LCD TV Reviews

User Interface
The remote is a universal type that can control up to four devices other than the TV. It has a backlight that only illuminates a few of the function buttons, which is very odd, since all the buttons look translucent and could easily be illuminated. Not only that, the labels for the backlit buttons are printed on the body of the remote, so you can't see them in the dark anyway.

The buttons are well-separated but rather small. The layout is mostly good, though the AV Mode button, which selects the picture mode, is hidden under a flip-down cover at the bottom of the remote. As usual with TV remotes, there are no dedicated input-selection buttons, only a Source button that brings up a list of inputs on the screen.

I've always liked the organization of Sharp's menu system, and the picture controls are visible as soon as you enter the menu. However, I've always hated that the menu remains on the screen as you adjust a picture control, obscuring the image you're trying to tweak. The service menu behaves correctly—it disappears and the selected control drops to the bottom of the screen—so I don't see why the user menu can't do the same.

Another thing I don't like about the picture controls is that they are linked to the preset picture modes, not the inputs. If you adjust the controls in, say, the Movie mode, the same settings will apply to all inputs to which the Movie mode is assigned. The only exception is the User mode, which can be independently set for each input. Also, the service-menu settings are independent for each input.