Sharp Aquos LC32D44U - Page 7

I think I will be returning the Sharp to get a samsung instead. While overall a decent TV set, i've encountered a few things that annoy me. One thing is that this TV seems to do a poor job of deinterlacing 1080i signals. This means I often see combing effects during digital broadcasts, or with non-anamorphic DVDs. With DVDs I can set the output of the player to 720p, but there is nothing I can do for boradcast material.

Blacks seemed pretty nice to me at first, but I now notice that the contrast ratio could be much better. Also, colours just lack that POP effect. The latest calibration settings I used to fix the red push look good, but I still feel the set overall lacking.

Okay, sorry to be the defector here, but I'm returning the Sharp. I picked up a Samsung 32a550 in its place. Once I set up the 32A550, the difference was night and day. 1080i broadcasts no longer show significant combing from poor deinterlacing, and look better overall.

The s32d44u was an okay TV, and looked better than cheaper brands, but was not worth the price. If I wanted to directly replace it I think even the Samsung 32A300 was a better TV - the 32A450 is a cut above.

Cheffy,

I also have a Sharp LC32D44U. Pretty good, but I am aware that the picture is not as good as the Samsung LN32A550. However, I opted for the Sharp because of the reported 'robotic sound' problem with the Samsung. Since I receive OTA, I would be a candidate for that problem.

Please advise your set's performance so far, if you have experienced the robotic sound issue on your Samsung, either OTA or cable QAM. If Samsung has resolved the robo sound problem, I still have time to make an exchange.

Also, is your panel an 'S' type, or 'A' or 'C'

Thanks for you feedback.

Frank

Okay, I'm sure hardly anyone uses S-Video to connect to an HDTV, but I have a Bose 3-2-1 system that only has S-Video and Composite outputs. The s-video output worked when connected to my tube TV, but connecting to this Sharp 3234U doesn't appear to work. I am using the Input button on the TV remote to select Input-2, which corresponds with the s-video input, but nothing is displayed.

Two other observations. First, I scanned for channels and viewed a few - audio was fine. Then somehow the audio mode seemed to switch to mono, and all I heard was static, no matter what setting I changed. The only thing that fixed it was to reset the TV to the factory settings (for everything).

Second, channel changing is slow. If I push channel up or down, I have to wait for that channel to appear before I can switch to the next channel. Is this normal for folks using the internal tuner instead of a cable box?

Thanks for your help.
Paul

Cheffy, I too found that once I got used to the original calibrations that the red push was still there. I am going to try your most recent calibration settings and see if that will help. BTW, what size was your 32D44U? I've heard that the 1080i isn't detectable on anything smaller than a 39inch.
Nyerinsd, yes the channel change is slow. Don't know why, and I don't think it needs to be so slow - I also only have the internal tuner.

1080i is both detectable and displayed, but it is not truly 1080i - the screen interpolates based on the 1080i signal. It looks good, but as I mentioned I found it produced deinterlacing artifacts (e.g. combing). This drove me up the wall.



I was able to get the s-video output from my laptop to display on my Sharp, but the PQ was not very good. Low resolution.

Channel changing is aggravatingly slow. The Samsung I bought to replace has a short delay, but much less than the Sharp.


I have an A panel Samsung, and it looks great. No robotic sound issues, I use OTA. Overall, liking the Samsung so much more, couple of options on the Sharp I liked better but overall options for the Samsung superior.

I tried giving the sharp a good chance, and it fell short. If it was my only option I'd be satisfied, but knowing that there are better ones I'd suggest going with a Samsung instead.

Cheffy - thanks for the reply. I ended up getting a $40 upconverting Philips DVD player at Costco and pulling out the Bose 3-2-1. I figured the s-video quality was going to be pretty bad anyway - thanks for confirming. I may try to make sure that input works via laptop just to make sure I don't have a lurking problem with the set. Glad you're happy with the Sammy... I have a 50" DLP that is a couple of years old and am very happy with it. I'm still in evaluation mode on the Sharp. I just got my HD-DVR and hooked up the new DVD player, so now I can adjust the TV settings and evaluate it properly.

Playing SD DVDs on my Sharp for the most part looked pretty good. A good upconverting player and/or using good codecs for the PC helps a lot. I'd recommend though that you set the player to upconvert to 720p and not 1080i - that way the TV doesn't have to do any deinterlacing. I didn't find it problem overall, but for certain things yes.

Thanks Cheffy. The DVD player upconverts and has various settings... Auto, or I can fix it at 480, 720p, 1080i, or 1080p. I'll set up for 720p and see how that works out based on your suggestion. My 50" is 1080p, and I probably would have automatically went to 1080p on the new set based on that experience. Thanks for the tip.

I have a LC-C3234U for a couple of weeks now, adjusted the settings per one of the posts in this thread and in general am happy. One issue that bugs me is that on some channels, the picture doesn't appear to go completely to the top of the screen, and there's some broken white lines that move around that is disctracting. It's only about an 1/8" down from the top, and only on channels that are not in HD. I have Cox cable in San diego, and this occurs on some digital channels (300 series) and on some HD channels when the picture is not full screen (709 especially when watching the news). I'm not sure what to try adjusting. The TV has a vertical and horizontal screen adjustment, but that isn't active when viewing using the Component hookup. Any thoughts? Thanks.

I don't think that is the TV. I think it is overscan artifacts coming over your cable signal for the non-HD channels when viewing the picture with the side panels. I think it needs to be fixed on you cable providers end...if they are even interested in trying to correct it.

Interesting. I don't have the same problem on my other HDTV (50" Samsung DLP). It has a different model of cable box. I'll give them a call, but I'm assuming I'll just have to deal with it.

I have the same problem. The HD channels that don't fill the screen you won't be able to do anything about. It's just the nature of the beast. On the non HD channels, you need to set your tv up to display 480p. That should fix the problem.

For instance, I have Directv. If I let the box convert the video (720p every channel), I have the lines at the top just like you. But when I let the tv convert the video, the problem goes away. There should be a setting on your box to control this.

Hope this helps.

This is not a defect in your TV but a broadcast signal issue. I have this TV connected via Cox Digital Cable through HDMI input with similar issue. When in the "Full" Viewing mode (the normal aspect ratio for for viewing High Definition Cable broadcasts), this TV produces a pixel for pixel representation of the broadcast signal with zero overscan. The thin line of horizontal pulses you are seeing along the top of the screen when watching non-HD cable channels are timing pulses carried within the broadcast signal. Until the recent arrival of TVs which produced zero overscan, virtually all TVs had some percentage (up to 5%) of overscan deliberately built-in to compensate for broadcast signal variations. While still there, timing pulses were hidden within the overscanned area.

You can eliminate this unsightly timing pulse using the View Mode button on your remote and selecting "Stretch" Mode on your TV display. This expands the display slightly in all dimensions, produces a slight overscan effect to eliminate the timing pulse, and doesn't distort the overall picture much. Just remember to go back to "Full" Mode when leaving channels which display the timing pulse.

This is a broadcast signal issue, not a problem with this display.

Sing1gniS and djones18 - thanks or your replies. I'm glad to hear it isn't the TV, as it seems to fulfill my reqiurements in all other aspects. I'll try your suggestions, or just get used to the pulses at the top of the screen. I appreciate your help.

Quick question. Does the Sharp AQUOS LC-32D44U have a sleep timer? Sears has it online for $469 + $16 S&H. Seems like a nice deal.

Yes, it does. If I remember correctly, the sleep timer button cycles through 30 min, 60 min, 90 min, 120 min, off.

And for $469....wow. A year ago this sold for $700 on average.

Thanks for the response. I guess it's time to buy. I need something for the bedroom and this should be the ticket. The only other products in the price range is Visio.

Yup. I have this model as my second TV and it works well. Also, the sleep timer options I listed above are correct (checked last night).

I plan to buy a new LCD TV for gaming, and if I understand correctly, the Sharp Aquos TV's are optimized for that purpose. I can get a good deal on the LC37D44, but maybe I should consider other brands and models. What do you guys think, will the LC37D44 be a good choice for gaming (Xbox 360, Wii, PS3)?

paid $720.00 out the door for mine on 3-10-08

You can drive yourself crazy comparing your purchase price to end-of-product-cycle sales. At least you've had it for over a year -- isn't that worth something?

I stopped being an early-adopter a long time ago, but every so often circumstances dictate that you can't wait for the clearance sales. I also got mine last March, and couldn't be happier with it.

Under $500? That's an excellent value -- go for it, George!

i got this tv (lc32d44u) about a month ago on amazon for $516 shipped. I've been looking for a new tv and happened to stumble upon this one when there where 3 left in stock. Good thing i tooka chance and ordered it. great tv.

Wow - you're complaining. I don't care what you buy - when it's being blown out, the "new" is either coming or already here. You coulda bought the previous generation when you bought this one back in '08 but you didn't. This years models people are buying will also be cheaper next year when being blown out - as will cars, appliances, barbeques, etc.

Now, if you bought it March 10 2009 - you can get steamed.

Hey, we all know prices on technology come down over time and when new models come out, but it is still pretty impressive to see prices on 32" LCD TVs from major manufacturers break the $500 barrier.

That didn't happen with old models when the new models came out last fall.

Do you happen to have the channel lineup for comcast when it's plugged directly into the set, no cable box. There's a bunch of channels betwewn 70 and 130 that are like 81.2, 92.7, 101.23, etc. Triying to get exactly what's what.

How does one add additional OTA digital channels to the Sharp LC-32D44u?

If tv stations are in two different directions, and one has to rotate the antenna to receive them, how can they be added? The first scan will pick up stations in the first direction, but after the antenna is rotated, scanning for the stations in that direction will wipe out the stations in the original direction. Is there any way with the Sharp LC-32D44u to just manually add the stations in the second direction without rescanning? There is nothing in the owner's manual and the on screen menu has no manual channel option. HELP!!

Ok, after much trial and error, here is how you can add additional digital OTA channels after the initial channel search to the Sharp LC-32D44U & LCC3234U (and probably most other Sharp LCD tv's also) without erasing the channels found on the initial scearch.

After the initial channel search for stations in the first direction, rotate your antenna to the second station source. Then, simply enter the REAL RF channel number in decimal format on your remote control. For example, to add channel 3 in Philadelphia, enter 26.1 (not just 26 else the tv tunes to analog channel 26). The tv will recognize you have tuned to a digital channel broadcasting on 26.1, and will display 3.1 as the channel selected. To add channel 10, enter 34.1, and so on. The new channel is also added to the tv's data base for future tuning.

Don't try to find this in the owners manual, nowhere does it address manually adding channels after the initial search (the CH Setup instructions on page 20 really deals with skipping channels already known to the tv). And don't call Sharp Customer Service. I did and was told new channels cannot be manually added, a full channel search is the only way to add channels.

Frank
WA2ISK

Hey all, new to the forum and I need some help...Recently purchased the Sharp LC-32d44u through Tigerdirect.com and recieved the tv and went to hook up my laptop to it through VGA to VGA cable and for some reason the screen has a real bluish tint. I've tried 2 other laptop and the same issue occurs. All laptops have the latest video/display drivers so thats not the issue. If anyone could help I would appreciate it greatly! Thank you.

Bent pin on the cable?