Sharp Aquos tv

[Merlin5]

Hi guys. I bought a brand new 40" led Sharp Aquos quite a few months ago from Tesco, it only cost me £50 because I had about £80 in clubcard vouchers plus the tv was reduced. I only just unboxed and set it up. It's pretty good for a cheap smart tv with all the usual Netflix, YouTube and other tv hubs. Not 4K, just 1080p.

Anyway, reason for this thread is that the built in freeview HD on the Sharp isn't quite as 'sharp' and sparkly resolution as my Manhattan T1 freeview HD box connected to my 10 year old 32" Samsung lcd tv in the bedroom. I'd say the built in freeview is about 90 to 95% quality by comparison.

I tested it today by bringing the Manhattan box into the front room and connecting it to the Sharp tv, and then A/B'd it against the built in freeview HD. Much better with the box, as good as when connected to the Samsung.

The built in freeview HD is fine and to most people would be crisp enough, but I can really notice the difference, so I'm thinking of buying another Manhattan T1 box. Netflix and iplayer is very sharp, so it doesn't appear to be an inferior screen problem. But it seems the software for the freeview is perhaps a bit substandard compared to my freeview box. Is this normal or could I expect better when I get around to buying an LG set? I'm eventually going to get a 43" LG with bluetooth.

 

[lucid]

Would it really one as that much of a shock to find that your £130 40" Sharp telly comes with image processing, deinterlacing and scaling appropriate to its price?

Sharp used to make some really good sets with a cracking Freeview tuner. The thing is though that Sharp hasn't made TV sets for a very long time now. It got out of the business because people wanted to buy unbranded sets at half the price of Sharp and the other well know 2nd tier Japanese brands. They did a licencing deal and in effect sold the Sharp name so it became a badge to stick on those cheaper sets. 'Better to have a small slice of something than a big slice of nothing' was the thinking.

The company behind the Sharp badge for Europe is UMC. They're based in Eastern Europe. (Sharp for the US is made by a different company.

UMC makes TVs under brands such as Technika, Polaroid, Blaupunkt, Bush, Goodmans and lots of other budget brands. I come across a fair number of these and other budget brands from Vestel (Turkey) and the obscure Chinese manufacturers who do the same. Some are slightly better than others, but they're all limited in some way or another compared to the better end of the models from the big brands.

A bit of judicious tweaking can help. Stick to 16:9 aspect ratio rather than Full. Switch off any contrast and colour enhancing settings. Turn noise reduction off or down to its lowest setting.

 

[Merlin5]

Would it really one as that much of a shock to find that your £130 40" Sharp telly comes with image processing, deinterlacing and scaling appropriate to its price?

Sharp used to make some really good sets with a cracking Freeview tuner. The thing is though that Sharp hasn't made TV sets for a very long time now. It got out of the business because people wanted to buy unbranded sets at half the price of Sharp and the other well know 2nd tier Japanese brands. They did a licencing deal and in effect sold the Sharp name so it became a badge to stick on those cheaper sets. 'Better to have a small slice of something than a big slice of nothing' was the thinking.

The company behind the Sharp badge for Europe is UMC. They're based in Eastern Europe. (Sharp for the US is made by a different company.

UMC makes TVs under brands such as Technika, Polaroid, Blaupunkt, Bush, Goodmans and lots of other budget brands. I come across a fair number of these and other budget brands from Vestel (Turkey) and the obscure Chinese manufacturers who do the same. Some are slightly better than others, but they're all limited in some way or another compared to the better end of the models from the big brands.

A bit of judicious tweaking can help. Stick to 16:9 aspect ratio rather than Full. Switch off any contrast and colour enhancing settings. Turn noise reduction off or down to its lowest setting.

Thanks lucid, good points. Yeah, I watched a YouTube video the other day for a different Sharp TV model where the person (American) wasn't happy with the tv and said she'd found out that Sharp tvs are now made by Hisense. So I thought mine would be Hisense but as I've learned from what you said, it's UMC for europe.

I'd gone through all the settings, it's on 16:9. Well, was on auto which is 16:9. Turned off auto contrast, and turned off NR though not sure I perceive any picture improvement.

But yes, you're basically saying I can't expect the same quality freeview HD from a cheaper set, and that's fair enough. I had assumed freeview tuners would all be the same.

I'll get another Manhattan box for about £20 though which improves it enough until I'm ready to buy an LG.