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"Very good HD picture, but one nagging concern" on by pdunc
Pros: Great HD picture quality with most HD channels; Nice black finish; Easy to setup
Cons: Non-HD picture quality is so-so; Some noise or artifacting during basketball games
Summary: After much research, I decided on the Sharp over the 40' Sony XBR2. There might be a slight picure quality edge to the Sony, but in the store I thought they were comparable and the extra 2 inches offered by the Sharp helped make my decision. Overall, the picture quality is very good on the HD channels, with one exception. During basketball games on ESPN, TNT, or even CBS, there seems to be some noticeable noise at times or artifacting when the action is moving quickly. When the action slows, or there are close ups, there are no issues, and the picture is great. I've heard this is more likely a broadcasting or satellite feed issue vs. TV quality issues, but I'm not sure. What's odd is I don't see any of that when watching NASCAR and that is fast action. If you are debating on this TV, ask some questions around this issue when comparing your TVs. That aside, I can't imagine the Sony or any other comparable LCD would have a much better picture than this one. Wondering if anyone has any thoughts on my one issue.
Updated
Update:
Although some of the noise still persists during fast action, it seems to be more prevalent on the CBS telecasts than others, leading me to beleive it very well could be a broadcast issue. I also made some calibration adjustments with noise level and decreasing some of the brightness and shaprness. I watched some other games this weekend on other channels and did not notice this issue. I guess its hard to expect every channel to be picture perfect, but overall my satisfaction level has increased. I'd recommend this TV to a friend. I'd also up the my inital rating to 7-7.5. -
"42 days and counting..." on by Pat Lamey
Pros: Great picture, even looks good turned off
Cons: Service? Reliability? Responsiveness? Keep reading...
Summary: We took delivery of our unit Dec 30th and after 4 months of watching great HDTV and DVDs from our upscaling Oppo DVD player, our Sharp Aquos went on the fritz. Almost black image and dark and light 'banding' in both directions. My first email to them was April 30th. Then multiple emails. Then the phone calls--multiple useless calls because the instructions in the return emails were incorrect. Finally, a 'responsible' person. Then calls to dispatch. Then waiting for the service visit. Then they take the system to the repair shop. Service declares the unit "unrepairable" before Memorial Day. Then waiting for service to bring the broken and "unrepairable" unit back to us. Then more phone calls to get status. As of 1:30 today, CDT, "management" has determined our now six month old machine should either be exchanged or returned for a refund. I have to call tomorrow (again--they never call us) to find out what needs to be done next. 42 days since it went out and still counting.
This is our 4th Sharp TV (and third LCD unit) and we love the units. But until now I never had to use their unimpressive customer service.
I hear the new Sony Bravia's are pretty good.Updated
So this morning, Sharp calls me!! They inform me that they are authorized to exchange the unrepairable unit. And, it will take 7-10 days to complete the exchange. I did ask about the warranty and they added 60 days to the original warranty. They would not give a 12 month warranty on this exchanged unit. Now, that makes me nervous! I'll post when the exchange is complete.Updated
Today we got a letter demanding we return the non-functional unit because they had given us a new unit. Well, excuuuse me, but we do not have a replacement yet. The last we heard was the phone call six days ago that said we would be getting a replacement. What a messed up service organization!Updated
I got an email asking to participate in a customer satisfaction survey about my Sharp service interaction! It was one of those on line things and it assumed my problem was solved. Dumb. In the free form area where you put in comments, I told them to read my reviews on cnet.com. Hopefully, that will cause them to finally get things resolved.Updated
Look at my comments above. On June 14th Sharp called and told me it would take 7-10 days to complete the swap for a replacement unit. Today is June 24th. Using the math I learned in school, the ten days is up. And given it is 6:00PM Saturday, I don't expect a surprise delivery today or tomorrow.
Any ideas on what to do next?Updated
This morning someone called and set up delivery of the replacement TV. Let see, June 28 from April 30. Two months to replace a 4 month old TV that simply quit working. Not good.
So, the driver brings the box into the house, opens the box to make sure the glass front is not cracked or broken, and then leaves.
After I get home from work, I discover the unit was shipped from Sharp USA on June 18. Ten days to deliver the unit in spite of a label on the box that said deliver by June 22.
Then I read the shipping doc and it says the driver is to unbox & set up the new unit and pack and take the old unit. That's a long way from 'checking for a broken screen.'
So, as I wrote earlier, Sharp had sent a letter demanding the old unit be returned. We called FedEx per the instructions and discovered Sharp had not provided the proper paperwork so that FedEx would pick up the unit.
We called Sharp's 7/24 toll free number and after a series of menu choices found, again for the umpteenth time, that the department we need does not work 7/24. Grrrr...
Why do I care if they get the old unit? Because in order to get the process started I had to give them a credit card number that would only be used if the old TV was not returned.Updated
Sharp's trucking company called this week--Tuesday July 10.
"Did we deliver a Sharp TV to you?" Yes. Several weeks ago.
"Did we take a broken TV away?" No. Your driver left without taking the old unit. We boxed it up for you and its sitting in our front hall waiting for someone to pick it up.
The net result of this Q&A was they came to the house within a few minutes of the phone call and hauled the old unit away.
April 30th to July 10th to do a simple swap of the unit. Absolutely disappointing.Updated
After all the delay and frustration, the image on this unit is 'blow your socks off' beautiful. I read in a forum somewhere that the 700 serial numbers were better than the 600 serial numbers. We'll, our dead unit was a 600 and before it expired, it was great. I really didn't think there would be any difference with the replacement, but I was wrong. Beautiful HD. Simply amazing. -
"You cannot see dark scenes well!!" on
Pros: The cabinet is the nicest cabinet I've seen
Cons: Dark Scenes (like in scrary movies or movies with night scenes) cannot be seen well.
Summary: Ok. So I bought the LC-42D62U TV at Circuit City about 28 days ago.
Dark Scenes:
At first, I was very exited with the TV, but I immediately noticed I had to struggle to watch dark scenes. In fact, I played with all the controls, menu, etc, and tried to make it brighter. But..there is no way to do this. I took the TV back to circiut city, and the team there helped me with the calibration cd on the actual floor. However, even they noticed this on mine and on the floor sample when we played Harry Potter on that one and on the other TV's. you could make out the grass and details (writing) on tomb stones on the other TV's, where as on this one, you could not see the grass or the writing on the tombstone. They managed to improve it slightly though, and I decided to give it a second try. But I was still strigglung with this. I also had an issue with the "text" that shows what channel you are on and what program you are watching while flipping channels. The TV somehow has to adjust its color balance every time you flip the channel. It goes from dark to brighter to its preference. Please note, there is a setting on the TV to turn this a dynamic adjusting feature off. I had it off!! And on and off and on. This problem occured all the time, and the "On" setting made it worse. Eventually, one random day, the TVT just froze up with horizontal lines. I had to physically pull the plug out from behing because the on/off button on the remote or on the TV would not do it.
It was very disappointing after having paid $2000 dollars and have to struggle with the issues I had. I want the TV to work with no problems for that much money. Eventually, after continuing to modify the settings on almost every scene and every time I decided to watch a channel or movie (somtimes I had to modify settings during cretain dark scenes to see what was happening) I decided to return the TV. I got a Plasma instead, with a 720p resolution.
I will not say the replacement because I am not trying to promote the other one. But I am extremely happy with my replacement. I can't wait to return home to watch movies and programs on it now, rather than debating whether I made the right choice in TV.
I am so happy I made the decision to change it.
I will say, the positives I saw for the Sharp are the extremely well designed furtinure (even while off) made it very attractive in any living room or wall. The bright scenes were also ok. But overall, I would suggest you take a CD with dark scenes to the store and have them play it on this one and others to see if you are ok with it.
Hope this helps -
"Great TV for an outstanding price" on by twob1961
Pros: 1080P resolution is incredible, Excellent reproduction of standard definition signals, Lots of connection options, 2 HDMI ports
Cons: Default picture settings are extreme and harsh.
Summary: I have had this TV for a couple of weeks. I bought it at BestBuy after doing a lot of research ahead of time. I got a very good price at BestBuy by printing out the discounted prices I could get online and bargaining with one of the employees.
Overall, my experience with this TV has been outstanding. The picture is great and it handles 1080P sources without a hitch.
One thing to keep in mind when you bring this TV home is that the default settings are optimized for big box warehouse displays. Sharp wants their TV to look sharper and brighter and it's blacks look blacker than any other TV, so the default settings are ridiculous for Sharpness, Backlighting and, to a lesser degree, Contrast. Just by simply placing these three setting back to 0 or some middle ground can really improve the picture when you get it home. I have the Backlight and Sharpness set to 0 and I turned down the Contrast to 28. Don't take the Contrast lower than 24 or the image quality begins to really suffer.
Obviously, my suggestions will not suffice for the true videophile, but, of course, a true videophile will purchase calibration tools to fine tune the display. For the rest of us though, these basic suggestions should result in a picture that will at least satisfy, if not occasionally delight. -
"Great deal on a name brand 1080p" on by aquayonex
Pros: Great HD picture quality, two HDMI inputs, automatic backlight adjustment, 1080p resolution and sleek black piano design.
Cons: The menu access doesn't have all the same capabilities that the remote does..., can only access AV and View modes with the remote.
Summary: I would say this TV is a solid buy at 2K. For a 42 inch 1080p under 3K is a good deal and this is a steal at 2K. It has some nifty features like the automatic back-light adjustments that will change the screen depending on the light in the room. Seems to have decent speakers when set to "virtual dolby surround." The fact it has two HDMI inputs is great; this will allow you to connect both an HD cable box and DVD player at the same time. I did notice that HDMI connections produce much better color on this TV as well.
Overall I'd say I'm pleased with the performance.
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