Check out our review of the Toshiba L9300U series of 4K TVs.
Toshiba joined LG, Sony, and Samsung today in making your 4K dream a very concrete reality, announcing that its L9300U series 4K TVs are now available at select retailers. The L9300U is packed with features, and offers some enticing incentives to lure users to Toshiba’s side of the 4K rainbow, including a larger entry-size model of 58-inches as opposed to its competitors’ 55-inch models, as well as other goodies like a free BDX6400 Upscaling Symbio Blu-ray player, and an SBX5065 sound bar, both free with purchase for a limited time.
Toshiba’s sleek new flagship is loaded with glistening features including a ClearScan 240Hz refresh rate, Toshiba’s proprietary Cevo Quad + Dual Core Engine, multiple levels of color restoration and enhancement software, and a boatload of media features, including personal messaging, Skype capability, both Wi-Fi and Wi-Di peer-to-peer wireless connection, and an open browser with an included keyboard.
But perhaps most integral for the L9300U’s 4K prowess is a firmware update Toshiba will release in December that upgrades the 
system’s HDMI 1.4 capability to the shiny new 2.0 standard. The new protocol allows for lightning fast 60 frames per second display of 4K content, and unlike Samsung’s F9000 series and LG’s LM9600, which may require hardware updates to upgrade to 2.0, the L93000U can be updated as you lounge on your sofa, joining only Sony’s XBR X900A in that category.
While Toshiba has been battling Samsung, LG and Sony for the lead of the 4K pack, its rash of new incentives announced today may just be the tipping point that will bring the 4K faithful to its doorstep. Along with state-of-the-art 4K specs and a stockpile of free gear, Toshiba’s L9300U’s pricing is competitive, offering its 58-inch, 65-inch, and 84-inch models at $4000, $5,500, and $17,000 respectively. While that may not sound like bargain basement pricing, it’s right in the thick of things with LG’s latest numbers, and unlike Toshiba’s new deal, those TV’s come a la carte.
For many of us, 4K TVs are still a distant fantasy. But Toshiba’s latest move shows that 4K is coming down fast, and with every blow from a 4K titan to its competitors, the market becomes more and more palatable. Toshiba’s gauntlet has been thrown – now to see who will answer next.
