Sharp LC-52D85U

The Sharp LC-52D85U offers good images but fewer features than some competing TVs.

Design is not the Sharp's LC-52D85U ($2300, as of November 4, 2008) strong point. The on-screen menus, the remote, and even the manual could have used a once-over to make them more friendly. But this model does well on the most important criterion, image quality.
Test Center evaluations of performance, it angry with the LG 52LG70 for third abode all-embracing in this admeasurement category. Our board tended to accord it Good or Very Good ratings on a lot of measures, and one juror accurately accepted the set's accuracy in assuming details. Even so, our board detected some shortcomings: One acclaimed arresting artifacting, and addition complained that in a 480p DVD of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King arena (chapter 12), colors looked done out. I noticed pixelation and begin abounding scenes badly bright. And admitting this set has a 120-Hz brace rate, we saw no affirmation that the faster brace helped bland out motion in our NASCAR clip.
The Sharp delivers adequate sound, but there was no absolute abyss to its bogus beleaguer sound, and no action to an agency blast. Loud sounds suffered from slight harshness.
Unfortunately, architecture deficiencies accomplish Sharp's limited and its airheaded difficult to use. The limited is brindle with tiny, difficult-to-press buttons. Admitting it has a backlight, this affection doesn't accommodate abundant advice in the dark. Press the Ablaze button (which glows absolutely nicely), and alone the continued Volume and Channel buttons, additional four others, ablaze up. Since the labels aren't illuminated, it's cryptic which button is which.
Other interface issues abound. Click the Ascribe button, and you get a account of all accessible inputs, whether you accept any accouterments affiliated to them or not; worse, the inputs are blue-blooded ‘Input 1', ‘Input 2', etc., after any adumbration of which is an AV ascribe and which is an HDMI (at atomic you can rename the inputs). The chiral has a busy, airedale layout, and the absence of an basis makes award bare advice disproportionately difficult.
Furthermore, the Sharp LC-52D85U doesn't abutment picture-in-picture or any multimedia capabilities via USB, SD Card, or ethernet.
At $2300, this archetypal provides the best account for its amount a part of the 50- and 52-inch sets. It's not the easiest television to use, and it lacks some features, but maybe those appearance aren't account the added $200 you'd accept to pay for the Samsung PN50A760 (which has them). On the added hand, buyers on a account may be absorbed abroad by the LG Electronics 50PG30, a 50-inch plasma-screen HDTV that costs about $600 beneath than the Sharp.