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Sharp Aquos D83 Series


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Hi Mosquito,

I did a s--t load of research and looking at forums and it just makes you more confused then ever.

I started looking at plasmas but there is not alot of choices in the plasma tv's and the only ones i liked were the pio and fuji but were a bit pricey and while the pio was good it didn't exactly blow me away every time i saw it and the 50" was too big and the 42 a bit small so then i started looking at 46" LCD's and i was looking at sony x series and philips 47".

The sony looked sharp but with movement i could see it did struggle a bit and i did like the philips very much and the free tv was very tempting i must say.

Then I went to a specialist audio/hi fi place and i was chatting to the guy and he said I should look at the new sharp 83 series even though his shop does not sell them but he said they are trying to get sharp to allow them to sell them.

I had never even considered sharp and i could not find any reviews on the 83 as they are a fairly new model but i found a review on c.net.com.au and they reviewed the previous model for some strange reason but they said it was the best lcd on the market.

So i finally found them at a few harvey normans and a clive peters near me and the first thing i noticed was how natural the picture looked and how well it handled motion.

I have been watching cricket and tennis and they both look fantastic.

The sharp has all the latest features that the others do such as 4ms refresh,100-120hz,noise reduction,motion handling ,3 hdmi and 2 component which the philips only has 1 component and i need 2.

The panel comes out of there new plant in japan and they supply panels to loewe who make a high end lcd for about 10,000 so i guess if the panels were crap they would not use them.

Most companies share panels now-sony/samsung. LG and philps.

3 year warranty is good to.

Also in my opinion it is a good looking panel which is very slim and has thin edges.

I mounted it on the wall and connected it to my bose 321 and i am very happy with it.

Even some of the foxtel channels look good(some not so good though).

Standard def on tv looks excellent and hd10,hd9 look sensational.

I watched million dollar baby last night on HD9 and it looked really good.

At the end of the day if you choose the philips or the sharp you will be happy i think.

I have found 1 dead red pixel on mine and i rang HN Knox and I didn't expect anything but they said no problem we will order in another one and swap it over or they said i could swap it for another brand but i will stick with the sharp.

My wife thinks i am mad for swapping it as you cant even notice the pixel unless you are pretty close and there is a light background but because i know where it is on the screen i know it will s--t me every time i look at the tv and i will be trying to see if i can see it.

The price i got it for was very good to and that was a bit of a factor to as i got it for 3160.00 and the next best price i could get was 3500.00 and the philips was around the 3500.00 mark to.

But all of this is just my opinion and i bet many will disagree anyway so the best thing to do is just look at them and let your eyes be the judge.

Hope this helps you a bit.

p.s are you in melb?

Thanks for youre reply Goldy, and no i am from Perth. Looks like i will have to check the sharp units out. Personally i am just trying to find a tv that will satisfy my pleasure for watching sports for the next 7 to 8 yrs so i will check them out, but i am hoping that these dead pixel posts are from a minority and not a majority.

cheers.

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Owners of the Sharp 46D83X.

Your opinion on this TV would be appreciated.

...and what is the price paid for it.

Thanks.

Hi Guys - Long time listener; First time caller...

Just got new Sharp 46D83X up and running over weekend. Finally upgraded from old CRT and was a toss up between this and Sony XBR. Choose this due to 4ms response as opposed to 8ms and more inputs (including PC), although both looked very similar in store. Bought for $3500 down from $4800 from HN as bought 360, PS3 and Philips HTS 8900w with it on 2 years interest free.

The verdict:

TENHD - Very Very Good

Foxtel IQ - Using composite cable only, it looks very dissappointing. Looks almost blurry and on Foxtel menu it goes very pixellated around lines initially when changing screen/scrolling etc and then becomes sharp. Not sure if going component would make alot of difference here. Could someone please advise?

Blueray - Unbelievable! Very nice.

So, unless anyone can advise about special settings for watching SD on a 46" HD LCD that I don't know about, I can say that I am dissapointed with SD on this (my friend's 2 yr old LG plasma does it better) but watching HD & Bluray is truely special.

Seeing I watch Foxtel 80-90% of the time, could someone please advise how much difference Component would make or other ways to imrove PQ.

Thanks.

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Seeing I watch Foxtel 80-90% of the time, could someone please advise how much difference Component would make or other ways to imrove PQ.

You should at least connect Foxtel via s-video or component. There's not much difference between the two imo. Composite connection is blurry on my 2yr old Sharp LCD especially during camera pans in sporting matches. Your Sharp model should have a very good scaler in it, so hopefully it can clean up Foxtel's low bitrate material but you need a good connection to get the best out of the scaler.

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Just thought I'd share my Sharp Aquos experience.

I bought my first LCD set yesterday at CP. On a slow Sunday they accepted $3,550 for a LC46D83X + BD-HP20X. With 'Aquos Link' this means you only need the one remote. You will however need to purchase an HDMI cable as this isn't included with the BD player.

Set up was relatively straight forward - pretty much plug and play. After the initial auto installation I did find it useful to go and do a manual adjustment which allows you to skip many of the channels on both the remote and the Electronic Program Guide. I just left all the HD channels + SBS 2, SBS News and ABC 2. Does anyone know if there is any reason to keep the SD FTA channels as well? I did notice that although the picture was about the same, the sound was better on the HD channels through the TV with the Audio Surround on (I don't have a Home Theatre setup).

Many have complained about Foxtel picture quality, but I found that with a SCART to Component cable and prior setting the Foxtel picture setting in Setup to YUV most channels look about the same as they did on my old set. FTA channels viewed through the TV do however look significantly better than when viewed through the Foxtel IQ box. I guess we just have to put up with this until they move to HD later in the year.

I am interested in sharing any other set up 'tweaks' that others have found helpful. For example, does supplying electric power to the antenna (which is an initial set up option on the set) actually makes any difference? I found the manual picture settings quite straightforward but the Advanced picture settings very helpful. I have Colour Temp on 'mid-high', Fine Motion Advanced 'on', Film Mode 'standard', Range of OPC 'max +16', 'min -16' as my set is in a family room with glass on 3 sides. My other audio settings are: Output Volume Select 'Fixed' but not sure what this does, Automatic Volume Adjustment 'on', Clear Voice 'on' and Digital Audio Output 'PCM' (probably should be 'Dolby Digital' if you have Home Theatre).

Overall, my experience has been a very positive one. I am very happy with the both the look of the set and the picture and sound quality. Although very vivid, the colours are quite natural. Motion seems to be handled well in the main with the 100Hz set. I would say that from a viewing distance of 4m, a 46inch set does seem a bit imposing, and that a 42in would have probably been more than adequate, but this might just be 'culture shock' as the old set was a 26in 4:3 CRT! Having said that it is worth noting that the 46in Bravia X and XBR are substantially larger in all dimensions than the Sharp.

Overall, I think that this is a great LCD at the price and one that would be hard to beat in value for money terms.

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You should at least connect Foxtel via s-video or component. There's not much difference between the two imo. Composite connection is blurry on my 2yr old Sharp LCD especially during camera pans in sporting matches. Your Sharp model should have a very good scaler in it, so hopefully it can clean up Foxtel's low bitrate material but you need a good connection to get the best out of the scaler.

Agreed, s-video will get you most of the way there for SD sources. It's hard to tell the difference between s-video and component if they're not side by side. The colours on component seem better but I don't think there is much in it for clarity, especially given the source.

Rob

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Just thought I'd share my Sharp Aquos experience.

I bought my first LCD set yesterday at CP. On a slow Sunday they accepted $3,550 for a LC46D83X + BD-HP20X. With 'Aquos Link' this means you only need the one remote. You will however need to purchase an HDMI cable as this isn't included with the BD player.

Set up was relatively straight forward - pretty much plug and play. After the initial auto installation I did find it useful to go and do a manual adjustment which allows you to skip many of the channels on both the remote and the Electronic Program Guide. I just left all the HD channels + SBS 2, SBS News and ABC 2. Does anyone know if there is any reason to keep the SD FTA channels as well? I did notice that although the picture was about the same, the sound was better on the HD channels through the TV with the Audio Surround on (I don't have a Home Theatre setup).

Many have complained about Foxtel picture quality, but I found that with a SCART to Component cable and prior setting the Foxtel picture setting in Setup to YUV most channels look about the same as they did on my old set. FTA channels viewed through the TV do however look significantly better than when viewed through the Foxtel IQ box. I guess we just have to put up with this until they move to HD later in the year.

I am interested in sharing any other set up 'tweaks' that others have found helpful. For example, does supplying electric power to the antenna (which is an initial set up option on the set) actually makes any difference? I found the manual picture settings quite straightforward but the Advanced picture settings very helpful. I have Colour Temp on 'mid-high', Fine Motion Advanced 'on', Film Mode 'standard', Range of OPC 'max +16', 'min -16' as my set is in a family room with glass on 3 sides. My other audio settings are: Output Volume Select 'Fixed' but not sure what this does, Automatic Volume Adjustment 'on', Clear Voice 'on' and Digital Audio Output 'PCM' (probably should be 'Dolby Digital' if you have Home Theatre).

Overall, my experience has been a very positive one. I am very happy with the both the look of the set and the picture and sound quality. Although very vivid, the colours are quite natural. Motion seems to be handled well in the main with the 100Hz set. I would say that from a viewing distance of 4m, a 46inch set does seem a bit imposing, and that a 42in would have probably been more than adequate, but this might just be 'culture shock' as the old set was a 26in 4:3 CRT! Having said that it is worth noting that the 46in Bravia X and XBR are substantially larger in all dimensions than the Sharp.

Overall, I think that this is a great LCD at the price and one that would be hard to beat in value for money terms.

What does film mode do?

My settings are very similiar to yours and i turned the sharpness up a bit.

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Hi Guys - Long time listener; First time caller...

Just got new Sharp 46D83X up and running over weekend. Finally upgraded from old CRT and was a toss up between this and Sony XBR. Choose this due to 4ms response as opposed to 8ms and more inputs (including PC), although both looked very similar in store. Bought for $3500 down from $4800 from HN as bought 360, PS3 and Philips HTS 8900w with it on 2 years interest free.

The verdict:

TENHD - Very Very Good

Foxtel IQ - Using composite cable only, it looks very dissappointing. Looks almost blurry and on Foxtel menu it goes very pixellated around lines initially when changing screen/scrolling etc and then becomes sharp. Not sure if going component would make alot of difference here. Could someone please advise?

Blueray - Unbelievable! Very nice.

So, unless anyone can advise about special settings for watching SD on a 46" HD LCD that I don't know about, I can say that I am dissapointed with SD on this (my friend's 2 yr old LG plasma does it better) but watching HD & Bluray is truely special.

Seeing I watch Foxtel 80-90% of the time, could someone please advise how much difference Component would make or other ways to imrove PQ.

Thanks.

HI there,

I use scart to component and some channels come up pretty well and some are a bit average.

Do you have cable foxtel or dish?

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Yesterday in at Good Guys was watching the tennis and both the 42" and 46" Sharp D83X showed the Triple Ball Effect when the player was bouncing the ball before serving. The Sony Bravia and Panasonic PZ700A did not do this. Don't know if it was the setting that Good Guys used on the Sharps but it looked a bit weird. Has anyone else seen this and does it occur frequently eg also with other sports. I'm still considering buying the D83X as i might be able to eliminate the TBE by turning off the Fine Motion Advanced Imaging.

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HI there,

I use scart to component and some channels come up pretty well and some are a bit average.

Do you have cable foxtel or dish?

I have foxtel IQ Cable. Also to previous post - I watched the tennis on my 46d83x and there was quite a bit of trailing and pixilated sections. Unless I find a fix I guess it will be the old CRT faithfull for sport and only use HD LCD for HD content. Unless any other user has a fix.

Just read Foxtel website about their upcoming HD release. What a joke. ONLY 4 CHANNELS?!?!?! May get HDMI in new STB though.

Am buying scart to component cable tomorrow. Will see if SD Sport becomes bearable.

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I have foxtel IQ Cable. Also to previous post - I watched the tennis on my 46d83x and there was quite a bit of trailing and pixilated sections. Unless I find a fix I guess it will be the old CRT faithfull for sport and only use HD LCD for HD content. Unless any other user has a fix.

Just read Foxtel website about their upcoming HD release. What a joke. ONLY 4 CHANNELS?!?!?! May get HDMI in new STB though.

Am buying scart to component cable tomorrow. Will see if SD Sport becomes bearable.

i have been watching the tennis and it has been perfect on hd7 and the cricket on hd9 and also excellent.

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has anyone compared the philips 47pfl9632d to the sharp 4683x i live in tassie and there are no philips 47 here yet would be interested to see what people have to say on these two

prices on the sharp here are around $4000 for sharp do you think thats a little high

thanks jamie

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I have foxtel IQ Cable. Also to previous post - I watched the tennis on my 46d83x and there was quite a bit of trailing and pixilated sections. Unless I find a fix I guess it will be the old CRT faithfull for sport and only use HD LCD for HD content. Unless any other user has a fix.

Just read Foxtel website about their upcoming HD release. What a joke. ONLY 4 CHANNELS?!?!?! May get HDMI in new STB though.

Am buying scart to component cable tomorrow. Will see if SD Sport becomes bearable.

Most sets come with noise reduction on by default even on the internal digital tuner. Number one cause for trailing. When you describe pixilated sections, are you talking about mpeg compression blocks, or is it receptions issues?

Bad picture sources are a lot more obvious on bigger tv's.

Rob

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What does film mode do?

My settings are very similiar to yours and i turned the sharpness up a bit.

I think it is for sources where they convert 24fps (24 frames) to 60i (60 fields) ie US NTSC format. So if you have a US DVD movie it will reconstruct the original 24 frames as it was original made. Since the new tv's can do 24p it probably then displays it natively like the movies. As for my 2004 32" Sharp it has film mode but no idea what it does once it reconstructs the 24 frames since my tv does 50hz or 60hz. It does 72hz pc input so maybe it can do it but I don't have any NTSC discs so I'll never know!

This won't work for NTSC sources that were filmed with 60i cameras, which is pretty much everything but movies...not sure about newer stuff though...

Rob

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Most sets come with noise reduction on by default even on the internal digital tuner. Number one cause for trailing. When you describe pixilated sections, are you talking about mpeg compression blocks, or is it receptions issues?

Bad picture sources are a lot more obvious on bigger tv's.

Rob

Thanks mate - I fine tuned channel 7 and now the tennis isn't too bad at all. I had noise reduction turned off anyway. Now it's foxtel which is the only thing that is really bad. Hopefully this will be imroved when I go component tomorrow.

Thanks for your help.

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Yesterday in at Good Guys was watching the tennis and both the 42" and 46" Sharp D83X showed the Triple Ball Effect when the player was bouncing the ball before serving. The Sony Bravia and Panasonic PZ700A did not do this. Don't know if it was the setting that Good Guys used on the Sharps but it looked a bit weird. Has anyone else seen this and does it occur frequently eg also with other sports. I'm still considering buying the D83X as i might be able to eliminate the TBE by turning off the Fine Motion Advanced Imaging.
I have foxtel IQ Cable. Also to previous post - I watched the tennis on my 46d83x and there was quite a bit of trailing and pixilated sections. Unless I find a fix I guess it will be the old CRT faithfull for sport and only use HD LCD for HD content. Unless any other user has a fix.

Just read Foxtel website about their upcoming HD release. What a joke. ONLY 4 CHANNELS?!?!?! May get HDMI in new STB though.

Am buying scart to component cable tomorrow. Will see if SD Sport becomes bearable.

I have not had either of these problems watching the tennis on FTA HD or Foxtel. I have Fine Motion Advanced Imaging 'on' and am using a SCART to component cable from Foxtel IQ to the Sharp. The picture is superb and the colour amazing!

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I have not had either of these problems watching the tennis on FTA HD or Foxtel. I have Fine Motion Advanced Imaging 'on' and am using a SCART to component cable from Foxtel IQ to the Sharp. The picture is superb and the colour amazing!

I agree with everything you say 100%.

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I got the lc46d83x on the weekend and it has a got a fine horizontal line with slightly different contrasts at the top and bottom which is annoying when the background isnt moving. I have asked for a replacement as I am assuming it should not be like that. Has anyone else had a similar issue with their D83 series? Other than that it is has great picture quality especially when playing Blueray and PS3.

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I got the lc46d83x on the weekend and it has a got a fine horizontal line with slightly different contrasts at the top and bottom which is annoying when the background isnt moving. I have asked for a replacement as I am assuming it should not be like that. Has anyone else had a similar issue with their D83 series? Other than that it is has great picture quality especially when playing Blueray and PS3.

I am getting mine replaced next week cos of a dead pixel but i did notice a similiar thing on mine but its going through the centre of the screen.

It is hard to see but i can see it when the background is a bit darker and there is a solid colour on the screen.

I am hoping my replacement is going to fix that problem.

I have read somewhere a few panels got through sharps quality control at there new plant but they jumped on it pretty quick so maybe we have some of these as i got the last one from hn knox so they must have got an early shipment i am guessing but they phoned me yesterday to say they have ordered mine and it will be in late next week.

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I am getting mine replaced next week cos of a dead pixel but i did notice a similiar thing on mine but its going through the centre of the screen.

It is hard to see but i can see it when the background is a bit darker and there is a solid colour on the screen.

I am hoping my replacement is going to fix that problem.

I have read somewhere a few panels got through sharps quality control at there new plant but they jumped on it pretty quick so maybe we have some of these as i got the last one from hn knox so they must have got an early shipment i am guessing but they phoned me yesterday to say they have ordered mine and it will be in late next week.

Sounds similar to mine. Dont know when I am getting a new one. The service guy has to come out first from Sharp to actually ensure there is a problem. Waste of time on their part if you ask me but I guess they have to be sure. The reason I got the Sharp was that I had a 20 month old Sony V Series 40" LCD before this which had a bunch of problems over its lifetime and the LCD panel died in the end so the Extended warranty paid me out. I got the sharp as there was no stock of sony's because of the PS3 deal and it comes with a 3 year warranty instead of 1. I must just have bad luck with TV's!!!

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Yesterday in at Good Guys was watching the tennis and both the 42" and 46" Sharp D83X showed the Triple Ball Effect when the player was bouncing the ball before serving. The Sony Bravia and Panasonic PZ700A did not do this. Don't know if it was the setting that Good Guys used on the Sharps but it looked a bit weird. Has anyone else seen this and does it occur frequently eg also with other sports. I'm still considering buying the D83X as i might be able to eliminate the TBE by turning off the Fine Motion Advanced Imaging.

Was at Goods Guys again today and didn't really notice the TBE or trailing this time on either the 42" and 46" Sharp D83X that I noticed last week. One of the tennis players was the same as last week so I assume that she was bouncing the ball before service at the same speed also.

However this time (and I guess I'm now being particular) I noticed that the seven logo had very jagged edges while the same logo on Philllips LCD, Sony Bravia and Panasonic PZ700A all had smooth edges. In fact the Sharp didn't seem to be as good in overall picture quality though I guess that is always a subjective comment. Again I don't know if this is related to the setting or the way the Sharps were interpreting the signal feed but I'm now starting to be put off this TV. This is a shame because the Sharp D83X is probably the sexiest looking TV on the market and I need a new TV.

Has anyone had a chance to compare PQ on the D83X with other LCD TVs when using SD FTA or SD Foxtel. I know the line that the D83X is meant for 1080p but the reality is that alot of my viewing with be at 576i - and I would like it to look at least as good as other TVs at 576i even if I then start viewing more HD.

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Just changed Foxtel IQ over to Scart->Component and 80% improvement to the terrible PQ I was getting with composite on my new 46d83x. So much so that I think there could have been something wrong with composite input I was using perhaps (on the right side of the tv).

Also bought an antenna amplifier to try to improve FTA. Not much noticeable difference.

Now I'm extremely happy with my purchase. Thanks for all with their help and suggestions.

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