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Sharp LC40LE600E Review |
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Reviewed: 20 October 2009
Certain aspects of picture quality are outstanding
Suffers from a small amount of Motion Blur
Design
Reflecting the importance Sharp are placing on their LED enabled LCD TV's, Sharp have endowed the LE600 series with a new look. Gone is the extended 'teardrop' bottom edge of the Aquos TV's we have become familiar with, to be replaced with an all square design in black with a silver trim at the base of the screen.
The redesign is a clever move by Sharp, whose Aquos LCD TV's have become synonymous with, quite frankly, rather mediocre performance. It is a pity then that while the new design is quite appealing, the finish feels just a little on the cheap side.
Features
Of course, once a shiny new flat panel TV has been unwrapped and positioned in its new setting, overall picture performance quite easily tops the list of priorities for the majority of us; and it is the promise of extraordinary performance in the shape of LED technology, that has been the focus of much interest in Sharp's latest flat panels. What's more, Sharp's LED enabled LCD TV's offer the cheapest route into this exciting new technology.
Screen: 40in 16:9 Tuner: Digital Sound System: Nicam Resolution: 1920 x 1080 Contrast Ratio: na Other Features:Direct LED backlighting with local dimming, Virtual surround mode, Digital noise reduction. Sockets: 3 HDMI (v1.3), 2 SCART (RGB), S-Video, Component Video, Composite Video, PC input.
Generating much publicity of late, it is worth remembering that LED TV's are still LCD at their core and should not be confused with more revolutionary technologies such as OLED.
Nevertheless, LED brings with it the promise of a genuine step forward in LCD flat panel technology. Despite being billed as an introduction to LED TV, Sharp's LE600 features a more sophisticated 'local dimming' (Direct LED lighting) implementation of the technology. This implementation of LED technology sees individual LEDs cover the whole of the screen rather than being positioned along the panel edge.
The LE600 doesn't go quite as far with LED technology as Sharp's cutting edge XS1E (RGB arrays) however, with white LEDs, rather RGB arrays. In this case, separate filters produce colour within the image, rather than outputting RGB colours at LED source. You might like to read our LED TV Guide for more information.
The lack of 100Hz processing, access to multimedia files stored on a PC, a USB stick and just 3 HDMI inputs is an indication of the concessions Sharp have made to introduce their LE600E at such a reasonable price.
The LE600 does features a Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution along with Sharp's "X-Gen Panel" which introduces "Mega Contrast" and "Brilliant colour Processor" technology. The both technologies combine to deliver deep blacks and more vivid colours.
Although there doesn't appear to be anything particularly interesting going on in the picture processing department, the lack of features will of course be soon forgotten if the LE600E delivers on the picture performance front.
Performance
Things get of to a good start with a Black Level level performance which puts Sharp's existing LCD TV's firmly in the shade. Where we have grown to expect black levels that looked a little washed out, often with a blueish tinge, we now witness pure deep blacks with an impressive level of graduated shadow detail.
The edge based LED system not only delivers an impressive black level performance but manages to create a level of contrast (the difference between the blackest blacks and whitest whites) that very few LCD TV's can deliver.
At this point however, it is worth putting the performance of the LC40LE600 into context. The purest blacks can still be found on the better plasma screens, along with a level of subtle detail across darker scenes that the LED enabled Sharp can't quite match. But the LC40LE600 undoubtedly raises the level of Sharp's LCD performance along with all of the benefits of LCD technology.
A huge improvement over Sharp's previous LCD efforts can be found in the area of Colour reproduction. So often lacking the subtlety of its competitors, the LC40LE600's colours manage to maintain a consistent level of accuracy across even complex scenes while maintaining that other essential element of performance in this area, 'Vibrancy'. In all situations the shear intensity of colour is a stand out feature of this flat panel TV.
A major Achilles heal of previous LCD TV's from Sharp, in our opinion, was Standard Definition (SD) performance. While there are plenty of screens out there that handle SD as well if not better, Sharp have significantly narrowed the gap in this respect, to the extent that the problem is no longer an issue. Two performance areas in particular have improved considerably. Images are now far sharper with SD material, and as we have already mentioned, colour performance has been greatly improved.
We have come to expect excellent High Definition (HD) pictures from Sharp and the LC40LE600 doesn't disappoint. The level of detail and sharpness present does not get much better than this and combined with the benefits of LED creates a truly stunning viewing experience.
It is a pity then, after all of these plus points, that the LC40LE600's ability to handle Fast Action sequences gives a little cause for concern. The problem is not serious, but there is a noticeable lack of definition with any form of on screen movement. The loss of sharpness does not impinge to a great degree on the enjoyment of this screen but the more accomplished LCD TV's are noticeably better in this respect.
The LC40LE600 along with the vast majority of flat panel TV's suffers ultimately from a lack of 'Bass', that low down powerful Acoustic that offers real depth to a soundtrack.
Conclusion
Available on line for under £650 Sharp's LC40LE600E is an excellent budget introduction to the benefits of LED technology. If you prefer LCD to Plasma and you fast action is not of huge importance, this screen deserves serious consideration.
Sharp LC40LE600E 
