threatening to take over our living rooms for the last year or so. However, many believe the technology is simply too young to bother investing in just yet and one of the biggest deal-breakers for people is definitely the glasses you have to wear to enjoy this new tech at home. However, with the arrival of the Nintendo 3DS, manufacturers are embracing glasses-free solutions and today, at IFA, Toshiba unveiled what it's claiming is the world's first glasses-free 3D television. Dubbed the Toshiba ZL2, this TV serves up up face tracking, Resolution+, Auto-calibration, 2D to 3D conversion and smart TV features in a 55-inch package.

Peep the full specs below:

Toshiba hasn't provided a price or a concrete release date, but don't expect it to be cheap. It's thought to be arriving in Europe in December of this year, so perhaps we'll also see it in the States before the year is out. Toshiba's German press site also mentions that it will cost €7,999, which equates to more than $11,000. Yikes! We'll keep you posted on any information regarding local pricing and availability.

Wednesday Toshiba of Japan revealed (translated) a Write Once Memory Card for use in government agencies and businesses. As the name implies, data can be written only once to the card, mimicking CDs and DVDs but without the annoying traits that plague optical media.

Now arriving in Japan, the 1 GB Write Once Memory Card is an ideal solution for saving sensitive data in a time where it's far more easier to store or transport a small card than a disc. Police agencies could store crime scene images and other evidence to the card, or photographers may simply want someplace to permanently store their originals before porting them into Photoshop for edits.

On the malware front, the card would be ideal in preventing malicious code from jumping from PC to PC. In many cases, an infected PC accessing an unlocked SD card or USB device can unknowingly dump malware onto the media, thus infecting other PCs accessing the card or stick later on. As long as the original PC is clean, a Write Once Memory Card should prevent this type of digital epidemic.

What's not clear is how much the Write Once Memory Card will cost, or if it will be distributed in a pack similar to old 3.5-inch floppy disks There's also no indication of when this new media will arrive in the States, but there's a good chance it will be introduced into the American market sometime this year.

During the 3rd Annual 3D Entertainment Summit, RealD president and co-founder Josh Greer said that licensees will be able to offer the world's first Full HD passive 3D HDTVs in 2011. This means that consumers will no longer need to shell out $130 to $200 for a pair of active-shutter glasses, but rather use a pair similar to ones offered in theaters that cost just a buck.

According to Greer, the RealD system uses a patented electro-optical "ZScreen" technology that’s inserted into the front of a flat panel. This system rapidly changes the light from clockwise circular polarization to counterclockwise, and then back again.

The RealD glasses have circular polarized passive lenses that simulate shutters. The left image will go to the left eye while blacking out the right image from the right eye--the right image will go to the right eye while blocking the left image from the left eye. Like current 3D HDTVs, the images are displayed sequentially on the flat panel.

The benefits of using RealD's ZScreen technology include lighter, cheaper glasses that don't require recharging or replacing batteries. Additionally, the 3D effect won't be lost when someone walks between the 3D HDTV and the glasses, as ZScreen doesn't use an infra-red sync emitter.

Greer said that RealD's passive 3D solution won't replace the current active-shutter offering, but will be sold alongside the older 3D tech for at least the next four to five years. Products are expected to hit the market in Spring 2011, however the first licensed RealD HDTV manufacturers to bring passive 3D HDTVs to the market--either Sony, JVC, Samsung, Toshiba or Panasonic--has yet to be determined.

Greer plans to showcase the new technology during CES 2011 in January.

In the theater, RealD's portfolio includes The Last Airbender, Clash of the Titans, Alice in Wonderland, Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D and more.