Sharp LC-32D5U vs. Sony KDL-V32XBR1 Reviews w/Pictures

If you want me to post settings for you and what it looks like let me know by Tuesday b/c i will be returning the Sony TV.

Introduction
I am going to do my best to review both of these TV's for the benefit of myself and those who want "some" idea to the performance of these sets and how they compare to each other. I am by no means an expert but I have gone through several Tv's now so i have some idea what to expect. I will break down the review and post pictures and detailed comments for each section. Feel free to correct me on anything however, provide a link and facts to back it up. Take everything with a grain of salt, and realize my settings may not be exactly like yours.

Specs
Already posted for both of these TVs and readily available. The main difference is a DVI port (digital) for the Sharp and the Sony has a VGA port (analog). 16ms to 8ms (to be discussed later) and most everything else is the same.

Settings Used
Preface: I found that out of the box... i immediately shut off Vivid mode. In fact, on the Sony I went directly to Standard (which gave me an excellent picture that i liked. Yoda1 also provided me with Custom settings which i will show the difference with in pictures later. I mainly tried to adjust the sharp to what the Sony looked like in standard mode (to see if i could achieve it or not).

Sharp Settings

User TV
OPC: Off
Back -4
Contrast +25
Brightness, Color, Tint, Sharpness 0
All CMS Values Default 0
Color Temp: Middle
Black Level Expansion: On
Standard (my fav settings)
OPC: Off
Back +1
Contrast +31
Brightness +6
Color +1
Tint +1
Sharpness 0
CMS-Hue: R -1, Y -6, G -18, the rest 0
CMS-Saturation: R +20, Y -8, G -11, C +17
CMS-Value: G +27
Color Temp: High
Black Level Expansion: On


Sony Settings

Custom
Backlight 3
Picture 90
Brightness 45
Color 38
Hue G2
Color: Neutral
Sharpness 50
NR: off
Advanced ->
Black Corrector: Low
Contrast Enhancer: High
Gamme: Off
Clear White: High
Live Color: Off
Color Space: Wide
Standard
Picture Mode: Standard
Backlight 4
Picture 75
Brightness 50
Color 62
Hue 0
Color Temp: Cool
Sharpness 50
Noise Reduction: Low


Equipment Used
For HDTV I used OTA broadcasts since thats the only way I could get a consistent signal to both TVs. One used the Zenith Silver Sensor and the Sony used the outdoor antenna on the roof.

-I have my Moxi from Charter hooked up through Component cables.
-My DVD player is a Panasonic S77S hooked up through HDMI
-The same PC is hooked through a Geforce 6600GT to both TVs.
-Sony PS2 with component cables

Black Levels
Both of these sets are VERY VERY similar. I first turned down the backlight to the lowest setting. It was discernable that the Sharp has better blacks. This was done in at nightime without any picture on the screen (pitch black setting). Some light bleeds through no matter what... it's not a pure black. The best way I can describe it is that the Sharp has black blacks whereas the Sony has a very very dark blue black. Therefore, at the very basic settings, the Sharp will have a blacker levels.
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/BlackLevels/black1.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/BlackLevels/black2.jpg

Close up of the Backlight at lowest setting
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/BlackLevels/black2detail.jpg

http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/BlackLevels/black3.jpg

With medium lighting and a signal to the screen we see that even at the lowest backlight settings, the Sony has a brighter picture. That is... with the backlight all the way down the sharp brightness is affected more than the Sony as shown here:
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/BrightnessLowest/brightlow1.jpg

For Actual real life viewing conditions... After compensating the Sharp backlight to the same viewability/brightness as the Sony, the blacks are a wash. Almost impossible to see a difference.
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/BrightnessSame/brightsame1.jpg

Colors
I really subscribe to the theory that you should love what you watch, that in a sense... really is subjective because everyone has different tastes. I find several settings and adjustments to be wonderful on BOTH sets. For the purpose of this comparison, i did my best to get both TVS with the same signal the same color! This was very difficult... however i starte with WHITES being white. If what is not white there is no point in watching. Next i found that the Sharp has a lot of RED,GREEN, BLUE push so i had to adjust many many settings to get it to a similar color to the Sony. But I DID prove one thing: It IS possible to get the same/almost same colors as the Sony which says that the Sharp is able to reproduce all the colors that the Sony can.

My one caveat was that the adjustments can never be perfect. Sometimes colors will look better on the Sharp and some on the Sony to be better. For example, the hats on the baseball game had better reds on the sharp but the sony had better greens. Blues were better on the Sony and the sharp weren't as good. it would go back and forth like that if i really looked hard. In the end I was able to get the same colors so I am satisfied that both are capable of great colors.

The Skin Tone on both sets were noticeably different (this may depend on what you like). The sony shows skin tone that's smoother with less gradiation... but some color is lost in the process. The sharp is sharper but shows "blush" on the cheeks better. You could say either way what looks more natural but there was no way to adjust the two to be exactly the same.

Sharpness
Both sets looked equally sharp even at close range. There was very little Misquito noise and I would say both are great in that regard. There is one thing that I could not reproduce on my camera: The sharp had certain sections (like the baseball field part) of the picture where there would be a lot of movement. I do not know what this is called but it looks like all the pixels are alive and moving whereas the Sony's pixels were static. This only happened on ONE picture I knew of and that was when the Baseball game was showing a HIGH view of the whole stadium. When it zoomed in to the regular game it was no longer apparent on the sharp. Whether its a bad signal or not the Sony was able to get rid of it. 720p programs look better than 1080i on the Sharp.

The Sony did show more detail than the sharp in isolated instances. For example the baseball helmet shows all the scuff marks on the Sony and the Sharp only shows some.

Ghosting/Response Times
Maybe I'm not as sensitive to it but honestly i see no difference. It is said that the Sharp is 16ms black to black and the Sony is about 11.7ms black to black. Using the program called ***** the Sharp is about 15ms black to black and the Sony is tested by someone else to be 11.7ms black to black (i will comfirm this later). I also read in the other XBR thread that the 8ms setting is grey to grey but it's confusing nevertheless. I have no way to show you

Customizability
I feel the Sharp has the edge here. The sharp has 6 settings each for Hue, Saturation, and Value. This alone is a huge huge deal because so many colors are adjustable. Have some red push? no problem just turn it down. After playing around with it the Sharp definitely has the edge in color adjustments. Sony does not allow you to change the individual colors (unless there's a service menu). While most pictures look great on the Sony I would say that it lacks so depth in color. In the end it's just nice to have the color adjustments

Features/Connections
These two sets are pretty similar in regards to feature sets. Both have cable card slots, DVI or VGA connections, the regular bevy of component connections. Some important differences were:

Sony
3 comp inputs
USB 2.0 port
VGA
2 Coax Tuner Analog and digital Air were combined into one coax.
no TVGOS

Sharp
2 Components
Firewire port
DVI
3 Coax Tuner(analog, digital cable, digital Air)
TVGOS w special sensor to control other devices

Tuners
I had no way to accurately judge this. Both have a signal strength meter which is incredibly nice. Both were pulling in about the same. One was using a outdoor antenna (sony). and the other was using my Silver Sensor (sharp).

Menu
I feel the I like the Sharp better in this regard. The sharp has a top down menu thats broken down into categories. The following was analyzed:

Speed: Faster than Sony, Just felt a little delay in the Sony (which can annoy me)

Placement: The Sony places the menu over most of the screen, it does minimize when you are adjusting some settings. The sharp is small and unobtrusive cause the menus are at the top and cover very little of the picture

Intuitiveness: Both are intuitive, sony is a left to right scheme, sharp is top to bottom.

Remote Control
No lights on the Sony (bad sony!) but there are glow in the dark buttons. I wasn't able to get the Tools button to do anything. Easy to use except that it's a departure from Sony's old remotes (then again i have a 8 yr old sony) so maybe i'm just not used to it. Aesthetically the only problem i have with the Sony is that it feels cheap and boxy. For this price i expect better.

Compared to the Sony, the sharp is very svelte and smooth. Feels really nice in the hands and the lighted buttons are great. I found the Sharp slightly easier to learn than the Sony. Both remotes have a advanced section where the bottom flips open to reveal more buttons.

Gaming - PC Coming Soon

Gaming - PS2 Coming Soon

Pricing/Value
Sony is $600 more on the internet w/shipping but the best price i got at a B&M was $900 more (YMMV). However, you lose the convenience and peace of mind buying from a B&M if you get it from the internet, to me that's not worth it.

UPDATE: I want to remind everyone that Sony only honors warranty from sony authorized dealers. So please be careful buying the XBR online.

Conclusion
Based on my viewing and tests (which by no means are expert)... I feel that if money were no object I would buy a larger Sharp or keep the 32" Sony. Both are great sets and to each their own. I find that the Sony excels in blending and PQ and the Sharp excels in adjustability and connectivity options. The primary goal for ME to test these two was to determine if it was worth buying the 32" Sony. Unfortunately I really do feel it's just TOO expensive right now. And maybe the reason is b/c I think the deinterlacer/scaler is slightly better than the Sharp and it only displays at 720p.

The differences in black levels/PQ/colors/options are marginal at best. To say one is a clear winner is impossible since both sets demonstrated such great Pictures with all different sources!

Here are All the pictures i've taken: Broken down into categories of viewing/ OTA broadcast...

Side Views
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/SideViews/side1.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/SideViews/side2.jpg

Custom Sharp settings VS. Sony Custom settings (both not that great)
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/CustomvsCustom/cvsc1.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/CustomvsCustom/cvsc2.jpg

continued below...

Custom Sharp settings VS. Sony Standard settings (sony looks better)
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/CustomSharpvsStan/CShvsS1.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/CustomSharpvsStan/CShvsS2.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/CustomSharpvsStan/CShvsS3.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/CustomSharpvsStan/CShvsS4.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/CustomSharpvsStan/CShvsS5.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/CustomSharpvsStan/CShvsS6.jpg

continued...

Sharp Standard settings VS. Sony Custom settings (sharp looks better)
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/StanvsCustomSony/ShvsCS1.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/StanvsCustomSony/ShvsCS2.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/StanvsCustomSony/ShvsCS3.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/StanvsCustomSony/ShvsCS4.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/StanvsCustomSony/ShvsCS5.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/StanvsCustomSony/ShvsCS6.jpg

continued...

Sharp Standard VS. Sony Standard (best settings for both, i felt)
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/StandardvsStandard/standard1.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/StandardvsStandard/standard2.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/StandardvsStandard/standard3.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/StandardvsStandard/standard4.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/StandardvsStandard/standard5.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/StandardvsStandard/standard6.jpg

split below...

Sharp Standard VS. Sony Standard (continued)
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/StandardvsStandard/standard7.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/StandardvsStandard/standard8.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/StandardvsStandard/standard9.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/StandardvsStandard/standard10.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/StandardvsStandard/standard11.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/StandardvsStandard/standard12.jpg

That's it folks!!! :)

*EDIT: *By no means do either have a washed out look. My theory is that the pictures show everything to an extent (the Sony being brighter will always make the camera lose some color due to the backlight) i will go home and adjust the brightness/backlight to be lower so the colors show through better.*

Great review. Thanks a lot!

Indeed, Great review man! thanks for all the pics!

Sharp Standard VS. Sony Standard (best settings for both, i felt)
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/StandardvsStandard/standard1.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/StandardvsStandard/standard2.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/StandardvsStandard/standard3.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/StandardvsStandard/standard4.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/StandardvsStandard/standard5.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/StandardvsStandard/standard6.jpg

split below...

You, sir, are awseome.. Keep the pics coming..

Nice review! Do you have a way for comparing both in standard def? Preferably cable if you have it, but I guess the ps2 on composite might work. I'd be interested in seeing which "spruces up" the lower quality images better.

And by the way, I have also noticed some "moving pixel" kind of effect on a samsung crt I bought to hold me over until I get an LCD. I never noticed it on my old Sony that just blew prematurely. Sony must somehow filter the image better.

Phew, i'm definitely done for the nite! resizing those pics and posting them were a PITA even though i formerly did web design... I should have more pics later of DVD's/ i have component outputs for my ps2 and then I have cable (basic) but i might not compare SD.... so i'll think about it.

Well, its nice to see some common sense observations, rather than the Sony XBR hype that's been piling as high as ... well you know what at this site recently.

Thank you! I was deciding between these exact 2 sets @ PC Richard today, and went with the Sharp. Glad to see I made the right choice :)

Any chance you could compare SD quality between the sets?

I hate to add a dissenting voice here, but first Bluesxtreme, great review! The problem I have with these pictures (and granted, pictures can be very deceiving), is the Sony Bravias I've seen produced FAR better pictures than what I'm seeing here. If these pictures were indicative of what I had seen in person, I don't think I would have even stopped, I would have kept walking! The pictures here depict a generally washed out look to the Sony (anything but what I saw) and they depict totally washed out greens (anything but what I saw). So I'm not sure if the difference is just how the camera exposed the shot, the adjustments that bluesxtreme made or the difference between the 32" Bravia (which I really didn't spend any time with) and the 40" Bravia.

It's hard to believe there could have been that much of a difference between the 32" and the 40", but who knows, I've seen a huge difference between the 37" Sharp and the 45" Sharp.

I think most people that have seen the Bravia would admit these pictures don't begin to do the Bravia any justice.

Hi Ken,

Well I am in fact endorsing both TVs as great looking and you are correct that pictures never tell the whole story. It can't show ghosting/noise or my camera maybe a limiting factor. But we can at least tell a little bit with the same source and lighting for both. My only goal was to determine whether or not the Sony was miles ahead of the competition or a couple inches ahead. From my impressions I feel that the Sony offers better scaling/deinterlacing... but the Sharp has better colors due to the fact you can adjust 18 settings in all! But none of this is by a whole lot.

So both are great but what i hate about being at the store is just b/c none of them are calibrated. (the Sony needs very little calibration cause the settings aren't as huge in difference and easier to control) Out of the box my Sharp DID look washed out in comparison to the Sony but that's the beauty of being able to calibrate your settings.

For example, the sony offers black enhancement/noise reduction/ and picture/color adjustments/ and warmth.
So really your color depends on picture/Color/and color temp settings and any variation of the above. I did ask for custom settings from forum members here and if you see some settings you love at the store, write them down and i will put them in here! Don't forget that the custom settings didn't look good as opposed to the stardard pictures which looked great (which is why i posted the most pictures in those settings) best pic vs best pic.

I guess my point is that both really do look great and while some will look washed out it really is only b/c certain colors can look better on the sony and some look better on the sharp. By no means do either have a washed out look. My theory is that the pictures show everything to an extent (the Sony being brighter will always make the camera lose some color due to the backlight) i will go home and adjust the brightness to be lower so the colors show through.

All in all, i can't test everything but it isn't as bad as it looks. When you're normally watching, you won't be watching both at the same time anyways... just looking at how gorgeous your picture is.

Maybe this explains why the b&m stores look they way they do. No adjustments by any qualified people. Looks like the Sharp to me!!! Thanks for the review.

[edited to correct for my reading error!]

Blueextreme-

Thanks for an INCREDIBLE review. perhaps we should discuss this via PM, but can you comment more on your custom settings vs standard settings for the Sharp? i get the impression from reading your review quickly (i need to head off to a meeting in a couple of minutes, so i rushed!) that you ended up liking your standard settings vs the user numbers (which are close to the defaults that the TV comes with except for brightness/backlight backed down) you posted above.

i personally, have found that with everything set to "flat" with the exception of backlight/contrast/brightness, there is a big color push on the Sharp and for that reason, i backed color to -7 and tint +1. perhaps there is set-to-set variation, but i'd like to hear more of your thoughts on the color settings for the sharp since you seem to have fiddled the CMS values quite a bit to achieve something you really liked.

more interesting, to me is: can you provide guidance on how to use the CMS settings on the advanced menu. it definitely is beyond my experience on how to use those controls properly and i'd love to have URL or personal pointer on how to use those settings to optimize colors to my personal liking. (that being said, i do like my colors a lot the way i have them set with flat CMS values and the color settings i note above...but being the anal retentive type, i'm always one to fiddle a bit more)

i also noted your choice of +1 backlight. is that for a fairly well lit room?

if this is too far off topic, please PM me with your thoughts on this color calibration. thanks!

Good review, although I don't think the pictures do either set justice. I like how you avoided the hyperbole of saying one set blew the other away.

Did you use any calibration tools to adjust the Sharp CMS-hue, saturation, and value settings or did you just do it by what looked better? I don't really know how to adjust those settings and would like to know how to use them better.

Have you noticed that the exact same picture settings will look different in Standard mode vs Movie mode? I've gone with Movie mode for now on our 32D7U. Still tweaking the settings to get that last little bit out of the picture. Here's my current settings for comparison:

Movie Mode
OPC: Off
Back 0
Contrast +30
Brightness +2 or +3
Color 0
Tint sometimes 0, sometimes -2
Sharpness 0
All CMS Values Default 0
Color Temp: Mid-Low
Black Level Expansion: Off

I know from experience that I'd probably get different results with a different DVD player. However, these seem to work pretty good though with TV signals, so I use it for them too.

JimSD,
seems like you and are on the same wavelength. i too would love some guidance with the CMS settings.

i am, however, a bit surprised at your color/tint values. i have mine set to -7/+1 respectively as i found that color near zero gave me way too rosey cheeks. i am guessing that the only thing i'm not sure is quite right on my set are the greens. then again, i've never been to any of the ballparks i've been watching so far on TV! :)

My other settings (OPC off):
backlight: -3 [+1 if i open the shades during the day...anything in between i hear a slight hum as some other users have reported that is probably some resonance due to dirty power coming into our house]
brightness: +1
contrast: +18
sharpness: 0
black level expansion: off
color temp: mid-low

I will say that I agree with at least one thing you concluded, it seems the XBR does scale better. Out of curiosity, did you attempt any adjustment of the gamma on the Sony?


ron

I will say that I agree with at least one thing you concluded, it seems the XBR does scale better. Out of curiosity, did you attempt any adjustment of the gamma on the Sony?

ron

I turned off the gamma as it seems to adjust for lighting but it was recommended by others on the forum to turn it off b/c it will affect black levels.

I'm really big on black levels. maybe i'll turn on the gamma on each setting later and take a picture.

Did you use any calibration tools to adjust the Sharp CMS-hue, saturation, and value settings or did you just do it by what looked better? I don't really know how to adjust those settings and would like to know how to use them better.

No i didn't use any calibration tools since i went by what looked best to me and I used the Sony as a reference point (the sony had good color balance). for example: i know what white should look like, i also know what red, blue and green should look like without oversaturating the picture. is it perfect? maybe, maybe not... i dunno. I will be picking up a AVIA disc later on.

For the sharp you will need different settings for HDMI/component settings and yes i did notice movie mode probably has a higher color temp than the other settings. so far i've calibrated for normal daily TV viewing b/c i've been watching the Cards Astros NLDS series (great game yesterday!!)

blues -

Thanks for the effort. As one who is debating between Sony & Sharp I found your info very helpful, although I am still on the fence. :confused:

I dont understand!!

Why this GHOST???? The Sharp have MS 16, ok??

So, why have this ghost??

I've been comparing these at B&Ms for the past few days and you're review adds some more advanced insight to my research. Thank you very much!

I'm impartial to both, considering they both have GREAT picture quality...they just have different ways of acheiving it. To me, the Sharp's colors are more lush and feel warmer...the Sony's are very bright and in your face (not a bad thing). The Sony's picture grabs your attention more because of the brightness, but the Sharps is very relaxed and natural.

Since I'm considering a 37" Sharp and a 40" Sony, the price is the main deciding factor. I could go out and get a 37" Sharp now...I'd have to wait a few weeks to get the Sony...but you're review has me leaning towards the Sharp a bit more!

perfect review!!! But tell me... why much GHOST in the screen?? The Response Time to the SHARP is 16ms, ok???
Why this picture stay this ----> http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/StandardvsStandard/standard6.jpg

oh, that's not ghosting!

When the picture is moving my camera can't capture at a high shutter speed therefore that's not ghosting it's just my camera.

oh, that's not ghosting!

When the picture is moving my camera can't capture at a high shutter speed therefore that's not ghosting it's just my camera.


oh man... I stay with FEAR :) Now I understand all your review!! You do a great job!!!

thanks!!!

PC Gaming Review

Here are my thoughts:
Sharp
Pros: Sharper image runs at 1360x768, bright, really bright (a lot more than the sony),very little ghosting
Cons: **EDIT: i FIXED this by using the resolution 1280x768. No lines whatsoever, If i do get the lines to go away at 1360x768 i'll post it here.** You can see below the vertical alternating lines (dunno why), the colors are not as good and adjustable

Sony
Pros: Great colors, Runs at 1280x768 very little ghosting
Cons: Lower resolution (not as sharp), has horizontal scan issues like waves going from bottom to up

So you can see that both have their problems. The sony looks great but is a little less sharp. in games i see more detail on the sharp, however i coudnl't get any of the color adjustments to work well on the sharp! Even with all the settings it didn't look as good as the sony. I believe the DVI is a limiting factor OR my geforce 6800 isn't as good. I've included a link to a video clip you can see if there's ghosting or not.

http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/PC/pc1.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/PC/pc2.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/PC/pc3.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/PC/pc4.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/PC/pc5.jpg
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/PC/pc6.jpg

Video to see if you can see ghosting in Half-life 2:
http://www.songyunah.com/uploads/Tv2/mov2.AVI

Now if someone could compare the LG to these two I would be happy.

So both are great but what i hate about being at the store is just b/c none of them are calibrated. (the Sony needs very little calibration cause the settings aren't as huge in difference and easier to control) Out of the box my Sharp DID look washed out in comparison to the Sony but that's the beauty of being able to calibrate your settings.



Bluesxtreme, my biggest disappointment with the Sony was not having the ability to adjust the individual R/G/B settings. I've become so accustomed to this on other displays I've owned, I found this to be a limiting factor on the Sony in terms of arriving at the best picture quality. I have little doubt those settings are available in a service menu, but they should have been made available to the user.

Great pics and review, but i have to agree with the other post, your pics really don't do justice on the Sony. As my friend brought a 40 and the pics were very live in your pics the Sony looks kind of like it was a rainy day in the game. But after reading your thoughts on the Sharp i will go after the sharp and save around 9 hundred bucks for a xbox360.
The price is a big difference.

thanks man

Judging from that video it looks like the Sharp's white levels are way overblown; lotsa blooming in that vid compared to Sony.

Still, I'd give the still shots to the Sharp.

Thank you so much for spending the time to do this review. I'm sure it is helping A LOT of us in the market for a quality LCD. I've finally made up my mind. I'm going for the sharp from costcos and still have a crap load of $$ over the sony from online.

Judging from that video it looks like the Sharp's white levels are way overblown; lotsa blooming in that vid compared to Sony.

Still, I'd give the still shots to the Sharp.

I had the Backlight turned on full... but it's a poor 640x480 vid clip that doesn't show color really... i think it was more to show ghosting if there was any.

i've come to the realization that i just can't fully capture the beauty of these two TVs. Both are really comparable in some ways and some things get lost in the transfer to film. It has to be seen in person. Now if only i could invite you all to my living room to watch some TV!

i've come to the realization that i just can't fully capture the beauty of these two TVs.

Agreed on this point! :) I bought the Sharp last week and love it. However, I am very surprised that the Sony XBR looks as bad as it does in your photos. In every store I saw it in it had a far superior picture to what I see here. It is almost as though your tinkering with the settings degraded the performance. :confused:

well, like i said in the review, some pictures look better on the Sony so i don't see why it would be inconsistent with what others are seeing. in my opinion (and i stated this) is that both of them were so close in performance. pictures should be taken with a grain of salt.

I think in the end the sony has a slighty better picture, but the sharp can be adjusted on the colors to be just as good. so to me, the difference is very small.

I think in the end the sony has a slighty better picture, but the sharp can be adjusted on the colors to be just as good. so to me, the difference is very small.

Thanks for the Sharp settings, BTW. It helped me dial in a much better picture than what I had out of the box.
:)

blues-
i played a little with your settings last night, most notably returning to the issue of Color/white balance. i had been running mine low-medium and i now am rethinking that choice. high seems way too cool to me, but maybe it all comes down to ambient room lighting and whether one goes for the incandescent or fluorescent look to things. it's funny, after a few minutes on any setting, your mind can be fooled into thinking that setting looks fairly natural. it's hard to calibrate though i think for HD tv signals since you don't have something real life to compare with (except faces and what your experiences is)...stills (freeze mode is too small) would be helpful.

anyway, i digress. i want to call attention to your preferred choice of backlight +0 and brightness +6. i'm not surprised that you might like the backlight higher up (again, depends a lot on ambient lighting), but i'm struck by your high value of brightness. with that level of brightness, i clearly am going well beyond "black" on my set. so, when a SD commercial comes on, the black side bars are darker than supposed black on the viewing portion of the screen. similarly, the blacks for me are definitely gray at these brightness levels. how did you arrive at these choices? who knows...maybe all sets are different. i have my brightness set to +1 for my comcast HD STB and +2 for my DVI inputted Powerbook G4. [calibrated using the Incredibles THX optimizer which i have since read is off, so i may need to revisit that with a few other discs]

thanks again for a great review and your experiences. i'm sure they are helping people immeasurably. even though i already bought mine, it helps me feel better about my choice. (then again, if the Sony was the only unit out there that i liked, i probably wouldn't have bought it at this time...the price at Costco and the inclusion of the DVI port is what told me that the "time was right" for me to buy a flat panel tv for our den.)

Thank you guys for the comments. I bought a Sharp yesterday.

However, I do not know where to change the setting of CMS-Hue, saturation and value. I am using a component input from TW HD box.

Do you guys know where I can change the CMS setting?

its under Picture, then go down to Advance, second from the bottom

It has to be seen in person. Now if only i could invite you all to my living room to watch some TV!


What's so bad about that?

One more thing I want to add... I know a lot of you guys are talking about how the Sony is not being fully represented by the pictures... and i agree:

However, if you think about this logically, what affects the Sony also affects the Sharp. I think you are all discounting how GREAT the Sharp also looks. So if the Sony looks better than the pictures you have to also say the Sharp looks better too. My 2 cents.

ALSO, please distinguish that the pictures have different categories:
Comparing the best settings for both tvs are:
Standard vs. Standard

Logic ->
Both IN same picture
Both Subjected to same conditions
Both look great and that's probably saying more about the Sharp than anything else.

Note to Bluesextreme- I remember reading that black level is a big concern for you. If you want the picture to be as dark as possible on the Sony, beyond the blacklight and brightness adjustments, turn the contrast enhancer off and the black corrector on high

thanks for all the info....alot of great info..

So could someone tell me how the response times on the latest sony bravia 32" compare to the LC 32D4U?

Been an on-off lurker around here for a couple of weeks, must say I'm amazed at the amount of information here, not to mention how passionate some of the posters are about these incredible technologies. Great info, many thanks.

Am interested in the 40" Bravia, two questions about it:

1) Does it have PIP/split screens or any features like that? The specs on bestbuy and circuit city say it does, but couldn't find anything in the Bravia manual

2) How does the "media slot" work here? possible to use PCMCIA or PCCARDS on it?

The pictures are down?

Thanks for the great review. I actually bought a SONY this past Sunday and now i am upset after ready this review. Do you guys have any other setting advices for me to try on the SONY and see if i like it? From being in stores, SONY produced an outstanding picture quality. which i think was far better then any of the TV's on their displays. That is the reason i bought it.
Offcourse when you bring it home, it is a totaly different picture. I am a nut when it comes to a perfect picture, but at the same time i am afraid of paying with settings not to screw it up more.
Any advices?
Thank You All... :rolleyes: [COLOR=Yellow]

PicturePerfect, you must decide based on what YOUR eyes are telling you. FWIW, I felt the Sony had the best picture of all the LCDs I've seen. Your eyes may have told you the same thing. So for you and I, the Sony would be the best choice (if I were getting an LCD).

Thank You very much Ken Ross for your reply. I guess you are probably right about that. I thought that the SONY had the best picture out of all the TV;s as well. I am now trying to get the best cables , adn play with some knows settings to see if i find a position where those settings will stay.
Thanks Again

BLUE, thank you very much for this awsome thread. I want to ask about the PC part of the panels: why did you not use 1360 x768 resolution with the Sony? in it's manual it states that the 1360 x 768 at 60Hz refresh is supported by the screen. Also Can you try to connect your PC to the HDMI port of the sony so that is can be compared better to the DVI of the Sharp??

Also you say:"Sharp
Pros: Sharper image runs at 1360x768, bright, really bright (a lot more than the sony),very little ghosting
Cons: You can see below the vertical alternating lines (dunno why), the colors are not as good and adjustable"

I don't understand what the vertical alternating lines is..can you explain to me so I can see what the problem is?

BLUE, thank you very much for this awsome thread. I want to ask about the PC part of the panels: why did you not use 1360 x768 resolution with the Sony? in it's manual it states that the 1360 x 768 at 60Hz refresh is supported by the screen. Also Can you try to connect your PC to the HDMI port of the sony so that is can be compared better to the DVI of the Sharp??

Also you say:"Sharp
Pros: Sharper image runs at 1360x768, bright, really bright (a lot more than the sony),very little ghosting
Cons: You can see below the vertical alternating lines (dunno why), the colors are not as good and adjustable"

I don't understand what the vertical alternating lines is..can you explain to me so I can see what the problem is?

Pictures are Back up. (website was hacked)

I did not get 1360x768 to work on the Sony. 1280x768 worked perfectly fine.

I no longer have the Sony XBR, so i can't test it for you... besides i dont' have a DVI to HDMI... it would be a waste of the HDMI port since you already have a VGA to hook up the computer to.

**EDIT: i FIXED this by using the resolution 1280x768.**The vertical alternating lines are basically like vertical bars about 1 inch thick that look like scan lines across the whole picture. Annoying but I only see it in PC/DVI mode. Regular HDTV and SD you don't see it. I suspect its a shielding problem but i did try a higher end DVI cable and it had the same problem. Also, it only shows up noticeably on a white background and not others.

blues-
related to your vertical lines: did you try playing with the fine tune settings on the Sharp. supposedly, those can help you get closer with respect to syncing things up.

note: i haven't done this myself. i decided to not go with the higher res computer software since i'm only using it to show digital slide shows and 1280x768 is plenty of real estate for my 4:3 based photos and movies. (at this res, my screen is artificact free)

hmm... I think i'll try that. I assume it's a sync issue with the monitor... probably setting it at 1360x768 is messing with it. I will try 1280 later.. thanks.

Fixed it... You were right Derek, it's a sync issue at 1360x768 (probably b/c you can't run it at exactly 1366x768.

After switching to 1280x768 the lines went away.

blues- glad to hear that worked out for you. i _think_ you can get it to run at either 1360 or 1368 from what i've read on the MacChat HTPC forum...but i haven't tried yet myself as my powerbook G4 works peachy at 1280x768. good enough for showing pictures, but if you use the screen to show movies, then that mode throws away a couple of screen inches. (ie, if you use a HTPC for your DVDs and not a standalone player)

aside: i was surprised to see (when i bought my Aquos) that it is actually a 31.5" screen. i don't think all other 32" screens are les than 32"... (not that the half an inch makes a big difference to me!)

Guys, How do i change that in the SONY? Which menue do i go to to do that?

Great review, excellent information for all of us looking for a new baby for the xbox360

which sharp model is being compared? im interested in buying a sharp lcd, with all the similarities in model numbers im not to sure which sharp is top of the line.

Great review bluesxteme, THANKS!

Before this thread, I was 95% sold on the SONY 32" Bravia for my bedroom. My online dealer kept giving me the runaround about availability so I went back to Circuit City last Monday to look once again and picked up the Sharp 32D5U.

BOTH are great with HD programming, which was my main concern and I really wouldn't watch much SD. I've been doing lots of PS 2 gaming and although the Sharp didn't look as good as my previous 30" CRT, I'd doubt the SONY would look much better. Saved some $$ and the salesperson threw in a free tilt wall mount and a DVD player.

I really didn't care about the "dated" styling of the SONY and the SHARP looks really sweet in my room. The pic has a nice "pop", much like my Fujitsu P50/40 in the living room and dare I say, sometimes, it looks almost as good :p ! I could have returned the SHARP for the SONY if I wasn't happy with it but it's staying put. No buyer's remorse here.

Jose.

hey jose, is the LC-26DA5U the same model as you are talking about? as i am considereing buying this model tomorrow. also aren't u worried about the 16 ms response time?

hey jose, is the LC-26DA5U the same model as you are talking about? as i am considereing buying this model tomorrow. also aren't u worried about the 16 ms response time?

That response time is alot more accurate than some vendors that are saying 8ms, etc.

For proof, look at the "8ms" Sony. There are already quite a few threads in here about ghosting.

The response time almost reminds me of my early days with car audio and "peak power" ratings.........a total load of crap!

FullTilt,
It is not the same model. The DA5U was last year's model and it doesn't have a tuner. My brother has the DA5U and FWIW, the picture looked washed out in his living room even after tweaking the settings. This was why I did not want the Sharp in the first place, but I had the oppotunity to try the 5U and it definately looks much better.
I have NOT noticed any lag or ghosting with the "16ms response time" in the last week with my PS 2.

Hope this helps,
Jose.

You rock bluesxtreme!!! This really excites me about the LC-32D4U which has a quicker response time (12ms). Anyone know what are the other differences between the 4U and 5U?

i think the 4U doesn't have the 18 CMS adjustments but i think there is more than one 4U so i would check the Sharp Model Confusion thread.

"4U doesn't have the 18 CMS adjustments "

<Vader>Noooooooooo</Vader>. I'm having a hard time finding opinions and reviews on the 4U models. As far as I can see there's only one family (different sizes only all same specs). I think I'll still try for the 4U though. I'm not an HDTV expert so the picture will hopefully be great enough with the settings that are there, or perhaps the CMS settings are hiddden within the service menu. If anyone has any opinions on the new models or know where I can find some reviews please let me know.

a couple of people own the 4U models and have posted impressions here and there. your gonna have to search for it though cause i don't remember where. i think one place was the Sharp settings thread.

i happened to play with a newer model (a 32" DA5u?) this weekend without the CMS controls. at the store, i did a quick adjustment and with just the color and tint, i got things looking decent. i don't think it was as good as i got at home with my older CMS model, but by no means was that disappointing.

i'm torn now though recommending something for my father. my anal retentive side has me convinced that any TV i buy now should give me "full control" of colors (without having to worry about an actual service menu) while on the other hand, i realize that one can probably get 90% there with the basic adjustments. is the latter good enough? i dunno.

a couple of people own the 4U models and have posted impressions here and there. your gonna have to search for it though cause i don't remember where. i think one place was the Sharp settings thread.

I'll check that, thanks. As much as the loss of the extra color configs bug me, I think I'd prefer the 4U for the faster refresh rate since I'll be doing lots of gaming on this set. I'm a bit concerned however that the rate only goes faster when the "Quick Shoot" setting is turned on. This sounds like it's used at the expense of something else. (The manual has a tiny note that says, "If video noise occurs, turn this off" :/)

Great review.

To anyone who is concerned with any ghosting on either LCD, this link provided to view Half Life 2 being played on both sets is a great test.

Scroll the cursor manually when the video starts playing and you'll see a little ghosting on the Sharp LCD, and almost none on the Bravia XBR LCD.

Any one else have any experience with ghosting (or lack thereof) on the Bravia??

Scroll the cursor manually when the video starts playing and you'll see a little ghosting on the Sharp LCD, and almost none on the Bravia XBR LCD.


i'm not sure what you mean here? do you mean the slider on the video player? not the mouse cursor right...

i'm not sure what you mean here? do you mean the slider on the video player? not the mouse cursor right...

Sorry about that.....Yeah the slider on the Quicktime player.

Too bad you didn't do a comparison of the 2 monitors using a PS2 via component.

I was looking forward to that comparison. :(

ya i actually ran out of time... while i would love to have two nice LCD's, i can't afford it :D

Well I am very interested in buying the Bravia, and wondered what are your thoughts as to gaming, since I plan to do alot of it on the Bravia if I finally get it.

The games i play on it are: so far... mostly PC games.

Half-Life 2
Doom 3
Civ 4 -great game

You'll slight ghosting on Civ 4 since it's more a static image and if you scroll really fast .

On FPS shooters you really don't notice ghosting cause everything moves pretty fast.

haven't hooked up ps2 yet. i'm kinda in a ps2 lull...

I've been thinking of buying one of the Costco models.

Either the Sharp LC-32GA5U

or the Sony KLV-S32A10.

Anyone here have any opnions on those?


The Sony costs a bit more than the Sharp. Neither one has ATSC tuners.

Just going by picture quality which would you guys pick out of those two?

which one should i go for if both the sony and sharp cost the same at the area which i stay in?

For those interested, it seems the easiest way to display non-scaled, sharp 1360x768 on the Sony, is to use the DVI output of your PC video card through an adapter to the VGA input on the Sony. This DVI to VGA adapter is common in multi-monitor PC setups so they're cheap. I have not been able to get a sharp image from the VGA output of a video card or had any success using the HDMI input to get a signal from a PC into the Sony. I have tested with both Nvidia and ATI based cards. Don't forget PCs will generally not dispaly a 1366x768 signal as 1366 does not divide by 8.

One thing not mentioned in the review is that the pixel shape and positioning on most Sharp display's is a little odd. Adjacent columns of pixels are offset half a pixel so a straight line on a Sony vs Sharp display would look like:
Sony: ----------
Sharp: -_-_-_-_-_

Many of the Sharp panels also seem to have vertically elongated pixels, not square. For NTSC matetial this is a feature, but for HDTV and computer generated content this is not conducive to sharpness and rendered geometry.


If you want to adjust individual colour channels on the Sony, you can go in through the Service Menu. To access the service menu:
- Make sure the TV is off
- On the remote control press the following buttons in sequence within about 1 second: DISPLAY, 5, Vol+, On
The TV will turn on, and shortly a green text service menu will appear.

Here are some notes on the service menu from a posting I read elsewhere (don't recall where I'm afraid - might even been here somewhere.)

"If I recall, the "Jump" button will select various pages (that's the key, as the initial page adjusts some physcal parameters & some tuner settings, I think)

1 - previous item
4 - next item
3 - Value+
6 - Value-

Mute+Enter stores it

To adjust gains select:
CIT 0A
GBKG 800
RBKG 800
BBKG 800

Geometry can be changed by:
CAP1 10

C1HP
C1VP
C1VS
C1HS


Additional Info:
To get to the RGB gains/offsets in service mode:

- Press 'Jump' until you get to the 'BE Micro' settings
- Press '2' until you get to the 'CTT' category

The first 6 settings there are the gains and offsets. After that there are some gamma correction settings, but I'm not sure how to use those. When you change the color temperature you will get a different set of values there.

I found the color temperatures other than Warm2 to be very cold by default, but I guess that is typical for LCDs. I also found the gamma to be about 1.8.

Attached are notes on my service mode with default values."

This thread is a bit dated, but if anyone is interested I was able to locate a 32 XBR1 at Best Buy that was steeply discounted (new, not a demo) for nearly half the original MSRP (including the 12% discount for being a Reward Zone member). There may be a few left out there if anyone is still intested in this set. I've been using it for 2 weeks and am very happy with it. The previous review and subsequent comments were very informative - thanks for the info!

Fixed it... You were right Derek, it's a sync issue at 1360x768 (probably b/c you can't run it at exactly 1366x768.

After switching to 1280x768 the lines went away.

Did you selected 1360x768 in the Sharp's settings, if you check on page 50 of the manual right? If so, did the vertical lines problem went away?

PC Gaming Review
Here are my thoughts:
Sharp
Pros: Sharper image runs at 1360x768, bright, really bright (a lot more than the sony),very little ghosting
Cons: **EDIT: i FIXED this by using the resolution 1280x768. No lines whatsoever, If i do get the lines to go away at 1360x768 i'll post it here.** You can see below the vertical alternating lines (dunno why), the colors are not as good and adjustable


I know this is a really old forum, but I have a question about the sharp and connecting it to a computer. Alright, here's my setup:
TV: LC-37D5U
PC: Mac Mini (Core2Duo)

I want the sound and video to go through the Sharp. I have two options: DVI or HDMI (with dvi to hdmi converter).

HDMI works great -- nice video quality, I got the resolution to work fine (had some overscan issues in the beginning). The only problem is -- no sound. Is there a way to use another connector on the TV to get the sound in there while using HDMI?

DVI... I can't get widescreen to show up. I've tried the same resolution on DVI as I had with HDMI, but the TV refuses to show anything. I've set the DVI to Digital-PC input. Also, pretty often the entire screen is greenish (maybe bent pin?). Standard 4:3 resolutions show up fine, but they're.... well, 4:3. I'd like to get 16:9. Any idea what I'm doing wrong with DVI?