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Sharp LC42XD1E Review
- Sharp LC42XD1E LCD TV Introduction (current page)
- LC42XD1E Full Technical Specifications
- Sharp LC42XD1E Setup & Design
- Operating & Controlling The LC42XD1E
- Sharp LC42XD1E Calibration & Picture Quality
- Technology Behind Sharp LC42XD1E LCD
- How's The Sound Quality On LC42XD1E?
- Final Conclusion Of Sharp LC42XD1E Review
The hottest display panels on the HDTV market at the moment must be the 1080p LCD TVs that feature the full HD native resolution of 1920 x 1080, and are capable of both receiving and displaying 1080p video signals. On the 40" to 42" front, 3 familiar household names dominate the scene: Sharp with LC42XD1E, Samsung with LE40F71BX, and Sony with their KDL40X2000 (premium range) and KDL40W2000.
Launched in October 2006 to much fanfare, Sharp's XD1E is the latest addition to their very respectable Aquos range of LCD TVs in the United Kingdom. Consumers have 4 choices when it comes to screen size: the 37" & 42" versions with 3-wave backlight; and the 46" & 52" variants with 4-wave backlight (red, green, blue and crimson red). This article is an indepth review of the ever-so-popular 42" version, the LC42XD1E, which not only boasts the largest screen, but also happens to be the cheapest when compared to Samsung's and Sony's offerings.
Excellent review btw.
As I wait for delivery the only apprehension I have is the noise factors you mentioned in your review.
My question is did you find this noise to be bearable for average everyday use?
BTW, very nice reviews - complete, detailed and practical.
First of all, thanks for your kind words.
Black level measurements should be performed using a spectrophotometre in a room devoid of any light except that being emitted by the display unit under scrutiny. This presents a problem for our purpose because all our HDTVs are tested in a typical home environment with ambient lighting (important for reducing eye strain and preventing excessive dark adaptation).
Furthermore, absolute black level measurements can be misleading – there's little point in achieving 0.03 foot Lamberts if brightness (black level) is lowered to such an extent that shadow detail is completely obliterated, or peak whites (contrast) compromised. Perceived black level ought to be assessed in the context of the whole setup: preservation of shadow detail; maximised contrast ratio without introducing banding; with adequate bias and ambient lighting. All these components are radically different in a dark lab compared to the real-life setting, so in this case we rely more on side-by-side comparison rather than instrumentation in an unrealistic environment to comment on the black level.
Which brings us to the topic of contrast ratio. You'll find that this figure varies among reviews depending on the instrument, software and most importantly, the brightness (black level) and contrast (white level) on the HDTV being reviewed.
A high contrast ratio is only as appealing as the final picture quality. Again, we could crush blacks (lower brightness) and clip whites (increase contrast) to maximise contrast ratio, but the image will be unpalatable. Therefore for all intensive purpose the only contrast ratio that matters is the one post-calibration with a smooth gamma curve and adequate black and white headroom.
For the record, the 42XD1E's black-level is equal to that of Panasonic TH42PH9 on a side-by-side comparison, but its shadow detail is slightly inferior. The dynamic contrast ratio as measured by our in-house instruments is 816:1, the second highest among the HDTVs we've tested so far.
Please bear in mind that using our settings on your own LC42XD1E by no means guarantee an accurate picture, simply because your house has different ambient lighting, you may be using other types of input connections, there may be intra-model variations, or you're used to non-D65 images.
With that disclaimer out of the way, here are our post-calibration user menu settings when running a HTPC with DVI-HDMI connection in a dim environment:
Backlight: -4 daytime, -6 evening
Contrast: 35
Brightness: -1
Colour: -7
Tint: 9
Colour Temp: Low
Sharpness: -10
Black: Off
If you find the final picture too yellow/ red, that's because most of us have been "brainwashed" – we've been looking at 9300k bright and bluish pictures all our lives (computer monitors, most new HDTVs, etc.). But 6500k is the colour temperature at which most films are shot and broadcasted... so if you want to watch a movie the way the director intended it to be watched, persevere with the seemingly yellow/ red tinge for at least 1 week. Your eyes and brain will get used to it eventually, after which you'll wonder how you tolerated the bright and artificial 9300k pictures beforehand.
Video games, on the other hand, are generally not developed according to the 6500k standard. In this case, rather than using the above settings, it may be more desirable to adopt a higher colour temperature, and adjust the brightness and contrast as you see fit.
I've had this TV for almost 2 weeks now and recently rurned the blacklevels and colors down and finally realized that this is the way to look at LCDTV's, as you stated above we're used to the bright and blueish colors.
Having said that, I'am a little annoid by the redpush, oversaturation or however i should call it.
Therefore, I'd like to know what "service menu" settings you guys have changed in order to reduce this? Especially in darker scenes (like 24 in HD 720p) it really bugs me altough overall PQ is exellent.
sincerely.
great reviews and they have helped me narrow down my choice of LCD TV. I'm aware that each has it's pros and cons.
Once question, and I'm sure you'll hate it, but if you had to choose between the Sharp( LC42XD1E), Samsung(LE40F71BX) or Sony(KDL40W2000U), which would it be?
@Steve: The Sony 40W2000U is being reviewed by Colin, after which we'll be able to tell you the answer. :)
but what about other settings like :
truD
OPC
DNR
etc.
OPC = off (it does not get it right for more than 50% of the time so we prefer to adjust the backlight manually).
DNR = off (couldn't detect any benefit even when examined up close).
Thanks
The 37" and other models have a 4 wave backlight system.
Yes, Sharp themselves have given out conflicting info about this... have a look at Sharp's Dutch brochure for the XD1E series I've posted at:
http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/Sharp-LC42XD1E/3-or-4-wave.php
In any case, I wouldn't get too hung up on the numbers – so far no one has conclusively proven that there's a picture quality difference between the units employing the 3-wavelength backlight and those with 4. The advice is just to buy the size that best fits your sitting distance, your viewing material and your budget.
Still keep creeping into the half finished room to look at my 42" since altering it to your spec and have to pinch myself that it's same TV.
Credit where it's due guys.
Are u going to look at amps/receivers etc?
Thanks for your kind words... you're making us blush. :)
We're focusing our reviews on HDTVs at the moment, but won't rule out testing other home theatre kits in the future.
As this is a UK site, I expect no one will be able to answer this, yet... I don't suppose anyone has seen this TV running with a Playstaion 3 yet have they? and if anyone has, what were your impressions?
Thanks
@Carl: The LC-42XD1E doesn't have HDMI 1.3... but Colin's going to write an article on why it's not really needed at this point in time.
@Tony: It was ONLY when directly compared side-by-side with the Philips 42PF9831 and the Panasonic TH42PH9 that we could detect very mild (and we do mean very mild) motion blur during football on the LC42XD1E. On its own, we thought that it handled fast motion fluently.
@BOSS: The highest resolution the VGA/component port can accept is 1080i. So for a PC the only way to get 1920x1080 1:1 mapping is through DVI-HDMI (with VGA the max resolution is 1366x768 or 1280x1024). You can connect the Xbox 360 outputting 1080i using the component-VGA adaptor supplied with the Sharp 42XD1E.
I'll initially be viewing mainly SD material (lots of sport) and DVDs(upscaled).
By the way I appreciate the time and effort you guys have put into the comprehensive reviews. It's not that I can't make mine own mind up, but obviously i've not had the advantage of owning all 3 sets!
Cheers
As you say these settings might not be perfect for my setup, so is there any software/test patterns that you would recommend using to calibrate further, what did you use??
Thx again....
cheers!
A very impressive review, indeed. As already posted by others within this or other threads, the manufacturing site of those Sharps might play an important role as far as the "banding" "buzzing" issues are concerned. I've noticed that 42XD1E units, which were made in Taiwan, carry higher prices that the ones you currently see have from on-line retailers. I'm talking about a difference of 600£, just too high to justify the extra 10% 15% you normally pay when you shop in stores. I am simply wondering if Sharp is adopting the sales policy of conveying the two different sources (Poland; Taiwan, I believe) for the same product line into two different market channels (on-line & electronic mass retailers as one channel; specialized shops as the one) differentiating them in terms of prices, which dictates an inevitable difference of quality. We have been seeing and are still seeing that as applied to other consumer electronic stuffs, as digital cameras & camcorders, to name only two.
Have you noticed the manufacturing plant of the unit you tested?
Have a nice day,
Graziano.
... for the same product line into two different market channels (on-line & electronic mass retailers as one channel; specialized shops as the other one)...
Graziano.
... specialized shops as the other one)...
Graziano.
One question can you tell me what differance it makes if you have 'full' or 'underscan' selected on the HDMI mode..
Thanks again.
Very impressed by your thorough test on this screen. I have been mulling over the 46 and 52 inch screens for some time now. Do you think these larger screens would have performed as well as the 42 inch?
Thanks.
@Neil: Thanks. For starters you can try DVE, but we used light measuring equipments to nail the calibration.
When used with a HTPC, the "Enhanced" mode under the HDMI options maintained the 16-235 video level rather than expanding to the 0-255 PC level therefore preserving below black information.
The "Film Mode" is meant to engage inverse telecine with deinterlacing for non-progressive film material. On our set it introduced some motion ghosting so we left it off.
@Graziano: While the scenario you described is entirely possible, our set is manufactured in Taiwan January 2007... purchased online.
@Gaz: Glad we could help. When fed 1080i/1080p signal through HDMI, the "Underscan" mode enables 1:1 mapping – the holy grail for all LCD TVs.
@Richardq: I haven't tested these larger cousins so I couldn't say for sure, but you would've thought that similar performance can be expected throughout the XD1E range.
thanks for responding. I hadn't really considered a plasma as I will (by the year end) have sky HD and be playing games/using PC, so LCD seemed the best choice. The main worry I guess is an unwatchable experience with SD on the sharp model. Look forward to your 'shootout' guide!
i have one question if you hook up an xbox 360 to the vga port can you play the games in wide screen? the reason i ask is i tried to do this on my toshiba 37" lcd and it would only display the games in 4.3
many thanks
Andy
The 37" is all like this one? Can i trust this review to buy the 37" xD1E version?
42" is to big for me...
If not what and where can i get whatever it is i need to use pc at highest resolution.
Shame sharp did not stick dvi couple of sets of component an exclusive vga onboard.
Another thing sharp specs say pc input vga(no RGB) what gives with that specific statement or rather what does the lack of RGB on vga input mean or Limit
Excellent testing strategy btw the most I have ever seen anyone test something.
thanks
Does the 37" use the same panel??, it's just that i can get the 42" for only £10 more than the 37" ?
Great review by the way :)
@Rui Nunes: I haven't tested the LC37XD1E so I couldn't say for sure, but you would've thought that similar performance can be expected throughout the XD1E range.
@dontasciime: Yes, the only way to get 1920x1080 1:1 mapping using HTPC is via a DVI-HDMI cable with the "Underscan" mode switched on.
Could you let me know where you saw the statement re: VGA (no RGB) so I can check it out?
@duncan: Sorry, I haven't tested the Sony V series.
@Sime: I'm not exactly sure if the 37XD1E uses the same panel, but if price is taken out of the equation, your decision to get the LC37XD1E or the LC42XD1E should depend on your viewing material and your sitting distance. Here's an excellent article Colin has written on this issue:
http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/Article/How-Far-Should-I-Sit.php
http://www.sharp.co.uk/invt/lc42xd1e&bklist=
click on show full specs
thanks
shame the us versions of these monsters are better equiped with inputs outputs.
Best news of all is that there is no humming/buzzing at all!!
@Alain: "Red push" is a colour decoder error... I'm not aware that motion makes it worse.
@dontasciime: 'HDMI 19P to DVI 18P +1P' is the description for mine.
I've had the lc42xd1e for a few months and had tried quite a few settings listed on other sites with mixed results. After trying your settings I'm blown away with the picture quality of this tv.
Skin tones were very strange when i 1st got my TV and i've manually adjusted them to get them looking good, but scared of adjusting them too much.
Thanks a lot guys!
Oh, and i read about banding on some screens, mine is absolutely spot-on, flat colours don't vary at all across the screen, just to put people's minds at rest (as i've read the avforums notes too!).
You say a color decoding error. could this have anything to do with my DVI > HDMI cable (poor quality maybe? altough its thick and has gold connectors it was kinda cheap for 10m ,i only need 2 m tough) should I buy a 2m cable with better quality?
or could it have anyting to do with my PC it's connected with an ATI X1800 XT videocard @1080p60hz (forced by powerstrip) .
would love to come up with a solution! thanks in advance.
1st banding to the point of 1 half of the screen looks like its a diff colour temp to the other makes watching football so annoying i switch off then when i switch off the 2nd fault kicks in extreme high pitch noises even wheering at times
the last fault only happens every so often and its another major 1 for me the set seems to drop frames really bad i have to turn it off and back on to remedy this
in my own purchase i cannot recommend this set at all i have another hd set while its only 1366 x 768 native res the samsung LE46M51BX knocks spots of this set (my own personal set that is )
regards
paul rysdale
p.s sorry for doing your work guys but i hate this set real bad why didnt i spend a few hundred more on a sony or samsung
and theres no point messing with interlace/progressive setting on the tv that seeting needs to be set on your dashboard once you do that your sharp will display out of range !!!!!!
electrical-experience.co.uk are picking my faulty set up on monday think im gonna spend a bit more cash on a bravia to avoid this crap ( i will never buy a sharp product ever again)
Thanks in advance
@paul rysdale: Glad you got it sorted.
@EC: You may be outputting 1080p using your VGA, which is not accepted by the LC37XD1E through its VGA port. Try 720p using VGA or 1080i using component and see if you get anywhere.
@Glenn Robinson: Did you have a play with the "Sharpness" settings (adjust it to -10) and see if that had an effect?
@snake: Enjoy your set.
@gaz: The RGB or YCbCr option in the HDMI menu determines where the colour space conversion takes place. As DVDs are inherently YCbCr and HDMI can carry up to 16-bit signals (even more in HDMI 1.3), you're probably better off choosing YCbCr so that your Sharp LC37XD1E receives the maximum information to deal with the conversion. But this is by no means set in stone: switch between both and if you see no difference, choose YCbCr.
601 and 709 are colour space standards for standard-definition and high-definition respectively. As a rule of the thumb you should select ITU709 when watching HD or upscaled DVDs.
I am contemplating to buy this model this week but still choosing between its equivalent with Sony KDL40W2000 and Samsung LE40F71BX. Then I saw this under the TV Tuner Specs: Analogue PAL/SECAM. From its counterparts, NTSC is included. What does this specs means? Does it mean that it is not a multi-system set? When it comes to on-screen and dynamic contrast, does the lower the value, the better ?
Thanks for your time.
OK got it hooked up to one of my xbox 360's Via the VGA to component adapter supplied, all was going well, i played a little burnout revenge and a few minutes into the game the screen blanked, It could have been a small bug in game, i hoped, anyways it did it a couple of times and once on the main screen, never did this on my samsung 940mw @720p
Anyone know if its some setting or if there is any scenario that would do this, obviously if no one can think of something then the set must be faulty. Its only 4 days old.
thanks
Alright, the problem i have with my set is that when i'm watching a movie espessially a HD movie / serie such as rome. I get this red border ,its some kind of a trail, it is espessially noticable around the faces when the camera moves horizontaly. it's not that obvious to notice however once you've seen it it becomes quite annoying.
When watching SD content or just TV through cable i cant see this 'effect' therefore i think it could have something to do with my connection PC > TV. As stated above can this have anything to do with the hdmi > dvi cable used? or my pc settings (ati videocard X1800 or windows media player)
kind regards,
Since posting on here i have found a few users who are getting what i am getting and even after having their lc42xd1e replaced with a new unit, it is still doing it
As when i have connected my official ms vga from one of my other 360's the screen goes horrible and pinky glary and solarized coloured much like when you would choose YCbCr on non YCbCr equipment, seen rgb stuff do this sometimes as well, thanks
i can use 1280x768 and its fine as an example but not 1280,720
1280x720 does not do what the xbox 360 cable does at that res, however its still not right, the picture is left centered at that res and if i try to move the picture back to the left, it gets so far and then it does what the 360 vga cable does and goes horrible pink and dark..
all other resolutions upto vga max are fine.
can anyone test their pc vga to tv vga @1280x720 thanks
precisely! however, i've found out this function in HDMI settings: HDMI range you can select normal or enhanched. If you select normal the redness is much less visible besides shadows are more detailed. contrary, i kinde like the enhanched mode because it makes the overall look of the screen seem nicer.
i got my wallbracket from here:
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/JK-Audio-Visual-Limited
you only need the 37" bracket because of the VESA setup on the back. Ask the store on Ebay, they were very helpful and a hell of a lot cheaper than buying it in-store!
Although if i look at the bottom of the screen when running a race in ridgeracer the picture is not as clear, not sure if thats the speed in which the screen is trying to refresh or a setting i should change. - Any Ideas anyone? - the image apears distored slightly kind of like a grain affect.
I also have a another question:
I'm currently watching normal tv via SKY (yet to upgrade to Sky HD) and i'm not that impressed with the picture, seems to be worse on some channels than others, basically the images are not clean and crisp like i was expecting. - My old CRT gave a much better picture when watching normal sky tv.
Sky box is connected via a premium Scart socket.
Any ideas?
I've tried various settings, now of which seem to work.
It's a little annoying that you can only get 1080i out of an xbox but Im planning on getting a PS3 anyway. It seems Microsoft are to blame for the lack of a hdmi port as they have just released the xbox elite which does have a hdmi port!
Anyway all in all the xbox on 1080i looks great and all my dvd's look great on this TV. Standard Sky isn't so great but I know this TV is mainly for true HD so I'm upgrading to Sky HD very soon.
a) denon upscaling the DVD quality from 576 lines to 1080p before sending it to the sharp ..or
b) Choose sd dvd quality (576 lines) from the denon and let the sharp do the remaining upscaling?
not sure if you have ever tried to compare which of the two does the better upscaling if its the denon or the sharp. Would be curious to know. Let me know if this is possible.....of should have a few pics of either options would be ncie to see. Thanks a million in advance.
James.
I got this set today but when i connected up the XBOX 360 the sound appeared on EXT3 and the picture was on EXT4.
Whats going on? How can i get picture and sound????
Thanks
thanks very much
I had the opportunity to test a Sharp 37 XD1E for 2 hours in a darkened room. The sources were a HD-DVD (King -Kong) and thereafter my PS3 (HD games + BD). I sat 3-4 feet from the screen: the resolution is truly amazing when playing high def. Wow.
Now comes the problem. The picture never looked contrasted. Colors were kind of washed out. I tried the setting for the 42XD1E described somewhere above: the picture was way too dark. I had to increase the backlight level above 0 to get enough light (it was in a darkened room optimised for projector). I played with the settings for half an hour. I could not improve the picture. There was no black, but a kind of silvered dark blue that reminded me my Dell LCD monitor viewed from the side.
Is this normal? Was this screen defective? I am surprised because the Sharp XD1E are supposed to have good black and contrast. The vendor told me that my expectations were too high because I am used to watch a tube TV in the dark.
What do you guys think? Bad sample or too high expectation?
Thanks
Having said that, i have a question too , Do you guys also have this 'red-push' effect when connected to a HDMI/DVI source playinh HD material (e.g. PS3 )
Am happy with the out the box performance but wanted a profesional-esq picture (avoiding the attention grabbing picture you talk about)
I currently use my xbox360 in hi def via vga and sony dav550 dvd on progressive scan. with the settings mentioned above
Backlight: -4 daytime, -6 evening
Contrast: 35
Brightness: -1
Colour: -7
Tint: 9
Colour Temp: Low
Sharpness: -10
Black: Off
i get a good picture but on dark moments (films-Seven etc, games-Oblivion etc) blacks seem to fade into one, any suggestions as I can't afford the professional set up at the mo.
Informative review but I found all the talk of greyscales and contrast a bit daunting!
I have purchased LC42XD1E after reading your review/AV forums discussions.
You wrote – "When fed 1080i/1080p signal through HDMI, the "Underscan" mode enables 1:1 mapping – the holy grail for all LCD TVs."
Unfortunately in my case I have centered picture with 2-3" of black and underscan/full button under the flop does not improve it much (1/2" less space with "full"). I am 100% sure I output correct 1920:1080 60Hz picture (which is also reported correctly by the lcd itself). So far tried 2 cables (DVI-D and DVI-I) and 2 ATI cards (x1300 pro and x1950 pro) with latest drivers – do not think that they cause the problem as my 24" Dell works beautifully via the same cables.
Do you have any advice or should I just return tv back to Sharp?
Writting you from Istanbul, Turkey. For the last 3 months, i have been trying to purchase a Plasma or LCD. Totally, there was 3 options in my mind.
- Sharp LC42XD1E ( Full HD )lcd (46")
- Panasonic 47PV70 ( 1024 * 768 ) plasma. 50" may be considered.
- Philips 42PFL7662D ( Full HD) lcd
Price effect is a very distinctive factor while purchasing electronic products in Turkey. In general, the price is doubled compared to Europe.
Sharp - around 2700 Euro
Panasonic - 42" 1700 Euro
Philips - 2700 Euro
Last weekend, i had a chance to see the all the above with the current broadcast in Turkey. The best one was Panasonic, 2nd sharp and the philips at 3rd.
Here are my questions;
- As i know, the current standarts of the broadcast is 640*480. Is it true that the more pixel resolution we have on the panel the less picture quality we get with the current standarts ?
- For the 42" sharp the response time is 6ms. For the 46" it is 3ms. Is it worth to pay about 900 euro more ?.
- How about the purple snake that occurs with the Panasonics ?.
- Is it foolish to get a 1024 lcd panel ?.
- I'm pretty sure that there will be a remarkable difference in 1080p signals between the LCDs and the plasma i mentioned above.
So, as i guy who wants to make a one-shot deal and hopes to close this case forever, What would you do if you were me ?. : )
I need an urgent help.
Thanks
Turgay
Simon
Can somebody tell me if the Scart, Component and/or VGA ports can be used for 1080p signals?
sorry none of those can do 1080p only hdmi