Customer Reviews

Sharp Aquos LC-45GD7U 45-Inch HD-Ready LCD Flat Panel TV

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Like its predecessors the LC-45GD6U and LC-45GD4U, the Sharp LC-45GD7U and the LC-45GD5U are great LCD HDTV monitors. Unfortunately, despite a slight upgrade to their electronics they still don't support 1080p input to a monitor that is perfectly capable and quite good at displaying it. As such, you're better off either trying to find the now-discontinued LC-45GX6U or waiting until March or April 2006 when the LC-45PT90U offers 1080p support.

This review is to explain the confusing differences between the units rather than a full review of the set versus its competition; please read my reviews of the GD4U, GD6U, and GX6U to explain why these are some of the best sets on the market.

First and foremost, you're buying the same display panels on all 5 units - they are identical 1920x1080p capable displays with 12ms response time manufactured at the same plant. Second, the cosmetic differences are minor. The GD5U is gloss black (versus silver on the GD4U) with detachable side speakers, and the GD7U is almost identical to the GX6U and GD6U with detachable bottom speakers and titanium coloring.

The only real difference between them is a minor change in the electronics. The GD5U and GD7U have a TV Guide function which, when given a proper input, displays programming information on shows much like Tivo or an enhanced digital cable box do - versus the older units, which given the same input only display the basic channel title. This is slightly useful if you're watching on a Cablecard or over-the-air, but if you have a Tivo or such its largely useless. There have also been reports that this feature is incompatible with a number of systems.

Unfortunately, this upgrade wasn't the one the sets really needed. The major problem with all of these units is that the electronics do not support the 1080p capability of the panels (even on the GX6U, where the trick is that you can just bypass them). Granted, there's not much out there currently that outputs in native 1080p - except for some PC and XBox games that will simply wow your friends and a couple Windows PC-based movie like Terminator 2 - and with Blu-Ray and HD-DVD looking like they'll be in 1080i there's no rush. Furthermore, with Hollywood getting more and more antsy over encryption there's no guarantee the GX6U will even work with 1080p native signals for broadcast media when they eventually come out. However, the way to look at it is that by buying anything except the now-discontinued GX6U you're guaranteed obsolescence at some point.

There is some hope on the horizon; Sharp is finally going to put out a couple of sets next year - the 45" LC-45PT90U and 37" LC37PT90U - that will accept and display 1080p input.

Until then, the Sharp G series displays today's signals beautifully, but just know the limitations. It's worth noting that most of the nominally capable direct-display 1080p units on the market (like the JVC LT-40FH96) have the same problems with actually displaying 1080p, so don't get me wrong - the G series is still at the top of the heap in display quality. (There are also some recently released sets with full 1080p compatibility, but as they use different technologies like rear-projection you're comparing apples and oranges.) With the recent price drops, I continue to recommend them, especially if you can land one of the earlier models in a closeout sale. Just know what you're buying first!

It is not clear if the other reviewer actually owns one of these but I do.

The display is simply awesome. Everyone's initial reaction who has seen it is to stop in mid stride, say "WOW!" and stand there with an open mouth.

I do not have satellite or cable, instead get HDTV over-the-air for free. The performance of the built-in tuner is just fine for me, but then again I live 3 miles from the towers.

I also bought a Sony HX-715 DVR and progressive scan DVD. This unit will up-convert the source DVD to the native resolution of the monitor and I am using HDMI between the DVD player and the TV. The DVD outputs 1080i (or so it says) which it has upconverted from the native DVD disk being played.

The resulting picture with a DVD is mind boggling, its hard to believe that you are not watching a native HD signal. You can see the beard hairs on Clapton's face on the Guitar Festival DVDs.

There are three annoyances I have about this TV and a major gripe about HDTV in general.

1) when the format switches (more about this below), very often there is this little 'click' in the sound. Sharp should have momentarily muted the audio through this transition. The first time I heard the sound I though the high voltage was sparking until I thought "Doh! There is no high voltage, its an LCD, dummy!".

2) the TV "remembers" the volume between different modes. Lets say you come down stairs for your morning coffee while the kids are still asleep. You turn on the TV and turn the sound way down. During a commercial you decide to flip over to the DVR and see what it recorded last night. SUDDENLY the sound is now very loud because the TV "remembers" that the volume for the DVR was set to loud so it "does you the favor" of returning the volume to its prior level. This would be fine, but you cannot defeat this, so it turns out to be a problem rather than a solution. This is even the case if you use the headphone jack. It remembers the low headphone volume and when you unplug it, ITS NOW LOUD AGAIN.

3) As far as I can tell, standby mode "Mode2" is just basically hosed. For kicks (even though it is not really clear what the differences between modes really is...) I tried Mode2 thinking it might use less electricity when "off". When I came down the next morning, the download light was stuck on (the download light is when it is receiving TV Guide information) and when I turned the TV on, it had obviously "lost its mind". At first I thought that the TV had broken but when I power cycled, all was right. After an hour on hold on the phone to Sharp customer service they told me to just go back to "Mode1" and it has been fine ever since.

Now on to HDTV in general. The broadcast industry just does not have its collective act together. Some shows are in 16:9 some are legacy 4:3 and they mode switch between them. For legacy 4:3 source some stations just broadcast black bars on the sides and others fill it in with "stuff". Some partially stretch a 4:3 into a 4.5:3 or something like that. The mode switches are enough to drive you nuts. You are watching CSI in beautiful 16:9 HD and "click" bingo, you are looking at a 4:3 commercial. Its not just that they switch modes, its that it is so jarring and jerky. Its not like "fade to black come up in new mode" its just BAM there you are.

ABC did a wonderful job with the Super Bowl. The image was awesome, the motion compensation was incredible, and there were few technical glitches. Most of the ads were in HD, so the mode switching was down to a dull roar.

NBC's coverage of the Winter Olympics is the stuff of a High School AV club. I mean after a while it ceases to be annoying and starts to just be comical in a keystone cops sort of way.

With the opening ceremonies, they had no sound for several minutes. (Note they had sound on the analog - I checked, just not the digital.) They will mode switch between 16:9 HD and 4:3 legacy in the middle of the broadcast (like during a downhill race) for no reason, which is even more anoying because they are not on the same time lines. (i.e. there is a good seconds worth of difference in time between digital and analog).

Oh, speaking of time lines, NBC just *cannot* get the lip sync right. Its usually off, sometimes its *way* *way* off.

Also with the opening ceremonies, the image was dark and this caused a lot of pixel noise. The encoding and motion tracking was going nuts trying to encode this, so there was extreme blocking. Guys, guys, guys, buy a clue. If you are going to look at low light in HD, you need a big camera with a gigantic lens to suck in all of the photons you can. You cannot compress noise.

Last night and the night before, in the middle of watching the games, the signal JUST DISAPEARED. Recall that with HD you either are watching TV or you are just watching black, so it doesn't go all snowy or something. OK, you might be thinking, its my antenna, but recall I'm 3 miles from the transmitter in a straight uninterrupted line, and this has never happened before on any station except NBC and just with the Olympic Games. When I lost signal I checked the other HD stations and they were fine. All of the transmitters are in the same place.

For the most part I find that the TV shows that are broadcast in HD look great in that format. (However, it *does* tend to "age" the actors as now you can actually SEE all of the crows feet. But I am no spring chicken myself so I can't be too critical...)

This TV does a great job turning "ordinary" 4:3 legacy signals into a very viewable experience, so watching "analog" TV is quite a step up from what I was used to. There is some kind of processing that goes on because when you tune in an analog signal it takes a second and suddenly becomes much sharper and defect free.

Remember if you buy this that it will only be as good as the source material, so understand that the real limit is the Cable or satellite signal (most of which are *not* HD - ever) or NBC's bungling attempt at the Winter Games.

This is a great set! As with the other reviews, the TV is only as good as the signal that is feeding it. When I first bought the unit, I had to wait a few days before the cable company could come out and install the required equipment to properly feed the TV. Once the cable was hooked up and was all digital, the picture was amazing. The HD programs are incredably bright on this unit. The cable installer even commented that the picture on this unit was one of the best he had seen.

After talking to a sales associate and looking online, I decided to go with the LCD TV instead of a plasma or projection type. The LCD unit seems very "user friendly" in terms of no burn in risk and no hum as 6500 feet. (Colorado Springs) I have confidence that even if the kids leave the set on with a DVD playing, the LCD panel will be alright. Overall, I feel that this TV performes just as well or better than a plasma without the "dangers" that come with the plasma sets.

I agree with the other review in that I don't find any difference with Mode 1 or Mode 2. Also with the digital cable box, I just disabled (or turned off, I really don't know just that I set it not to come on when the TV comes on) the integrated TV Guide.

Great set if you can afford it, it is well worth the money!! Should be ahead of the industry for a while.

I am terribly disappointed. I feel as though I've been lied to. Everywhere in their literature, Sharp touts their ability to display 1080p on this device. Unfortunately, the device doesn't accept a 1080p signal as input. It can accept a 720p signal and up convert it to be displayed as 1080p but that adds no quality, it just resamples the image at a higher resolution, often looking worse than the original source image. I've owned the TV for more than 30 days and just recently tried to display a 1080p TV but I'm still going to try to return the TV.

Net-net:
Poor service from Amazon. Great service from PlamaBuy. This TV may be a lemon. Avoid like the plague. Read the details below and other reviews that hint that this model or product-line may have inherent design problems!!!

I ordered this TV from Amazon in late 2005 with a promise for delivery before 12/25. Got an e-mail just before Christmas saying product would ship in early Feb. the next year. That sounded fine to me for a Valentine gift. Got an e-mail in early Feb. saying ship late Feb. Heard no more in Feb and called Amazon (India). Was told Amazon was no longer selling this TV and would a $15 gift certificate suffice, or would I like to talk to the customer care supervisor. When I asked if they could recommend an alternative TV and why had they not contacted me proactively about this, got no answer.

Bought the TV from PlasmaBuy instead and was delivered within 10 days. Great service from PlasmaBuy.

TV installed and worked fine for the first month, then had video errors appearing on the screen. After three months, there was audio, but the screen automatically turned on one morning without any prompting or intervention from any human, displayed random pixel colors and then went black (sound still worked). Went and used the manual to debug and even a factory reset did nothing to fix the problem. Called for warranty fix and 6+ weeks later had 5 circuit boards replaced including the primary circuit board, power board and video boards. While the TV is working now, it is not behaving the same way it did out of the box (channel changing is slower) and Sharp does not seem to care. When a service rep. called to ask about how the warranty service was, I indicated I was unhappy and asked for a completely new TV due to the number of failures. They put me back into the warranty queue for a fix. I'm not willing to wait another 6+ months to have this TV fixed when it really needs replacing. A Sharp sales person called me last week to remind me that the warranty would run out early next year and did I want to pay for an extension. I indicated I wanted a replacement TV due to my warranty problems and they prompty apologized and then hung up without taking any action.

Overall, while the TV is somewhat working, it appears to be a lemon and is not working the way it did before warranty work and I assume it will break soon after warranty expiration. I think I will not be buying Sharp again with the problems and poor service from Sharp and Amazon.

I bought a sharp lcd tv from j& r in new york last Jan, after a year and half, when powering on the tv, sometimes works, sometimes not. after unplug in, wait for a while and plug back, worked for a couple months. Send it to service center to checkup, was told that the lcd control board needs to be replaced. when request to get back the replaced lcd control board, was told that sharp does not give back the replaced board, it has to be shipped back, otherwise, you have to pay additional fee to get back the replaced board.. it's rather strange to hear such a lousy policy from any vendor..

But, if you do want to get a sharp, better get a long long warranty, it would help down the road.