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198 of 199 people found the following review helpful.
Big, beautiful, affordable! Highly Recommended!
By Joshua Jones
The Sharp LC-60E77UN is a dream come true. Excellent image quality, superb black levels, smooth motion, and a true home theator experience.I have been looking around at replacing my two year old Sharp Aquos 42" lcd for the past few months. It was a great tv but I recently moved to a bigger house and needed a bigger tv in my huge great room. I used the 42" for a variety of things: computer monitor, bluray's, dvd's, games, and normal tv viewing. I looked at plasma's, LED LCD's, DLP's, and CCFL LCD's. I knew I wanted at least a 55" screen so I could read internet sized font from back on my couch (8-10' away) but still keep the tv set on 1080p. I also love the immersive effect from a big screen. I looked for deep blacks, good motion, viewing angles, and an excellent contrast ratio.First I looked at plasma's and I finally ended up buying one after finding a great price on a 65" panny S1. But after reading about the still prevalent burn-in issues and huge (780w!) power requirements I decided to return it and stick with an LCD. I don't need to see what my electric bill would be like after running a hairdryer for 4-6 hours a day.I then looked at the new LED tv's from Vizio, Samsung, Sharp, and Sony. They had great contrast ratios and deep blacks but were priced much higher than the traditional CCFL tv's. The other problem was that they stopped at 55" and I would preferred to go bigger.I got sidetracked by some of the DLP tv's huge sizes at low prices, and while they have improved a ton over the years there are still several inherent problems with that style of tv that I could not put up with.Then I looked at some of the traditional CCFL backlit tv's. While most manufacturers only went up to a 55" in size, sharp recently came out with a new 60" and 65" at a decent price. Keep in mind that while the difference between a 55" and 60" and likewise, a 60" and a 65" doesn't sound like a lot, the total opposite is true. An extra 5" added along the diagonal at these sizes adds a TON more area. For instance, a 60" tv has over DOUBLE the area of a 42". A 60" is a very noticeable step up from a 55" in size. While I ended up settling on the 60" version of this TV I did consider the 65", but just couldn't justify the extra 800-1000$ sharp wants for it. Also at sizes that big 1080p starts to break down unless you sit far away from the tv.Since sharp had the price of this 60" LCD right around what some of the 55" LED tv's were going for I spent a lot of time deciding between the two. The store that I was at played the classic trick of setting the more expensive LED tv's to a more colorful, bright setting to somehow make them look better than their cheaper traditionally backlit counterparts. After messing around with some of the other 55" CCFL backlit tv's I couldn't quite get them looking as good as the LED versions. Then I messed around with this 60" sharp, totally different ball game. After putting the backlight back down to more common levels, turning the brightness down a notch, upping the color, and upping the contrast a touch, I got this guy to look just as good (if not better!) than any of the 55" LED's, (even the samsung 8-series). I don't know what sharp did with this panel but the black levels were very deep, and the whites were still sparkly white. Maybe it has something to do with the new Kameyama plant that these are built at. The black levels were on par with the panny S1 plasma, but the colors and bright scenes were so much more vivid.Many manufacturers use 8-bit panels to save on some cost, but this is one of the only 10-bit panel's available in this size. Color experts can explain better the technical differences between 8-bit and 10-bit color, but to my eyes it just means more deep, rich colors.Another thing I liked about this panel was that it has a semi-gloss screen. Unlike my older sharp, which has a full matte screen that washes out more at wider viewing angles, this screen keep's its deep black's throughout a much greater viewing angle. I will admit though that the plasma's had noticablely better viewing angle's than any LCD I looked at, but it wasn't worth all the drawback's of plasmas. I do get some glare off the screen in the day, but it is partially diffused and isn't very distracting. This tv really shines at night though.As part of testing, I also hooked up a laptop through HDMI into the tv. After messing around with the window's resolution output I got the screen stable at full 1080p. I stood back 10 feet, and was still able to read google new's, the weather forecast, facebook, and all my other internet sites. A slight bump up in windows DPI and even people with less than perfect eye sight could clearly read the text. I really don't understand why people pay hundreds extra for tv's with internet connectivity when a $300 computer can be hooked up to this tv and run bluray's, go to ANY internet site, and stream music and video.While almost all the new LCD's are coming out with LED backlighting, a lot of people don't realize that CCFL backlights have been evolving over the 10+ years they have been out. Remember back 6 year's ago how horrible the black levels were on LCD's? Well those tv's were backlit with CCFL, just like this tv is today. The only difference? Sharp has virtually perfected it with this new model. Smooth, even, dark, blacks that are easily on par with any LED tv I've seen. Now I do think LED is the superior technology and will noticablely surpass CCFL in the next 2-3 years, but for now they are on their first and second generations, and they still have some bugs to be worked out. CCFL blacklighting is tried and true, and is on its tenth or more generation. I do have to admit, LED is a great marketing scheme right now to make people justify the inflated prices they are asking for them, when in truth the CCFL backlighting (at least on this screen) is at least as good.Another thing this screen does well is it's motion controls. Sharp's 120hz technology supposedly helps with motion, something that personally I've never really had a problem with on any modern LCD. The film modes are useful for converting a 1080p/24hz bluray signal into a 60hz one, but I prefer to leave it off and have a more "natural" movie viewing experience. I watched Underworld on bluray on this thing the other night, and now I don't think I'll ever go back to the movie theater again. Immersive, beautiful, and all in my own home.Another thing people think is going to be big is 3D. If you are one the fence about whether to wait for this to come out, or buy a big screen now let me give you a few pointers. Remember when HD first came out? Yes 10 years ago? How come after 10 years, over half the channels are still not in HD? HD programming requires a ton of bandwidth, and 3D will double the amount needed. Not to mention that when these 3D screens come out they will be extremely expensive, and content will be extremely limited. I don't see 3D coming anywhere near mainstream for at least 5 years. If you want to wait that long and see if it's going to catch on, be my guest, but in the mean time I'll be enjoying my blurays infront of this big gorgeous screen. If you always wait for the next big thing, you will always be waiting.Some people don't like the Gold bezel on this screen, and at first I didn't either. The pictures online really glorify it, but the truth is that in real life it is very faint and hardly noticeable. I still wish it was black but for all the tv's strengths I can deal with this minor setback.When shopping for this TV I was surprised by the lack of reviews. I took the jump anyway and I'm really glad I did. I got exactly what I wanted. A HUGE screen with rich colors, smooth motion, extremely deep black levels, lots of inputs, no dead pixels, and the flexibility to do internet surfing from back on my couch. My advice if you are considering a 55" LED or any other tv this size range. Don't just assume that because it's an LED tv that it's automatically better. If I just blindly went for the LED screens, I would have missed out on a 5" bigger screen with picture quality that easily rivals any LED LCD I've seen, and I would have paid would more for it! Don't buy into the marketing hype. Big thumbs up for sharp for making an awesome, affordable screen!
49 of 51 people found the following review helpful.
***UPDATE***~*~*~GREAT PICTURE QUALITY, BRIGHT COLORS, HUGE~*~*~
By Mommy of Cuties M & Z
******Update is at the bottom*******My husband and I decided that instead of getting eachother Xmas presents, we would buy a new TV. We had a 36" tube TV that took up a lot of space & was beyond heavy. Thus, the search began for a flat panel TV. At first we started looking at 46-52" and then that went to 55". We had already decided that we didn't want a Plasma but an LCD or LED.Based on reviews we were first interested in the Sony Bravio, it seemed like the best reviews for what we wanted and for a good price. Then we took a trip to Best Buy. They had 6 55" LCD TV's on display and actually all of them looked pretty nice. The Sony Bravio and 1 other(can't remember) had the best looking pictures in our opinion. We were not yet ready to purchase anything and went to Sams Club to check out their TV's.That is where we saw this Big Boy, 60" of Beautiful TV. It WAS bigger than all the rest, it DID outshine all other TV's...except 1. There was a 55" Visio True LED and that had a comparable picture to this one in my opinion, my husband thought it was slightly better(and very slightly), I'm sure because it was LED. The Sharp was a little over 2K and the Visio was a little under 2K.So we were torn on what to do. We decided to go ahead and get this 60" Big Boy. Although we thought the Visio was the newer technology with the LED, this one still had a Beautiful picture and was better to us than any of the other TV's. Also we've had many Sharp Electronics and have always been pleased with them.We actually don't have cable, we have regular TV & watch regular DVD's. All I can say is AWESOME!! The colors of this TV are amazing & so colorful, my 1 year old twins LOVE watching cartoons on it. We are completely happy with our TV.When making such a big/expensive purchase, I really recommend going to the store & checking them out in person. But if you can't do that or you are buying this as a gift for someone and having it shipped, I guarantee you they will be pleased with this. Especially for a Man, telling his friends he has a 60" TV is a VERY proud moment! My husband couldn't wait to go to work and tell all his friends.Had we wanted a little "smaller" of a TV, we would have gotten the Visio LED. But if you are wanting a real Big Boy, you won't be dissapointed with this. I think the sound of the TV is fine, not sure how it would be with movies because we have surround sound for that.We hung our TV on the wall, we didn't want an entertainment center because we have 1 year old twins who love to climb on things like that. The best deal we found for mounting it on the wall is at IKEA. If you are in the TV stand/wall area, ask one of their sales people what will hold a 60" TV. Originally we were going to get this wood thing to mount on the wall but they only had 1 thing big enough for a 60" TV so that is what we got. We also got a shelf from there that we attached to the wall above the TV to put the surround sound/DVD player. Everything is out of reach of our curious babies! Although we still need to get something to conceal the cords.Since we have 1 year old twins, we don't get to the movies and now that we have this AWESOME, HUGE TV, I don't see us going to the theatre anytime soon. I'd much rather lay on my comfy couch, snuggled with a blanket, eat as many snacks or drinks as I want w/out it costing me a fortune & going to the potty w/out missing anything and did I mention AWESOME, HUGE TV?? (actually this may be a selling point for someone, if you need to convince your significant other to get this TV, just tell them how much money you'll save on gas, movie tickets, movie snacks, etc)********UPDATE*********We've had our TV for a little over 3 months now so I'll give a little update.We still LOVE it and are extremely happy w/our TV. Everyone who sees our TV Loves it and anyone who has a big screen compares it to theirs and always says that ours has a better picture, better colors, is bigger and in most cases cost less than theirs did and they wish this is what they had gotten. My husband was asked several times from buddies at work to have a Super Bowl party here since we had the biggest TV and they'd heard it had a great picture but my girls were sick at the time so we didn't get to do that. My husband and I watched it(even though I don't like football) and it was AWESOME!!So we've watched just about every possible thing on our TV: sports, action movies, regular movies, LOTS of cartoons both on PBS & DVD and Everything we have watched has been fantastic. The newest Ice Age DVD was the most colorful thing I'd ever watched on TV, my girls Loved it(so did we). Our DVD player is an up-converting one...I didn't even know there was such a thing but my husband said it turns DVD's into a higher resolution or something like that. So if you're getting a big screen I recommend getting an up-converting DVD player or a Blue Ray. All our DVD's are regular & from Redbox are regular or we would have gotten a blue ray player.The only problem, which really isn't even a problem that we've had with this TV is that a couple times we have turned it on and it wouldn't do anything, it was just a blank screen so we had to unplug then plug it back it and it immediately worked. And something that might bug some people but doesn't bother us, when we are flipping through the channels it is slow, it isn't just like click, click, click, it is more like click.pause..click..pause..click. And we don't have cable, this is just regular TV so it might not even do that with cable.Also, I've been doing the Wii Fit on this and it is even more fun on this than it was on our 36" TV, this TV makes it more 'real', which makes me more motivated to work out.We LOVE this TV : )
55 of 58 people found the following review helpful.
Avoid if you use ATT uVerse HD
By Mark Karber
I viewed the 60" Aquos at a local store, and found it here for about the same price with no tax. I had it shipped to me, which took about 10 days. The first time I hooked it up, it seemed ok. The picture was middling range. The blacks could be deeper, the contrast better, and the screen was more reflective than my other Samsung LCD but it was a bargain at the price and I was satisfied enough at that price point.Then I turned the TV off. The next day I turned the TV on, it immediately began flashing between 480P mode, and 1080P mode. So, it was switching between HD and non-HD modes. I also noticed the blue HD light on my uVerse box was flashing, so I assumed it was a weird issue with the box. I reset the box, and everything was fine...until the nexst time I turned the TV on.Later, I came home and noticed the blue HD light flashing again even before I turned the TV on. Thus began a journey. In order to watch the TV, I had to reset the uVerse box every single time, or the picture would simply flash between HD and non-Hd mode, with the telltale sign being the HD light flashing on the uVerse box. I had never once had to reset the uVerse box for this reason prior to the day I got the Sharp and I had two other HD sets using that box previousely. It takes about 4-5 minutes for the box to reset so it was a pain.So, I did some basic troubleshooting. I tried another HDMI cable, changed inputs, etc to no avail. I then noticed that if I simply left the HDMI cable unplugged when I reset the box the HD light stayed solid, but if I then plugged in the HDMI cable (with TV off) the HD light immediately began blinking. This in conjuction with the other evidence led me to strongly believe the issue lied with the TV.I started a chat session with a Sharp Tech. He immediately said he had seen it before and had a solution. First he wanted me to make a setting change, and then he wanted me to update the firmware via a flash drive. I did both. I turned the TV off, waited about 10 seconds, turned the TV on and all was well.However, I soon discovered that the problem only occurs if the TV is off for at least 30 seconds or so. So, the issue persisted for several days longer, and it happened every single time. If I wanted to watch TV, I had to reset the uVerse box without fail.I called Sharp support this time. I explained and began to outline all of the above. The agent I spoke with was short, curt, certainly not very friendly, and borderline rude. He immediately blamed uVerse or the box, cutting me off before I could even finish the explanation and the other troubleshooting I had done. I told him the other tech had said he had seen this and acknowledged it was an issue with this TV, but he would have none of it and basically laughed it off. I told him (true) that I have both sold TV's and worked with electronics for 25 years, and I am currently a computer tech with a high level of technical knowledge and he basically laughed and was condensending. He said, well the TV can only show the signal it's given, and if your HD is going in and out, that is the box and it's not our problem.So, I told him I didn't care for his whole attitude, that I didn't have time to be wasting calling AT&T and I was at least hoping for a "we're working on it" type attitude, but that with that type of response I would simply return the TV and get another brand. I called, and exchanged the Sharp for a Sony LED style 60" set. Yes, it was $900 more, but I didn't want my money going to Sharp at that point. I am not here to review the Sony other than to say that the picture is significantly better, better and deeper blacks, berrter contrast and color and a more matter screen with virtually no reflection. Watching a movie on this new Sony 60" beauty is breathtaking.In any case, the new Sony came about a week later. I put the same HDMI cable in and lo and behold it was fine. That was 2 weeks ago, and I have not had to reset the uVerse box one single time since receiving the Sony, nor had to do it one single time on the two TV's prior to the Sharp. So, let's see Sharp. Four TV's - One uVerse box. Every single time I turned on the Sharp the box had to be reset. No other single time did the box need to be reset for that reason on the other three TV's. You still want to have the attitude that you don't have a problem with the TV? Pound sand Sharp. Your attitude lost you a customer for life.
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