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The 84L9363 is so groundbreakingly cheap for an 84-inch 4K TV that I wasn't sure whether to be excited or worried about it. As it's turned out, though, while it does show signs of price-based compromise, it's not the unmitigated disaster I was concerned it might be.
The compromises you'll have to suck up if you want such a huge chunk of 4K telly action for so little money are an iffy contrast performance that's especially noticeable in dark rooms when watching movies; some 3D motion issues; a second-tier smart TV system; and upscaling that's not quite as sharp as that of some rival 4K TVs.
However, the 84L9363's native 4K images look good, colours are natural and vibrant, and basically the set is more often than not eminently watchable no matter what you throw at it.
We liked
The price here is so right it's almost insane (despite the fact that most people still won't be able to afford it), and bright native 4K pictures look surprisingly good. The set's a solid upscaler of HD too, and it sounds pretty decent.
We disliked
The set struggles to deliver dark scenes with conviction, thanks to a lack of native contrast and a clumsy adaptive backlight system. More online video catch up services would be nice too, there are some strange lip-sync errors at times, and the otherwise impressive 3D playback is let down by judder.
Verdict
If you simply can't resist the idea of 84-inch 4K pictures for just £7500 it's unlikely you'll feel disappointed by what the 84L93673 can do, especially when the AV world reaches a point where you can feed Toshiba's set a decent amount of native 4K content. Sure, it lacks some of the finesse of more expensive sets, especially in the contrast department, and we'd love Toshiba to get a few more catch up TV channels on board. But what did you expect for something that costs only half as much as its nearest 84-inch 4K rival?!
Also consider
If you're stuck on the idea of an 80-inch plus 4K TV, you're going to have to dig very deep to find an alternative to the 84L9363. In fact, you'll need an extra £7000 to get to LG's 84LM960V. And to be honest, we're not sure the LG really justifies the extra on account of its fairly major backlight clouding problems. Beyond that you'll need many thousands of pounds more to get up to Sony's impressive 84X9005A.
If you're trying to keep costs this side of five figures – which, let's face it, you probably are - then 4K alternatives to the 84L9363 are only found at the much smaller 65-inch screen size level. And easily the most compelling alternatives here are Sony's outstanding (where contrast, colour and sound are concerned) 65X9005A and Samsung's stunningly sharp, brilliant at upscaling UE65F9000. Both of these sets cost between £4,500 and £5000.
Panasonic's £5,500 65WT600 deserves an honourable mention too for its lovely design and HDMI 2.0 socket, though its pictures have a flaw or two.
