Prices are Down, but Sharp's 42LCD is still an LCD and Still Lacks Processing....

I an world where flat-panel televisions have quickly gone from overpriced En-Vogue technology, to commodity-priced every-day items, Sharp continues to dominate on brand-recognition and solid marketing. While the newest Aquos panels are very affordable (a far cry from the uber-hi prices of yesteryear) the technology still leaves quite a bit to be desired in terms of image quality, particularly for SD (standard definition) signal. Regardless, Aquos is a solid line, dependable and produced by one of the best names in electronics.

Ironically, about 2 years ago I wrote a review on the 45" Aquos -- while it was certainly a decent little set, it had alot of the same shortfalls that LCD's have in general, as a category. Such flaws still exist on the 42" in question here - however I'm happy to say some good improvements have been made AND prices have come down quite a bit. Nevertheless, this is a double-edged sword, and later in the review, we'll talk about the pros AND cons of what has happened to the Aquos product line.

Sharp's Aquos LCD product has certainly taken a prominent position in the Video Market. The product is widely used by custom integrators and is also available in many retail stores. Sadly, while the product is really popular, video professionals understand the LCD as a product is really a compromise -- The experts unanimously agree that for video fidelity, LCD does not have a chance- there is simply MORE to the game than simply resolution and plasma creates the necessary contrast RATIO (Actual MEASURED CSMS contrast ratio, not the BS spec that the marketing departments print, but the actual CSMS SPEC that the profession video industry uses). All this aside, this is not to say LCD is a bad solution -- In fact, LCD is often quite a good solution for many things... Before we dig into the review and the actual product, it is of critical importance that I sort of reveal the ground rules regarding this entire product category, so that no one gets the wrong idea... More on this later. But now, on to the Review.

The newest 42 LCD (model # LC-42D62U) is LCD's answer to 42" plasma. While both technologies have a charm of their own, plasma still stands as the better technology in terms of image fidelity and picture clarity. Plasmas make a 'punchier' more vivid and exciting image -- where LCDs can "wash-out" or lose that punchy vivid exciting picture.

Regardless of the inherent shortcomings, LCD clearly has many instances where application dictates that it is the correct choice. I'm going to go into this deeper later in the review, but for now, let's say that probably the most significant example is the one of gamers: and sadly, if you are a gamer looking for the ultimate image quality, you may choose to look elsewhere. Mind you, the 42 is quite fast in terms of transient times - a 6 mili-second (6ms) is a fantastic rating, so you won't experience alot of choppiness for video game play- which is great. Sadly, there are some other factors which make the TV less than ideal for game play, so read on as we will get into this later.

Another important facet to consider about this set is that it is a native 1080P set: 1920 x 1080 native panel resolution... This may SOUND good to you- only because every marketing department of every video manufacturer is trying to program you to think that -- However there's alot more to good video than simply resoution! One of perhaps the biggest set backs with this panel is the lack of a true SCALER -- and this is another issue that we'll delve into deeper later in the review, but I want to mention it now because it's a very important piece of the video puzzle. Please read the "A Word on Standard Definition Signals" section below to read about why scaling is so important, and why its absence is so problematic on this 42" Aquos...

Standard Features, as per Sharp:

"Flat Panel Type LCD Television
LCD Response Time 6 ms
Screen Size 42 inch
Contrast Ratio 1,200:1
Digital TV Standard HDTV Television
Display Resolution 1920 x 1080 pixels
HDCP Support With HDCP Support
Display Capabilities
Digital TV Standard HDTV - HDTV receiver is integrated.
Broadcast Format Displayed 1080p (HDTV) • 1080i (HDTV) • 720p (HDTV) • 480p (EDTV) • 480i (SDTV)
Broadcast Format Supported 1080p (HDTV)
Built-in Tuner ATSC • NTSC
Native Aspect Ratio 16:9
Interpolated Aspect Ratio 4:3
Image Quality
Comb Filter 3DYC / 3D Digital
Display Resolution 1920 x 1080 pixels
Brightness 450 cd/m?
Viewing Angle 176
Adjustable Color Temperature With Adjustable Color Temperature
Remote Control
Remote Control Multibrand
Illuminated Remote Illuminated
Audio Features
Audio Type Virtual Surround
Audio Output Variable / Fixed
MTS Stereo SAP / MTS Stereo
Technical Features
Parental Control V-Chip
Sleep Timer With Sleep Timer
Energy Star Compliant Energy Star Compliant
Connectors
Rear Input Connectors S-Video x 1 • Component x 2 • Composite x 2 • HDMI x 2 • Audio (RCA) x 3 • RF x 1
Rear Output Connectors Audio (RCA) x 1 • Optical Digital
Screen Text
OSD Languages English • French • Spanish
Speakers
Number of Speakers 2 Speakers
Speaker Power 2 x 10 Watt
Dimensions
Width 40.59 in.
Depth 5.28 in.
Height 26.58 in.
Weight 66.2 lb.
Warranty
Overall Warranty 1 Year
Miscellaneous
Cabinet Color Black
Included Accessories TV Stand • Remote Control Batteries
Product ID 36741328
More Information
Sharp has been building top-quality LCD TVs longer than anyone else, and the "D62-Series" models are a big leap forward in both performance and value. The 42" LC-42D62U combines full 1080p picture resolution with improved contrast and response time. Images are pinpoint sharp and clear, with smooth, smear-free motion. This high-tech package comes wrapped in a gorgeous piano-black finish, with a price tag that would have been unthinkable even six months ago."

Initial Setup: The 42 Aquos is equipped with a very easy to navigate and easy to use setup menu. Input management is accessable with just a few button pushes, and overall, the menu is very clear and on par with all the other LCDs in the category. The remote control is comfortably ergonomic, and while it may not be the sexiest remote your ever saw or held, the buttons are sensibly located and make control of the TV quick and easy. Please note: there is a finite degree of controllability, particularly in the colorimtery department: You cannot adjust gains or offsets or do other more-involved tweaking to achieve correct 6500 K (or D65) colorimetry. White balance is extremely important, and it's what makes the picture look believeable, or not. I would have liked to see gamma and gain/offset adjustment, as it would clearly equate to a better image -- both for SD and HD signals. When I specifically mention "does not tune to ISF standard" that's exactly what I'm talking about. More on this to follow in the "performance" section.

Inputs/Outputs: The 42D62U is equipped with ample ins and outs -- though you may feel a little shorted in the HDMI department: The TV comes equipped with 2 HDMI ins. For the time being, this is 'good enough' however HDMI is (at least currently) the preferred Digital Video connection - much better for bandwitdh than DVI and clearly better able to cover longer cable runs than DVi without experiencing picture degradation. For this reason, since most video source devices are moving to HDMI (AND since you NEED HDMI to carry digital HD signal because of HDCP compliancy reasons) eventually (or sooner than that) you may decide that the set would have been better off coming equipped with 3 or 4 HDMI ins, which is fast becoming the new standard. The TV naturally has 2 component video ins, and of course a composite and 1 S-vid in for all you "true-analog" people out there - OR for those of you who still use a VCR or older source device off some sort (video game console etc). Conveniently, the TV also has an optical-digital audio out to pass through digital audio signal to your surround processor or receiver - this is particularly useful for simplifying cable-routing of digital audio within more complicated systems BUT in my humble opinion, I would have liked to ALSO have digital-coax, since I feel it sounds better AND is clearly more robust then dig-optical (toslinkk cables are most succeptable to failure if they're bent too much- where coax tends to just work and not have trouble).

A Word on SD (Standard Definition) Signals:

While I certainly hope I've written the MOST informative and objective review on this set, one thing I'll mention is that MANY people have reviewed this set (along with other LCDs) and have also found SD material to look quite bad on it... This is no cooincidence. As I've said many times within this review, and ALL my video reviews, is there is WAY more to the game than numbers on paper- like Resolution and Contrast Ratio. Sharp's Aquos line is fine example -- for while Sharp touts their product as the "best" and while it certainly looks great on paper, when you see a standard-def broadcast signal on it, the picture is truly dissapointing. The reason for this is simple; the Aquos panel does not have full-function processor, and specifically, does not have a dedicated SCALER.

SCALER: so what's a scaler??? A scaler is the computer chip that allows a TV (or dedicated processor) to take a video signal of one scaling-frequency and convert it into another: in the case of the 42D62U on standard def, the ability to take a 480i (interlaced) or 480p (progressive) scan signal, and turn it into 1080p signal - because the Aquos panel is a native 1080p panel. Basically, a 480 signal consists if 640x480 lines.. however since the Aquos' native resolution is 1920x1080, something inside the TV's guts needs to take that originally 640x480 signal, and upconvert it into 1920x1080...

All Processors are NOT created equal- and so is the case for a scaler, which is an essential piece of a processor. Bottom line is you cannot get something for nothing. Because Sharp has been forced to lower its prices so drastically in such a short time, manufacturing costs need to be cut to keep the lesser price sets profitablle to Sharp. Sadly, one of the easiest ways to cut corners and production costs is to chop out processing power -- and this equates to a worse looking picture the more scaling is required. Again - the simply reason SD materical looks so bad on an Aquos panel is because you need good processing horsepower to upconvert that signal from 480 to 1080... THe TV simply lacks it, and accordingly, Stadard Definition video looks rather lackluster on this set- the picture is soft and color saturation is lacking - you get a kind of "dull" and "lifeless" image -- Especially compared to the brilliant crisp and vivid appearance of HD video on the set (which is very good) you will ask "what's wrong with this picture??" (and please pardon the pun).

A Word on Commoditization: Prices within the entire flat-panel TV industry have come soaring down -- this is primarily a function of 2 things: 1) as the technology becomes more widely available and more producers are able to make it, natural competition drives the price down - supply vs. demand. 2) On the other hand, specific competition from generic (primarily asian) manufacturers has forced prices down just to compete. A good exmaple would be the "no-name" el-cheapo panels you see in a discount mail-order catalog: The best way to compete in ANY product category is to undercut prices... The sad thing is though, these generic panels have NO internal scaling or processing -- and accordingly, as they're cheaper to make, the can be sold at insanely cheap prices. This puts pressure on the "Sharps" of the world -- they need to sell TVs to add to the bottom line- however pricing-pressure from the foreign producers forces Sharp (and others) to sell their product lower and lower at a faster and faster rate... This is called commoditization and is happening rapidly in many markets- but the panel TV market is a great one to look at, economically speaking. Again, this is the "double edged sword" i was talking about -- On one hand, we're programmed to believe 1080p is the best thing since sliced bread right.. and we ask for it... Meanwhile, since broadcast TV signal is FAR BELOW 1080p STANDARD, we required processing horsepower to upconvert those poor SD signals into hi-quality 1080p signal. The flipside to the sword is that the need to lower prices means the need to chop out manufacturing costs - and bye-bye processor!!! The net result: HD video looks fantastic on this Aquos- but regular SD tv is going to look pretty bad - WORSE (most likely) then your current NON-HD TV!!!! YES- you read that correctly: despite the fact that HD vidoe will look awesome, SD tv will probably look WORSE on the Aquos than on your old set.. Remember: your old set was made to work on 480 signal - and did not need to upconvert. Please bear this in mind, because otherwise you will probably want to return the TV!!!

Audio Quality: Ths 42D62U comes standard with stereo speakers integrated and with 10 watts of power a piece. This isn't a whole lot, so audio quality is rather poor, but in fairness, most Tv's in this category fall short foor the same reason. (I'm just trying to be fair and balanced here...). On the other hand, most of these tv's are being hung on a wall AND integrated with some OTHER 5.1 or 7.1 surround system. This is a very good idea- while the HD video quality on the panel are MORE than just up to snuff, in order to keep audio quality within the same caliber, it's a wise idea to anticipate installing the TV along side with a decent surround-sound system -- In short, the TV's speakers will NOT cut it, especially if the TV is going to be your "main living space" TV - and if you plan on watching movies specifically, you will clearly have trouble hearing voices over the ambient noise in a movie soundtrack. On the other hand, if the tv is going to simply be a "spare bedroom" tv or something of that nature, I would say then that the stock speakers will work fine - you're not looking for "theatre quality" sound in that instance.

Overall Preformance: Again, the video quality of HD signals on the Aquos is excellent. 720 native HD looks really really good on the panel -- A quick look at a Hi-Def baseball game over HDMI showed me just how good HD would look on the Aquos panel. Black levels are excellent (though DO pay attention to backlight level, as these can easiliy wash away good black levels and turn a punchy picture into a soft washy picture. 1080p native signal looks AWESOME -- this should be obvious... for just like a native 480 tube tv makes SD look great (whereas it looks poor on this Aquos for aforementioned reasons) the Aquos was MADE to work with 1080p native- so it should be obivous that 1080p looks AWESOME. Look at an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray disc on the 42D and WOW!!! I watched superman returns, The Illusionist and Casino Royale (the fist 2 on HD-DVD toshiba and Royale on Blu-Ray through a PS3) and DAMN did that picture look great. I was very impressed with the Aquos ability to make HD picture - again, it was the SD performance that let me down.

Color Quality and Sharpness: As mentioned, the lack of colorimetry adjustment might make it difficult to get a believable picture, specifically in Standard-Def. But here are a few hints to help you get the most out of the panel: 1) Pay Attention to the "sharpness" tab! The out-of-the-box sharpness on the panel is excellent -- so sharp in fact, that you may want to SOFTEN it a little by reducing this setting slightly. Video "noise" and other artifacts that maybe present due to signal (NOT caused by the TV) can be filtered out somewhat by reducing sharpness. Again, cost-cutting means there's not much noise reduction going on internally, so you will likely find that reducing sharpness helps make the TV more 'forgiving' to poor signals or video signals with noise in them. lastly, Skin-tones looked actually quite good on HD, but again, on SD material skin tones may push towards "greenish" -- you CAN adjust color/tint to help defeat this, but please bear in mind: the TV does NOT have independantly adjustable picture-setting memories for both SD and HD signals -- meaning the settings on one are the same for the other. It IS possible to find a good happy medium however, and use Color/Tint to get a better picture for BOTH sources. I found it neccesary to push color just a little past halfway, and by driving the color a little more, it helped normalize skin-tones on SD material without making them worse on HD.

Remote Control: THe 42D62U comes with a reasonably compact IR remote and most features area single button push away. Easy to use, easy to learn - the panel's features are fairly easily accessable and the remote fits nicely in the hand.

Video Gamers: a Word to the Wise: Video games exist in a different realm than broadcast television or HD; that's because the "pictures" are built on a different video framework then standard or HD television signals (IN terms of scaling-fequency, aspect ratio etc). Accordingly, pixel count, native resoution etc are different - and those things require processing horsepower to make the picture appear smooth, clear and artifact free: In short; processing power which the Aquos does NOT have built into it!!! While older, lesser video-intensive systems will work fine with it, other more advanced game systems (particularly 480p based ones like PS2 etc) will have trouble for the same reasons that 480i and p SD video have trouble on the set. On a brighter note, 1080p native systems will look fantastic - so again, let the buyer (and gamer) beware - do you homework and really consider WHAT SOURCES will I be using, before committing to the purchase of this LCD panel.

BOTTOM LINE: The Aquos is a great choice, especially for the approximate 1500-1600 dollar price tag. It makes a great HD picture and is loaded with good features, a nice remote, and is easy to setup and use. Inputs and Outputs are easy to work with an reasonably plentiful, though as mentioned earlier, I think an additional 1 or 2 HDMI ins would be quite appropriate since more and more video source devices are using HDMI as the preferred Digital-Video signal path. I still maintain that if it's a primary room TV (either primary home theatre usage OR your main "den" or living room TV, you may want to consider plasma, becuase its punchier -- However Aquos would still be my personal choice for use as a secondary tv or spare-bedroom set. It's great product, has become quite affordable and its made my Sharp- still the leader in this category. I Hope this review is helpful to you and will allow you to make a better decision in regards to purchasing this or ANY LCD panel.