Sharp LC-52D65U 52" LCD TV

We got good service from our prior set a Samsung DLP 46" set, uncharacteristically the lamp began to progressively dim instead of dying all at once.  I had a spare lamp which I had paid $150 for some months ago and that helped me sell it privately.

Our Sharp was offered on QVC, the cable shopping channel at a very attractive price and on a 5 payment plan.  We had been doing some local shopping for a bigger screen and had ruled out Plasma TV's because we watch a lot of daytime TV and every Plasma we looked at had horrible problems with reflections from windows and in a darkened room from any lamp that might be in line with the viewing angle.

The TV was delivered within a week via regular UPS.  This was kind of funny as the driver was a substitute.  She was a middle aged woman and not equipped to deliver a large 90 pound box.  It happened to be snowing lightly that day and with my help we slid the box to the 3 steps leading to my deck, then the box went end over end up the stairs.  It turned out to be well packaged and cushioned and after attaching the pedestal stand with 4 bolts holding the two parts of the stand together and another 4 holding the stand to the TV we were ready to hook up.  Of course it lends itself easily to wall mounting with an optional mount.

In our case hookup was AC power and two HDMI connections, one from our cable box and one from our Sony PS3/blu-ray player.
The set, very generously has five HDMI inputs as well as analog and component connections.  There's also an RS-232C input for use as a computer monitor and S-video.

There's an OPC sensor which is switchable and adjusts the brightness automatically according to ambient light.

The view mode button adjusts 4:3 programs or High-definition to their optimal screen size.

The sleek, slim remote has everything you'd expect including a switchable light button for channel and volume buttons, picture freeze, power saving, sleep mode and much more.  It's a univeral remote having modes for VCR, audio, DVD and cbl/sat as well as the basic TV setting.

A nice feature especially during setup is that the menu button when activated provides menu options across the top of the screen left to right instead of claiming the whole screen.  This also makes it very easy to see the result of your settings as you make them.

All of the above would be superflous if the picture left something to be desired.  This has been our third big screen TV in the last 10 years or so and it's far and away the best.  We think the picture is superb.

If the set has a weakness it's in the sound unless of course you make it part of a home entertainment system.  Sharp sells an optional sound bar which may still be available thru their web site and this relatively inexpensive accessory makes up for most of the sound shortcomings.

The basic warranty is 1 year but QVC has included membership in the Aquos advantage which adds a 3 month warranty extension and other perks such as priority service and telephone service hours.