Sharp LC46D85U 46 LCD HDTV

[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]

Sharp LC46D85U 46 LCD HDTV Review

I bought the Sharp AQUOS ...

"I bought the Sharp AQUOS 46" 120 HZ just about a month ago. I primarily chose Best Buy because I needed someone to carry out my dead 36" CRT. My purchase experience was wonderful. The "fine print" of the "free delivery" said Best Buy would unpack the TV, connect the stand, and place it where I needed it, and carry out 1 TV set. The fine print was fairly specific that they would not connect any cables or attempt to make the TV work. I got more than I expected from the delivery service and I'm very pleased.



TV Quality

I've been view this TV daily for a month. After reading many reviews on different sets, I settled on this TV mainly for the price and what I understood to be decent quality except for "Vertical Banding" that may have been resolved by this model. There are supposedly no bells and whistles (I'm not missing anything). I am happy with the set, but I am not picky. I have noticed horizontal banding (never saw any vertical banding) on about 5 out of 80 Comcast HD channels. Basicallly, the top line of the screen becomes scrambled. It is annoying, but I'll switch back to low def if it bothers me. Other than that, it's been fantastic. The colors are great, the blacks are better than I've seen on other LCDs, but not Plasma, and definitely not the LED hybrid that Samsung has right now (07/2009). The image is sharp, the motion blur is very minimal (more than I hoped for from a 120 Hz TV), but not as bad as I noticed on other LCDs. The viewing angle is only good for about 60 degrees, after that it's pretty bad. My kitchen is on the side of the family room, so it's annoying watching TV from the kitchen. Up close (1-3 feet away), the TV doesn't look good. However, it looks fantastic from 12 feet away. It's also great whether I'm standing looking down, sitting looking straight at it, or lying on the floor looking up. The viewing angle only seems to be a problem side to side, and only beyond 60 degrees.



I did have a concern about calibration. I read many reviews where Samsung had a Store/Home setting, people were very happy about the Home setting. I didn't read about a similar feature for Sharp. I don't know if it's new, but when you first turn on this specific model, it gives you the option of Store/Home. The set up crew (more on that later) selected "home", the colors looked fantastic. I had Calibration settings from CNET and TweakMyTV.com (both different, incidently, and both recommended professional calibration). I decided not to play around with the settings and go with the default home setting. Note: there is also a game setting.



The DVD (not Blu-Ray) picture quality is exceptional. The HD is exceptional (note 1080i, or basically 720p). The normal cable channels are good. I was able to configure my Comcast DVR remote for this TV (although it took about 4 tries doing the same thing, the 4th try seemed to do the trick, I have no idea what I did differently).



Service Quality

The Best Buy shopping experience exceeded my expectations. The first visit was no-pressure and very informative. The second visit was low-pressure. I was expecting a bunch of cross-selling which I got: Extended Warranty, Premium Warranty (I forgot what they called it, but it included Calibration for more than the price of calibration & extended warranty combined, but they said they'd re-calibrate after each service visit), Up-Convert DVD players, power supplies, and a few other add-ons I can't remember. I held my ground and just stuck to the TV. While there was some pressure, the sales person was much more low key than what I've experienced at other stores. Best Buy set a delivery date for 4 days later. I was negatively surprised at how long that would take (been spoiled with next day delivery).



3 days later, Best Buy called with a time and a 4 hour window. I was home 15 minutes before that time expecting to wait 4 hours or more, they should up exactly on time. They carried out my old TV, quickly and cleanly unpacked my new TV, set it up on the stand, placed it where I wanted it, then plugged in my cable box, VCR/DVD player daisy chain, and my stereo (Best Buy said that wasn't included). They turned on the TV, set the "home" setting, verified it connected to the cable box and a DVD could play. They asked if everything looked good, I said it was wonderful. I requested to keep the box, they were happy to leave it behind (they were ready to take it away). They were out of my house 15 minutes after arriving knowing the TV worked. I was very pleased with the delivery service.



I had one other concern about buying this TV: a drop in price after I bought it. My CRT died 2 weeks before July 4th. I decided to wait until July 4th to buy it to take advantage of potential sales. The weekend before July 4th, the price dropped $100. I read about the 30 day best price match (which included Best Buy dropping the price). I decided to take the risk and purchase it a week earlier figuring I'd go for the price match if there was a sale. There wasn't. However, 4 weeks later (i.e. 29 days...and the day I"m writing this review), the price dropped another $100. I verifed it was not a close out price, verified the model number on my receipt matched the model number on the advertisement, then took the receipt and the ad to the store. I expected a hassle since I read online other people had problems with Best Buy not honoring their price match. The hassle didn't happen for me. The customer service lady was very nice and quickly gave me $106 credit on my card (it was actually a $98 price difference and about $8 in sales taxes).



In a nutshell: I'm very happy with the Best Buy experience and reasonably pleased with the TV. However, I'm not a video or audiophile. Nor do I have a lot of other equipment to connect."

Sharp LC46D85U 46 LCD HDTV Review

My first HD TV - Love it

"I went from a 27" tube TV to this beauty so I can't compare going from another HD TV to this one. Obviously any HD TV would be an improvement. I spent a fair amount of time time researching my options in this size range. Almost went for a Vizio 47" 120Hz, but after seeing it in a store I decided the Sharp was the better option, plus it came with a free Blu-Ray player. I do not have my TV connected to surround sound yet, so the sound isn't great, but what can you expect from tiny TV speakers. Not sure why the reviews bag on the remote...it is easy to use and works well, plus it controls the Sharp Blu-Ray player. The HD and Blu-Ray picture is amazing on this TV, with one issue...when the picture is dark (like a night scene), it is too dark sometimes. The Standard video mode seems well calibrated right out of the box. The picture does degrade if you view from the side, but I think this is typical of all LCDs. B&H's white glove service for $50 was worth every penny. They brought it up my four flights of stairs, unboxed, connected stand and put it up above my fireplace."

Sharp LC46D85U 46 LCD HDTV Review

Pure Awesomeness

"Ok first let me begin by stating that I went to Best Buy in frustration after trying twice to purchase a TV from Sears ... I was so frustrated by the time I got to Best Buy I couldn't tell the sales person if the sky was purple or blue , that was how bad Sears had me . I avoided Best Buy namely because of price issues , mistake number 1 . Let me tell you something we should all take in stride " You pay for what you get " . You want good service , go to Best Buy . You want to be treated like a person and not just some sale , go to Best Buy . I felt so hurried and rushed at Sears , was treated rudely ( the sales person , didn't like anwsering questions ) that I finally left . I decided then and there to go to Best Buy , I looked at my clock and saw it was 8:32pm and I wasn't sure if I'd get there even in time to do anything . So I pull up to the store at 8:47pm and walked into the store , where I was greeted warmly . I went to the electronic section and went directly to the TVs , the sales person on the floor was actually helping a couple with TVs and politely asked them to wait a second while he helped me , he told me he'd get me another sales person to help and did so and returned to the couple . The sales person shortly found me and asked me what he could help me with . I told him of the frustration I had with Sears at which he just smiled , and told him I knew the store was closing so I didn't expect to keep him waiting and just wanted to look and ask a question or two , The young man told me something I'll never forget and think all stores should adapt to " This store will close when you have what you need and are satisfied " From that point I was forever a Best Buy customer .

As to the TV - he took me through several different sets and showed me the difference between them and gave me the time to process all the information that he provided and after listening to my needs for a TV , suggested this set , it was a bit more expensive than what I was looking to pay however it fit my needs , I told him I needed to make a call to my banker ( wife ) to see if it would fit our budget . It was told to get the TV which made me happier than a pickle in a jar - haha southern humor . So after the purchase he and the door greeter opened the box to make sure not physical defects were on the set and had me pull my car around , which I then figured I'd have to figure out how to get in my car , not so - Not only was he helpful and polite but the young man wheeled it out , and then helped me load it into the trunk of my car . After getting home my wife and I had no trouble carrying it into the house and after moving our old 27" tube , we quickly removed the box , had the stand on it , all our video players and cable box plugged in to it . Setting it up after plugging it in was almost to easy and believe me I'm not the handy gadget kind of guy , I can build a house but ask me to set a VCR and you can forget it . So we set it up and I have noticed others review it as poor sounding - did any of you know that you have to set the TVs sound ? try that - it sounds great ! and it sounds ever better hooked up to our surround system , the picture quality is just WOW - I've heard others complain about pixelation ... well not here . This is by far the best TV I have ever had and that includes many rear projection sets . I will also buy from Best Buy in the future and will recommend all our friends to the store as well . Thank you Best Buy !!!"

[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]

Sharp LC46D85U 46 LCD HDTV Review

Great Product, Sound? No-so-much

"I bought this 46" AQUOS after my Panny 40" rear-PJ LCD was starting to fry with that golden-brown color along the right edges (old set), and went with a flat-panel. I bought an AQUOS for my parents awhile ago, and the sharpness and color was impressive, so choosing the AQUOS was a no-brainer, and went with the 46" model, being the biggest I can fit in my tiny apartment.

The stand was a bit of a challenge to set up, by yourself. It's straightfoward to do, so you don't need the manual for this, but a second person would've helped in assembly. Might want to think about that one.

At first, the setup started with questions that prompted answers, which really sped things up for setting up. Since I have OTA reception, it scanned all the channels, albeit a bit on the slow side, so this is a good time for a toilet break. Once all the channels are locked in, you can scroll through the analog and digital stations. If you want the CHANNEL UP/DOWN buttons to only view digital, you got to go through SETUP and mark each analog station to ignore. Was a pain to do, but it help in channel-surfing. Unfortunatley, if you want to enter a channel, and both are available, likely, you'll get the analog one, so it helps to know the PHYSICAL channel of the station you want. (i.e. WBZ 4, Boston: Enter 4, get analog station, enter 30, get digital one.) Does not apply to those who dropped analog.

Reception is slightly hampered by a higher-than-usual threshhold for DTV to function. While other TV's can work with signals around 26-33% strength, this TV needs at LEAST 36% to function, and a stable 37% to remain solid. DON'T LET THIS AFFECT YOUR DECISION YET, because the sensitivity of the tuner is good enough that it is very close to performance of those that kick in at about 30%. I'm sure there will be a software update to lower the threshhold (updates via Sharp's web site, and USB port on TV's right side). If they do, you'll have one very strong receiver!

Picture quality out-of=the-box was a little strong, and dull in detail, but ultimately, was bumped up to a superior clarity, about a 180-degree difference than factory default. Of course, color, tint, and stuff like that are always going to be off, so you'll need to adjust. Like my Paerent's TV, the TINT needs to be heavilly adjusted towards green to get natural hues. It does it easilly once there. One feature I personally don't care about, is the dynamic contrast, so I killed that option. I can see the bulb adjust, which is annoying. Did the same with another TV. Again, personal preference. The Auto-Bright is handy, being I like the picture bright when the apartment is bright, and dark when it's pitch-black, without burning a hole in my retinas with a over-bright image.

Sound is not that great out-of-the-box. If you have a stereo/surround sound system attached to the TV, this doesn't apply to you, but if you use the built-ins, they don't sound all that great, as they put tiny speakers in, so they can make the set smaller. With a little adjusting, you can get them to sound halfway-decent most of the time, but if you love deep bass, or explosions, well, it's not happening too well here. In those cases, you probably have a fancy sound system anyway.

Overall, great product. Sure, the sound is it's shortfall, but if you're not an audiophile, you'll be fine with it. Picture quality can't be beat, either, especially with the 120Hz (119.88) feature turned on, eliminates a lot of slideshow blur."

[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]

Sharp LC46D85U 46 LCD HDTV Review

A great product for the price I paid.

"Pros

Connectivity options - More then enough. Several HDMI which is all I needed.



Menu system - Fluid, many options, easy to use and very intuitive.



After tweaking for some time the picture is fantastic.



Blacks are near perfect. One of the more important points of this set. Better then Toshiba, Hitachi and Sony. Period / Paragraph. Š



Contrast is OK. But could be better.



The stand is very nice and easy to assemble.



Shipped in a very easy to work with container/box.





I've attached it to a Marantz SR8001 with a Panasonic Blu-Ray player, Denon DVD player, and of course the Mintek DVD player for all the RIP's. :)



Infinity speakers all around except the sub which is a Minivee Velodyne.



It works perfect and is suited perfect for this system.



Cons

The IR window is in the center front bottom. This means you can't put a center channel there. It must either go on something under the TV or above the TV.



The color is not very good out of the box. It takes some tweaking to get it just right.



Picture levels, Brightness, contrast, etc... also require some tweaking from defaults. This is not just me ranting. I've read several reviews on the product prior to buying and was expecting this but not to the degree I saw. It is pasty, dull and chromatic out of the box. For a 120hz, 4ms, screen from Sharp of all people this should have been a near perfect picture out of the box.



Review

Dell did a great job getting my order to me when they said they would."