Customer Reviews

Sharp LC32SV29U 32-Inch 720p LCD HDTV - Black

5 star:		(57)
4 star:		(35)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

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I originally bought the $199 Haier 32-inch Haier L32D1120 32-Inch 720p LCD HDTV, Black looking for a low-priced option. That TV was actually very good, but had a critical flaw for my purpose: I need to use it with headphones to avoid waking the baby in the next room, and the Haier's speakers don't turn off when the headphones are connected. Amazon's easy returns process put me back in the market for a new set, so I pounced on this Sharp when it was $50 more.

I expected a better picture, better connectivity, and a few more features given the brand and higher price. However, I also knew that in a sub-$300 720p set, I couldn't expect to be blown away.

All in all, I'm satisfied, but teetering on the edge of returning it, because I really am pretty underwhelmed with the picture quality. I have two other TVs - a 55-inch Panasonic Viera Plasma hooked up via HDMI, and a 46-inch Samsung 1080p LCD hooked up via coaxial cable to a remote Dish box. I hooked up this Sharp via the same coax setup, so my expectations were for a good SD picture, which I know to be far below a true HD signal on a good screen. Here is the rundown:

PROS:
Price
Connectivity more than adequate - although I only need coax right now, I can foresee using this in a more complex setup in the future
Inputs are on the rear with a few on the side (Haier put them all on the bottom, which made no sense)
Intuitive menu and easy setup
Assembly onto the stand (and disassembly from it) was far easier than my samsung, whose engineers decided to bury the screws in deep caves on the rear housing
Speakers turn off when headphones are connected (and there's a separate option for disabling it permanently if you'd like, which I would recommend if you use it with an A/V receiver)
Easily wall-mountable (I recommend monoprice mounts for great value)

CONS:
underwhelming picture - I tried to optimize picture settings, but it still is nowhere near the SD quality of my Samsung, even allowing some benefit of the doubt on the size and price difference. It's not bad enough that I think I have a defective unit, but just bad enough to irk me.
TV does not swivel on the stand - head-scratching omission there by Sharp, but still no big deal
Menu - takes up 85% of the screen, right in the center. And unlike on Samsung, there is no way to move it, or make it translucent. That makes it tricky to adjust video settings while trying to see the effect of your changes

So although I know I'm comparing two high-end 1080p sets to a budget 720p, I do have a pretty close comparison with two sets receiving the same standard definition signal. I will keep it because it's not a terrible picture, but it will probably bug me for a while. If I were to do it over, I'd probably wait for another lightning deal (or the more rare Vizio deal on woot).

UPDATE:
I suffered through 20 minutes of making small adjustments, then exiting out of the menu so I could see the effect, and repeating this process. I was able to get some adjustments done while pausing the show when a face, some colorful item, and some black areas were at the edge of the screen (so I could see something meaningful while the menu blocked the rest of the screen). I now have better skin tones and a less hazy picture. Still not quite the samsung standard def picture, but it's not supposed to be at this price. I'm now totally satisfied at the price I paid. The product itself is a four-star product, but offers five-star value at $250. I now recommend it.

UPDATE:
In response to a request, here are my settings. Your results will vary based on ambient lighting, preferences, etc, but these work for me.
Backlight 67
Brightness 45
Contrast 49
Saturation 71
Hue -1
Sharpness 13
Color Temp:
R 125
G 127
B 125

I bought this TV on a 24 hour sale, fast free delivery, TV looks great, sounds great, works great. Originally hooked it up to my FIOS with the coax cable until I got my HDMI cables. The picture is very good, better than I expected, and better than many other HD TVs I checked out. When I hooked up the HDMI cable and finally figured out the last settings I was amazed by the picture and sound. I can only imagine that the few who complained about picture quality have something set very wrong. Im impressed, as long as the quality and function are long tived I will keep this TV for a long time. The picture image is very sharp, not cloudy or muddy as a few have said (unless they have bad examples).

I bought this set recently on a Lightning Deal (though it wasn't THAT deeply discounted). Upon receiving it I was as disappointed as most people reviewing it here and was on the fence about returning it. Colors were unspectacular and washed out. Brightness, even in a dark room, (and here's the key) was bland and unimpressive.

After fooling with settings for about 10 minutes I stumbled upon the "Ambient Light Sensor" option, which dynamically dims and brightens the display based upon the the brightness of your environment (see how my dark room actually messed me up?).

After disabling this "feature" I was was nearly as impressed with the contrast, brightness, and colors as my 46" Sharp Aquos, 40" Bravia, and 26" Samsung ToC. It is a VERY nice set, with excellent picture, adequate volume and a very reasonable price point. (Yes; "nearly". C'mon, my Aquos was SEVEN TIMES the price at that time.)

I am a bit of a electronics-snob, and I would not hesitate to recommend this to anyone looking for an affordable 32" who does not require LED backlighting, or integrated "apps".

P.S. Looks AMAZING paired with a PS3 through HDMI!

Side note: I understand that all of these electronics manufacturers are competing to be the most "Green", or "Environment Friendly". Everyone wants that yellow sticker on their product that claims "Only costs $0.25 cents a year to operate! *under factory settings). But shipping these things in such a diminished state is probably counter-productive since it is more impactful on the environment to have them shipped back to Amazon in large brown trucks, IMHO. ~ Daneshep

This is my first HDTV, so keep in mind I don't have any frame of reference to compare it to. I'm not sure why others are complaining about picture quality, this thing looks great to me. The TV itself looks great in my living room, and HD channels are sharp, clear, and vibrant. No complaints, but then again, I'm no HD expert either.

I really wanted to like this TV. At $250 how can you beat it? My expectations were pretty modest and even then I've decided to send it back. I'll willingly compromise on features, but I can't tolerate the below average image quality. The picture just looks soft and muddy. Especially with skin tones. Everybody ends up looking like they were shot with a high quality webcam. Even the highest quality HD looks like it's being streamed on the web. Also, fast moving graphics pixelate very easily. Custom picture settings don't help, so I'm cutting my losses. While I haven't had to send very many items back, I've been impressed with Amazon's return policy and how easy they make it for you.

The good:
- The TV case looks good and would accent any room nicely
- The remote is nice and simple, with all the buttons easy to find (I like it MUCH better than my Samsung LCD TV's remote)
- Decent feature set for this price
- Lot's of connection and input options

The bad:
- Poor Image quality (picture looks soft and muddy, especially in the skin tones)

Verdict:
- Sending it back

ADDITIONAL COMMENT (added 11/20/2011):
Another reviewer assumes I'm a novice and basing my review on non-HD programming. To be sure, I am basing my review on NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX primetime HD programming. I have a 55" Sony HDTV that looks amazing as well as a Samsung 26" HDTV that also looks pretty darn good so I'm not a newbie to the world of HD.

Again, my expectations were modest, but even then this TV under-performs in the picture department. This TV can't handle subtle gradients, so the image often looks blotchy. Of the programming I watched, the grass on football fields, skin tones and even the sky in some shots, often got soft and muddy because the TV couldn't handle subtle gradations of color. If the skin tones looked decent then all would be forgiven, but in fact, that's where the issues are most noticeable. They just look unnatural and unflattering.

I was a little concerned purchasing this TV when I saw some of the reviews. When I got the TV the picture was dull, dim and questionable. I felt secure that I could send it back if I didn't like it (at no charge). I went into the picture settings and found the ambient light setting and turned it to "OFF". The picture magically came to life after that. I have been very satisfied with the TV and picture since then. Very fast moving images do blur a bit but this is not a $600 TV. I gave it five stars not because it is the best most perfect TV but because it is an awesome TV for the price and it is 32in! Don't be scared away. Dip into the settings and find what works best for you!

the TV isn't amazing, but it is very good. the color is fine. it could use a little fine tuning but nothing drastic, i use the dynamic setting for most things. I did notice that with a tv show "all in the family" which is a very old show, that the colors were very bad besides that it looks great. I always adjust my color based on news broadcast because they use a very clear hd lens instead any sort of art style filming

Sound is a little tin cannie but not bad at all. Look,for the price of 220 with free shipping this was a must buy if you need a good TV. If your building a high end entertainment center you wouldn't even be reading my review

Very good tv! Nice display and easy to set up.
Those who think the display quality is bad probably are not watching HDTV channels. If you watch HDTV programs, the video quality is pretty good.

I bought this for 249.99 and I am pleased. It is not a higher end tv like my others, but it is still worth it. The 32" is ideal for a bedroom and I like the picture/sound.

Well worth the $250. My husband and I bought it for our room and it is the perfect size. It came in 3 days and looks great! It is a fine tv, especially for under $300 for a flat screen!