Sharp AQUOS LC32LE700UN 32-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LED HDTV
Sharp AQUOS LC32LE700UN 32-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LED HDTV
With the introduction of the LC32LE700UN, Sharp combines its legendary AQUOS LCD panel technology with a newly developed, proprietary Full Array LED backlight system to create picture quality that is second to none. The LC32LE700UN illustrates Sharp’s LCD technology leadership while also demonstrating its LED engineering advantages. Sharp’s Ultra Brilliant LED system illuminates the TV to extremely high brightness and contrast levels and enables significant environmental benefits such as longer life expectancy, no heavy metals and lower power consumption. At the same time, the new XGen LCD Panel utilizes an ingeniously devised pixel design that permits more light to pass through even while minimizing light leakage, with the result being the deepest black levels that AQUOS has ever achieved. Overall, the LC32LE700UN shows that with Sharp, it’s not just LED… it’s AQUOS LED.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Buy It
This is a wonderful TV. The picture is outstanding and the Home Theater Store in Houston not only came up with an outstanding price but excellent service. Try to buy from this store. They are the best.
Yes, the tuner is a little slow but 99% of us are going to use this set with HDMI sources like a HD cable or Satellite box - right? No flaws in the display but you have to open the little door on the remote and find the A/V mode that suits your environment. This set has a huge number of “knobs to turn” as far as setting up the picture so be careful and find the mode and settings that you need. Once you get it set - it will blow you away.
Yes, the sound isn’t what you got out of the 250# “console” TV that you just replaced. It has small speakers because it’s a flat panel TV. They are all that way. So stop complaining and go buy yourself a little 5.1 channel sound system that has an optical input. Hook it to the optical output of this set and the Cable or Sat box (see below) and it will be the best show you have ever heard or seen. Better yet, go buy yourself one that has a DVD upconvert or Blue Ray DVD player in it. The LG LHT854 on Amazon is a good example (for less than $200). Buy your optical and HDMI cables here on Amazon too and save a lot of $$. All the hype you read about certain cables being better is wrong. They don’t need to be gold or start with “M”. Speaker cables don’t need to be big, fat and hard to work with. Unless you are running 2000 watts or more, 18 or 16 gauge wire is just fine. It’s all digital data so there is no way the optical or HDMA cable can effect the quality of the sound or video. Be sure to connect your optical sound cable from your cable or Sat box directly to your sound system so you don’t pick up a delay from the TV processing it. IF your sound system has only one optical input, buy an optical splitter/combiner on Amazon for a couple of dollars and combine the optical sources from the TV and cable or Sat box. This all works.
Sharp has taken the most appropriate road on LED backlighting in my view,simply replace the florescent system with proven technology that was developed for the laptop industry by leaders like Apple. It’s very bright and even.
Since writing the above review, I have become even more sold on this product. Sharp has a fairly small market share in this field so they try hard to support their users. They offer a program called Aquos Advantage. It includes 3 mo.of warranty extension and a newsletter with info on using their products. It also includes a REAL help line you can call to get help if you don’t understand something or can’t make a feature work. If you are new to HDTV this may be of value to you. They also have a Facebook page and are very responsive through that site. The bigger manufactures may have these contacts as well but Sharps people seem to care about each customer.
The other thing I have noticed is the quality of the graphics engine. I connected my 3 year old standard def (480P) DVD player to the set using the “component” connection and the picture is as good or better than from an HDMI-connected Up-convert player. This indicates that the graphics engine in this set is outstanding.
When you get yours, open the little door on the bottom of the remote control and check out the different preset video modes. You will find them very helpful as you try different sources or types of material.
3 Stars Great value if you can ignore its flaws.
Considering the technologies packed into this tv, its one of the better value among its class, if you can live with some of its flaws.
Positives: Very, very good picture quality after calibration. Blu-rays look especially stunning. Deep black, and very good black details.
Neutral: Slow tuner, changing analog and digital channels takes at least a couple of seconds. Average input lag. Using Guitar Hero 3 lag calibration tool, I was able to get 48 milisec in Game mode, and between 90 - 130 milisec in other modes.
Negative: Flashlighting. My tv came with 2 large spots, the size of my palm each. Reducing the backlight helps somewhat, but they’re clearly visible during dark scenes such as the cave scenes of Iron Man blu-ray.
Some recent Sharp panels had banding issues. This Genx panel supposedly corrected this problem. However, I’m disappointed to find out that it is still present at least on my tv.
I have an inch wide, faint verticle band on the left side of the screen. I didn’t detect this initially until watching the oil field burning scene in Baraka. Subsequently I noticed it came up during watching the US open, and Master and Commander. I can conclusively confirm that the banding is there with my tv when displaying a solid green jpeg. Again this banding is quite faint and very hard to detect, but once I did it’s very hard for me to ignore.
4 Stars Great Picture. Terrible Sound.
I was in desperate need of a 1080p 32″ HDTV that would fit into the existing entertainment cabinet in my living room, which is exactly 31″ wide. You’d be amazed at how difficult it is to find a 32″ LCD that meets that requirement. Most are around 31.5″, which is very close but just wouldn’t fit.
Long story short: The set has gorgeous picture quality. No complaints at all about that. Unfortunately, the speakers are extremely tinny and just plain awful. The limited audio controls in the setup menu allow you to adjust treble and bass. I wound up pulling treble almost all the way to the bottom to temper the scratchy highs, and then nudging bass up a bit. But don’t turn the bass up too high, or the speakers will distort during loud noises. The best I can get it still sounds far worse than the 20 year-old standard-def set that this is replacing. This TV really requires the use of a separate audio system. In my case, that means I’m going to have to find a soundbar that will also fit my cabinet. I hadn’t planned on that.
The television is fairly easy to set up. My only disappointment there is that the set only offers a 4:3 pillarbox mode on standard-def input signals. HD input signals are locked to 16:9. Because the upconverting DVD/Blu-ray player I plan to use with this TV doesn’t offer a pillarbox mode either, I’m going to have to train my wife to set the player for 480p output whenever she wants to watch her beloved Gilmore Girls DVDs, and then set it back to 1080p afterwards. Or else she’ll have to watch them stretched, which neither of us finds acceptable. That’s going to be a big nuisance (with a long learning curve, undoubtedly). Why don’t TV manufacturers enable full aspect ratio control on both SD and HD signals?
The set’s a little expensive. But, again, gorgeous picture. I’m happy with the purchase overall, despite these caveats.
4 Stars Good Picture But Dark
We had a service rep from Sharp come out to look at the tv because the picture was so dark. He changed the display settings but otherwise said there was nothing that he could do. So I was curious what the electronic big box store had there displays set on. Basically the same thing: BACKLIGHT +14, CONTRAST +30, BRIGHTNESS 0, TINT 0, SHARPNESS +10. The salesperson at the big box store said that they have to reset all their display TVs higher than the factory settings because the pictures are dark. Huh(?) So I don’t know. We like the sharpness of the picture for most TV that we watch, but some night seens on this TV are hard to make out because they are too dark. Turning up the brightness just washes out the day seens.
5 Stars No flashlighting, No banding. GREAT VALUE.
It’s been about a month now owning this TV and I am generally very happy with my purchase. In almost all aspects its just a wonderful TV and I think it’s certainly a no brainer in the current LED market. Here’s what I’ve found out about my new Sharp TV:
Pros:
It’s got the blacks you want. Plain and simple. Definitely impressive stuff compared to my other two LCD’s in the house.
Nothing dead, nothing stuck, no flashlighting, and no banding. Another reviewer mentioned these problems but from what I have experienced and what I have heard from others this is a near non existent problem.
Deep customization for adjusting hue, saturation, tint etc etc allowing for really fine tuning. Personally this has been more of a con but its only because I’m too cheap to pay for calibration.
Great, vibrant colors in general with a picture that has “Pop”.
Cons:
The included remote really isn’t that great. I don’t enjoy the buttons themselves nor the layout. Of the Phillips, Sanyo, and Toshiba’s I have used recently I would say this isn’t the worst but not as nearly as good as the Toshiba’s. Whatever, not much of a con but it’s true. You can always use a universal.
As good as the colors are…your gonna need some calibrating to get this one right. I am still trying to get what I want out of this guy but I’m positive it’ll work out in the long run. Mainly it’s an issue with flesh tones.
The speakers are honestly pretty poor. Even compared to my Phillips and Sanyo LCD’s these speakers just have a bit of a tinny sound. Not a huge deal but this is where I have knock half a star off on my overall review.
No matter what, this is a winning product. Highly recommended…especially in the 32″ market. GREAT VALUE. ~4.5 STARS / 5
Filed under: 1080p HDTV Reviews