Sharp LC46LE700E Review

Due to heavy competition from Samsung and Sony, Sharp has reconfigured its marketing strategy to focus its efforts in East Asia. Since 2006, performance of Sharp LCDs catered towards the Western market has been above-average at best. The ASV technology has also remained largely unchanged for past three years.

Recently, Sharp opened a new factory in Sakai, Japan with its new partner Sony. Sharp’s latest 10th Generation LCD technology seems highly promising and should be on par with the current VA technologies in terms of raw performance. However, going by our test impressions of the LC46LE700E, it would seem that Sharp hasn’t altered its business model. Hopefully one day we will see the Asian equivalents in Western shelves.

Note: The specific model we reviewed was the Sharp LC46LE700E, which may be sold as LC46LE700 or LC-46LE700E by high-street stores like John Lewis, Comet and Currys, or online retailers such as Amazon or Dixons. While we did not test the 40-inch Sharp LC40LE700E, there is no reason to believe that there will be any drastic difference in picture performance (both do not feature localised LED dimming).

Design

Sharp has chosen to stick with a piano black design, and a signature blue gradient which vaguely covers the bottom frame (accompanied by an illuminated new brilliant LED logo directly beneath the sliver Sharp brand). Overall, I am quite pleased with the new design.

Build quality appears to be acceptable, but the process of installing the stand could be better (in terms of stability and ease).

For those who are green-minded, I am happy to inform that all Sharp LE700 HDTV series feature a hard power-switch located near the rear-left of the chassis, which allows complete shutdown of the panel during prolonged absences.

Connections

The Sharp LC46LE700E features the usual array of connections in keeping with today’s standards.

On-Screen Display (OSD)

Unlike its competitors, Sharp decided to remain with its existing GUI (Graphical User Interface) design. The simple yet elegant horizontal-navigation system is highly effective and simple to use. They have also improved responsiveness and added greyscale and colour management system (CMS) to the mix.

However, the Sharp LC46LE700E LED-based LCD TV does not feature independent image configuration, so it’s not possible to configure the inputs individually as they are unified.

Infrared Remote Control

The supplied remote hasn’t changed either, which is good news for those who prefer it.

Calibration

Greyscale and Gamma accuracy are vital for obtaining accurate representation of a given image. Therefore, the display must be calibrated to a set of standards used by the industry. In the case of HDTVs, the industry standard for colour is Rec. 709.

Greyscale calibration ensures all greys between black and white are free from colour dominance, which is achieved by assigning the RGB values to 6500K (CCT) colour temperature. Unfortunately, it’s not possible for a display to yield 100% accuracy. So the goal is to keep errors within acceptable levels.

Greyscale

Note: The results below were obtained by placing our light measuring device at the centre of the screen. It is done to ensure error values are kept to a safe minimum.

Pre-calibration CCT in [Movie] mode with [Colour Temperature] “Low”

Pre-calibration RGB tracking with [Colour Temperature] “Low”

Pre-calibration greyscale data with [Colour Temperature] “Low”

With the help of well-implemented white balance controls, I was able to obtain excellent results within minutes, which was a real treat considering that the whole process can be quite time-consuming.

Post-calibration CCT in [Movie] mode with [Colour Temperature] “Low”

Post-calibration RGB tracking with [Colour Temperature] “Low”

Post-calibration greyscale data with [Colour Temperature] “Low”

Gamma

Post-calibration gamma in [Movie] mode

Colour

The Colour Management System (CMS) however requires a major overhaul. Adjusting the hue and saturation has a direct affect on the luminance, and vice versa. Therefore, we decided to focus mainly on the luminance value as its effects are more easily detected by the human eye.

Post-calibration CIE chart with reference to HD Rec.709 specifications

Post-calibration colour data

Benchmark Test Results

Power Consumption

Default (maximum backlight)	~115 watts
Calibrated [Movie] mode	~60 watts
Standby	~0.1 watt

Uniformity

The Sharp LC46LE700E produced acceptable black and above average white uniformity. During the pure white test (100IRE), I was able to detect the classic red and green tinting. Backlight bleeding was present (but limited) and the panel uniformity was typical for a consumer grade display.

Unlike the previous ASV panels, the new 10th generation is free from physical banding. However, there were a few visible defects and imperfections across the panel, which does slightly hinder the calibration accuracy.

In truth, Sharp’s implementation of static LED offers no improvement in regards to uniformity when compared to standard CCFL technology.

Contrast Ratio

I am pleased to confirm that Sharp has caught up with Samsung and AUO in terms of black level. The X-Gen panel embedded within LC46LE700E in [Movie] mode with white level (contrast) set to -10 (139 cd/m²) yielded excellent dynamic range and ANSI of ~2000:1, which is typical for a VA-based panel. Enabling [Active Contrast] can further improve black levels, but at the cost of stable APL (Average Picture Level) and black level retention, and therefore is not advised.

Motion Performance

• Pixel Response: With my usual tests based on PixPerAn, I was able to detect the usual overdrive errors present in VA-based panels. However, the level of ’smearing’ is well within acceptable limits and it’s an improvement compared to the previous ASV generation.
• MCFI (100Hz): The quality of Sharp’s MCFI has always been rather poor in comparison to other manufacturers, and continues to remain true on the LC46LE700E. In truth, there was virtually no notable improvement with 100Hz enabled, except for a reduction in perceivable trailing caused by backlight flicker.

Audio Performance

The audio performance on the Sharp LC46LE700E LED-backlit LCD television was just about acceptable for everyday viewing. Overall sound was rather closed and diminutive, and can be compared to the previous Sharp models and cheap portable radios.

In my opinion, Sharp could have taken advantage of the additional chassis depth, and implemented a set of high-fidelity front-firing speakers (including a miniature sub-woofer), or deployed the same system found in the Japanese version (LC-46LX1).

Picture Performance

For evaluating real-world image quality of the Sharp LC46LE700E, we used a series of images known to expose even the most hidden artefact and errors.

Note: The following three tests were conducted under [Movie] mode.

The Sharp LC46LE700E HDTV yielded below-average results out of the box when set to its default [Movie Mode]. Skin tones were somewhat pale and restricted. The variant shades of warm colours that enveloped Charlize Theron’s face, neck and chest were noticeably inaccurate (tinted towards magenta).

The tint and greyscale controls allowed us to rectify the errors with a fairly high degree of precision. We immediately noticed an overall improvement in colour accuracy, which also increased the level of perceivable depth. However, due to the poor implementation of CMS, we were unable to maximise the image accuracy. Having stated that, the final picture portrayed by the Sharp LC46LE700E is more than acceptable.

We used the image above to detect visual inaccuracies in greyscale, gamma and black crush; and the performance of the Sharp LC46LE700E was above average with [Colour Temperature] set to “Low” in [Movie Mode]. There was no visible evidence of serious black crush and gamma errors. However, there were minor signs of colour dominance (notably red and blue). Having stated that, the majority of viewers will not be able to spot the errors without a reference display.

After greyscale calibration, the rendered image was on par with one of our reference model (the Dell 2209WA).

The sample above highlighted the biggest discrepancy between pre-calibration and post-calibration. Prior to calibration, the image appeared to have a rather off-shade of red which was closer to magenta. In truth, one did not need a reference display to notice the obvious error.

After configuring the television’s CMS, greyscale and tint, we noticed an immediate improvement: the calibrated image radiated a sense of depth and improved contrast.

Overscanning: Overscan can be configured via the aspect ratio button found on the remote. However, due to the delta pixel addressing (as opposed to strip), fine details appeared rough and undefined at close range. Having said that, the effect is less noticeable compared to the previous generation. This is due to the new sub-pixel architecture found in the new ASV panel. It’s also worth noting that each sub-pixel has four luminance points and arranged negatively (BGR as opposed to RGB).

10th Gen. Axially Symmetric Vertical-alignment (ASV) (Credit: adtomov)

Blacker than Black (HDMI): Unfortunately, the Sharp LC46LE700E does not support blacker than black during the use of video resolutions.

Backlight Flicker and Trailing: The Sharp LC46LE700E LED-backlit LCD television suffers from the common backlight flicker and flicker induced trailing, but thankfully only trailing is perceivable.

Viewing Angle: The 10th Generation Axially Symmetric Vertical-alignment (ASV) panel embedded within the Sharp LC46LE700E yielded satisfactory viewing angles, but due to its VA mode, colour, gamma and contrast shifts are unavoidable.

High Definition

Hi-def materials on the Sharp LC46LE700E were good but not exceptional (which is understandable). After all, the Sharp LC46LE700E is by no means a performance model or advertised as such; and the primary purpose of the LED is to reduce power consumption rather than to improve the blacks or colour accuracy. It’s a pity that the implementation of CMS turned out to be flawed, otherwise we would have been able to obtain more accurate colours.

Putting its faults aside, Sharp has improved their new range in number of areas, not least its 1080p/24 handling. Out of all the HDTVs I have tested thus far, the Sharp LC46LE700E clearly has the edge in 24p processing: the motion was stupendously fluid and on par with analogue-film-based projectors. 100Hz MCFI was disabled throughout the testing process so that wasn’t the explanation, but if I had to guess, I would say some sort of video-smoothing technology was deployed to induce the appearance of free-flowing motion without destroying the “film look”. I for one would love to see such processing adopted by other manufacturers.

Black level and colour fidelity have also improved considerably. There was no perceivable banding or posterization thanks to true 10-bit processing. Greyscale banding was also absent.

Providing the colours can be accurately calibrated, the Sharp LC46LE700E will be an excellent candidate for watching HD movies.

Standard Definition

The Sharp LC46LE700E LED-based LCD TV produced satisfactory results with negligible noise via RGB SCART. The common bleeding of colours and visual artefacts were present but controlled. However, the image did appear to lack colour and contrast in dark scenes, but thankfully, most of the SD processing can be outsourced to external devices.

Scaling: The scaling algorithm embedded within Sharp LC46LE700E is rather average. Scaling 480p to 1080p resulted in ringing and diminished definition. Thankfully, scaling 576i via SCART produced slightly better results, but inferior compared to other brands.

Film and Video Mode De-Interlacing: The Sharp LC46LE700E performed well in minimising aliasing during de-interlacing of high-motion contents, but it failed to process 2:2 pulldown correctly.

Digital Noise Reduction: Surprisingly, enabling noise reduction did not cause any adverse motion-related artefacts (e.g. smearing). The quality of motion, saturation and definition remained true to the content.

Console Gaming

The Sharp LC46LE700E HDTV definitely offers an edge in gaming over its competitors. It has the ability to switch between 8-bit and 10-bit processing at the press of a button, which resulted in significant speed-up in processing. However, as a result, image quality did deteriorate but not to the extent I was expecting. In truth, the level of perceivable posterization and banding were negligible at best. However, due to the delta pixel addressing, it somewhat amplified the level of perceivable aliasing. So it’s best to adopt a slightly farther viewing distance.

Also, due to the low buffer-rate, enabling 100/120Hz did not result in noticeable lag. It also aids in smoother frame transition of 60p games such as the Call of Duty series.

Conclusion

Pros

• Free of Colour/Greyscale Banding and Posterization (HDMI)
• 24p Processing
• Good HD Performance
• Good Build Quality and Design
• Good Dynamic Range and ANSI
• Defeatable Backlight Dimming
• 1:1 Pixel Mapping and Aspect Ratio Correction
• Good Primary Chromaticity (Post-Calibration)
• Negligible Input Lag (Game Mode)
• Excellent Digital Noise Reduction
• Negligible Transformer Noise
• Ultra-low Power Consumption
• Accurate Greyscale and Gamma

Cons

• Overdrive Needs Improvement
• Average SD Performance
• Average Viewing Angles
• Poor Sound Quality
• Backlight Flicker and Trailing
• Cheap Remote
• Average Panel Uniformity
• Absent 2:2 Pulldown Detection
• Poor 480i/p Scaling via HDMI
• Average/Poor Performance Out of the Box

Summary

Sharp has produced a clear winner without a doubt. Compared to previous models, the level of advancements/ improvements is quite significant. With competitive pricing, Sharp shouldn’t have any problem selling the Sharp LC46LE700E.

Calibrated Settings

The following configurations were unique to the test model, and may not be suitable for all:

Sony KDL40Z5500 Review

When we received Sony’s press release announcing the launch of the new 200Hz Bravia Z5500 LCD televisions a few months ago, we naturally assumed that its predecessor (the Z4500 range) would be slowly phased out. We couldn’t be more wrong: Sony has decided to continue selling the Z4500 series as a cheaper alternative alongside the Bravia Z5500 range. Having already tested the 40-inch version of the Z4500 around this time last year, we hope we can offer you a definitive and unbiased account of any visible improvements (and/ or cutbacks) in today’s review of the Sony KDL40Z5500 HDTV.

Note: The specific model we tested was the Sony KDL40Z5500U (denoting the 3-pin plug United Kingdom version) which may be listed as Sony KDL-40Z5500 or Sony KDL40Z5500 by retailers such as John Lewis, Comet, Currys, Amazon or Dixons. These terms may be used interchangeably throughout this review to refer to the same model.

Design

The Sony KDL40Z5500 sees a slight departure in aesthetic stance compared to previous high-end Sony LCD TVs. The classy (if somewhat extravagant) “floating glass” / “suspended-in-air” design which adorned the Bravia X and Z series over the last few years is nowhere to be seen. Instead, minimalism seems to be the order of the day here: the mildly reflective LCD screen is framed by a deep charcoal grey bezel measuring less than 3cm thick on each side, giving the Sony KDL40Z5500 a truly compact and refined appearance.

Unfortunately this degree of compactness does come at a price: the television’s internal speakers have had to be repositioned to a down-firing alignment which would inevitably impair stereo imaging, soundstage and audio resolution. Coupled with the lack of a separate woofer (the Z4500 had one), the acoustic performance of the Sony KDL40Z5500 LCD HDTV can only be described as downright disappointing.

An illuminated Sony logo (which can be switched off) sits centrally along the bottom border of the panel. The Sony KDL40Z5500 LCD TV comes with a swivelling pedestal stand that is packaged separately inside the shipping box. The stand’s rectangular base dons a charcoal grey coating which perfectly matches the bezel.

Connections

Rear: 2 x HDMI, VGA, component, 2 x Scarts, aerial, digital & analogue audio outs

Side: 2 x HDMI, USB, CI slot, comp, LAN, headphone	Panel buttons & energy switch*

* An energy-saving switch is conveniently placed at the side of the LCD panel. Flipping this switch turns the Sony KDL40Z5500 off completely – as if you’re pulling the TV’s plug from the power socket – to further cut down on the already frugal power consumption in standby mode (<1 W).

Operation

The KDL40Z5500’s XMB-based user menu, EPG and Applicast functionalities are essentially the same as those found on the KDL40W5500, and we’ve seen the neon-blue-backlit remote control before when we tested the KDL40Z4500. Please refer to the relevant sections in our respective reviews if you need more details.

Calibration

Greyscale

Out of the box, engaging the [Cinema] / [Theatre] mode on the Sony KDL40Z5500 – with its default [Colour Temperature] setting of “Warm 2” – yielded the greyscale closest to D65 industry standard:

Pre-calibration CCT with [Cinema] mode & “Warm 2″ [Colour Temperature]

Pre-calibration RGB tracking & delta errors

The obvious issue to rectify here is the red channel predominance. After adjusting the RGB cuts and gains in the [White Balance] submenu, we obtained the following result:

CCT after greyscale calibration in [Cinema] mode

RGB tracking and delta errors (dEs) after greyscale calibration

Astute readers will notice that the calibrated greyscale on the Sony KDL40Z5500 LCD TV did not track as well as that on the KDL40W5500. Specifically, the problem we encountered was that the blue channel clipped prematurely at the top-end (above 75% stimulus) once we increased the [Contrast] value beyond 65. This suggests that a different LCD panel – perhaps one that can handle the rigour of 200Hz motion-compensated frame interpolation – was implemented on the Sony KDL40Z5500 HDTV.

Of course, we could flatten the greyscale somewhat by setting [Contrast] to 65 or below. However, in order to maintain top-end luminance (so as to avoid the overall picture looking too dark), we would also need to bump up [Backlight]. The ensuing rise in black level – not to mention the increased conspicuity of backlight unevenness/ clouding – makes this a far from satisfactory solution.

Colour

This is one area where the Sony KDL40Z5500 trumped the W5500, which is not surprising given the inclusion of WCG-CCFL backlight (as distinct from CCFL only on the W5500). Although the Sony KDL40Z5500 does not offer any form of colour management system (CMS), its colour points and decoding in “Standard” [Colour Space] pretty much clicked into place once greyscale was calibrated:

Post-calibration CIE chart with reference to HD Rec. 709

On the other hand, setting [Colour Space] to “Wide” made the colours more vivid but less accurate. Increasing [Live Colour] from “Low” to “High” only served to progressively exaggerate these colour inaccuracies:

[Colour Space] “Wide”	[Live Colour] “High”

Benchmark Test Results

Dead pixels	None
Screen uniformity	Clouding and backlight bleed reducible to negligible levels
Overscanning on HDMI	0% with [Display Area] set to “Full Pixel“
Blacker than black	Passed
Black level	Excellent (0.06 cd/m2 calibrated)
Black level retention	Stable in [Cinema] / [Theatre] mode
Primary chromaticities	Excellent in “Standard” [Colour Space]
Scaling	Above average
Video mode deinterlacing	Average; limited jaggies reduction
Film mode deinterlacing	Passed 3:2 cadence in 480i; and 2:2 in 576i
Viewing angle	90°
Motion resolution	[Motionflow] “Standard” and “High“: 1080; “Off”: 300
Digital noise reduction	A touch noisy in some off-air broadcasts
Sharpness	Defeatable edge enhancement
1080p/24 capability (PS3)	Accepts 1080p/24 video signal; no telecine judder
Input lag (rel. to Samsung F96)	20-30ms over VGA or in [Game Mode]; 50-80ms otherwise

Power Consumption

Default “Standard” [Picture Mode]	137 watts
Calibrated [Cinema]/[Theatre] mode	104 watts
Standby	13 watts with [Quick Start] engaged; <1 watt otherwise

Picture Performance

Black Level

It would be harsh not to classify the black-level performance on the Sony KDL40Z5500 as excellent, although strictly speaking the Samsung B650/ 750 range and Sony’s own W5500 series of LCD televisions remained a hair darker both in objective measurement and subjective viewing. With [Adv. Contrast Enhancer] activated, the black level on the Sony KDL40Z5500 can be lowered even further (to an awesome 0.01 cd/m²) through some dynamic dimming gimmickry, but this is not advisable for critical viewing due to black level fluctuation and the ensuing compromise in shadow detail and bright highlights.

Screen/ Backlight Uniformity

Out of the box, the KDL40Z5500 exhibited the usual amount of clouding/ mura we’ve come to associate with recent Sony large-screen LCD TVs, though this can be attenuated to unobtrusive levels via proper calibration. Regardless of whether calibration had been performed or not, the backlight unevenness on the Sony KDL40Z5500 was aggravated during off-axis viewing to go with the unavoidable viewing-angle-related washout in black level, contrast and colour typical of LCD panels. Plasma television remains the indisputable number one choice for consumers wanting a flat panel HDTV with wide viewing angles and near-perfect screen uniformity.

Motion Resolution

Using Chapter 31 of the “FPD Benchmark Software For Professional” test disc as our reference, baseline motion resolution on the Sony KDL40Z5500 HDTV without engaging [Motionflow] was measured to be 300. Setting [Motionflow] to “Standard” was enough to boost motion resolution to 1080, tying the record previously set by the Bravia Z4500 in the LCD category.

Standard Definition

Just like all the Sony Bravia LCD televisions we’ve tested to date, the Sony KDL40Z5500 did not do too well in the video-mode deinterlacing tests found within the HQV Benchmark disc. Jaggies remained clearly visible particularly in the bouncing bars test pattern, indicating a deficiency in Sony’s implementation of motion-adaptive directional filtering.

The effect is not subtle when it comes to real-life viewing: the Sony KDL40Z5500 exhibited more noticeable serration on diagonal lines (for example football pitch markings) in video-based material than comparable Samsungs. And while the TV’s internal Freeview tuner presented sufficient detail to satisfy, it also tended to accentuate digital block noise, which can be very unforgiving for low bit-rate programmes.

On a positive note, blacks were formidable, and flesh tone looked supremely realistic as a result of the KDL40Z5500’s accurate colour rendition which was free of red push. The Sony KDL40Z5500 LCD television also successfully detected and processed 3:2 cadence over 480i, and more importantly for us Europeans, 2:2 over 576i. This means that film-based content like movies and dramas shot on film will largely be rid of distracting deinterlacing artefacts such as jaggies, moire and line twitter.

[200Hz Motionflow] worked well to reduce motion blur without introducing any significant interpolation artefacts when we watched football on the Sony KDL40Z5500, although any improvement over the W5500’s 100Hz Motionflow system was subtle rather than obvious. The “Standard” setting should suffice… on [Motionflow] “High” we witnessed some frame tearing/ juddering during very fast pans, while failing to observe any further improvement in motion clarity.

High Definition

1080p high-def images did not disappoint on the Sony KDL40Z5500 HD TV, thanks to the set’s deep blacks, accurate colours, and exquisitely sharp detail afforded by 1:1 pixel mapping without overscan. 24p video signal was also handled flawlessly without any sign of telecine judder.

Engaging [Motionflow] “Standard” did introduce a whiff of video-like effect to Blu-ray movies, but to be fair Sony’s Motionflow system remains one of the cleanest and least offensive MCFI (motion-compensated frame interpolation) implementations among major brands (in our opinion bettered only by the 2009 Samsungs which offer separate dejudder and deblur adjustments).

Console Gaming

Input lag on the Sony KDL40Z5500 LCD TV was on the whole higher than that on the Z4500. On the KDL40Z5500, we measured its input lag to be 50-80ms slower than our resident Samsung F96 reference. This could be cut down to 20-30ms (vs the Samsung F96) either by engaging [Game Mode] through the [Scene Select] submenu, or by connecting with VGA [Graphics Mode].

While whether or not your gaming performance will be affected depends on your individual sensitivity and the reflexes demanded by the particular game, there’s no denying that the Sony KDL40Z5500 is not as appealing as last year’s Z4500 to lag-sensitive gamers who crave as little delay as possible between game controller and on-screen action.

Conclusion

For critical viewing, the Sony KDL40Z5500 HDTV delivers at least 2 tangible benefits over the Z4500:

• Inclusion of user-accessible white balance controls, which means that we need not break into the service menu to calibrate greyscale closer to D65; and
• Eradication of undefeatable edge enhancement on 1080 content.

However, sound quality on the Sony KDL40Z5500 has dropped a notch, and its input lag has creeped up compared to the Z4500. While these flaws do not stop the Sony KDL40Z5500 from earning a “Highly Recommended” award from us, you might want to take them into consideration when choosing between the Z5500 and Z4500.

Calibrated Settings

Here are the final settings for the Sony KDL40Z5500 review sample we tested, calibrated from a HD source using HDMI input in accordance with video industry standards in a dimly-lit environment suitable for critical viewing. While these settings resulted in video-standard-compliant images on our set, they may not do so for yours due to unavoidable differences in input source, viewing environment, firmware versions, and baseline service menu levels. However, if you do not have the resources to perform proper calibration on your Sony KDL40Z5500 HDTV, these settings should serve as a good starting point for achieving picture quality that comes close to the standard used in film studios. Still, you should at least use a basic calibration disc like the Digital Video Essentials Blu-Ray to set the black level [Brightness] correctly on your Sony KDL40Z5500.

* Backlight can be increased as necessary in a brighter viewing environment (especially during daytime) to boost shadow detail and peak brightness.

** For standard definition, use [Film Mode] “Auto 2“.

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