The Worst Performing LCD Flat Panel On the Market?
Written by Kevin Miller
Sunday, 25 January 2009
Of all of the major players in LCD flat panel television (Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, JVC, Mitsubishi, Vizio, LG, and Sharp) Sharp gets the award for the most calibration unfriendly LCD flat panel currently on the market.
Unfortunately, the service menu is so poorly designed that you can’t accomplish anything in it. I and many another calibrator have braved the service menu of the Sharps over the last several years, and no matter how long you spend tweaking grayscale parameters you can never achieve a more accurate grayscale than what is available with the best preset color temperature in the User Menu, which depending on the model and year, is either Mid-Low or Low. You can imagine how pleased I was to find grayscale controls in the Advanced Menu where they had never been before. So at least I was able to get a reasonably good grayscale out of it without to much pain.
Well Sharp Giveth and Sharp Taketh away! They gave us grayscale controls, and they took out the most important part of a three tiered CMS (Color Management System). The color decoding has always been horrendously inaccurate in the Sharp LCDs, and this latest flagship model is no exception. In previous models with the CMS Value portion of the CMS menu we could get rid of the Red Push in the decoding, and get reasonably natural looking color and skin tones. Well Sharp took that tool out of the Advanced menu so now the only way to get rid of the Red Push, which shows up as obnoxiously overly pink skin tones, is to back the color control down, and severely under-saturate the color. This leaves a rather drab dull washed out looking color picture. It amazes me that Sharp doesn’t take a look at their competitors, virtually all of whom have accurate color decoding in their sets and emulate that.
Recently I went to calibrate one of their flagship models, the LC-52SED94U , and after 3.5 hours of tweaking the panel I was so dissatisfied that I left the customer’s house in disgust, and I couldn’t in good conscience charge him as I didn’t feel that the level of improvement was justified. I have now made it a policy that I will not take Sharp calibration jobs anymore as a result of this and many other disappointing experiences with Sharp LCD flat panel sets over the years. In any case if you are considering a Sharp Aquos LCD flat panel Caveat Emptor!
Keywords, Sharp aquos, Sharp LCD, best Sharp LCD, worst Sharp LCD, best Sharp HDTV, worst Sharp TV, Top LCD, Top HDTV, Sharp LC,52SED94U review, Sharp LC,52SED94U LCD
I recently was given a give of a 'bundled' set of two Sharp LCD panels. One is the 52" Aquos and it is beautiful out of the box (not tweaked, but soon to be). Also in this bundle is a 32" Sharp LC-32SB23U LCD flat panel. I do not watch much TV but I am going to purchase a setup DVD for this and I will be posting custom tweaks. Maybe this will help the "calibrator" here with the Sharps.
jmoe55
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64.188.140.7
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2009-05-24 10:46:15
This is not the first time I have seen "experts" talk bad about the Sharp Aquos HDTV's, especially the "red" tendencies.
However, the "user" reviews of the same sets are almost universally enthusiastic about the picture quality.
Makes me wonder just how unbiased the "experts" are.
I certainly hope the Aquos TV's are better than some say because I am awaiting an Aquos LC-37SB24U as I write this.
It is my first HDTV.
Lemme know if you have any tips, OK?
Thanks in advance,
Jeff Moehring
eao
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216.254.64.88
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2009-02-04 13:56:18
is this headline accurate? is this the worst PERFORMING tv, or the most difficult to calibrate. Based on the article, the latter would pass the sharp eye of an editor of a major news organization. The former would be bounced.
Kevin Miller
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Super Administrator
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2009-02-05 19:25:12
Hi eao,
Yes the headline is correct. I have worked on Sharps for years, and what I said the worst of the big name brands so that would exclude the noname brands from Costco and other stores like it.
We started TweakTV to help people get a better experience with their HDTVs. We also will publish our Professional opinions where no other publication will if they are too negative so you are right what I wrote wouldn't pass the Editor's desk because they would be too afraid to publish it.
Kevin Miller
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Super Administrator
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2009-05-25 11:26:00
Hi Jeff,
I don't understand why you would trust User Reviews over Professional Reviews. The fact of the matter is most people don't have a clue as to what an Accurate Picture looks like. My advice to you would be the same as if you had asked me before you made the purchase and that is consider a different set.
jmoe55
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64.188.140.7
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2009-05-25 18:38:43
Kevin,
No offense intended Amigo.
I purchased the model that I did because it was in a price range I could afford and the user reviews almost all were positive.
Now I realize that an owner wouldn't necessarily know what is technically the best picture quality.
My point was that if most folks who bought the set were pleased with it then I probably would be too.
After all having bought based on price to a large degree I don't expect to get the very best out there:).
Still I would like to adjust it to the best that I can.
Any tips would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Jeff
Kevin Miller
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Super Administrator
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2009-05-26 10:59:14
Hi Jeff,
No offense taken. I am sorry if I seemed harsh. I just don't like to see people make the wrong decision. It sounds like you made your decision wisely based on what you could afford.
The only advice I can give you is to put it in the Standard Mode, Contrast should be 25 to 30, and Color Temp in the Advanced menu should be set to Low.
kardzman
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64.12.116.132
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2009-06-04 12:24:32
Kevin,
What is your take on the Sharp 5277UN and any tips on tweaking, thanks.
Of all of the major players in LCD flat panel television (Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, JVC, Mitsubishi, Vizio, LG, and Sharp) Sharp gets the award for the most calibration unfriendly LCD flat panel currently on the market.
