Customer Reviews

Sharp AQUOS LC32BD60U 32-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with Built-In Blu-ray Player

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

 

 

Received this 1080p LCD TV two days ago...this is an initial hands-on review. This is the first line of LCD TVs to contain a built-in Blu-ray DVD player. I needed this because of space limitations and for convenience. This TV extracts the highest resolution from Blu-ray DVDs for an exceptional picture. Conventional DVDs also produce an excellent picture and are upconverted from 480p. So far, I'm pleased. This TV will accept virtually all current video signals up to 1080p + PC input, making it as future proof as any current LCD TV. But there are some caveats.

1. TV Setup: TV is well packaged and protected. The Owners Manual is detailed and understandable. You must attach the base stand to the TV unless you intend to wall hang it. The black lacquer stand attaches easily using phillips screws and a screwdriver provided. All plastic protective coverings stayed on the TV and stand until final placement because black lacquer surfaces and LCD screens attract fingerprints and scratches. The base doesn't swivel or tilt. It is hefty and supports the TV very well.

2. Inputs abound: Seven inputs can handle most sources. They include three HDMI HDCP inputs, an Analog PC input, and various component/S-video/composite combos. Additionally, a USB input (called a Service Terminal) is provided for future firmware updates. I have an HD TiVo with HD Digital Cable service connected via HDMI. The TV and TiVo synched perfectly and the TV automatically labeled this input as TiVo...cool feature. Picture controls are adjustable for each input and maintain their settings.

3. Blu-ray Player (Profile 1.1, upgradeable): The DVD player forms a slight bulge on the rear right of the TV and is not obvious. It has a USB port for memory expansion and an ethernet port for future BD-Live capability. When a DVD is inserted into the loading slot, the TV switches to DVD input, reads the type disc and begins playing. Very easy to use! I tested two Blu-ray DVDs and two conventional DVDs without a hitch. Blu-ray DVDs took just under two minutes to load their data and play. Conventional DVDs took less than a minute. Commercial or homemade music CDs also work, however homemade MP-3 music disks will not play. The DVD player initially makes slight noises as the disk is loading. Once play starts it is silent. If there is a fan, it is very quiet. DVD functionality seems very well integrated into the electronics, remote control, and overall operation of this TV.

4. Limitations of the Blu-ray player: First, audio output to A/V receivers is bitstream via optical output in Dolby Digital 5.1 or 2-channel PCM. Analog 2-channel rca outputs are also provided. None of the next generation audio formats found on Blu-ray DVDs, i.e., Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD Master Audio, can be output. Second, if the player fails I must return the entire TV for service. Third, this is a profile 1.1 player. The owners manual indicates it will be upgradeable to profile 2.0 at a future date. If you can live with these limitations (which I can), then convenience, space savings, and ease of use make this a valuable addition.

5. Performance: Overall excellent picture with Standard and High Definition sources, after some adjustment. Sound is about average for this size TV. Bass and Treble, along with a Surround mode are adjustable. Blu-ray DVDs display exceptional video quality. HD Cable programs are pristine. Normal DVDs look very good. Sound is boosted slightly when playing DVDs and I perceived a very slight improvement in overall dynamics. Out of the box, after some adjustments, this TV exhibits a very slight red push...not a deal breaker. This means reds were somewhat over emphasized in all picture modes. Luckily, the Color Management System allows very detailed adjustment of each of six colors in Hue, Saturation, and Value (brightness). This is in addition to the normal contrast, tint, brightness, and color controls. Additionally, backlight is adjustable (from off to full on) as are video noise reduction controls. I'm sure with the help of my Avia test DVD and some experimenting, I'll be able to tweak the picture to my liking.

6. Summary: I'm very satisfied at this point. Factoring the price of a separate Blu-ray player into the price of a quality 1080p 32inch LCD TV makes this combo a reasonable alternative to separate components in my view. Limitations aside, the convenience of having a well integrated DVD player attached to a TV makes sense for many folks.

Looking for a combo tv/dvd player I came across this TV at the 11th hour. With a built in blu-ray that could play dvd as well, it was much better than what I was looking at initially. I wanted a tv for the bedroom but didn't want to have to buy and wire components, so this was a nice clean option since its all built in one.

After reading the reviews already on this page, I felt pretty confident this tv would be good for what I needed, and so far I have not been let down. Everything works well and is as described. My only gripes are that the blu-rays take a long time to load, but this is the case with my living room tv and stand alone blu-ray player too, so its just the nature of the beast. I gave 3 stars only because the frame around the tv looks a little cheap and has the super glossy plastic-y look, as well as all the little proprietary cheesy symbols printed on it on the front panel (dts, blu-ray, hd tv, etc). Typically that stuff would be on a sticker you could peel off, but here is permanently part of the finish. Also the picture is not quite as good looking as my Sony in the living room, so my expectations were a little higher, but for what it is, its great!

The biggest draw for me, apart from the convenience of having my media player and tv in one, is Amazon's service and prices. Once again, I was very happy with Amazon's fast shipping (they beat their estimated delivery time by a week!), and the white glove service (Ceva) is top notch. They bring the tv to your house in a small van (no bouncing around in big UPS or Fed Ex trucks), unbox the tv, set it up, test your remote, you can test out a movie, the full nine yards. Only then, once you've decided your cool with everything, do you sign off on the form and the guys take off. Try getting that kind of service anywhere else, its impossible.

To make the deal even sweeter, the shipping was free and the purchase was tax free, saving a couple hundred bucks when it's all said and done. Highly recommended, and be sure you buy from the Amazon store, to get all these perks.

Viewed at CES in January. Stunning picture in 1080P mode using built-in Blu-ray DVD player. Putting in a DVD automatically turns on TV and selects correct input, TV aspect ratio, and any user picture adjustments made to the DVD source input. In other HD modes the picture was very good. Did not test with Standard Definition source. Advantages of a built-in DVD player are obvious from a clutter perspective but so are the disadvantages should the DVD player stop working and require servicing. I will likely purchase when TV hits retail market.

As of 4 March 2009, TV is not yet in retail buying chain though some online sellers are taking pre-orders. Sharp's projected MSRP for this TV is $1099.00. Amazon's current price is nearly twice MSRP.

I don't normally do a full review until I have a product in hand but I was impressed with this first TV to have a built-in Blu-ray player and think potential buyers should be aware of Amazon's pricing disparity.

Have just had this set for a couple of days. Thus far it seems great with the exception of a few missing features/drawbacks I will note below...

1. Weak tuner - Whereas many HDTV sets these days have a tuner that is strong enough to receive at least a couple local public television stations without the use of an antenna, I found I was unable to get any broadcast without one. Even with an antenna, I am able to pick up little (likely due to the fact that there are concrete block walls in the room where the TV is currently located. Still, this annoyed me some.

2. No ability to change aspect ratios. Would have liked the option to view DVD/Blu-ray media in a number of different aspect ratios, but this feature is not selectable (except from the menu encoded on some DVD's themselves).

3. No timer! This would have been a small, yet convenient feature to include. As I'm a college student with a loft-style bed and the TV is mounted at the foot of the bed, this would have been a great feature for me. I'd like the ability to use the TV as an alarm in the morning (to have it already tuned to my local news or weather station), or alternatively, to fall asleep while it's on and have it set to shut off. (There is, actually an energy-saving feature that will allow this, but I haven't yet experimented with it, so... it may still be possible). Maybe this is a feature that could be added in a future update of the TV's operating software?


4. No ability to change the region coding of the DVD drive. (But let's get real... Are they really gonna publish this info? Of course not! Hopefully there is some way and someone will post it one day on videohelp.com). Sure would be sweet to watch PAL and other region-coded DVD's on this rig.

A few positive notes:

1. Excellent picture quality. I haven't yet bought any CGI Blu-ray movies (which would undoubtedly test the limits of what this TV is capable of in terms of both contrast and resolution), but I have viewed other Blu-ray discs and feel the picture is excellent. Blacks are very dark (although some contrast/brightness tweaking could still be done and I'm still playing around to optimize this).

2. As reported before, TV powers on and disc loads when a Blu-ray disc is inserted into the drive. This really is a nice feature.

3. Drive appears to operate smoothly.

4. Lightweight! I was surprised at how little this thing weighs! I mounted it easily to my wall with an articulating arm-style mount. The mount is rated far beyond what the television actually weighs, so I feel certain that it's anchored in securely. (In case anyone's interested, I went with the Peerless PP740 Paramount).


That's it for now...
More to come as I spend more time with this thing.

I love this TV so far. The picture is incredible. I use the TV in my bedroom to watch movies and television shows at night so I appreciate the dark blacks that Sharp is so good at. Some people complain about disk load time for the blu-ray player, but I see no substantial issues with its load time.

The construction seems very solid. The base is made of a solid metal so it doesn't seem easily breakable like the other TV I have with the base made out of plastic. The TV swivels too...pretty cool feature.

The built-in blu-ray was big for my wife for aesthetic reasons. Since it just sits atop the dresser, it would have been difficult to put a DVD player anywhere else, so this TV does the job well for that. No complaints here. I was a little worried about how "blue" that streak was at the bottom of the TV. It isn't bad at all...hardly noticeable. All you can see is a small blue shimmer. The pictures on this website make it look like its painted blue...looks much sleeker in real life.

There are plenty of inputs for anything you want to hook up to this bad-boy. There are also a good amount of options for customization. I love one feature of your "favorite channels." It has 4 buttons, but also has 4 toggles for each of those buttons, so you can have a total of 16 favs. It's also easy to toggle between picture brightness and picture aspect with just a click of the button.

I definitely recommend.

EDIT: I was wrong...the blu ray player takes foreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeever to load! It doesn't take as long for regular DVDs but BluRays take about 5 minutes! There NEEDS to be an update for this.

I Could not find my tv here or at the Sharp website. It may have been made for the military PX only. I have the 42 inch version of this tv. (LC-42BD80U). Well, I'm just a consumer who has looked at and read reviews on Plasma/LCD TVs for the last 5-6 years before I purchased my first one last year. (Samsung 46 inch 1080p) I don't know alot of spec lingo or jargon. All I know is that this TV is great to own and the price is good. I may have gotten it for a little less do to not having to pay tax at the PX and was given an additional discount for using a PX credit card for the fist time and no intrest for 6 months. I set the TV up and started watching TV within 30-40 minutes. I like the features, pictures and look. The only problem I had until I called Sharp was that my remote did not work when a dvd was in. The movie played fine, but I could not get it to stop, pause, fast foward of anything. 10 minutes on the phone and that problem was hsitory. I read the other reviews before mind and feel that sometimes "what you don't know you won't miss". I feel this will apply to the average buyer. The possitives over rides any negatives. We can find something negative in everthing we buy. You'll have to look hard here.

Already had a service call.Sharp sent someone out fast and changed out my Blue Ray Player. Works well now and the sound and picture are crystal clear and vivid. But playing at least the BBC's disk "Planet Earth" the player is real slow to manuver between screens. I don't know the reason. Maybe a slower processor in the Tv. Also had to upgrade the firmware on the player. Still I hope the Tv is worth it. The price was good. So far since the installation of the Blue Ray Player everything appears Great.

The picture quality is amazing. And I particularly like the "side-stretch" feature-- it makes ordinary TV shows and movies look like HD without any great distortion. I don't think any other brand offers this feature. The only downside is the built in Blu-ray DVD. It's convenient, but . . . takes a very long time to load, doesn't remember where you were if you stop/eject and come back later, and when you stop, the TV doesn't automatically go back to the previous mode you were in, like back to cable tv. But the picture is amazing. The blacks are truly black, and the colors are vibrant. I love that picture!

Some BD disc doesn't play and some others need about 5 minutes to work properly

I have not had it long, but I will say that once you adjust the picture/calibrate this lcd combo, you will see that it really does a good job. There are better displays...but you will pay more for them. Very good tv for the price. The blu-ray player is built-in and processes data better than a standalone that I tried which has the HVQ chip. If you can get the price down, then take it.