Summary: I've used C-Net reviews for many things over the years and have found them very helpful, and televisions are about as far outside my expertise as you can get. The reviewer sounds like he is very well versed in all the fine points detailed and he is obviously not happy with the results he got. However, they are completely opposite of my experience with the set. I bought the 40" for our bedroom and have been so impressed I just bought the 52" for our living room. This television picture is phenomenal. It actually has a "wow factor" where when it first arrived, I had to watch several shows twice because we were so blown away by the picture quality we forgot to watch the show or movie.
So, let me start by saying I am not an aficionado in either audio or visual devices. So, if you want to go to the AVForums and have bragging rights with all the connoisseurs, then maybe you better listen to the reviewer. However, if you are an average television user that just wants to enjoy watching television and movies with your friends and families, then this TV set will not disappoint you. After doing much shopping, I had a couple of constraints that drove me to these choices. The first was I wanted to step up to an LED quality set and I already knew my budget would not allow me to buy the premium sets on the market. Secondly, and maybe even more importantly, I wasn't going to design my living space around my television. The television had to fit within my living space. Consequently, I had size restrictions on how physically large the set could be. I defy anyone to find more viewable screen space that can fit within given installation area. In my case, they are entertainment centers. You will be hard pressed to fit a 52" TV in a space 48" wide, but this set does. The very thin bezel around the set seems almost impossibly small to hold all the controls it does. The reviewer states that it looks generic and unimpressive. Well, I can't find anything generic about it, but I can say if you want to watch TV and movies, you probably don't want to be staring at the bezel and this one is as unobtrusive as you can get.
As for the quality of the picture, it provides a look that is almost three dimensional, and this is not a 3D set, but you get some sort of video up-scaling effect that even takes old movies from the 1930's through the 1970's and make them look like they are in 3D. It also reproduces old movies in black and white with incredible clarity. While you may or may not like old movies, the effect on a grey scale image is tantalizing making previously flat pictures come to life as vibrant images with detail I imagine was unanticipated before invention of the air brush. The sound from the TV is excellent for TV speakers. If you are someone who wants Home Theater audio and are used to surround sound and 5.1/7.1 Dolby and 5-10 speakers, etc., then no, self-contained speakers are always going to sound like a portable radio by comparison. However, when you compare audio components with all the equipment contained in one package, you will find the sound quality significantly better than average. The optional sound bar does make a big difference and is worth the purchase if you like teeth rattling noises and that surround feel, but it not necessary for normal use and like even the best sound systems, where you sit in relation to the speakers makes a difference, so even if you wanted to spend a lot on a home theater sound system, it has a sweet spot for listening and then all other spots suffer from distortion. In short, these speakers are very good for normal use.
The remote is a good remote, but it is rather small and you must take care when hitting buttons, they don not readily fall under the fingers. However, it has nice features like programmable buttons for various adjustments to take you right where you want to go and favorite APPSs buttons so you aren't troubled with searching through layers and layers of menus. The APPs portion of the review is deprecated a bit because we are in that era when a change is taking place. This is a television and is not meant to be a desktop computer or tablet computer. If you want those things, buy them, and you'll get greater performance. However, we are moving towards that day when your TV will be your complete browser package at home. I would have to say that it is a huge oversight for them not to have included YouTube or Instant Amazon to the list. These are not boutique apps or some kind of fad. These are primary instruments of the genre and should have been included and are missed. Since it only requires a software upgrade, I will hope that the system adds them in one of the software updates.
The WiFi works fine, hard-wired works better. However, there was no problem connecting even with WEP, WPA or WPA2 security. This isn't a web browser, so if that's what you wanted, this isn't your set. However, if you want to connect a PC via HDMI as a monitor for your PC, it works great.
All-in-all, if you are looking for a great television with a wow factor beyond LCD or CRT displays, this set will knock your socks off. If you are moving up from a Plasma set or moving from another LED set, the difference will be less noticeable. If you are looking for the finest and best video details as discussed by geeks on the AVForums, then this set may well be as the reviewer sees it. However, this review was more critical than any of seen, even by other geeks.
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Sharp Aquos Quattron LC-60LE830U
