Sharp Aquos LC-45GD7U 45-Inch HD-Ready LCD Flat Panel TV
Awesome picture, a few minor glitches.
It is not clear if the other reviewer actually owns one of these but I do. <br /> <br />The display is simply awesome.  Everyone's initial reaction who has seen it is to stop in mid stride, say \\"WOW!\\" and stand there with an open mouth. <br /> <br />I do not have satellite or cable, instead get HDTV over-the-air for free.  The performance of the built-in tuner is just fine for me, but then again I live 3 miles from the towers. <br /> <br />I also bought a Sony HX-715 DVR and progressive scan DVD.  This unit will up-convert the source DVD to the native resolution of the monitor and I am using HDMI between the DVD player and the TV.  The DVD outputs 1080i (or so it says) which it has upconverted from the native DVD disk being played. <br /> <br />The resulting picture with a DVD is mind boggling, its hard to believe that you are not watching a native HD signal.  You can see the beard hairs on Clapton's face on the Guitar Festival DVDs. <br /> <br />There are three annoyances I have about this TV and a major gripe about HDTV in general. <br /> <br />1) when the format switches (more about this below), very often there is this little 'click' in the sound.  Sharp should have momentarily muted the audio through this transition.  The first time I heard the sound I though the high voltage was sparking until I thought \\"Doh! There is no high voltage, its an LCD, dummy!\\". <br /> <br />2) the TV \\"remembers\\" the volume between different modes.  Lets say you come down stairs for your morning coffee while the kids are still asleep.  You turn on the TV and turn the sound way down.  During a commercial you decide to flip over to the DVR and see what it recorded last night.  SUDDENLY the sound is now very loud because the TV \\"remembers\\" that the volume for the DVR was set to loud so it \\"does you the favor\\" of returning the volume to its prior level.  This would be fine, but you cannot defeat this, so it turns out to be a problem rather than a solution.  This is even the case if you use the headphone jack.  It remembers the low headphone volume and when you unplug it, ITS NOW LOUD AGAIN. <br /> <br />3) As far as I can tell, standby mode \\"Mode2\\" is just basically hosed.  For kicks (even though it is not really clear what the differences between modes really is...) I tried Mode2 thinking it might use less electricity when \\"off\\".  When I came down the next morning, the download light was stuck on (the download light is when it is receiving TV Guide information) and when I turned the TV on, it had obviously \\"lost its mind\\".  At first I thought that the TV had broken but when I power cycled, all was right.  After an hour on hold on the phone to Sharp customer service they told me to just go back to \\"Mode1\\" and it has been fine ever since. <br /> <br />Now on to HDTV in general.  The broadcast industry just does not have its collective act together.  Some shows are in 16:9 some are legacy 4:3 and they mode switch between them.  For legacy 4:3 source some stations just broadcast black bars on the sides and others fill it in with \\"stuff\\".  Some partially stretch a 4:3 into a 4.5:3 or something like that.  The mode switches are enough to drive you nuts.  You are watching CSI in beautiful 16:9 HD and \\"click\\" bingo, you are looking at a 4:3 commercial.  Its not just that they switch modes, its that it is so jarring and jerky.  Its not like \\"fade to black come up in new mode\\" its just BAM there you are. <br /> <br />ABC did a wonderful job with the Super Bowl.  The image was awesome, the motion compensation was incredible, and there were few technical glitches.  Most of the ads were in HD, so the mode switching was down to a dull roar. <br /> <br />NBC's coverage of the Winter Olympics is the stuff of a High School AV club.  I mean after a while it ceases to be annoying and starts to just be comical in a keystone cops sort of way. <br /> <br />With the opening ceremonies, they had no sound for several minutes.  (Note they had sound on the analog - I checked, just not the digital.)  They will mode switch between 16:9 HD and 4:3 legacy in the middle of the broadcast (like during a downhill race) for no reason, which is even more anoying because they are not on the same time lines. (i.e. there is a good seconds worth of difference in time between digital and analog). <br /> <br />Oh, speaking of time lines, NBC just *cannot* get the lip sync right.  Its usually off, sometimes its *way* *way* off. <br /> <br />Also with the opening ceremonies, the image was dark and this caused a lot of pixel noise.  The encoding and motion tracking was going nuts trying to encode this, so there was extreme blocking.  Guys, guys, guys, buy a clue.  If you are going to look at low light in HD, you need a big camera with a gigantic lens to suck in all of the photons you can.  You cannot compress noise. <br /> <br />Last night and the night before, in the middle of watching the games, the signal JUST DISAPEARED.  Recall that with HD you either are watching TV or you are just watching black, so it doesn't go all snowy or something.  OK, you might be thinking, its my antenna, but recall I'm 3 miles from the transmitter in a straight uninterrupted line, and this has never happened before on any station except NBC and just with the Olympic Games.  When I lost signal I checked the other HD stations and they were fine.  All of the transmitters are in the same place. <br /> <br />For the most part I find that the TV shows that are broadcast in HD look great in that format.  (However, it *does* tend to \\"age\\" the actors as now you can actually SEE all of the crows feet.  But I am no spring chicken myself so I can't be too critical...) <br /> <br />This TV does a great job turning \\"ordinary\\" 4:3 legacy signals into a very viewable experience, so watching \\"analog\\" TV is quite a step up from what I was used to.  There is some kind of processing that goes on because when you tune in an analog signal it takes a second and suddenly becomes much sharper and defect free. <br /> <br />Remember if you buy this that it will only be as good as the source material, so understand that the real limit is the Cable or satellite signal (most of which are *not* HD - ever) or NBC's bungling attempt at the Winter Games.