Is it worth it? Sharp Aquos 42" 120Hz

[Phanman]

Im thinking of purchasing this TV tonight as its on sale for only $1200.

http://www.futureshop.ca/marketing/cas0209/default.asp?logon=&langid=EN&CMP=EMC-email_special_promo

Question for you folks is the contrast ratio even worth buying it?

Dynamic Contrast Ratio 10,000:1
True Contrast Ratio 2,000:1

It is a 120Hz and the sumsungs I see look amazing at this refresh rate.

[Jack]

A friend of mine has one and it's my favorite flatscreen tv. The picture is great.

[Powertec]

This has got to be the best T.V i have ever had. I did my research on them and went through a couple other brands before it. I will be buying another one for our bedroom that how happy i am with it.
And honestly for that price you can't go wrong. I paid more than double that for mine.

[Phanman]

Oh great, thx for the responses guys. Looks like im going home with a new TV. I just wasnt sure cause of the contrast ratio being so low.

Man i just bought a MP40 last night too :cry: bank account is running dry with all these splurging, lol.

[mark]

Can't say I've seen problems when viewing a 120hz display but seems here (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=98415)and here (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=94184), plus on other sites some people do figure the image looks false.

Rules bug me a bit on DigitalHome but their LCD Forum (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=154) might also be helpful

[Phanman]

Thx for the links Mark, ill take a look.

[purplepolypeater]

i have always stuck with samsung but sony is very good as well.
i dont know how sony is with warranty services but samsung will come to your house if there is a problem and fix it right there in a few minutes. plus they are usually a little cheaper for same quality IMO means more coral :biggrin:

[Chaloupa]

My Mom and one of my best friends have this TV, my Mom's is a bit smaller and my friends is quite LARGE. It's AMAZING!!!! For $1200.00 that is a smokin deal! This will be my next TV that's for sure!!

[Jason McK]

I just got the 46" and love it. Contrast ratio is a mith. Kind of like watts/Gallon It doesn't really tell you anything. 120hz is the more important figure.

J

[RSM]

I have heard that the aquos line had alot of problems with there picture tubes last year. Im sure they have fixed the problem by now.

[phreezee]

I cross shopped the Sharps after hearing all the praise from others, and honestly I wasn't at all impressed with them. I much prefer the Samsung LCD's over the Sharps. Also 120Hz is best if you watch a lot of sports, but for movies 60Hz is still best.

[whiteice669]

I have the 42" d64 slim line and just love it

[Phanman]

So after going there last night I was very unimpressed at the picture quality. The picture looked pretty grainy, and sitting there beside non 120hz tv's the picture was just not up to par which is weird. Ive always wanted the samsung 6 or 7 series so I think ill save up abit more and get that.

Pretty disappointing...

[mseepman]

I've never been a friend of the Sharp series. If you ask some of the more experience Futureshop guys they'll tell you nothing in the store beats their 7 series Samsungs.

[Dobber]

don't watch TV watch a gorgeous reef tank

[Phanman]

don't watch TV watch a gorgeous reef tank

Cant I have both :biggrin:

Yea have always loved the 7 series samsung. Now if I only had money for the 9 series, lol.

[Whatigot]

sharp is one of the most innovative companies when it comes to LCD.
they damn near invented them.
One of the first companies to incorporate it into a home entertainment application and THE first to commercially produce an LCD (remember those blue lit calculators?)

I'd buy one of the aquos in a second, especially the 120hz ones.
You cannot get a good feel for tv to tv comparison unless they are dialed in the exact same way and operating off the exact same feed, even then different tvs will display differently which is not indicative of quality.

I worked at soundsaround in Calgary for 2 years, so I do have some general knowledge of what we tell you to buy certain things.
Future shop might not get commision, but believe me, the reps wil motivate with hockey tickets, free merchandise and the like for selling more of their units.

NEVER believe a salesman, no matter how much you like what they have to say.
Trust me, we're all crooks.

[BlueAbyss]

I'd buy one of the aquos in a second, especially the 120hz ones.
You cannot get a good feel for tv to tv comparison unless they are dialed in the exact same way and operating off the exact same feed, even then different tvs will display differently which is not indicative of quality.


NEVER believe a salesman, no matter how much you like what they have to say.
Trust me, we're all crooks.

+1 to both of these...

Your best bet would be to find a store that sells Sharp, Panasonic, and Samsung and compare similar models. Find one with a picture you like or features you like, and buy that one.

Contrast ratio isn't really a 'myth' as such but is overused as a rating of how bright the picture is. The contrast ratio isn't really how bright the image is, it's the difference between the brightest white and the darkest black... And there is no true black on LCD screens, because even when all the pixels are dark some light leaks through. Specially if you are at an angle to the screen...

I personally would look for one with really REALLY dark blacks, and with minimal colour shifting when viewed at an angle. LCDs are quirky that way, because of the tiny moving crystals in the display... Can't wait for OLEDs to take over in a couple years. Maybe :lol:

[Whatigot]

yeah, it's 100% personal opinion.
Don't let brand or price point dictate what appeals to your eye.
you have different eyes than the salesman, and will probably use your tv differently from him, so wtf does he/she know?

[Phanman]

You cannot get a good feel for tv to tv comparison unless they are dialed in the exact same way and operating off the exact same feed, even then different tvs will display differently which is not indicative of quality.

NEVER believe a salesman, no matter how much you like what they have to say.
Trust me, we're all crooks.

Well I would assume its getting the same feed since all the TVs on display are showing the same picture. Or at least the same row of TV's should be getting the same feed.

You should of heard the sales guy pitch for it and how he excused why the picture quality was so grainy? He asked me to stand back 10 feet and then said it looks much better from this point. Of course you cant see the grains from that distance but it shouldnt be like that anyways. I can stand 2 feet from from the samsung 7 series and see no pixelation on it.

Anyways Im sure this TV is pretty good, but after looking at the samsung series there is no compairson in my mind.

[Whatigot]

Well I would assume its getting the same feed since all the TVs on display are showing the same picture. Or at least the same row of TV's should be getting the same feed.

You should of heard the sales guy pitch for it and how he excused why the picture quality was so grainy? He asked me to stand back 10 feet and then said it looks much better from this point. Of course you cant see the grains from that distance but it shouldnt be like that anyways. I can stand 2 feet from from the samsung 7 series and see no pixelation on it.

Anyways Im sure this TV is pretty good, but after looking at the samsung series there is no compairson in my mind.

You will see that some tvs in the same row are spliced 10 - 15 times and some only 1 or 2.
Never assume, thats what they want you to do.

[Jason McK]

Sorry for some reason I thought this was about the Sony. I do not have a Sharp but the Sony Bravia

[Phanman]

You will see that some tvs in the same row are spliced 10 - 15 times and some only 1 or 2.
Never assume, thats what they want you to do.

Good point, but that would be pretty silly to splice it 20 ways and have it sit beside cheaper tv's thats only split 1 or 2 ways that look better.

I dunno, going with the sumsung either way thou. Just got to save up abit more cash.

[VFX]

A good way to audition the units you're interested in, is side by side in a separate auditioning room using the same set of sources.

I did this & ended up choosing the Sharp.

I tried Blu-Ray, Shaw HD & SD DVD sources to make my comparisons & viewed the displays with high & low ambient light conditions.

Sharp's colours were not as natural as the Samsung's but the depth of blacks & the overall sharpness won me over.

The Samsung was slightly better in high ambient light conditions.

The big box stores refused to let me audition the units like this but I found a Visions dealer wiling to set it up for me & also willing to match any locally advertised price.

.

[Phanman]

I was going to say who would actually let you do that, but thats pretty nice of visions to haul around TV's and set them up so you can do a comparison.

[VFX]

I was going to say who would actually let you do that, but thats pretty nice of visions to haul around TV's and set them up so you can do a comparison.

They helped me to shortlist 3 sets & hooked it up in one of their rooms for me.

The room had a Bravia hooked up so moving 2 displays from the showroom wasn't too much hassle & I did drop a couple of thousand on a HT system with them previously.

It helps the customer that times are hard I guess...

.

[Tarolisol]

I love my samsung 52" series 6. Wouldnt trade it for any other tv reported to be in the same category. Plus samsung warrenty is great, I had hard wood installers bang a board into the tv and ruin some pixels and all i did was send a picture of the problem and model numbers to a repair store they ordered the pasrt came to my house and fixed it in 30min in my living room.(wholy run on sentance batman)

[StirCrazy]

on the ship I bought the 52" 120hrz and the 42" 120hrz sharps, and we have a 40" samsung. I will take the sharp over the samsung anyday, and as a rule I stay away from the overpriced sony.. although my wife did buy me a soney Blue ray, which is good, but less features than a lower priced panasonic unit. but now I have to admidt I do one one sony product :twised:

Steve

[Tarolisol]

on the ship I bought the 52" 120hrz and the 42" 120hrz sharps, and we have a 40" samsung. I will take the sharp over the samsung anyday, and as a rule I stay away from the overpriced sony.. although my wife did buy me a soney Blue ray, which is good, but less features than a lower priced panasonic unit. but now I have to admidt I do one one sony product :twised:

Steve

I would never skimp on a blu-ray player, its all about start up times. Some of the cheaper ones can take up to 3 minutes to turn on.

[StirCrazy]

I would never skimp on a blu-ray player, its all about start up times. Some of the cheaper ones can take up to 3 minutes to turn on.

enought time to go to the bathroom then :mrgreen: there are a lot of blueray players out there with higher ratings than the sony, but I think its ok, little choked it won't play mp3's though...

Steve

[mark]

, little choked it won't play mp3's though...

Steve
please say it's not the 350