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Sharp Aquos LC-52D85U Review
The Sharp Aquos LC-52D85U
When it comes to LCD HDTVs, brand names like Samsung, Sony and Panasonic come to mind readily, but Sharp, although relatively not as prominent as the others, has been making LCDs ever since 1988, which gives it an edge over the other companies. This edge is most apparent in the Sharp Aquos LC-52D85U.
Design
The design of the LC-52D85U is relatively simple, with nothing to make it stand out from the rest of the crowd, which is why it is one of its weak points. Its remote control also falls short in its design, with buttons that are rather small but not all cramped together. Its backlight illuminates only a few buttons, the labels of which are located on the body of the remote and cannot be seen in the dark even with the backlight on. On the upside, the remote control is a universal remote control and can handle up to four other devices other than the TV.
The menu system of the Sharp Aquos LC-52D85U also falls a bit short. The menu remains fixed on the screen, preventing you from getting a better view of the picture as you adjust the settings. When trying to switch between inputs, you may be confused at first because the inputs are only labeled as Input1, Input2, etc instead of more descriptive names like A/V input or HDMI. But once you figure out which input is which, you have the option to rename them to more descriptive names.
Screen/Picture Clarity
The picture quality on the Sharp Aquos LC-52D85U is comparable to more expensive LCD HDTVs. It comes with a standard 120Hz refresh rate, which coupled with
Sharp’s Fine Motion Enhanced, gives you scenes that do not get blurry with high motion as with other LCD HDTVs. This LCD HDTV also comes with a 10-bit LCD screen, which you find in higher priced HDTVS, that gives you smoother gradients in colors. The picture quality can also be enhanced due to the menu option which gives the user greater control over the hue and saturation of each color.
The only weakness of the video quality of the LC-52D85U is the black levels. The blacks are not as deep as those found in other LCD HDTVs. Other than the bright blacks, this LCD HDTV provides crisp, clear pictures with high detail and vivid colors.
Features
The Sharp Aquos LC-52D85U comes with the standard connections found on any other HDTV, except that it comes with an extra HDMI connection which gives you the
option to connect five HDMI devices to the TV. Though it was nice of Sharp to include another HDMI connection, it does not come with a USB, ethernet or card reader that would allow you to show off your pictures. This TV also comes with a backlight that can dynamically change according to the ambient lighting of the room, which means no more manual adjusting of brightness whenever the light changes in the room during the day just to see the picture on the screen. Along with the Optical Picture Control, this TV not only gives you good quality pictures, but also helps you save the environment and money by cutting down its power consumption.
Another added feature on the LC-52D85U is the Aquos Link. Much like Panasonic’s Vierra Link, the Aquos Link gives you the option of controlling your HD devices with just a touch of a button. So after watching your favorite Blu-Ray movie, just turn off your HDTV or your Blu-Ray player, and all other HD devices will shut down, saving you the trouble of turning off each device one at a time.
The LC-52D85U does have some design issues especially with the remote control and the system menus. Even with such shortcomings, though, the relatively lower price and very high picture quality of the Sharp Aquos LC-52D85U more than make up for its weak points.
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TV is great, great picture, great price. Easy enough for my wife and I to hang on the wall. We love it.
We’d shopped for a few months for a 50-52″ HDTV and finally settled on the Aquos. This is THE TV. It arrived exactly when Amazon said it would, setup service was great, and I was watching movies and playing Xbox within minutes. The picture is incredible. Weeks after we recevied it, we’re still commenting every day about how amazing the picture looks. The sound really isn’t bad either, although I’ll probably connect a speaker system to it in the near future. I went to Circuit City’s closeout sale, and couldn’t get a comparable TV for anywhere CLOSE to the price you can get this one here–take the plunge…it’s WELL worth it!
SHARP Aquos LC52D85U - Easy set-up straight out of the excellent mfg. packaging. I was plugged into my home theatre and watching Bond, James Bond, in just about 15 minutes. Easy read manual easy use remote. Flawless images. No problem with reflections in this huge 52 inch screen. Bright tru colors in either daylight or dark room veiwing. If you plan to ever use’em, the TV speakers sound crisp & clear. This’s a 120hz 1080P 52 incher with a 10 bit advanced super view panel; tha’s a whole bunch of TV for about $1500 bones. Buy one.
This TV is super. Great picture, easy to use right out of the box. Has great added features that are very easy to use as well. Would highly recommend.
I’ve had this TV for about 3 weeks now and I am very pleased thus far. I did an agonizing amount of research and this seemed like the best deal for a 52″ TV. I went with the 120HZ as I heard it enhanced viewing sports and was a definate plus with Blu Ray (which I do not yet have). I cant really judge this feature as I have no point of reference. HD programming looks outstanding as do DVD’s. I expected bad sound and this was the case. But a few days ago we switched from Direct TV to Comcast and my wife and I were stunned at how much better the TV sounded. Night and day. Why this is I do not know….
The blacks on this screen are very dark and look outstanding. Just watched “The Descent” which is an extremely dark movie and it looked just great.
Anyway I recommend this TV if you are looking for an affordable 52″ from a reputable manufacturer.
This tv is great i love it you need a blueray to see what it can really do but even in 1080i and 720p it is good buy it!! You will like it. Setting are easy too and goes great with my samsung home threater system.
i bought this TV in Jan09 and am still loving it. I’m not very technical but i love the clarity and color. Haven’t figured everything out yet but if you just to watch a great clear picture with or without HD input this TV is great.
CONS: had problems getting it delivered. Had to take a couple of days off to get it delivered. nothing to do with product.
This is a good tv. I bought it for my room so it’s not bad at all. If it’s for your main viewing tv, then you should go with something else if you have the money.
I was looking for a 52 inch TV to upgrade from my 32 inch and ended up going with Sharp Aquos. I was always a fan of Samsung and love my 32 inch A450 but I was worried about the reflection that the Samsung’s have, due to the glossy screen, as I have a family room with a lot of windows. The Sharp has a matte finish with no reflection so I have been very happy in that regard. The picture quality on this TV is very good when adjusted. It took me a little while to get the right settings for my room but now that I have it set the picture quality is great. After setting up the TV I had to upgrade the cables on my cable box as they caused the TV to be fuzzy (standard vga cables). Once I upgraded to component cables the picture quality of HD and regular was very noticeable. I have a PS3 and Apple TV and both look fantastic when running at 1080p. Even the Wii looks good but I will probably upgrade to component on the Wii in order to get higher quality. The 120hz works well even though I’m sure newer models are probably even better but I’ve been happy with the quality of football etc on this TV. The only area this TV could use help with is the sound. The sound is kind of empty but not bad for general watching. If you are big into sound quality you might want to check out other TV’s but many LCD’s are not great so external sources may be needed.
I was able to get a great deal on this TV at another vendor, under Eleven Hundred dollars so for that price this Tv is fantastic as many Samsung and Sony 42 inch TV’s with 1080p and 120hz are that price right now with. If you are looking for a TV take a look at Sharp, for the price and features they are very good. They don’t have the extra features such as hooking up to your internet but who wants that and why would you want to pay for those features. I just want a great picture at a great price, not to receive RSS feeds over my broadband connection.
I had this TV since last november. I just decided to check out the website for any info and I found that this TV has a new firmware update since October of 2009. You’re gonna have to download it to a USB drive that is formated as “FAT.”
Go here and search for this TV model:
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Good luck.