Sharp LC-60LE945U Review

60" AQUOS LCD/LED 240Hz Quattron HDTV

by Robert Wiley, Senior Editor

The 945 series is the flagship line from Sharp for 2012. Typical upgrade features are of course included on this very top tier Sharp LED backlit LCD TV and include Smart TV Central, Quattron quad color panel, 3D compatibility, and a true 240Hz frame rate conversion.

Picture and Viewing Features

One of the big differences between models in the HDTV market today is that there are very few that have true full array local dimming backlighting. If you have not seen one in action, you should take a look at what these televisions can do. The LC-60LE945U has local dimming and processes signals beautifully with the local dimming aspect adding increased contrast to each and every scene and part of the screen. This very advanced technology allows segmenting incoming picture information at the minutest level and this results in better picture quality through increased contrast, black levels and color saturation. We've always been a fan of this technology and the LE945U is no exception.

XGen Panel

A shot of the LE945U shows a lot of definition from Full Array LED Backlighting

The X-Gen modification to Sharp's LCD Panel provides a wide light acceptance into the panel and traps it to help with the brightness of images on screen. This LCD panel design also contains fewer ribs (the black separation between the colored sub pixels and pixels). This helps to maximize black levels due to a fuller pixel structure.

Quattron

The LC-60LE945U includes Sharp's 4 color Quattron technology and adds the yellow sub pixel to the red, blue, and green ones to make up the entire cell structure. This adds better yellow and gold rendition to the Sharp picture. It's an innovative extra that other manufacturers do not contain.

Aquomotion

The AquoMotion 240Hz (not to be confused with Samsung's AutoMotion) does not describe a submarine in action but rather a smoothing process by which the 240Hz helps reduce judder in fast moving images and panning side to side camera pans. Judder is a jerky motion that can distract viewing.

Appearance

Due to the full array LED backlighting (as opposed to edge lit backlighting) the screen depth of the LE945U is 2.5" which is still plenty slim enough - just not the ridiculous .5" we see in some HDTVs today. The brushed matte finish dark silver frame is also a little wider to help accommodate at 1.1". It is a very expensive and updated design despite these dimensions.

Internet Applications and Connectivity

This Sharp LC-60LE945U comes with built in Wifi which allows you to connect to Sharp's Smart TV feature which features all the usual suspects in streaming Internet TV options.

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.

With Sharp's new Smart Central feature you save up to three distinct profiles that let each user customize their dashboard and navigation in the 945's Smart TV online suite.

Though they do not have as many apps for Internet offerings as some of their competitions, Sharp's Smart TV Internet offerings include your standard popular choices like Vudu HD Movies, Netlix, Facebook, and Twitter to name a few. The most important options are covered in the LC-60LE945U.