Beautiful LCD TV, very happy with it

I was originally set out to buy a 42" EDTV plasma, mainly because LCDs were too expensive comparatively. Then after rearranging my furniture, I realized a 37" would be sufficient for my viewing distance. I was still set on a 37" plasma, but since 37" HD is only a little bit more than 42" ED, I decided to go HD. So this is where the LCD TV came in, this 37" LCD (of course HD) was only a bit more than the panasonic 37" plasma! Ok, so the two "litte bits" added up to a few hundred dollars, but for the picture quality, features, and number of inputs, I have no regrets. Also, in retrospect, I don't like watching 4:3 SDTV in stretch mode, which means I'll have 2 black bars on the side of the TV, and as we all know, this is bad for plasmas. Another reason I'm glad I got the LCD.

My 1st test, DVDs. The picture was of course awesome (I'm coming from a 27" CRT) but I mainly wanted to check out the difference between using a progressive DVD player vs. non-progressive.... ie. test out the de-interlacer on the Sharp TV. I could not tell the difference between the progressive vs non-progressive player in terms of colors and clarity. In fact, the progressive player showed some jaggies, this is probably because my progressive player is a cheapo no-name brand, while my non-progressive is a Panasonic. Conclusion, the de-interlacer on the Sharp TV works GREAT, better than, or at least equal to, most cheap progressive dvd player de-interlacers.

2nd test, standard TV. Since HD channels are still relatively scarce this is very important. I was fairly impressed by the TV ability to smooth out the picture of the crappy SDTV signal. Most people say SDTV looks like crap on HDTVs, it looks pretty darn good on the Sharp TV. In fact, if I didn't do the DVD test first and saw the sharpness (no pun intended) of the TV, I might not have noticed the poor SDTV quality. When using the stretch mode, the picture quality looks a bit worse, but like I said above, I probably will rarely use the stretch mode.

Number of inputs, it was PERFECT for my needs and I think it would be for most people. 2 component/composite, 1 s-video/composite, HDMI, DVI, and even iLink (Firewire). Also outputs, I love the optical output. This TV actually has an A/D converter to convert analog input audio to digital to send out through the optical. This means I don't have to deal with 2 different outputs for sound, and I definitely want the digital out for broadcast TV that actually have 5.1 in them. Other outputs include headphone, rca audio, and s-video/composite.

TVGUIDE On Screen, this is another bonus. It works great with my cable provider. They seamlessly broadcast the TVGOS signal over channel 9. It's not as quick and complete as a cable box, but since I don't plan on getting a cable box, because this TV has a built in QAM tuner and cablecard slot, the TVGOS is a VERY welcome addition. Like I said before, it's kind of slow and a little hard to use at first, but it definitely makes finding shows easier. The TVGOS can even control your VCR or DVR to record shows with the included optional IR tranmismitter.

Ok, onto picture/color quality. I cannot stress how real and sharp (again, no pun intended) everything looks (with HD signals of course). Being picky, I will admit the widely noticed "over-redness" of the picture is definitely apparent out of the box. I turned down the color settings a few notches and set the tint a few notches to green to compensate for this. It helped, but still not perfect. I'll probably have to delve into the advanced color settings to further tweak this, I'll do that soon.

Also, the backlight was turn to full brightness out of the box. I recommend to turn it down, not only to save the backlight life, but it was just WAY TOO BRIGHT for me. Sometimes because of this, certain scenes get a bit too dark, but with the A/V mode feature that has preset contrast/brightness/color settings, I can fix it with the touch of a button. As a side note, all the preset A/V modes are adjustable as well as assignable to separate inputs. Another feature than can help with brightness control is the auto brightness feature (forgot the term Sharp uses). It has a light sensor on the front that measures the light levels of the room and adjusts the brightness accordingly. This feature is a little annoying sometimes, but I've had some good results using it from time to time. Overall it tends to make things a little darker, but when someone suddenly turns on the light, or I'm watching TV while the sun is setting, it saves me a few button presses to adjust the brightness manually.

Ok, so some of the bad. There really isn't anything very bad. Black levels of course are not so deep because it's an LCD, and that's the only thing that makes me 2nd guess my choice over a plasma. But, to be completely honest with you, when I'm watching scenes that are dark, I don't even care because the picture is so clear.

Another small gripe is the viewing angle. While it is very good, the 170 degrees (85 degrees off center) advertised is an exaggeration. I can start seeing the picture fade about 45-50 degrees off center horizontally. Granted I won't be watching much TV from angles as large or larger than this, I was kind of disappointed because of how it was advertised. Just a small gripe. Still much better than say a DLP.

So in conclusion, I'm VERY happy with the TV. Unfortunately, my TV had a small defect, Input #2's right channel was broken, no sound coming out of the right speaker when I was using Input #2. The right speaker works fine with all the other inputs, cable TV included, so it was narrowed down to the input jack. Sharps customer service was great. The phone support gentleman helped me find a nearby authorized sharp service shop. They came and picked up the TV and plan to fix it within a week and drop it back off. I'm a bit sad now as the TV is still in the shop, but it'll be all free since it's covered by the 1 year parts and labor warranty. I had a taste of a beautiful TV and now I'm waiting for it to be delivered back in a week..... it's like withdrawls, that's how much I like this TV =).

Since it's being discontinued in the near future (or maybe already has) in favor of some new models, I believe that's why they're going for such a good price lately. Costco had it for $2k+tax, they were out of stock but I got it for $2.2K but no tax and free shipping at a reputable and authorized retailer who has both retail stores and an online store (ie. that's why it's still under warranty).

Overall, I love this set, it's my first HDTV and Lord knows I shopped around and looked at TVs everywhere, from plasma to DLP, and many other LCDs. I feel I made a great choice, especially for the price! I'll get over the black levels completely, eventually..... hehe....