From time to time we like to run down to our local Best Buy and see what they have in their Magnolia Home Center. This weekend we saw the 65 inch LCD from Sharp (LC-65D93U) that just grabbed our attention and said take a look at me.
Sharp Aquos LC-65D93U - MSRP $9,999 Street $8995 (
Buy Now)
Actually the price grabbed out attention more. It goes for $10k at the store but can be found online for $8995. This is an in-store impression. As such we did not have the full opportunity to put this TV through its paces but armed with both HD DVDs and Blu Ray discs we were ready to take a deeper look than most. We also would like to thank the people at BestBuy. They are always so helpful and patient with us when we show up.
The LC-65D93U features:
- Full 1080p resolution
- 120 Hz refresh rate
- 3,000:1 Contrast Ratio
- 4 ms response time
- 3 HDMI inputs
- 5-Wavelength Backlight System for extended color range
The first thing we did was try to do a basic calibration. By no means was this what we would consider "calibrated" but it was greatly improved when compared to the default settings. The TV has many options for calibration and we were able to use just a few of them. We liked the OPC option which automatically adjusts the backlight brightness to match the surroundings. The TV will even tell you when its doing this so you determine if its improving you TV viewing experience. Beyond the typical settings of Contrast, Color, Brightness, Tint, and Sharpness, you can also set advanced picture settings to dial the TV in. These settings include:
- Color Temperature
- Black - a setting that adjusts the dark portion of the screen for more detail on dark screens.
- Fine Motion - used to create a clearer image in fast motion content
- Other film mode processing adjustments
The display had the Toshiba HD-A20 HD DVD player connected to it so we popped in our copy of King Kong and were promptly blown away! HD looks beautiful on this TV in general but sports looks fantastic. The 120Hz refresh rate really makes a difference. We also like how standard definition looked. But we still preferred having the STB do the upconversion to 1080p. Dark Scenes were not a problem with this TV. Skin tones looked good and off angle viewing was very good. Much better than typical LCDs. Blacks were good but not as black as plasma, DLP, or LCoS. Overall we felt that the TV was a good 65 inch HDTV.
The only thing we had issues with was the price. At $9000 its quite a bit to spend on a 65 inch TV. If you have the space you may want to consider a DLP or LCoS rear projection TV. So then who is this TV for? If you have to hang a very large screen TV on the wall this TV is the way to go. The TV weighs about 100 pounds (45 KG) less than a plasma of the same size so it makes it a bit easier for wall mounting.
