Summary: Bottom Line: If you can get a deal on this tv such as myself, you'd be insane not to buy it. I purchased a 26" Aquos about 5 yrs ago and it is still beautiful. Not to mention you get a 3 month VIP addition to your warranty which puts it at 15months versus many standard 90day to 1yr warranties. I paid $1570.00 w/ free Blu-Ray player. I will say that there IS a better tv for the deal. I just got fed up w/ the guys and took this. Samsung Plasma 550 series 50" IS in Consumer Reports as the best picture by points and this can be bought (offered to me) at $1400 w/ the free Sharp Blu-Ray. He didn't want to lose my business, but I did want to show you what in fact they can play w/ numbers and promotions (sells for 1699). So again, if you can get them to deal, this is the best you can get for price and features.
As for the features, it's almost easier to list what this tv doesn't have. It has 5 hdmi ports, optical audio out (which serves as a one line sound source from ALL 5 hdmi to your sound system, very nice money saver). 120hz refresh cannot be found at this price and size. The cable management system Sharp has used in many models (including my other) is very sturdy and serves the purpose well.
Picture: Yezzz! The picture is great! I will say as in a reply to another review that when the screen is on but has no picture (completely dark) you can see the seam of the panels, however this in now way affects on screen picture even in the darkest scenes of a movie. Planet Earth on Blu-Ray is almost ridiculous in picture quality.
As also stated in the reply was about 'professional' reviews. The problem I had is that CNET reviewed the 46D85U, and while not making specific reference to it's big brother's performance it leaves the consumer to possibly make a bad decision. The reason I say this is because I went to buy a 40-46" tv and this one changed my mind. I looked about every tv in the LCD class from 40-52" after this one caught my eye. Why did it catch my eye? Well I looked at it's little brother first and noticed CNET was right...not so good. BUT this gargantuan tv about 15 ft away was blazing a phenomenal picture. So I go look at the price. After seeing everything and realizing that this tv was far superior in picture quality to EVERY other LCD tv at the store (30+models). That sold me right there, but I didn't buy on the spot. I went home and researched and ended up being 75% sure when I bought it. Now I'm a believer. So don't listen to the 46" review. This waaay outperforms that and 10s of others in the gambit.
I have this tv in a room that only allows about 8-9' viewing distance. The recommended is 13-15'. Point: I can sit 3' feet away watching ANYTHING and this tv rocks it!! Of course anyone who judges cable on this tv should not expect perfection, but I've never seen a tv that can display standard def, youtube vids, and others w/ the quality this can. Now I said youtube!!::::::
I have my 24" iMac running into this tv via mini-dvi to dvi(cable) dvi-hdmi(cable) using a separate audio line to my receiver. All I can say is that homework is freakin' awesome while I watch a movie in a box the size of a 32" tv. Oh and WoW is .... well the World of Warcraft is now even bigger!!!! Hope this helps....and even if you have the opp to buy this tv up to $1700-1800 w/ the blu-ray then DO IT!! You no longer have any excuses!
Updated on Mar 2, 2009
btw I'm going to re-neg and say 4.5 stars and if i could probably 4.75. After writing the review it made it very clear this tv is a godsend to big screens. Now for lacking almost a full star originally, I must explain that this is due to the said backlight issues of the seam and the fact that I've seen this set have uneven lighting on each side of the screen(not mine but have seen)
Another thing I forgot to include was a comparison of 2 Sharp TVs and particular feature(s). My old 26" Aquos has the dynamic setting that adjusts the screen brightness actively while watching the set. This 52"D85U model has the same setting + Active Contrast. Furthermore, it has controls for the intensity of those 2 settings. The difference is the time of technology: The older set is very noticeable when actively changing the lighting to the point where I've never used it. However, this is NOT the case w/ the 52"D85U. While it is noticeable it works like it should and can be tweaked accordingly.
Updated on Mar 3, 2009
One more update just because I've read more reviews. I've noticed claims the 120hz feature does not work as the model states it should. Please note, it will not state that it is operating in 120hz if the original source was output from the additional source as such. My computer will run most games max of 75hz refresh. Until additional use of these technologies is widely available full capacity usage of 120hz will be hard to come by. Nonetheless, it still helps the image in profound ways. My 26" jitters so much more than this, and I'm noticing that on something w/ 2.5 times less screen size. I'm also not stating that this is verbatim, but what I've noticed from multiple source hookups.
