TEST BENCH

Brightness Before/After Calibration (100 IRE): 94.3 / 42.0 ftL

Primary Color Point Accuracy vs. SMPTE HD Standard

With the LC-52LE700U's User preset and Low color temperature selected, its grayscale was uneven and leaned increasingly toward blue as the image got darker, reading as much as + 2,331 K off the 6,500-K standard at 30 IRE. After calibration, grayscale ran +356 K on its brightest IRE window and generally closer throughout the rest of the range - a poorer than average but acceptable result.

Color primaries measured spot-on for red and close to the SMPTE spec for blue, although green was slightly undersaturated. After adjustments, the color decoder measured a -5% error for green and 0% for red and blue.

The television also initially exhibited exaggerated reds and made flesh tones look excessively pink or orange. This was eliminated after full calibration using measurement equipment, including standard color and tint adjustments plus additional saturation and hue adjustments in the Color Management System that were intended to bring the color-decoder and secondary-color accuracy into line.

Overscan measured 0% in the Dot-by-Dot mode and 3% in Stretch. The Sharp fully and cleanly resolved 1080i/p and 720p HD signals via its HDMI or component-video inputs. Thanks to the full-array LED backlight, gray test patterns showed superb picture uniformity across the screen, the best I've seen from any LCD TV.

The Sharp's glossy screen surface was surprisingly nonreflective given its sheen, and it did a good job of rejecting glare when the room lights were on. However, it exhibited a narrower viewing angle than most LCDs. Some modest drop-off of picture contrast was visible as little as 10° off-axis from a distance of 8 feet away - equivalent to about a seat's width on a couch.

The Sharp aced all torture tests on the Silicon Optix HQV Blu-ray Disc and DVD, a result borne out in the excellent video processing I observed with program material.