Toshiba Fire TV 2019  TV Review

The Toshiba Fire TV is a basic, entry-level 4k TV. Traditionally associated with budget models, Toshiba does not make any high-end models. The main competitors this year are the Vizio V Series 2019, the TCL S425, and the LG UK6300.

The Toshiba Fire TV has a decent design, very similar to the 2018 Fire TV. It is very lightweight and appears to be mostly made of plastic, but it has decent build quality and there are no obvious areas of concern. The stand supports the TV well but wobbles a bit when the TV is nudged. Unfortunately, there is no cable management.

The stand supports the TV well. When the TV is nudged, the stand wobbles a bit, but dampens the wobble fairly quickly.

Footprint of the 55" model: 28.9" x 11.6"

The back of the TV is very plain. The top section of the back is made of metal, and the box around the inputs is made of plastic. Unfortunately, there is no cable management.

The borders of the 2019 Fire TV look okay but are a bit more noticeable than most higher-end models.

This TV is a bit thick when viewed from the side, and it sticks out a bit more than usual when wall-mounted.

This TV has decent build quality. It's mostly made from cheaper materials, but there are no obvious cracks or defects in construction and nothing that caused us any concern. Overall, it's very similar to the Toshiba Fire TV 2018.

Great native contrast, but lower than last year's model. The measured contrast varies considerably due to the uneven black uniformity. The posted number is calculated from the average of the four black squares around the center white square. We measured contrast as high as 4445:1 in some spots.

The Fire TV 2019 does not support local dimming. The above video is for reference only.

Good peak brightness, within the same ballpark as last year's model. There is almost no variation in brightness with different content, which is great.

We measured the peak brightness after calibration, with the 'Movie' Picture Mode, Contrast set to '70', and all picture processing disabled.

If you prefer a brighter image, or a colder color temperature over an accurate one, with the 'Natural' Picture Mode we measured a peak brightness of 433 cd/m², as measured on the 10% test window.

Decent HDR peak brightness, but this TV isn't bright enough to display HDR content the way the content creator intended. Unlike the Fire TV 2018, small highlights in some scenes are just as bright as larger bright areas.

We tested the HDR peak brightness with no calibration settings, using the 'HDR Movie' Picture Mode, with the default settings of this mode.

If accuracy isn't as important to you, or if you prefer a colder color temperature, the 'Dynamic' Picture Mode hit a peak brightness of 444 cd/m², with these settings.

Unfortunately, the Toshiba Fire TV 2019 has mediocre gray uniformity. There is noticeable vignetting, and the center of the screen has noticeable dirty screen effect (DSE). In near-dark scenes, the uniformity is a bit better, but there is still noticeable clouding.

This TV has bad viewing angles. As you move off-center, the image appears more washed out, and colors lose some accuracy, especially reds. Subjectively, we found the viewing angle on this TV to be better than the Hisense H8F, but our scores do not reflect this.

Due to the backlight flicker on this TV, the video was recorded at maximum backlight, and the exposure was adjusted to compensate for this. This does not affect our test results, which were measured normally.

Decent black uniformity, but much worse than the Toshiba Fire TV 2018. There is noticeable clouding throughout the display.

This TV has good reflection handling. It has a semi-gloss finish, and it does a good job in decently-lit environments, but bright reflections can be distracting.

The Fire TV has disappointing accuracy with our pre-calibration settings. There are noticeable inaccuracies in most shades of gray, and most colors have significant errors. Gamma follows the target of 2.2 well, but some dark scenes are over-darkened, and some bright scenes appear too bright.

Despite the simple 1 point calibration system, this TV has excellent accuracy after calibration. Most of the colors are displayed with no noticeable inaccuracies, and the white balance is almost perfect. Unfortunately, the gamma did not improve, and the color temperature is a bit cooler.

You can see our recommended settings here.

480p content, like DVDs, looks great, with no obvious issues. There was a slight bug during testing, and we couldn't quite get the aspect ratio to display correctly when sending a 720x480p signal, so we had to slightly crop the image. We suspect this is a minor bug on the TV, as we didn't have this issue with last year's model.

720p content, like from a cable box, looks great, nearly identical to last year's model.

1080p content, like Blu-ray movies, looks excellent, almost as good as native 4k content.

4k content looks excellent, but there is a noticeable crosshatching effect, caused by the TV's sub-pixel dithering. This shouldn't be very noticeable with most content, but isn't ideal for use as a PC monitor.

This TV uses a BGR sub-pixel layout, which isn't ideal for use as a PC monitor, but otherwise shouldn't cause any issues. All sub-pixels are at least partially dimmed, which causes some noticeable artifacts.

Decent color gamut, but it can't display a wide color gamut, so HDR content doesn't look as good as it should. The EOTF does not follow the target PQ curve, and most scenes are brighter than they should be. The 'Game' mode EOTF is a bit better, and more closely tracks the input stimulus.

If HDR is too dark, check out our recommended settings here.

Mediocre color volume. It's limited by the lack of wide color gamut, and some colors aren't quite as bright as pure white. This TV also can't produce dark, saturated colors very well.

Good gradient handling. There is some banding in most colors, but it's especially noticeable in grayscale and greens. Unfortunately, there is no option to further smooth gradients.

There is no noticeable image retention on the Fire TV 2019, even immediately after displaying our high-contrast static test image for 10 minutes.

We don't expect VA panels to experience permanent image retention, as the VA panel in our long-term test appears immune.

The Fire TV 2019 has a great response time, but there is some distracting blur behind fast-moving objects. Some transitions, especially in dark scenes, have a much slower response time, so there may be more noticeable ghosting in dark scenes.

When the backlight is set to anything but 'Max', the Fire TV 2019 uses flicker to dim the backlight. Unfortunately, like last year's model, the flicker frequency is not a multiple of 60, and there can be noticeable artifacts in fast-moving objects.

This TV doesn't have an optional black frame insertion feature. The backlight always flickers at 220Hz, except when the TV is at its maximum brightness.

This TV has an optional motion interpolation feature, and can interpolate lower frame rate content up to 60Hz. Unfortunately, it doesn't work very well, and there are noticeable duplications and artifacts.

Due to the relatively slow response time on this TV, there is very little stutter when watching 24p movies.

Unfortunately, this TV can't remove judder from any source.

This TV has a basic 60Hz refresh rate and doesn't support any advanced gaming features, like FreeSync variable refresh rate technology.

The Fire TV 2019 has good low input lag, but it's higher than most TVs currently on the market. In game mode, most formats have the same low input lag, but unfortunately, the PC mode input lag is very high.

The 2019 Fire TV supports most of the common formats, but 1440p has to be forced with a custom resolution. Most of these formats can display text properly, but only when sending an RGB signal; chroma 4:4:4 sent as YCbCr 4:4:4 is not displayed properly.

Some formats require the full bandwidth of HDMI 2.0, which has to be enabled for the port in use by setting the HDMI Input Mode to 'Mode 2 (2.0)'.

The Fire TV 2019 supports HDR10 and Dolby Vision, which is great.

This TV doesn't support eARC. Like many Samsung TVs, it also can't pass through DTS.

Mediocre frequency response. The low-frequency extension is high, resulting in bass that lacks thump or rumble but has a bit of punch to it. Above the LFE, the frequency response is fairly even, producing clear dialog, but it lacks airiness. It can get quite loud but does produce some noticeable pumping and compression artifacts.

The distortion performance is mediocre. The total amount of harmonic distortion at 80dB SPL is decent, but it increases significantly at max volume.

The interface is simple but good, and easy to use. Navigating the menus is a very smooth experience. The quick menu, accessed by holding the home button on the remote, makes it very easy to change most of the common settings.

Like previous Fire TVs we've tested, the 2019 Fire TV has ads throughout. It is possible to opt-out of personalized ads (ad-tracking), but they can't be disabled completely.

There is a good selection of apps, covering most of the common streaming services. There is now a native YouTube app, and it supports HDR10, which is great.

The remote has few buttons, but is surprisingly good and easy to use. It has built-in voice control, which works very well, and can search within some apps, as well as change inputs.

Like other Fire TV devices, this TV can interface with an Amazon Alexa device, and can then be used to control other IoT devices.

The controls are located on the right-hand side of the TV. Like most TVs, they are very basic, and can only power-cycle the TV or change inputs.

• Quick start guide
• Remote control
• Batteries
• VESA screws
• Welcome guide
• Power cable (not shown)