Sharp LC-45GX6U 45-Inch AQUOS LCD Flat Panel HD-Ready TV
With a couple of tricks, the last TV you'll buy for years
The 45\\" Sharp LC-45GX6U is a spectacular LCD HDTV monitor, with superb picture quality that stands up to anything currently on the market.  It's unfortunate that it requires an unsupported workaround to display 1920x1080p signals, but at least it does so relatively easily (unlike its twins the GD4U and GD6U).  As such, despite misgivings about a bulky separate tuner and the cost of a workaround, this is basically the best LCD on the market and deserves 5 stars.    LCDs and plasma each have their own camps; plasma offers better blacks and brighter pictures, where LCDs are easier to break in, have longer lives with a fairly simple repair, and don't wash out in the sunlight. (You need to watch for yourself to make up your own mind.) What's also neat is that (unlike plasma) there are now several LCDs that have reached the limits of HDTV broadcasts with 1920x1080 resolution.  There are more coming in the next few months (at presumably lower prices), but for now the three 45\\" Sharp 1920x1080 LCDs are tied with Samsung for the best native resolution and offer better picture quality comparable to the best plasmas. The difference between the models is minor. The GD4U has detachable side speakers and is silver, the GD6U has a detachable bottom speaker and is titanium, and the GX6U's tuner and scaler are in a standalone box (the GD4U and GD6U have an integrated one) and is also titanium with a detachable bottom speaker. I personally prefer the titanium look and the bottom speaker, although with the significant price difference between the GD4U and other units you might as well ditch the side speakers and buy your own center channel speaker. It surely will do better than the native 10 watts.    Picture quality is nothing short of spectacular. The blacks rival plasmas, there's no noticeable streaking, and you pretty much can't complain about how this treats any HDTV signal. There still aren't a lot of 1920x1080i HD signals out there (in fact, DirecTV and others just disappointingly cut their signals to 1280x1080i), but those that are display nicely and the 720p signals look good too. (For those slightly confused, HD transmits either in 720p (720 horizontal lines non interlaced) or 1080i (1080 lines interlaced)). One added benefit is that the hardware actually does a good job upscaling both standard broadcasts (480i) and DVDs (480p) to make them look decent. Can't argue with that, although you can tell the difference between the quality of this TV's integrated upscaling versus that of a separate $1000 high end scaler like the DVDO Iscan. Several other features are also useful. CableCARD is not only a good cheap second tuner (most cable companies won't charge you a monthly fee with it) but picture quality with the CableCard is noticably superior to that of a cable box.  (I do hope this will be compatible with the next generation CableCARD, as this version doesn't support sending a signal back to the cable company, which means you can't buy PPV with it). This is also one of the few tuners whose Firewire connection works out of the box with the JVC DVHS VCRs - important as this will save you immense amounts of pain trying to save digital recordings.  (Timeshifting is another matter as Sharp skimped on a program timer, but there are current workarounds and HD Tivo will be out in a year anyway.) Essentially, for anything you want to watch today this is about as good a toy as you can get.    The issue with these monitors, though, is that Sharp decided that the best you should be able to do with their hardware is to display a 1080i signal. That's fine for today, but the problem is that within a year there should in fact be numerous 1080p sources (in fact, there were several displayed at CES this year) and what's worse is Sharp is somewhat guilty of false advertising as the units are still advertised on Sharp's website as 1080p. In addition, if you're trying to hook up a PC to this the best the tuner will let you display is 1280x1024 resolution - an issue for those with HTPCs.  To some extent this is a moot point - the competition is stuck at 1364x768, and it may be hard to tell 1080i from 1080p on a monitor as small as 45\\" - but there's really no excuse for a monitor that can display 1080p but won't because Sharp wanted to save $100 on hardware.    The good news is that this unit will happily display 1080p resolutions through the monitor's DVI input...but only if you disconnect the tuner and put your own source in. As a workaround its simple, but also requires a separate $250 DVI switcher if you don't want to constantly connect and disconnect.  Unfortunately, Sharp has indicated that market research has indicated customers don't want a separate tuner, so all future LCDs will have an integrated one and the GX-series is being phased out.  This presents real problems going forward unless they implement a fix, but is why you should grab a GX6U while it's still available.  I'd personally prefer an integrated tuner as the AVC (tuner) unit isn't particularly pretty with a card slot in front and doesn't match the rest of my black components, but given the choice between 1080i and 1080p, I'll take the latter every day.    I don't like the one year warranty on these, but problems with these monitors have been significantly less than plasma units.    While ridiculously expensive, this also has the potential of being a TV you won't need to replace for many, many years.  Unlike plasma, when you hit 60000 hours on this and the screen starts dimming, just swap out your backlight and you have a new unit.  Unlike the GD4U and GD6U, when Blu-ray and HD-DVD roll out just plug them into the DVI port and you're good to go at 1080p.  It's strange to think that Sharp's later generation models (this was their first 45\\" TV) don't have the same functionality as their first, but I guess that's why you need to do research before buying.  It's tough to decide if you should wait for prices to come down or buy this now given the risk thatthis product line gets eliminated.  In any case, the best game in town.