Sharp Aquos LC42D64U 42-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV

Truth be told, I've been looking for a flatpanel HD TV for over a year. I guess I was biding my time and hoping the prices would drop drastically. Well, they have dropped - but not drastically. But all the while, my top choices were narrowed down to 2 or three sets, this being one of them. For me, price was a big consideration, as well has having 1080p. Quality was a close third, though. So once I found this set brand new for an unusually low price, I jumped on it and I'm very happy I did.

I think Sharp created this 42" size class of TV to stand out from the more common 40" sizes. But this TV is more than just a screen size - the picture quality (after some tweaking) is really excellent. This is especially apparent when viewing outdoor landscapes (or golf) in HD. There are far too many picture/color/hue settings to get into here, but I don't think this TV fails for lack of picture settings. While the quality is good out of the box, a little tweaking will make it excellent. You can find a few internet sites out there that give you some good picture settings to use. Action and movement is pretty good - the picture blurs a little on fast camera pans, but so does every other LCD I've seen. At 8 feet away, the slight blur is a non-issue. You should know that the 4ms response times this TV advertises can only be had when turning on the "fast motion" option in the settings. But I haven't even felt the need to turn it on.

The built-in sound is good, though if you're coming from a cabinet TV that has built-in high quality stereo speakers, I can see why you'd be a little disappointed. There is a surround sound simulator option that works pretty well to improve the sound. Bass & treble can also be adjusted. To me, the built-in sound is actually better than my previous 27" RCA tube TV with stereo speakers.

When you first turn on the TV, an on-screen wizard will walk you through setting up your channels. Which gets me to my only issue with this TV: I'm running the TV using an over-the-air antenna. My only beef with the TV is that once it automatically finds the available channels during the setup, it locks them in; you can choose to skip them, but should there be any other channels that the TV didn't find that you want to add to the channel list, the TV will not let you do it. Bottom line: the TV will not let you "add" a channel to the channel list that it didn't find automatically. This could be a problem with users of directional antennas. I think Sharp could fix this with a firmware update, but to date, they haven't.

In sum, this TV has one of the best pictures I've seen, the sound is actually good, and I'm really pleased with it overall. It's a keeper!

After spending quite some time doing research, I settled on my first choice all along. This was the only 42" TV that would fit into my existing entertainment center built for a conventional TV. All the 40" models fit, but I really wanted the extra couple inches. Thanks to Sharp's thin bezel design, the TV just barely fit in. The picture is flawless - bright, crisp colors, good blacks. The sound is just average, disappointing in a TV that costs $1400 or so. The 10-yr old tube TV that it replaced (a Sony) had much better sound. But other than that, it's a great TV. Not cheap, but for me it was worth the expense.

Bought the tv about a week ago. the picture is great. the set up easy. Well worth the money. and the headache to receive it.

Well, I just bought this LCD about two weeks ago. It is simply fantastic! We went to the store to do a side by side for this TV and other 42 inchers. This came out on top. True, there are newer models and other brands that were slightly better and have a higher price to boot. We're talking $500 to $1,000 more. If you want bigger than 42" then we're talking about $100 dollars extra per inch. 42" is just fine for our mid sized living room. Any bigger and it would have been over whelming (never thought I would say that).

As far as this model: It has automatic color adjustments, so that you don't have to play with the color settings forever. Also good response time. The anti glare is awesome. Other LCDs and plasmas reflect like crazy. This one even has automatic brightness adjustment as it senses the amount of light in the room. In most cases all you need is an HD receiver and a couple of HDMI cables and you're set to go.

My new Sharp Aquos is an amazing piece of engineering at an affordable price. It's a great value for anybody looking to buy a new LCD television. I know a thing or two about quality (I also have a Pioneer Kuro Plasma TV considered the best of the best), and this 64 series Aquos can hold its own against the best, but at a considerable savings. The blacks are amazing, the viewing angles are much better than most LCDs, and it looks like a piece of art when not on. I know a few guys who service LCDs, and Sharp has a history of giving their owners years of worry free enjoyment. Sony and Samsung have nothing on Sharp. I would recommend this TV to anybody, and I already have many times over. For the value, its a great buy. Plug a BLU RAY player into it, and be prepared to lift your jaw off the floor. Thanks Sharp for producing a really great TV experience.