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- My rating: 0 stars
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12 out of 15 people found this review helpful
1.5 stars
"I hate to rate this as "poor" but its really blurry"
Pros: 1920 x 1080 reslution, excelent computer monitor
Cons: blurry blurry
Summary: I really wanted to buy this TV. I was really excited to finally see a full 1080 picture, but after looking at 3 separate models, with 3 separate sources, I woke up out of a haze of denial and realized the 45 inch sharp just doesn't deliver the detail that one would expect given its resolution. I was stunned to see that cheaper, lower resolution plasmas sitting right next to the sharp - playing the same source - were sharper, more detailed, often with better color accuracy.
I went to 3 stores to check it out today.
the first store was playing regular old tv. The sharp looked a little blurry compared to an EDTV and HDTV on either side of the Sharp. But i chalked it up to the fact the Sharp has to scale up the 480i signal and wasn't doing a good job. The sales guy wouldn't let me adjust the picture settings so I went to another store.
In the second store my wife and I immediately noticed the blurriness versus cheaper, lower resolution plasmas. Turns out that the source this time was a progressive DVD so I reasoned that once again scaling up was the problem (this time from 480p). I wrestled away the remote from the sales man and adjusted the picture for some time. No luck, still blurry.
The third store I went to was playing a TimeWarner Cable 1080i HDTV channel, so I thought this would be the Sharp's chance to show its sharpness. Alas, the blur was still there. Once again, in a side by side comparison, the Sharp could not compare with the detail of a couple plasma displays next to it - even after extensive picture adjustments. The really disappointing thing was that the plasmas at the third store weren't even very expensive models and they still did a better job with the 1080i detail.
Up until that point, I was hoping the Sharps blurriness was due to scaling from 480i/480p to 1080. But that theory was put to sleep once I triple checked that I was viewing a 1080i source in the last store.
What I mean by blurry:
The blurring is most noticeable if you look at the wrinkles, pock-marks and pores on a close up of an actors face. Compared to the plasmas i saw, the Sharp makes it appear as if the actors are wearing a lot of makeup.
Bottom line: wait for the next round of full HD resolution LCDs before spending your money.
- 3 replies to this review
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I was at the local Circuit City to check out the new and cheaper Sony LCD 40 and saw this Sharp sitting next to the Sony. Man, let me tell you, if you rely on what you see in the store - good luck. The Sony really really sucks in this store and I know it's the setup and source, because the same TV in the Sony store looks like a completely different TV. The Sharp looked real good with whatever setting and source (probably 1080i at the store). And for the testers at C/Net, I think they are on drugs or need new glasses or something. Sometimes I don't know if the people at the store make a certain TV looks better because of better margin.
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The blurriness eeggeegg mentions is a known problem with this model often referred to in online forums as the "clayface" problem. Sharp produced several units with defective firmware in early 2005 which showed this problem. Owners of the defective sets can arrange a service call to get the firmware updated.
Units with the "clayface" problem will have serial numbers starting with the numbers 412, 501, 502, 503, or 504. If there is a black dot on the TV carton near the serial number, this is an indication that the unit has supposedly already had the firmware upgraded to remedy this problem. -
I have also comparison shopped the Sharp 45" LCD HDTV to high end plasmas in the same size class at numerous outlets.
The Sharp produces by far a much crisper picture and greater amounts of detail than the plasmas.
The person that wrote this review must be biased toward plasmas (aka works for Panasonic, Sony, etc..) or is on crack.
The only drawback to the Sharp 45" LCD HDTV is that it cannot reproduce blacks as deep as certain plasmas.
