Official Sharp LC-40C45U/LC-40C45U Owners Thread

gdog,

Please do add some pix of your set (dare I request video?), I'm on the fence with this one myself. 2 years ago, 45" seemed huge to replace my 32" tube, now I'm concerned it'll seem small compared to something like a Vizio 50" for hundreds of dollars less. Also, if you're a gamer, let me know your results. Thanks!

Also, in the store, I noticed alot of graininess with the picture.. very pixelated compared to the other LCD next to it.. the settings were unreachable though. Is this a non-issue with your set?

Hi,

I also just bought this TV from costco. Everything is mostly great but I can't find a way to get it to display 1360x768 output correctly from my PC using the DVI-HDMI interface. Has anyone been able to get this working?

Thanks,
Dave

I bought this model from Costco after I tried the Visio 50 inch plasma. I returned the Visio after I noticed screen burn-in after only 1 hour of use on my X-Box 360. I was surprised that the burn-in happened so fast. I have two other plasmas with no burn-in issues.

The Sharp LC-40C45U at Costco solves my problem on screen burn-in and I no longer see any reflections.

The only negative about this LCD is that I think the image appears somewhat washed out. Dont get me wrong, this is a great LCD. Very bright, clean, nice color, no burn-in issues. I am no expert, but maybe the washed out appearance I notice sometimes is a result of the quality of what I am watching.

Any progress on those pix G-Dog?

Hi proud owner of an 40C45U LCD TV. I was wondering if anyone else was having issues using HDMI input. When I connect my TV to my Cox SA 8300HD DVR box, I get video and sound via HDMI but every once in a while the sound will cut off. I first thought it might be the cable so I use a different HDMI cable and the sound still cut out intermittently. I tried both HDMI ports (4 and 5) and still the same thing. So I've ruled out the HDMI cable so it's either my cable box or my Sharp 40C45U is defective. I will try to get the cable box switched out this weekend.

Hey Gdog, yeah I just figured it out this afternoon. I had to reboot my cable box with the HDMI cable installed and no component hooked up. I think the 8300HD is kindof wonky with HDMI still but at least it's now working and I free up a component input. Big difference in sound on my TV, but I'm not noticing too much of a difference in video quality. But at least I know my TV is fine and it was just the cable box.

I'm loving this TV, the black levels when watch Discovery HD were just amazing for an LCD. Also watched Blade 2 and Underworld on TNT HD and blacks levels were very good.

I see from the Costco site that the 40C45U has ATSC and QAM tuners. Any problems picking up clear QAM channels off cable? I'm on Comcast in the Seattle area and am intrigued by this set. Especially since there's a Costco not 5 miles away from me.

I am trying to decide whether to get this Sharp or the Sony KDL-46S2000. How do these compare in terms of PQ alone? I read somewhere that the Sharp has better black levels. Also, I know that its reponse time is faster compared to Sony's. I am inclined to towards getting the sharp but would like your input before i pull the trigger.

My father-in-law got this set two weeks ago. He knows nothing about TVs - I know only what I've learned online. But I'm in control of this sucka, so I'm part-owner. Anyway, I hooked up his DVD player (not sure how good his player is) via component. I put The Incredibles in and did the THX setup. I made some quick adjustments to the video and didn't mess w/ the audio (left it on stereo). On the gray-to-black test it seemed that halfway across the screen all "boxes" were the same color black and I couldn't adjust it any better. I'm glad I did the circle test because it was in side stretch mode which I put back to normal. I then played the movie which I watched once before on my 36" CRT at home and my 27" Maxent LCD (via upconvert DVD). The picture on this was so amazing - better than my TVs by far. Everyone watching was in awe and this is just a regular 480p DVD. Colors popped and black levels were very good. On some dark scenes I could tell it lost some shadow detail but it wasn't bad at all and if I wasn't looking for it, I wouldn't have noticed. There weren't any fast motion issues at all (not sure if DVDs have this on LCDs or not).

He has analog cable because he claims he's waiting for Verizon fiber so I haven't seen any HD material or even DTV. On top of that, he has a horrible cable signal. His last TV had some line that constantly travels up the screen which this one has too. That picture is so horrible. I jacked up noice reduction to combat it but it's still slightly there. Can't wait until he gets fiber or if I can convince him to spend $10 more a month for digital so I can check HD on there. My Maxent does HD very well and I assume this will be better.

When I went into the setup menu for component, I noticed there was an "Advanced" section under the picture section. It would not let me select that for some reason. Anyone else get in there? Anyone know how to get into the service menu?

What have folks done for extended service warranties when buying from Costco?

I like the 40C45U, but would like an extended service warranty just to give me piece of mind for such a purchase.

Are you using third party outfits, etc.?
Thanks,
PJ

I was setting up this set tonight, and am wondering whether I have a defective set. I cannot display any interlaced programming. Whenever I set the cable box (SA8350HD?) to 480i or 480i widescreen, the picture gets severely distorted, zoomed in and way off center to the right and cut off (so only about 60% is visible).

Is this normal? Thanks

Oh yeah, connected via HDMI if that matters.

Hey All,

My wife just picked this set up for our Great Room yesterday at Costco. We're excited about the TV as the image quality and size fits that room perfectly. However, in order to get the most out of our purchase, I was hoping to get some advice on tweaking the parameters to get the best picture. What tweaks to the factory settings did you do in order to get the image "perfect"?

Thanks for the advice.

Hey eawil, I just picked up that set this past Sunday after the recent price drop. Still tweaking and haven't calibrated with Avia yet (need to buy a better DVD player), but here is where I am at:
OPC: on
Contr: 23
Brtns: +4
Clr: +5
Tnt: +1
Shpns: 0
Clr Tmp: Mid-high
Black: Off
Quick Shoot: Off, but helps alot with tickers, scrolling scores at bottom of screen.

Sources are so variable it is hard to figure out a definite mid line without the Avia. Let me know how it goes!

I am on the fence between this set and a plasma. For you LC-40C45U oweners, are there any issues with watching sports shows, like football. I have heard people say that the fast pace does not look good on the LCD tv's. Any input??

This set has a feature called "Quick Shoot" that significantly improves the blur seen on most lcd televisions. I can't see any difference with this feature on or off with static images, but it makes a huge difference with the tickers scrolling across the bottom of the screen. I would imagine then that it yields the same improvement for any type of fast moving video.

I bought this TV about a week ago. I really wanted the quickest (6ms) response time. Watching sports I cannot discern any blurring like on some other LCD TVs I looked at that had slower response times.

Alas it is going back however. My set (hooked to Comcast cable) exhibits enormous red push that is quite variable over different channels. One can minimize by lowering the color setting a lot, but that defeats the color vividness on other channels. The kids and wife are complaining as well - and I can't blame them.

Overall, disappointed in this set.
Back to the drawing boards!
PJ

Did you do any calibration besides lowering the color setting? You'll be returning every TV you get if you expect a perfect picture without investing some time to tweak it. I don't have Avia or DVE yet but I plan to get one. But even using the THX quick tests on regular DVDs helped the picutre quality for me.

gdog, now you have me concerned I have a defective set.
All of the other responses I have received (other threads) said that some sets do not allow interlaced over HDMI, not rare. I just assumed this was one of them.

I have the red push only on certain programs/channels. I'm pretty sure all LCDs do. The picture quality is great on some programming, crappy on others. I attribute it to the source.

The only negative I have on this set so far is the somewhat narrow viewing angle...but again, inherent in lcd.