Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent TV
Comment: Love it! The TV guide feature is simply outstanding and when I connect HDMI the clarity is outstanding. Recommend an aquos to anyone.
Customer Rating:
Summary: One disappointment -cablecard feature
Comment: We live in an area serviced by Cox communications. A Cox representative came to install the cablecard this afternoon. To everyone's surprise, we learned from Sharp's customer service representative that this TV does not support the recording into the VCR/DVD recorder if a cablecard is used in lieu of a cable set top box. The recorder just won't pick up any signal via various connection configurations. So we had to make a decision there on whether to use the cablecard at the cost of losing the recording capability or to keep an extra cable set top box and return the cablecard.
Customer Rating:
Summary: This is a great set
Comment: We've been quite happy with this set. People who come in to watch sports in High-Definition comment that it's like looking through a window at a stadium luxury seat.
My wife is planning to construct bookcases on each side of our fireplace in the family room with the set on one of the shelves. So we decided on an LCD because it would be lighter and more easy to manage. For that reason I wanted to avoid other bulky pieces of equipment. So we passed up a cable set box in favor of a cable card. The technician whom Comcast sent in to do the installation (It's a requirement that one of their personnel do this) had never done a cable card installation before. He made many calls to the office but never did accomplish his task. He left promising a supervisor would be out the next day. I had read in some reviews from other people the set needed a signal splitter to pick up both analog and digital signals. I went to Radio Shack and bought one. This would have worked except the splitter was defective. The supervisor who came out the next day installed one of theirs and the picture has been perfect.
My main complaint about the set is the on-screen TV Guide. The instructions seem confusing and we haven't been able to add stations very easily. Out of the box, we haven't been able to page through all of the stations which has been possible on other on-screen guides I've seen. About all we use it for is to identify a movie or program once we have entered the station and are watching.
We have had occasional problems with a message on screen, upon start-up. The message reads "Unable to pick up digital signal." I don't know if this is a problem with the set or with Comcast's signal. I haven't gotten around to contacting Comcast as yet. It is relatively easy to work around the problem by entering one of the favorite channels after which the message disappears and one can enter the station one might be looking for.
Apart from these difficulties I can't find too much about which to complain.
We ordered from Crutchfield which wasn't the lowest quote but we were very impressed with their service. We got the impression that they had real people staffing their store and phones who could take care of us which they did very well.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great TV
Comment: Well i have to say after grabbing the TV for 3,200 including 3year extend warranty and shipped...i'm very happy with this purchase...i also have the a 26" sharp flat panel also..Great TVs...but one thing that i did, by using the "Monster cable m1000 HDMI cable" i was able to get GREAT clear picture on regular TV and when i swtich to HDTV like discovery channel...WOW is all i can say...the Monster cable makes the difference...i used the regular HDMI that came with my HD Tuner/Tivo all in one...and the colors and images look great.... But the monster cable gave me a more vivid color and picture....
Customer Rating:
Summary: Sharp AQUOS LC-37D7U 37" LCD TV
Comment: Strengths: In-built HD (ATSC) tuner, Multiple inputs, CableCard slot, Easy menu navigation, slick looks
Weaknesses: No PIP (single tuner), TV Guide setup is complicated, Black levels don't look impressive, No 1080i support
Summary: I had been looking for a good LCD tv for some time. I wanted a set that won't be outdated in 6 months, plus I did not want to pay a huge premium for a top of the line product. Well, LC-37D7U seemed to fit my bill. It offers a performance LCD tv at a fairly reasonable price (since I purchased it from Costco).
I bought the tv about 2 weeks ago at around 2k plus taxes. For a tv loaded with features, the setup was very easy. I used the EZ setup initially. I was up and running (watching a movie in less than 15minutes. The channel setup for cable and over the air signal took some time since the tv goes through hundreds of channel. The default audio and video configuration is very close to what you may end up with. Although I have tweaked it somewhat over the past few days. The menu navigation is pretty intuitive.
LC-37D7U has a native resolution of 1366 x 768, therefore it does not support native 1080i or 1080p resoltuion. One would expect a 37" tv to do so. However the picture quality with 720p incoming res looks stunning. It will be a while before 1080p signal becomes common. On that note, the set has a built-in ATSC tuner. You can plug in a HD media directly to the tv. However, LC-37D7U does not support PIP. The tv does support a freeze frame feature, though. It would have been nice if tey could incorporate PIP support for devices that do not require a tuner, like VCR, DVD, etc.
The viewing modes available in LC-37D7U cover pretty much every kind of incoming signal (aspect ratio). Also, the tv remembers the viewing mode for each input which is very convenient switching from one input to another. The OPC (optical picture control) can be improved according to me. This is a feature where the tv tries to optimize brightness according to the room conditions. I find it a little too dark. This is something that I would expect Sharp to improve in later releases.
The quick shoot mode that Sharp introduced to improve fast action scenes did not live up to the expectation. One can see obvious trailing/blurring in such scenes, expecially the dark ones. I guess under 16ms response time is not good enough for this size tv. But then most LCD tv suffer from this ghosting issue.
I have heard complaints about viewing angle compromise with LCD sets. However, I did not observe any color or contrast shift within +- 90 degrees. If you are watching a tv at wider angles then you should have other concerns.
I have tried 3 different LCD tvs before this. Every time I felt that the regular broadcast looked more grainy than the conventional CRT. LC-37D7U does not suffer from that problem much. One can see the deterioration but it's not significant.
A wide variety of inputs is a nice feature. I would have preferred more S-video inputs. I realized it because both my VCR and DVD do not have component output. Now that I got a couple of component cables, and another DVD player, it doesn't bother me anymore.
I have not yet installed CableCard so can't really comment on the ease of installation and its use.
Overall, I believe that I have the best tv in LCD category that I can buy today for under 3k. I would recommend Sharp Aquos LC-37D5U to those of you in the market for a LCD tv. Certainly, the prices are going to fall and better tvs will be coming out. However, it's a trade off. I pulled the trigger coz I think this was a winner and I am satified.
|
|
