New sharp lcd not competitive - LC-52E77U

That new Toshiba was probably the 47ZV650U (Mine arrives tomorrow). I haven't seen Sharp's 2009 lineup, but I am assuming this is their low end model for the year.

It's truly sad to see how Sharp has fallen so far - they were the top LCD panel builder easily at one time but I must admit they've been trumped.

The E77U is more of a mid level tier panel that is using a new type of panel glass designed to prevent the Haze look - I 've not seen one yet to judge it though.

They've fallen so far back in CR that they no longer post the numbers instead using terms like • Spectral Contrast Engine Level: Extra Dark (XD) rather than post competitive numbers. Toshiba did this for a few years but of course much of their panel glass was Sharp rebadged glass. Tosh must be contracting some Samsung or LG Glass also now as Toshiba doesn't build glass and for the newbies here there are actually but a handful of glass builders - Toshiba and SHarp have a mutual partnership where they trade-off microprocessing to Sharp for glass partnership on some lines. Sharp is one of the most rebadged glass substrates in the market and they even rebadge on some of their small budget panels.

What's ridiculous is they have state of the art tech with their XS1 LED Technology that can bring them back to the top and actually in some cases trump their competitors. However, they've kept it in limited production/distribution and assinine pricing at $12K for a 52" and $15K for the 65"XS1. The XS1 is entering about 9 months in the marketplace but it's an AWOL who gives a crap panel that 99% cannot afford so it cannot compete with what Samsung is doing.

I would bet that next year when their new plant opens in partnership with Sony - you'll see that plant migrate to LED panels or else they might as well pack it in as their PQ no longer competes even though they resell about 25% of their glass to their competitors.

I enjoy the hell out of my 57" Sharp and two others I own but when it comes time to replace it'll most likely be a Samsung or Sony - the black levels on a Sharp cannot come close to them unless it's an XS1 LED Sharp.

Just called Sharp and the rep said, and I really don't believe it, that the contrast ration is, 50k to 1million:1. I don't know that much about LCDs but can the contrast ratio be dynamic? sounds like a gimmick to me! But never the less 50K is good for the price at Fry's right now. $1600

I've been waiting for many years to get Philips Natural Motion CRT replacement (incredibly stable picture with true 3D presentation - amassing TV!!!)

After 3-4 months research (having to cope with disastrous fact that Philips pulled-out from Australian market) I compared Sony, Samsung, Panasonic and Pioneer extensively. And then I spotted this LCD next to Sony Z series, latest Toshiba, Pioneer, Panasonic and Samsung 7 series all 40 - 42 inch screens.

This Sharp had BY FAR the best picture overall PLUS non-reflective screen, very nice design, colors and it cost me only AU$2100.

There was a 40 inch Pioneer plasma that was slightly better with deeper blacks - but with reflective screen and dimmed whites - not good for my bright living area.

Panasonic 800 and 850 were also good - on par with this Sharp - but VERY reflective. However, to me at least - all plasmas flicker especially when there are large white areas displayed on the screen... people told me: "it's the plasma technology to blame" I've seen this behavior in top of the range Kuro plasma screens...

Samsung was on par as well with slightly worse sharpness - but also VERY reflective.

Toshiba had almost identical presentation with only slightly lower contrast...

Sony Z series was a joke... with gray blacks and no feel of 3D at all... and it was by far the most expensive (??)...

Anyone interested in the very latest 40 inch LCD's should at least consider this screen.... even divX look amassing. With blue-ray source the picture is outstanding. Digital tuner is very good as well. There are no bending issues at all. It can display bit-by-bit picture with truly fantastic results. The contrast is superb, color very good, change in ambient light compensation works extremely well!

Sound is only ordinary - this is a bit disappointing in fact.

Dynamic contrast ratio for this screen is 50,000:1 and brightness 450 cd / m2 ... but I decided to go with this screen purely because of the best non-reflective picture in the shop!

Boky

ya it's a horrible tv ( picture-wise... a trend for sharp screens to be honest )... and that silver/bronze bottom is awful and shiny ( what were they thinking... )

You guys aren't seeing true comparisons. The Sharp 's I have seen at every BB I have visited in Central Va were all 60Hz 720p Sharps & BB had them placed next to 1080p 120hz Sony's.

When I finally saw a Sharp 180p 120hz Sharp it blew away EVERY Sony 1080
in the place.. except for the new XBR9 and then it was a stalemate.

Crutchfield & BB won't but Sharp's next to Sony's because then you can't justify the Sony PRICE... I am a longtiime Sony buyer too, but Sorry this year I went with a SHARP!

well i don't know why sony is thinking of using sharp panels from 2010 considering the fact that ,they will loose the performance crown if they use sharp lcds.

what does this mean for sony, who is switching from samsung panels to sharp panels?

I have to disagree with the OP about this. Sharp aquos lcds is not in my top 3 in the few years but I saw this new 77 series at sears last week and it was the best sharp lcd I've seen from them. It was so nice it really made me look at it for a long time since i've never been impressed with sharp. It was playing blu ray so can't really tell how it performs in real world duties like HD feeds. But for blu ray it was damn nice. Nicer than B6000 and Tosh SV670 probably no, but nicer than sony and vizeos.

How do you think the LC 52E77U compares with the Sony KDL52V5100 and the plasma Panasonic TC-P50G10 50" Viera G10? I am deciding between the 3. They are all close in price. I play a lot of video games (20+ hours a week)...Thanks

I suggest you avoid Sharp, you do not want to deal with banding. Sharp has ignored the issue for three years. Samsung is the way to go.

Is there a samung with 120 hz for under $2,000? What do you think about the Sony KDL52V5100 and the plasma Panasonic TC-P50G10 50" Viera G10?

I got the LC52E77U last week...NO banding. Absolutely stunning picture quality...especially for $1468. I'd recommend this set to anyone that doesn't need all the newest (and costly) features like USB, 240Hz, ethernet/wireless, etc. This TV has an excellent picture, 5 HDMI ports, and 120Hz with dejudder that works great.

Agreed. Unless they have fixed the banding issue.

After tweaking and playing with the settings on both, I found that I liked the picture quality on the Samsung A650/A750 and A850s better than the SONYs. This was surprising to me because I have always rather leaned towards SONY for TVs. I guess that would've made me a fan-boy of sorts. Anyhow, I felt the A850 had a much better color. The greens were more verdant and the colors just seemed to be more full. The SONYs did seem to have a slight edge on detail, but that came with a somewhat more grainy or pixelated overall image. The Samsungs had a smoother texture and overall image. They were also very clear, crisp pictures. So it seemed to me that whatever processor SONY was using to achieve it's slight edge in sharpness also caused a somewhat grainy picture. My wife, who has almost zero interest in technical geek-speak or HD-TV, was able to spot this difference and comment on it without me mentioning it to her. She preferred the overal PQ on the Samsungs, too.
For those of you who may not be fans of the current ToC, let me assure you that the red (Samsung actually calls it 'rose') on this TV is very stylish. It is not as glaring or obvious as the red on the A650 model. The color is more of a garnet and it is very subtle within the bezel. It does not distract from viewing in the daytime and is completely unnoticeables in the evening. The stand on this TV also has the ToC color in it and is made of glass. One very nice feature that this TV shares with the A650 is that the stand swivels! This was left out of the A750 line-up for some reason. Combine that styling with the fact that this TV only measures 1.9" inches wide at it's widest point, and you've got a very sleek, very sexy TV!

One concern I had about this TV was reflection on the screen surface. I have my TV in a large living room that has exposure from two large windows. Daytime viewing is not an issue. I have had zero problems with reflections; whatever Samsung has done to reduce reflective issues is quite effective.
Regarding Picture Quality, this TV has the best HD picture I've seen so far. Since the 850, 750 and 650s were not side by side in the store, I can't really comment on how they all compare to each other. Suffice it to say that the picture quality on the 850 is nothing short of arresting. In comparing the 750 and the 650, I felt as though the 750 had a slight edge. In the store, the 850 was set up on display by itself, much in the same way as the Z4100 was.
Blu Ray looks amazing on this set! With the many controls for adjusting and tweaking the picture, the Samsung is feature rich beyond belief. They really went all out in giving the user control to create the ideal viewing experience.
One area where the Samsung dominates the SONY lineup is SD programming. While HD looks incredible, I thought the Samsung was a hands down winner in the Standard Definition department. Most of what we watch on DirecTV is still SD programming and the Samsung delivers one of the clearest, cleanest SD pictures I've seen yet. My XBR2 looks like a macroblock nightmare on SD. That's a huge plus for me because nothing looks worse than a poosr SD picture on a 52" screen. With a screen this large, it's a pretty important consideration!

Yes, Costco has the 120hz LN52B610 for $2K. It's $500 more than the Sharp C5277UN.