Find tech advice for business here
- Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 36 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
-
14 out of 14 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Excellent. The reference model for all future LCD's. Nevermind CNET."
Pros: No ghosting. Deep inky Blacks. Dot by Dot mode. True Film-like reproduction of 24fps sources thanks to 120hz conversion. Great viewing angle!!
Cons: Slightly inaccurate primaries. Reportedly some have backlight banding. Below average standard definition upscaling. Reviewer can't figure out why 120hz matters when comparing to a Plasma (Durrh...)
Summary: Let me start off this review with this, to prevent any sort of comments about me being biased: I own this TV. It is hanging on my wall. I had every TV in the world to choose from, and I stare at them 12 hours a day where I work. I chose this one. Here's why:
Having worked in a high end video and audio store for quite some time now, I would consider myself a video connoisseur of sorts and am relentless critical of every TV that gets rolled through these doors. Up until lately, I had dismissed LCD as a poor alternative for Plasma-- needed only for video games and people who can't figure out how to get their TV out of the sun. Up until I saw this set that is.
Common problems of LCD's have always been the lackluster black levels, lack of depth, and most importantly, poor response times and ghosting.
First, I'd like to explain the reason why a Plasma snob like me decided to invest in an LCD:
While my room is plenty dark, I am known to play a few video games. My room-mates on the other hand, are known to play them for hours on end. I am also a big movie buff-- and I hate the idea of having to stretch my picture to prevent the uneven aging of those black bars on the top and bottom.
That being said, for a short period of time we had several TV's in a row: The 52" Sony XBR3 LCD, the Samsung 52" 65 series LCD, The 60" Pioneer Elite 1540 Plasma, the Mitsubishi 57" 831 DLP, the Sony 60" XBR2 LCoS (SXRD, whatever.), a Panasonic 50" 600U Plasma and of course the Sharp 52" D92U.
Despite the smooth and richly colorful Pioneer's jaw-dropping video quality, I did notice one thing: The Sharp D92U was the only TV to even approach the Pioneer's black levels. In fact, it exceeded it! Interesting, I thought. I then noticed that when playing a DVD at 24fps, both TV's had the same fluidity not found in other models (As the Pioneer ran at 72hz and the Sharp at 120hz. Think 120 / 5 or 72 / 3.) This also caught my attention in another way: This TV did not ghost. At all. While it was easy to see that the Sony XBR3 could not keep up in terms of response time and during any sort of motion, the Sharp had a far more detailed picture. (It is important to note however that the Sony XBR3 did have a sharper picture during still scenes.)
When playing an HD-DVD trailer of Chronicles of Riddick, I noticed that the Sharp was able to display every last detail in the darkest of scenes... even when other TV's such as the Panasonic 600U could not! Then came a trailer for Charlie and the Chocolate factory: The red's! Oh the red's! And the green's! I knew full well that the Red's and Green's were a little inaccurate, but when watch the Oompah Loompah's dancing around on a grassy hilly was disturbingly exciting. And during more contrasted scenes, such as a tunnel which constantly flashed purple, white, yellow, and back to black constantly, the colors were popping, but there was no blooming whatsoever, and at no time did the response time slow.
"Perfection!" I though to myself. This was the first I had ever seen an LCD that could rival the quality of some of the entry to mid-level Plasma's! Further more, I could play games and watch movies on it!
It didn't take me long to decide and I quickly purchased the set through an employee accommodation program.
The first thing I did when I got home (and after tweaking it to my liking [Backlight +2, Contrast +31, Brightness +7, Color -2, Sharpness +2, Color Temp. Warm. Black Expansion Off. All digital noise reduction off. Limitted OPC's range from 5 to +16) was to put this baby to the test. I had borrowed a friends computer which I knew could handle the task of graphically intensive 1920 x 1080p resolution at high framerates, and put on the game Half-Life 2 through the television's DVI-I input.
I have never been so amazed by a game. During the horrific and dark scenes of Ravenholme, I could see EVERYTHING. Every time I was started by a zombie lurking behind me and had to quickly jerk around to fire, the set stayed smooth in motion.
I decided to further test this sets black levels, and put Doom 3 on. Again, it was flawless.
I did find a few flaws however in the set:
I've seen the XBR3 and Pioneer Elite handle standard definition. I've seen many LG plasma's and Panasonic plasma's handle it as well. And every last one of those sets did a better job than this Sharp. 480i just looks horrible. Also, inaccurate primary colors at times will make you wonder "Is that car REALLY that red?".
Also, when put to a solid gray screen, and staring at the screen hard enough, it is possible to notice the banding issues aforementioned. However, when watching ANY sort of content, I have not noticed this. And even during a gray screen, at +2 backlight, it had completely disappeared.
All in all, I have to say that this is easily the best LCD on the market, and my conclusion is that if you are in a situation like me as far as video games and movies go, but hate to break away from the depth of Plasma, then this is the set for you. I can finally say that LCD can be used as a alternative to Plasma!
Highly Recommended.Updated
"I then noticed that when playing a DVD at 24fps, both TV's had the same fluidity not found in other models (As the Pioneer ran at 72hz and the Sharp at 120hz. Think 120 / 5 or 72 / 3.) "
Correction: Seems 3:2 mode was on and it was running at 60hz. The TV can NOT take a 24hz signal.
"The first thing I did when I got home (and after tweaking it to my liking [Backlight +2, Contrast +31, Brightness +7, Color -2, Sharpness +2, Color Temp. Warm. Black Expansion Off. All digital noise reduction off. Limitted OPC's range from 5 to +16) was to put this baby to the test."
Correction: Since this review, I have further tweaked my settings: Backlight +2, Contrast +32, Brightness +10, Sharpness 0 (-2 for DVD's), Color Temperature: Warm, Black Expansion off. Digital Noise Reduction off. OPC Range: -2 to +9
"Having worked in a high end video and audio store for quite some time now, I would consider myself a video connoisseur of sorts and am relentless critical of every TV that gets rolled through these doors."
Correction:"relentless" with "relentlessly". Grammatical error.
Banding has all but gone away. Seems to only be a problem within the first few weeks of the set, possibly because that is when the CFL's burn their brightest (Or so I assume... No facts to back that claim up.)
- 1 reply to this review
-
When we first installed our TV we were amazed at the screens amazing picture. When I noticed the banding reviews, I thought people were crazy but when I really started looking at dark scenes I could see them as well. After further viewing, I've noticed I don't see ANY banding when watching HD signals and the picture is unreal with NO banding when we play Blue Ray discs. So for those about to watch, watch in HD and your still OK to buy this TV and save yourself a bundle...
Where to buy
Sharp LC-52D92U:
$1,995.00 - $3,999.99
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Amazon.com Marketplace
|
$3,999.99 | Yes |
|
|
$1,995.00 | Yes |
|
