Sharp LC-52X20E - 52" Widescreen 1080P Full HD LCD TV - With Freeview Best Buy

A proper review was needed - 20 Jan 2008

7 out of 7 found this review helpful.

Like you, I had been looking around for the right TV. Firstly you will be thinking which is it to be LCD or plasma? Plasma is 20th century whilst LCD is 21st century! Also, the main problems that were present between the two formats was screen brightness, power consumption, screen burn-in, pixelation, fan noise and screen size. These problems have now been overcome and broadly speaking LCDs have now taken the lead in the plasma v LCD war. They have brighter larger screens now at a reasonable cost. Yes you will find a large panel LCD such as the Sharp Aquos LC-52X20E more expensive than an equivalent plasma but you dont have the problems with burn-in, power consumption is 30% lower, fast moving scenes dont pixelate, and the TV is silent in operation (plasmas run hotter than LCD and usually need a cooling fan). My main worry when it came to picking a TV this size is that not many people can afford the initial cost and so there are not that many good reviews of the TV. Sure there are a few professional reviews out there but sometimes an independent review is helpful. So what did I find?

Firstly, it is a big box and it will need two of you to get it into the house safely. One strong 6+ft male should manage it alone but dont plan to get it up a flight of stairs alone. If you are picking it up yourself, I managed to fit it quite easily into a Peugeot 307 with the seats taken out and the backrests folded down. In fact I could have fit two of the boxes in! You have to enjoy the unboxing ceremony with someone. Amazing. This TV is awesome in its looks once you unpack the screen cover. Glossy piano black with a thin screen surround bezel. The TV is understated in looks, and very professional looking. My room size is 16.5 x 14 ft and like you I wondered if it would be too big for the room, but was pleased to find that the lack of plastic and predominantly screen made it feel not too overpowering for the size of room. Perhaps in a smaller room it would be too big but I shall leave that to you. The front of the TV under the screen is very minimalistic with the roght amount of light LED indicators. They are small enough to see and wont distract during viewing. All the buttons are round the side of the TV along with the ports which take up the side and the back. This is a very thin TV given its bulk. Also in the box you will find the TV stand which is a piece of cake to put on (follow the instructions about placing TV on a soft surface), along with a remote control and instruction manuals. Dont throw anything away as there is a screen wiper which in my mind is very small, easily missed, and more suited to a 26" TV. Once attached to its stand and put upright the look brought a smile to my face! Turn it on and it takes you through the setup which can be reset from the onscreen menu at any time thereafter. I had read many reviews on the net about this TV not being that good with SD signals compared to HD. Hey this is a Full HD TV so what do you expect. I was expecting a really poor picture. How wrong was I. The picture even with SD signals (Sky/Freeview) is excellent. If your room is too small and your sitting too close to the TV then you will notice a more disappointing picture. If you are at the correct distance of say 11-13 ft away then you will not be disappointed. I can see no reason to upgrade to Sky HD at present as the picture quality is excellent and can be easily tweaked using the various options. THis is a very easy TV to set up and took me about 20 mins initially to go through each option to see what it did. After that I have given the TV a little tweak here and there over the next 5 days or so to give me a very good picture now. SD is fine assuming you have a good aerial if not Sky SD is also fine. there has been alot of mention about LCDs not having proper black levels (ie look more grey or blue). This TV has excellent black levels and you can see the correct shadowing and it looks black. The dynamic contrasting helps this and you can change the contrasting if you wish away from dynamic mode. The colour reproduction is very good also but you will need to tweak this over a number of days until you get the effect you prefer. i watched also some fast moving movies and a frame of snooker to see if there was any signifacnt pixelation on fast moving scenes. This TV has a 4ms response time per pixel and nope I did not see any pixelation.

So, why have I given this TV 4 and not 5 stars? Well I would have given it 5 but to my mind for each gripe you have you should knock off 1/2 a star and if you get lower than 4 then you probably dont have the right item. My first gripe is that the EPG (electronic program guide -7 day) is a bit sluggish to scroll down. In fact it is very slow. They layout of the EPG is brillian and very clear. On a 52" screen it is very easy to read. But I have some experience in EPGs in that I bought a Humax PVR 9200T from Amazon and that is an excellent EPG. Although the Sharp EPG is slow it is functional and as I am using sky it has not been too much of a nuiscance. If all you have is Freeview SD then I think you may be annoyed after a while but there is a work around (see below). As a tip change the settings to show 3hrs of EPG and maybe the layout to vertical.

The other loss of 1/2 a star is the sound quality. 2 x15 watt speakers which are forward facing. You should get a bit more pump for your buck. Even on the highest setting the sound is not loud enough occasionally. I am assuming that this TV will be in a big room so you need big sound. The manaufacturers of TVs should think about this more carefully. But there is a workaround. I also previously had bought a set of IPOD docking Jamos from Amazon which have a line in port at the back and a serious subwoofer with 2 satellite speakers (aka surround sound 2.1) . Plugged these in to the headphone jack of the TV and switched on. Ooooohhhh mmmmmmyyyy God. Awesome. Never mind about Dolby 5.1 (which the TV supports), with the Jamo subwoofer in the centre under the TV and the two satellite speakers on either side of the screen the sound is awesome. Stick on a music channel and have a party. My guess is that the Sharp probably assumed that this TV will be in a large room and would need extra speakers so dumbed down their own speakers. When I get the chance I am going to use the TVs proper audio jacks plugged inot the Jamos for better sound.

So , in summary, the TV was not larger than I thought, has a good SD picture (but dont sit too close), has great sound with external speakers, and looks beautiful. Get yourself a Humax PVR 9200T and Jamo speakers from Amazon (gotta give them a bit of a plug) and you got yourself a lovely bit of AV kit with excellent recording, EPG and sound system. Just make sure you have a detached house to give the TV a good run.

I hope this review has helped you make a more informed decision on your TV purchaes. The outlay does seem high but I bought a sony 32" CRT TV about 12 years ago for £1300. Excellent picture and still going strong. So if you look at it in these terms this TV should have cost over £2200 in todays money. buy and enjoy is my message to you as I dont think you will be disappointed. Now all I need is cheap HD signal and hey I will spend my sunday afternoons in relaxing and watching TV.