Official Sharp Elite PRO-70X5 and 60X5 Owners Thread - Page 400

Gentleman, two days ago I joined the Elite club and I must say it is quite an impressive set! My 70" was delivered by Best Buy and went very smooth. My set is one of the "dreaded" November '12 builds but thus far I have noticed none of the issues some of the others here are having. The only "flaws" I have see have been two dead pixels which are not visible from more than three feet or so and I have no desire to sit that close to a 70" anyway so I really don't care. My set has not yet been calibrated but I am using "Newbie's" settings until I do.

I will post am in-depth review/analysis after I have more time with the set and it gets calibrated. Until then please don't assume every Elite is having issues. Either there are still good set out there or I got the last one

Congrats, and I hope you enjoy your set as much as I have mine for a very long time!

Have you looked at uniformity after putting up a full screen 100% white test pattern? The green/pink patches are VERY faint. May not look green/pink at first, may look like patches that are dimmer than the rest of the screen.

Not yet but I did pause my DVR on a full white commercial (I'm sure it's not technically the same thing, but...) and saw no green or pink. It wasn't perfectly white across the screen (maybe slightly blue-ish) but I have to believe a calibration can fix that, no?

Hi Chris
My friend Mike is getting a 70" from you after my recommendation.
I think his check is in the mail.
Please take care of him and check his screen uniformity for these green patches I am reading about.
Can u also update his firmware before shipping?
Thanks for working with him.
I really want him to be happy after trying for so long to get him to buy an Elite.
It took him 6-8 months for him to pull the trigger. Many trips to my house to see mine in action. Using N3W813's settings is what made him pull that trigger..., He is blown away.
He said, "Why does BB's Elite look like s**t?

I said......Picture Settings are different at BB. Then I showed him the Advanced menu and he then understood
Edited by obxdiver - 1/16/13 at 1:55pm

I went through 5, big enough sample then plus reports from 4-5 owners of nov2012 build. I agreed to the last last two TVs only because local Best Buy was kind enough to insist that Elite cannot have so many uniformity issues, they have been selling them for 1+ year and uniformity was non-issue, as for Nov2012 batch, they received several complaints/returns besides me about green and vertical banding. I trust the Magnolia Manager at my local BB, a high-integrity individual that goes out of his way to help me out, he honestly believes that perfect grey Elites exist even in Nov2012 batch but they cannot find one for me. Also, Sharp GM of Product told me that green/pinkish DSE is a normal part of LED full-array technology... What was he going to say that green and pink is not normal then dozens of units will come back to haunt him...

As for discontinuation, two stores confirmed to me that no more is coming... Best Buy and ABT, both are huge retailers with a lot of buying power. Yes the big Nov batch is out and in stores and they need to sell them but no new production is happening or planned. I did not ask Sharp so I am only going from what I have heard. If you did hear that they continue with Elite manufacturing then please let us know when new production run is scheduled to appear. Being a trusted Sharp dealer you must know and I would like to know as well if two largest electronics retailers are just getting out of Elite business but Elite will live. If this new production run is scheduled or happening already then I will return my unit and wait for Jan-Feb batch to appear to repurchase. Given that I talked to Elite's VP (or GM) of Product about green DSE, he knows and I assume will try to address it in the new production run to avoid again the embarrassment of telling customers that green/rosy DSE is normal. If it was a Japanese on the phone, I would say to "to save face".

Edited by dvzzz - 1/16/13 at 2:19pm

If you do not see do not look for it. You will find it for sure but the point is if you enjoy your set as is, then this is a non-issue. I always said not to extrapolate my bad experience to all of Elites even in Nov2012 batch. I just happened to get them from the local BB warehouse with close serial numbers and they all were defective to various degrees. Reference TVset has different meaning to different people. To me it starts with uniform greyscale and many will say this is a wrong way to look at the set, the actual picture must bring joy not the greyscale pattern but I am a geek at heart and music and movies are my passion and I demand the best for the money and will not settle for green/pink DSE as normal.


Edited by dvzzz - 1/16/13 at 2:22pm

Dvzzz, what warehouse did your sets come from? Mine came from Miami.

I've been waiting/looking for information if there will be an Elite version 2.
Who said, where did you read that Sharp has stopped production of these (Elite) tvs?

Stopped as in:
1. Not making the Elite tv anymore?
2. Stopped making the Elite version one, because the Elite version two is replacing it?

Oak Park, Illinois the delivery guys told me.
Oak Park, Illinois

Could external factors such as weather, temperature and humidity while in storage be a factor?

That is it, gents. I must have rattled the cage long enough and just got another call from Sharp. This is official, Elite no more. So grab what you can and like and keep it. The Elite is history now.

Yes, I do mean receiver. I get DD on everything except streaming Netflix. Does Netflix stream in DD? I have tried streaming through my Elite and DVD and only can get stereo from both. Before beating my head against the wall, I want to make sure Netflix does stream DD.
For those still looking for a TV, know the vast majority of us are home enjoying our sets.

with respect, I would not make this call until we hear from one of our dealers

I bought one of the last leftover 50" Kuros NIB for $900 plus shipping from Sam's. Maybe lighting will strike twice and I can put the Pioneer in my bathroom.

I do not think we will see Elite's at Sam's, there is no oversupply of them at this point but for $900 I would not mind an Elite even with some DSE even for $2000, just not at $5500

The comment was tongue and cheek. The bathroom part should have been the give away. Although I would bet most would have said the same about a $900 Kuro 4 years ago.

I have no yellow in my whites.

I watch 4:3 programming, lots of ESPN, and game... without any issue.

None of this is to suggest against buying an LCD, but I'm not sure any of these reasons speak against buying a plasma either.

I agree with Mark, let's wait for something more official. This wouldn't be the first time we've gotten erroneous info from someone at Sharp.

True. But I bet there is quite a bit of turmoil going on in a company that just lost 5.6 billion dollars in a one year period. I bet if you asked 5 top execs at Sharp about the future of the Elite, you would get 5 different answers.

Just Google around you'll find plasma tv's with the dreaded "burn in" issue. To say today's plasma isn't susceptible to this issue anymore is really a terrible thing to spread. Fact is ANY static image left for a significant amount of time WILL leave that image in the screen. A friend of mine has a Panny plasma, and swore to me his plasma was perfect despite his constant viewing of ESPN. Wouldn't you know it, one day I was visiting with him, and as we were watching some snow boarding competition, there I saw the faint outline of the espn news ticker! He had a hard time seeing it, but once I pointed it out he was crushed. The good news is, he did use the same break in disc he had to get rid of it, BUT it took 3 days of playing this disc to get rid of it! And imo he was lucky to get rid of it. Again, just Google it, plenty of today's plasma sets are constantly ruined by burn in. I'm glad it hasn't happened to you, but I've seen it first hand, and read about it all the time.Bottom line is everybody's habits are different, and I know my, and my family's would probably end up getting burn in. I'm sorry, but I have no time to play this Russian roulette game with plasma.
Edited by GeneWildersHair - 1/16/13 at 7:40pm

I think that you may be referring to is "the dreaded image retention (IR) issue". Burn-in is permanent and very rare. IR comes and goes with some regularity. Of course, there are large numbers of plasma owners who have never experienced either.

My experience has been exactly like Rogo's, but with a different brand of display.

call it what you will, but the thought of having to play some static images on my screen for days or even hours at a time to get rid of this "IR" freaks me out. And what if that image doesn't go away..... *shudder*. I just want peace of mind, that's why I personally couldn't buy a Plasma, and have stuck with LCD. I don't mean to argue, or upset anyone, but I just dont like it when folks that may have had absolutely no "IR" because of their good habits, tell those potential plasma buyers that "IR", or "burn in" issue is a thing of the past. And yes Google it, permanent "burn in" issue still possible, and does happen. I've read numerous posting of folks who were told that it wasn't an issue anymore, and honestly believed it, and damaged their sets. That's all I'm saying. Had to come back to edit just to say that this is getting way off topic for this thread, so I will leave this subject alone, and I am happy you plasma owners are happy. That's what this hobby comes down to anyway. Plasmas have beautiful pictures, we can agree on that at least. Keep enjoying your sets no matter what they are.
Edited by GeneWildersHair - 1/16/13 at 9:22pm

I think it was brought up before but I am just trying to understand, do we have green/rosy-DSE-free sets from November 2012 production, I do not think we got a clear answer. Some folks are saying that green is faint but still visible on white or grey patterns, I do not think I have seen a single statement saying no green or pink DSE whatsoever on Nov2012 build. Sharp told me to ask BestBuy to open 2-3 in the store with Magnolia folks present and pick up the one I like but if there is no such thing as perfect grey Elite in Nov then, why bother good folks at Best Buy. Can someone confirm preferably with pictures of grey pattern that they have solid grey set? Too much of me on this thread, I know, but I can't find anything remotely close to Elite
Edited by dvzzz - 1/16/13 at 9:31pm

What concerns me is that lack of "face", Sharp is running into production issues with their top-of-the-line TVs but users are being told that green/pink is normal. I would never rattle the cage if I was told we were working to fix it and we would help you get a good set. All TV's will have issues to some degree, DSE is actually part of LCD technology and I accept that, grey DSE usually does not impact calibration but when I am being told that green/pink will not impact my greyscale ISF calibration and is normal I just do not buy it. If Sharp says that all Nov Elites come with distorted greyscale then discount them to the price of the their regular Sharp TVs and sell for $2000 in the bigbox stores. Most of Costco shoppers are happy that TV turns on and they never take it out of the Vivid mode, not because they are dumb but because to them it is good enough.
We buy this high-end TVs to get best in class and pay dearly for that.

If there was just one decent alternative to Elite 70" I would spare everyone on this thread from my whining and buy it but Elite despite all the Nov issue is still premium set with no competition. Do not want to get into plasma vs. LCD disucssion. Plasma is not for me. I saw IR on every Magnolia 50-series Panny set and they are all in Movie modes.

Now that production of Elite is ceased, the pool of available sets is shrinking.

Can I ask you Chris, did you see at least one TV in Nov build that is completely green/pink DSE free?

If the elite is being discontinued then Sharp is left with no 70" tv with local dimming correct? I

Correct even 4K will be Edge-lit.