Andrew Robinson began his career as an art director in entertainment advertising in 2003, after graduating from Art Center College of Design. In 2006, he became a creative director at Crew Creative Advertising, and oversaw the agency's Television Division, where he worked for clients such as TNT, TBS, History, FX, and Bravo to name a few. He now has one of the most popular AV-related channels on YouTube.
Electronics manufacturer Sharp sits atop the my HDTV is bigger than your HDTV mountain, offering a 70-inch LED LCD HDTV. However, not everyone has the means or the space to accommodate such a gargantuan display, for 70-inches equals over five feet of HDTV goodness - that's a lot. For the rest of us, thankfully, Sharp offers a few more manageable LED based HDTVs such as the LC-60LE831U (LC-60) reviewed here. The LC-60 retails for $2,099.99 and is a 60-inch, edge lit, LED LCD HDTV featuring Sharp's own Quattron technology.
Additional Resources
• Read more LED HDTV reviews from Home Theater Review's staff.
• Find a Blu-ray player to pair with the LC-60LE831U LED HDTV.
• Explore soundbar options in our Soundbar Review section.
The LC-60 measures 55 inches wide by 33 inches tall and just under two inches deep without its included stand and 15 inches deep including the stand. The LC-60 weighs a surprising 68 pounds without its stand and 83 pounds with. I say surprising because many LED based HDTVs nowadays are not only razor thin but also ultra light. The LC-60 has four HDMI inputs (non 3D) as well as one HD component input, a composite input, two analog audio inputs, a PC input, RS-232 input and Ethernet port. The LC-60 also has built-in Wi-Fi so you can connect it to your home network without having to hardwire it through its Ethernet port if you wish. The LC-60's Internet connectivity not only aides in software updates but also allows for the streaming of content from the included Apps from Netflix, Vudu, CinemaNow, Blockbuster, Alphaline Entertainment and Napster.
Behind the scenes, the LC-60 boasts a native resolution of 1920x1080 or 1080p using Sharp's X-Gen LCD panel technology which includes Quattron, meaning it adds yellow into the RGB mix for better color fidelity. Unlike its 70-inch sibling, the LC-60 utilizes LED edge lighting versus a full LED panel array. The LC-60 has a reported contrast ration of five million to one (dynamic) and boasts a response time of four milliseconds with a refresh rate of 120Hz.
From a performance standpoint the LC-60 is a nice all around display for the money. Its visual presentation doesn't bowl you over necessarily though it's never disappointing. Those of you with a large DVD collection will be pleased to know that the LC-60 does an excellent job presenting SD material even though it's a LED based HDTV, which sometimes is the kiss of death for a lot of SD content. SD tests such as The Rock (Criterion) on DVD showcased the LC-60's solid black levels and rich, warm colors, not to mention smooth motion and solid detail throughout. Though the LC-60 really begins to hit its stride when fed a steady diet of Blu-ray discs such as James Cameron's Avatar (20th Century Fox) or even David Fincher's Zodiac (Paramount). Both films showcase the LC-60's ability to render colors faithfully and brilliantly, whether those colors are the vibrant blues of Pandora or the earth tones of 1970's San Francisco. Regardless of the source material, the LC-60's motion is largely smooth and artifact free and its noise level is kept to a minimum despite its large screen size - this of course aids in the LC-60's overall rendering of detail and edge fidelity which is also quite good. I was pleased to find that the LC-60's edge lighting wasn't as apparent as most, resulting in nearly perfect uniform backlighting.
Read about the high points and the low points of the Sharp LC-60LE831U on Page 2.
High Points
• The LC-60 is one of the more affordable 60-inch LED HDTVs you can currently buy.
• The LC-60 performance is surprisingly good, possessing rich, natural
colors with solid black levels coupled with near uniform backlighting
-something few edge lit LED displays can claim.
• The LC-60 is one of the few edge lit LED HDTVs that I've come across
that doesn't outright butcher SD content, good news for those of you
still rocking large DVD libraries.
• The LC-60's ability to connect to one's home network wirelessly is a
huge advantage, allowing for streaming content to be enjoyed that much
easier.
• The LC-60 comes pre-installed with enough basic Apps such as Netflix,
Vudu, CinemaNow and more to keep you in entertainment heaven for a
long, long time.
Low Points
• The LC-60's build quality isn't exactly class leading and no doubt a
reason for its roughly $2,000 asking price. Thankfully, the LC-60's
build quality isn't reflected in its performance, which is otherwise
very good.
• The LC-60 is not 3D compatible, which may or may not be a deal
breaker for some of you - I know it isn't for me.
• While I appreciate the included Apps that come with the LC-60, there
doesn't seem to be a way to add more. Furthermore, the Apps that are
provided are rather basic when you consider that companies like Vizio
and Samsung will let you tweet, Facebook and stream content all at the
same time.
• The LC-60's on-screen menus are atrocious and not very intuitive, making tasks such as image calibration a bit of a chore.
Competition and Comparison
There are a number of 55 to 60-inch LED HDTVs out there today and a few
that come to mind as possible competitors for the Sharp LC-60 are:
Toshiba's 55WX800U, Samsung's UN65C6500 and Vizio's Edge LitRazor Series displays. All of the above mentioned HDTVs retail for around the same price as
the Sharp LC-60 and feature similar if not identical specs in most
cases. With regards to the Toshiba it offers 3D capability whereas the
others, including the Sharp, do not.
For more information on HDTVs including the latest news and reviews
please check out Home Theater Review's LED and LCD HDTV Review page.
Conclusion
For a little over $2,000 retail, Sharp's 60-inch LED HDTV, the LC-60,
is worthy of your consideration. While it doesn't necessarily "win" any
particular category in terms of its performance, it's far from the
worst. While it's clear to see where Sharp may have cut corners to save
a buck or two, none of that really impedes upon what matters most and
that's the LC-60's overall image quality, which is, overall, quite
good.
Additional Resources
• Read more LED HDTV reviews from Home Theater Review's staff.
• Find a Blu-ray player to pair with the LC-60LE831U LED HDTV.
• Explore soundbar options in our Soundbar Review section.
