Toshiba Fire TV 2020 TV Review

The Toshiba Fire TV 2020 is a basic 4k TV that's only available through Best Buy or Amazon in North America, and it's the replacement of the Toshiba Fire TV 2019. Its competitors are likely to be the TCL S435, the LG UN6900/6950, and the Vizio V Series.

Compared to its predecessor, the Toshiba Fire TV 2020 is almost identical. The new stand has thinner feet, giving the TV a more modern look. The borders are slightly thinner but they still protrude from the screen.

The feet are thinner and are positioned wider apart compared to the Toshiba Fire TV 2019, so the stand requires a bigger table. The feet are now metal instead of plastic and they support the TV well; there's very little wobble.

Footprint of the 50" model: 42.1" x 11.5"

The back of the TV is mostly made out of metal, but the lower portion is plastic, including the area surrounding the inputs. Unfortunately, there's no built-in cable management.

The borders are a little thinner compared to the Toshiba Fire TV 2019, but they're still thicker than most mid or high-end TVs.

The TV is fairly thick and sticks out a bit when wall-mounted.

The build quality is okay. It's very similar to the Toshiba Fire TV 2019, except that the feet are now metal instead of plastic. There aren't any obvious issues with the construction and the TV doesn't wobble much.

The Toshiba Fire TV 2020 has a great contrast ratio. This results in blacks that look deep and inky, making it a good option for dark room viewing.

Note that the contrast ratio can vary between units.

The Toshiba Fire TV doesn't have a local dimming feature. The video above is provided for reference only.

Mediocre SDR peak brightness. Visibility should be fine in a dark to moderately-lit room, but it isn't bright enough to overcome glare in well-lit rooms. The brightness is fairly consistent across different content, except for the slight dimming in the 2% window, which shouldn't be noticeable.

We measured the SDR peak brightness after calibration, using the 'Movie' Picture Mode. Backlight was set to max, Contrast was set to '75', and Mid Luminance Gamma was set to '+1'. Dynamic Contrast and Dynamic Backlight were left disabled as they made the TV dimmer in SDR when using the 'Movie' Picture Mode.

If you don't mind losing image accuracy, you can get a brighter image by setting the Picture Mode to 'Standard', with Backlight set to max, Contrast set to '75', and with Dynamic Contrast and Dynamic Backlight set to 'High'. With these settings, we were able to achieve a peak brightness of 384 cd/m² in the 10% window.

The Toshiba Fire TV's HDR peak brightness is sub-par. Unfortunately, this isn't enough to make highlights stand out, so HDR content won't look much different from SDR content.

We measured the HDR peak brightness before calibration, using the 'HDR Movie' Picture Mode, and with Brightness set to max. Dynamic Contrast and Dynamic Backlight were disabled.

If image accuracy isn't as important to you, you can get a brighter image in HDR by setting the Picture Mode to 'Standard', with Brightness and Contrast set to max, and with Dynamic Contrast and Dynamic Backlight set to 'High'. We were able to achieve a peak brightness of 417 cd/m² in the 10% window using these settings.

Gray uniformity is okay. There's vignetting at the corners and a bit of dirty screen effect at the center. Uniformity is better in near-dark scenes, but there's still some visible clouding throughout the screen.

Note that gray uniformity can vary between units.

Like most VA panel TVs, the viewing angles are sub-par. This makes the image look washed out when viewed from the side, making it less ideal for large rooms or wide seating areas.

Note that the flickering in the video is due to a combination of the backlight's flicker and the camera and isn't visible in person.

Excellent black uniformity. There's clouding throughout the screen, but it's faint and isn't noticeable in normal content.

Note that black uniformity can vary between units.

Good reflection handling. It handles ambient light quite well but struggles a bit with direct reflections, so it's best to avoid placing the TV opposite bright light sources.

Before calibration, color accuracy is bad. Most colors are noticeably inaccurate, white balance is off, and the color temperature is much cooler than our 6500K target despite being set to 'Warm'. Gamma doesn't really follow the target, causing most scenes to appear brighter than they should.

Note that the pre-calibration color accuracy can vary between units.

After calibration, color accuracy is excellent. There are still some color inaccuracies, but white balance is almost perfect and the color temperature is much closer to our target. Gamma is better, although some scenes are still too bright. The 'Natural' Picture Mode has a 2-point expert calibration mode; however, any changes made in this mode are discarded as soon as you leave the settings menu. It's likely a bug that can be fixed in a future firmware update.

You can see our recommended settings here.

480p content looks great, but it has the same issue as the Toshiba Fire TV 2019. The image is stretched horizontally and slightly cropped a bit due to vertical overscan. It's likely a bug that might get fixed via a firmware update.

720p content, such as from a cable box, is upscaled well and without any upscaling artifacts.

Upscaling of 1080p content looks outstanding and there are no obvious issues.

Native 4k content looks amazing; however, there's some sub-pixel dithering that's causing a visible crosshatching effect. It's slightly different from the way that the Toshiba Fire TV 2019 performs, as only the blue sub-pixels are dimming this time.

This TV can't display an 8k signal.

This TV uses a BGR sub-pixel layout. It doesn't affect picture quality, but it can affect text clarity when using the TV as a PC monitor. You can read about it here. Unlike the Toshiba Fire TV 2019, only the blue sub-pixels are dimming.

Although the TV has a decent color gamut, it can't actually display a wide color gamut. The 'Movie' EOTF follows the PQ curve reasonably well, but most scenes are a little too bright. The 'Game' mode EOTF is very similar, as you can see here. If you find HDR content too dim, you can make it brighter by setting the Picture Mode to 'Standard', with Brightness and Contrast set to max, and with Dynamic Contrast and Dynamic Backlight set to 'High'. These settings result in this EOTF.

The color volume is okay. It has difficulty displaying bright colors and is limited by the lack of a wide color gamut.

Mediocre gradient handling. There's banding in all colors, most noticeably in the greens and grays. The Debanding Filter setting can smooth out most of it if you set it to 'Medium' or 'High'; however, it can cause the loss of fine details in some scenes.

There are no signs of temporary image retention on this TV.

Note that temporary image retention can vary between units.

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

The Toshiba Fire TV has a great response time, resulting in clear motion with only a short blur trail behind fast-moving objects. However, the slight overshoot and slow dark scene transitions can cause some motion artifacts.

The backlight is flicker-free when it's set to maximum. Below maximum, it always flickers at 220Hz. Since the flicker frequency isn't a multiple of 60, it can result in image duplication. If you're bothered by the flickering and want a flicker-free TV, check out the Sony X750H.

This TV doesn't have a Black Frame Insertion feature. The backlight always flickers at 220Hz when the brightness is set below maximum.

Unlike its predecessor, the Toshiba Fire TV 2020 doesn't have a motion interpolation feature.

Due to the TV's fast response time, lower frame rate content such as movies can appear to stutter.

This TV can't remove judder from any source. If you need a TV that can remove judder, check out the LG UN7300.

Unfortunately, the Toshiba Fire TV doesn't support any variable refresh rate technology to reduce screen tearing when gaming.