Toshiba C350 Fire TV 2021 TV Review

The Toshiba C350 replaces the Toshiba Fire TV 2020 as Toshiba's only TV available in the United States. It competes with other entry-level TVs like the Hisense A6G, Vizio V5 Series 2021, and LG UP7000.

The Toshiba C350 has a redesigned style compared to the Toshiba Fire TV 2020, as it looks sleeker. The bezels aren't as intrusive, and the bottom bezel is now silver. Even the feet are metallic instead of plastic. It doesn't seem like a cheap TV and should look nice in any setup.

The Fire TV 2021 comes with new metal feet that don't support it all that well because there's noticeable wobble front to back. It also doesn't raise the screen off the table very much, so placing a soundbar in front might block the screen.

Footprint of the 55 inch TV: 37" W x 9.25" D x 2.5" H

The back of the Toshiba C350 actually looks a lot like a Hisense TV, like the Hisense H6570G. The top part holding the panel is textured metal, and the parts at the bottom and on the inputs are both plastic. Sadly, there's nothing for cable management. There are hook-like objects on the back of the legs, but they don't do anything for the cables; we don't know for sure what they're meant for, so if you know, let us know.

The bezels aren't as obvious as on the Toshiba Fire TV 2020 and are slightly thinner.

The TV tilts back in this photo, and that's how it's designed to be.

The FireTV 2021 has decent build quality. It's designed differently than the Toshiba Fire TV 2020, but the materials used seem to be the same as it's made of both plastic and metal. It improves in a few areas like the metal feet and the thinner borders. It feels solid throughout and doesn't wobble side-to-side, but it tilts easily back to front.

The Toshiba 55C350KU has a mediocre contrast ratio, which is expected from IPS-like panels. Blacks look gray in the dark, and even though contrast can vary a bit between individual units, this is in line with other IPS-like TVs.

Note: The 50 inch TV (50C350) should have a VA panel, so it would have a much higher contrast. We don't know what panel types the 43, 65, and 75 inch TVs have.

The SDR brightness is bad. It's much worse than the Toshiba Fire TV 2020 and it doesn't get bright enough to fight glare in well-lit rooms. Luckily, the brightness doesn't vary at all between different scenes.

We tested the SDR brightness after calibration in the 'Movie' Picture Mode with the Backlight set to its max, Contrast at '75', Mid Luminance Gamma set to '-1', and Color Temperature set to 'Warm'. If you want the brightest image possible set the Picture Mode and Color Temperature both to 'Standard'. We reached 302 nits in the 2% window using these settings, but that comes at the cost of image accuracy.

There's no local dimming feature. The videos are for reference only, so you can see how backlight on this display performs and compare it to a similar product with local dimming. Although it's advertised to have direct LED backlighting, we confirmed it's edge-lit.

Once again, there's no local dimming, and the videos above are provided so you can see how the backlight performs in Game Mode versus a TV with local dimming.

The Toshiba 55C350KU has bad HDR brightness. It gets brighter than in SDR, but it's not enough to make highlights pop in HDR. Once again, there's no variation in brightness between scenes. The EOTF doesn't follow the target very well as darker scenes are over-brightened and bright scenes are too dark, causing a loss in details.

We tested it in the 'Movie' HDR Picture Mode with the Backlight at its max and the Color Temperature set to 'Warm 2' and all other image processing disabled. We couldn't achieve a brighter EOTF but we reached 301 nits in the 2% window in the 'Standard' HDR Picture Mode with Backlight and Contrast at their max and the Color Temperature set to 'Standard'.

The HDR brightness in Game Mode looks a bit brighter than outside of Game Mode, but the results are about the same. It's not enough to make highlights stand out. We tested it using the same settings as outside of Game Mode, but with the HDR Picture Mode set to 'Game'.

The Toshiba 55C350KU has okay gray uniformity. The edges are noticeably darker, and there's dirty screen effect in the center, which could get distracting during sports. Uniformity is better in near-dark scenes, but there's still some backlight bleed along the edges. Keep in mind that the gray uniformity can vary between units.

The Toshiba C350 has disappointing black uniformity, but this can vary between units. The entire screen looks blue because of the low contrast, and the edges are a bit darker. Luckily, there's not much blooming around the center cross.

Note: The 50 inch model should have a VA panel, which may result in better uniformity. We don't know which panel types the 43, 65, and 75 inch models use.

The Toshiba 55C350KU has good viewing angles, which is normal for an IPS-like panel. The image remains accurate as you move off to the side, but it appears darker at really wide angles.

Note: The 50 inch variant should have a VA panel, which would result in narrow viewing angles. We don't know which panel types the 43, 65, and 75 inch sizes have, so we don't know what their viewing angles will be like.

The reflection handling is decent. It handles a small amount of light well, like from a lamp or overhead lightbulbs, but it's not so good with strong light sources on it. It's a bit worse than the Toshiba Fire TV 2020 because it reflects more light straight back.

The out-of-the-box accuracy is very good. Most colors are only slightly inaccurate, and most people won't be able to tell. However, white balance is a bit more off, and the gamma doesn't follow the target well, so most scenes are too dark. Also, the color temperature is colder than the 6500K target, giving the image a blue tint. Note that accuracy may vary between units.

The accuracy after calibration is excellent, but the calibration settings are limited, and you can't adjust the white balance. Still, the colors and white balance improved, and the color temperature is close to the target. Gamma is also better overall, but most scenes are still too dark.

You can see our recommended settings here.

Sadly, the Toshiba C350 doesn't upscale 480p content properly, so it's not suggested for watching DVDs. The image looks blurry, and it doesn't display a proper 16:9 aspect ratio either. The photo above is cropped for the proper ratio and you can see the original here. Don't compare the photo size with the 480p photo from the Toshiba Fire TV 2020 because that image is stretched horizontally.

Unlike the Toshiba Fire TV 2020, the Toshiba C350 TV isn't good at displaying 720p content like from cable boxes. The image is less sharp and looks choppy.

Fortunately, the Toshiba C350 TV displays 1080p content like from Blu-rays well.

This TV displays a perfect 4k image and there aren't any dithering issues like with the Toshiba Fire TV 2020.

This is a 4k TV that can't display an 8k image.

The Toshiba C350 has an RGB sub-pixel layout, which helps with text clarity when using it as a PC because computer programs render RGB better than the BGR sub-pixel layout on other TVs. The 55 inch model has an IPS-like panel, but we don't know for sure which panel types the other sizes have. The 50 inch model should have a VA panel because there aren't many IPS panels available in this size. If you have the 43, 65, or 75 inch model, let us know which type they are.

The Toshiba C350 has an okay color gamut, but it's not considered a wide color gamut for HDR content. It has trouble displaying the primaries in either the DCI P3 or Rec. 2020 color spaces, and tone mapping is off in both.

Due to the narrow color gamut, the color volume is disappointing. It can't display colors at a wide range of luminance levels well.

Surprisingly, the gradient handling is excellent. It's a big improvement over the Toshiba Fire TV 2020, and it's more in line with the Toshiba Fire TV 2019. There's the most banding in the grays and greens, but other than that, you shouldn't notice it much. The Debanding Filter doesn't improve the test pattern, but it improves gradients in real content when set to 'High' or 'Medium', but this comes at the cost of losing fine details.

There aren't any signs of temporary image retention on our unit, but this can vary.

Although some IPS panels can suffer from temporary image retention, this doesn't appear to be permanent as the IPS panel in our long-term test is immune.

The Toshiba C350 has a decent response time. Although it's slower than the Toshiba Fire TV 2020, there's a lot less overshoot with darker transitions, so you won't notice any black smearing that's typical of VA panels. However, we don't expect the 50 inch model, which should have a VA panel, to perform the same.

Unlike most TVs in 2021, this one is entirely flicker-free, and it doesn't use pulse width modulation to dim the backlight. This helps reduce eye strain if you're going to use it as a computer monitor and helps avoid image duplications.

Unfortunately, there's no optional black frame insertion feature to help improve the appearance of motion.

The Toshiba C350 doesn't have a motion interpolation feature.

Due to the somewhat slower response time, there's not much stutter with lower-frame rate content.

Sadly, the Toshiba C350 TV doesn't remove judder from any source. This is disappointing considering most entry-level TVs like the LG UP7000 can at least remove judder from native 24p sources.

The Toshiba C350 has a basic 60Hz panel and doesn't support any variable refresh rate technologies.

The Toshiba 55C350KU has very low input lag as long as you're in Game Mode. Its 4k @ 60Hz input lag is actually one of the lowest we've seen on any 60Hz TV, so you shouldn't notice any delays when gaming.

The Toshiba C350 only displays basic signals at 60Hz, and it can't display proper chroma 4:4:4. This is disappointing if you want to use it as a PC monitor and want clear text.

As the TV doesn't support high-frame rate content, you're limited to 4k gaming at 60Hz from either the Xbox Series X or PS5. It has an Auto Low Latency Mode setting that automatically switches the TV into Game Mode when you play a game from a compatible device, but it's not clear that it's in Game Mode. A HDR symbol appears in the top right, as you can see in this photo.

The Toshiba C350 TV is one of the few TVs we've tested in 2021 that still has Composite inputs, which is great if you have old entertainment devices, like DVD players or a PS2.

The Toshiba C350 has eARC support, allowing you to pass high-quality, uncompressed audio like Dolby Atmos or DTS:X formats to a compatible receiver through an HDMI connection.

The Toshiba C350 has a poor frequency response. It doesn't produce any bass, and it's even worse than most TVs in that regard, so if you want the best sound experience, go for a soundbar. It doesn't get very loud, and the sound profile isn't the most balanced either, but it's fine enough to listen to dialogue.

The Toshiba 55C350KU has great distortion performance. There isn't much distortion even when listening at its max volume, and not everyone may hear it.

The Toshiba C350 comes with the Amazon Fire TV platform built-in. It's user-friendly, and the menu navigation feels smooth with no obvious bugs. It's not as advanced as some other platforms, but it's still good for most people.

There are ads in the Home and Live tabs in the interface, as well as the app store. There's no way to disable them.

The app store has a great selection of apps available to download. You can cast content from your phone, but it's not as easy as other TVs. It doesn't support Google Chromecast, so you have to screen mirror your Android phone, but it does have Apple AirPlay and HomeKit, so it's more user-friendly for iOS users.

The Toshiba C350 comes with the same remote as the Toshiba Fire TV 2020. It's simple with the necessary navigation buttons and shortcut buttons to popular streaming services. The built-in mic allows you to ask to change HDMI inputs, open apps, and search for content, but you can't ask it to change certain settings. It also works with compatible Amazon Alexa devices.

There's a single button underneath the center of the TV to turn it On/Off or change inputs.

• Remote (with 2x AAA batteries)
• Power cable
• User guides