Sharp LC-80LE844U Review

80" AQUOS LCD/LED 240Hz Quattron HDTV

by Robert Wiley, Senior Editor

This very advanced mammoth TV has a lot to offer in both the features and value category. For those looking to replace your home theater screen with an edge lit LED television this may be your panel. Features include a true 240Hz panel, Quattron 4-color pixels, and the upgraded Smart TV Central.

Picture and Viewing Features

The strong contrast is shown in this picture on the 80LE844U

Price to size is a big deal with Sharp and this is a huge LCD TV. This 80" Goliath is a full 111% larger in viewing area than a 55" TV – and a 55" inch screen is huge if you've ever viewed one in person. This is what we like to call a "front projector replacer" because you can take that dimly lit projector off the ceiling and replace with this TV. You get great brightness and light throughput and Sharps Aquo Motion Hz rate feature is better than most.

Quattron

The Quad Pixel Plus features some excellent processing to the quad pixel design to help process diagonal lines. This feature helps the picture quality from last years offering but still falls short of the best processors that Sharp has for 2012.

240Hz

Sharp's AquoMotion feature works well, it cuts down on judder (jerky motion) but there is still some noticeable judder. But we like Sharp and Sony's Hz rate feature best as it is less intrusive at taking out the natural background blurring of images thus maintaining more of what the directors intended.

3D Viewing

With the large sizes available in the 844 series, 3D can really immerse you in whatever you are watching. The 844 uses active 3D so you get full 1080p to each eye and the picture doesn't sacrifice any detail.

Side Angle Viewing

Side Angle Viewing is not a strong point in any LED/LCD television but with each new model year we see some improvement. After you get about 25 degrees off center the contrast begins to degrade on the LC-80LE844U.

Appearance and Full Array LED Backlighting

The LC-80LE844U looks different than all other Sharp 2012 offerings with a larger black bezel. It's not too much larger, but it shows due to the super thin framing bezels we are seeing these days. The reason for the 1 inch wide frame and 2 inch deep panel is the full array LED backlighting which gives the panel much more control over individual areas of the screen than edge lit LED backlighting. It's a large upgrade feature but helps tremendously with accuracy of color processing on a screen this large. While there are full array LED lighting they are not of the higher end local dimming variety.

Internet Applications and Connectivity

Sharp's Smart Central TV gives you up to 3 unique profiles to allow you to access your own personal profile preferences. It's a separation tool to help you navigate the Smart TV Internet options and save your individual settings.

Sharp has a pretty well rounded Internet TV suite that they also call "Smart TV". It has most of your standard featured paid and free services that are prominent in the industry such as Cinema Now, Netflix, Vudu Movies, Blockbuster on Demand, Facebook, Twitter.

Sharp's Aquos Advantage Live is an attempt by Sharp to give some customer service to anyone purchasing a Sharp TV with this feature. Advisors can help with your picture settings, Internet connections, or other issues. It appears that with most of Sharp's higher end TVs the enrollment is free, but it is mandatory that you enroll in the service – there is no question about that. Sharp also says there is membership to the exclusive membership web site and an additional 3 month warranty extension on your product.

Having reviewed and written about Television Technology for over 10 years, Wiley never tires of researching the newest qualitative trends related to the technology. Most people do not get excited about possibilities behind the latest video engine...Wiley does. Read more about Robert