Customer Reviews

Sharp LC26SV490U 26-Inch 1080p LCD TV - Black

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

quick setup, used 1 hdmi cable. connected to directv and wired to internet. sound was a little tinny, but fixed that with nice audio menu. great bedroom tv.excellent picture, no issues there.i would recommend this tv.

I was in the market to replace the 15-inch Magnavox TV I'd had in my bedroom for six years (and at which I had to squint if I got more than a couple feet away from it). I knew I wanted a TV that was at least 24", but I didn't want to break my wallet on it. I researched different brands and comparison-shopped online with Amazon, Best Buy, Sears, and Target, at long last settling on this Sharp 26" LED TV. It was priced at just $229 when I bought it, so I figured it'd be hard to go wrong with a 1080p-capable, 26", name-brand set. Here's a rundown of the features that were relevant to me in buying and what I thought of them out of the box:

EASE OF USE
I am no technophile. Too many different-colored cords and inputs and outputs and buttons and tiny jacks tax my poor brain easily to the point of tears (which are inevitably followed by Office Space-esque rage and threats of throwing electronics out the window). Ergo, I wanted a set that was easy to assemble and program. The initial setup on this TV was a breeze thanks to a step-by-step process that initiates as soon as you power up the set for the first time. I also bought this TV with the intention of mostly watching DVDs and streaming videos with a Roku player, and the very clearly labeled inputs and outputs made plugging in my components a simple, rage-free process.

PICTURE
The best thing that this Sharp TV has going for it is that the picture is indeed true to the product name: Sharp. First, I hooked up my DVD player to the AV component inputs. The picture was clear, bright, and easily viewable from the other side of my bedroom (about 10' away), and the TV's simple-to-use menus made it easy for me to fool around with the contrast, brightness, and saturation settings as well as to try out the picture on preset options (for my purposes, the Movie setting looked the best). So far, so good. I then hooked up my Roku 2 XD Streaming Player 1080p with an HDMI cable. I should mention that this was my first personal experience using an HDMI hookup, which I opted for mainly because it cut down on the number of cords required to hook up the Roku. Still, I was not totally sure what to expect. After I connected the Roku and completed the initial setup, I began streaming... and it was like seeing Mecca or the great Sequoia for the first time. Just WOW. The HD on this set is absolutely brilliant. I had thought that the standard DVD quality was nice, but the HD was breathtaking.

SOUND
The reviews of the sound on this set were the one point that gave me pause before I bought it, but most lower-priced flatscreens have the "tin can audio" problem -- and again, for $229, I figured I was not going to do much better. Honestly, the sound is not great, but nor do I find it totally unlistenable. I played around with the sound settings and found that the quality was much improved by turning up the bass, switching to the Live preset, and enabling the Surround Sound setting; that gave the sound a fuller quality than the default settings. It's still not awesome, but it's not so bad that I regret my purchase. I also often watch TV with noise-reducing headphones, which definitely helps round out the sound, and I actually have some old monitor speakers that I may try out with the set as well -- they've enabled many a rockin' dance party to be had off my usually barely audible laptop, so I'm betting they could do this TV a solid, too.

OVERALL
This is a good set for the price: easy to set up, excellent picture, and sound that can be lived with if you're willing to adapt. For this technophobe's money, it was definitely worth buying!

I bought this TV for my bedroom. The size and picture are great, but the sound is awful. It sounds like it's coming from a tin can. I have played with the audio menu and brought it from a score of 1 (out of 10) to a 2, but it is still terrible. I will HAVE to purchase additional speakers. When my husband is watching it I keep thinking he's listening to the answering machine. That's what it sounds like. Like a really bad/cheap audio recording. Sports are the worst. There's just no oomph to it, no fullness, just flat tinny sound. I bought it because Sharp is as close to "Made in America" as you can get and that is important to me. The picture is great, setup was easy and the size is perfect for us. I would recommend this TV to a friend, but only with the warning that they will want to purchase additional speakers for the audio.

The first model received only displayed a bright white screen. Amazon sent out an RMA and a replacement model that works as advertised, but this is the first time I've seen a bad from the factory TV like this.

The telephone support from sharp was great except they misinformed us of the support details. They initially said someone would come out to check the unit then called back to say we'd have to bring it back in (which is why we just returned it).

Overall, the picture looks great on HDMI (the reason for the 4 star review) - just be aware that you might get a bad unit too. A completely solid state device shouldn't have made it out of factory testing with this type of error.

If you will only watch this TV from level or slightly above and from a single centered fixed chair position, ever, you will love the picture. Otherwise don't even consider the Sharp LC26SV49OU. I own multiple LCD sets and have never seen anything with this narrow of a viewing angle. Side to side is poor, but even 2 degrees below vertical and this set is unwatchable. I called Sharp and they finally told me, yes, we've had complaints. I returned it. You've been warned.

Bought this TV for my office, I needed at least 3 HDMI ports and 1080 resolution since one of the funtions I am using it for is a computer monitor. The 1080 resolution allows 1920x1080 resolution, 720 does not. The TV took about 5 minutes to remove from box and set up. Very simple menu items, which is why i only give it 4.75 stars. I would like to label each input with my own labels, such as Computer, Blu-Ray, and Cable.
Great picture and sound is adequate with a few adjustments.
I replaced a Dynex LCD TV with this one because the Dynex only had 2 HDMI inputs and the viewing angles were terrible, unless you were straight on, the picture was dark. The Sharp has great viewing angles making it a great all purpose set.
For the price this is a great LED/LCD TV.

I agree with all the positive remarks about this tv. The picture is great and the size is just right as a bedroom tv or for that matter a kitchen/dining area tv. The sound is at best BLAH!!!!!!!!! It is tinny and shallow and no adjustments make it better. What I did was I bought the Logitech usb laptop Z305 speaker and the sound is beautiful! It is full bodied, clear and plenty loud. The speaker is powered by the usb port of the tv. The only thing is that when the tv is powered on you have to power on the speaker by pressing the power button on the speaker. It's not the most desirable setup but it works and the speaker makes the tv all the more excellent.

Picture is bright and clear although the viewing angle from above and below is limited. Sound is tinny - must be using tiny speakers because increasing the base doesn't help. Good TV for the price.

The picture is great- clear, sharp (I haven't run it though my setup DVD routine, so I just reduced the factory sharpness setting), has all the inputs I need. I have it running from rabbit-ears in an area where cable is not an option. Built-in tuner works as well as the old external digital tuner box. I hooked up my external computer speakers (powered, with small subwoofer) to get decent sound. The built-in speakers are laughably bad. Tinny is an appropriate adjective for the sound. No low-range whatsoever, and not much high-end, either. If you buy the TV, please plan on buying external computer speakers. Plug into the earphone jack (standard 3.5mm plug), turn up the volume on your external speakers and you can then control volume from the TV remote. Works fine for me. Being 60Mh rather than 120, there is a slight blurriness on high-speed movement, but it is really not noticeable most of the time. I am very happy with it, given the external speaker setup. 4 stars instead of 5 because of the poor built-in speakers.

I bought this TV to go with a little surround system and the weak audio was not a concern for me. The built in sound is pretty tinny but that's not unusual for a flat panel TV, especially in this size range.
With a little tweaking the picture looks great. A lot of the differences that some may be seeing in picture quality has as much to do with the source as the TV. If you are on cable or satellite, the picture is compressed and you'll lose some of the resolution. Even the channel selection will have a lot to do with picture quality. I use Discovery channel as a reference because they have one of the best 1080 signals around. If you use this with an antenna for local TV, the picture will be even better since it's no longer compressed. My main complaint, and it's common for most manufacturers, is the bezel around the TV is glossy black and reflects any light near your viewing position. It can be distracting during dark scenes. If you're concerned with sound quality, use a set of computer style speakers or even a home theater in a box. Anything will do a better job than most TV speakers anyway.
I do wish it had more component inputs and an analog audio out. I turned off the internal speakers and set the volume around 50%, then fed the headphone output into my surround system. That way when I'm not using the cable box, I can still get audio into the surround system. As for the component input, they are basically outdated now and with 3 HDMI inputs, this TV should be more than sufficient for a while.