Home > Consumer Reviews > Sharp Aquos LC46SE94U 46-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV

I am glad I purchased the warranty on this since I have had it replaced and several of the parts replaced on my second unit. When it works there are few better televisions that can match the picture quality at the price (Sony or Samsung). Too bad it's not reliable.

I bought the Sharp AQUOS LC-46SE94U today and the picture is pretty good. The picture quality for standard def, blue ray and dvds are great. The menu options are not as advanced as a newer sumsung but are good enough. The black color is good. Overall the SE model looks great. The leather around the edges is not real but not noticable. The internet widgets are ok, they dont include netflix. The sound quality is ok. I got a good deal at a local store, came out to 1200 including taxes, for a 46 inch 1080p, 120HZ its a decent price. The best part of the TV is that it does not have any glare on the TV. You should note that there is a software update for this tv that you will have to download onto a usb drive and install.

I also have samsung 650 46 inch tv - I would say that this tv compares pretty well. The standard defention channels are much better. The features are much more expansive on the samsungs but they also cost more.

This is among the best quality TVs made in 2008.
There are now sets with better picture quality, such as the Limited Edition series (also from Sharp) which use LED backlighting, but they are quite expensive.
There are many brands of television, but Samsung and Sharp manufacture the vast majority of LCD panels.
Other brands, even big names like Sony, Toshiba, and Pioneer, only buy panels from manufacturers and build electronics around them. Sony, in particular, charges quite a lot for their brand name even though they didn't even make the panel!

Some Sharp panels from past models were known for having a color banding problem. This was endemic in Sharp televisions for a long time, though most peopled did not notice. I am happy to report that this set does not suffer the same problem.

Absolute contrast is 3000:1, 3 times that of most other sets. Dynamic contrast (contrast achieved by adjusting the intensity of the backlight) is 27,000:1, and in practice, the brightness this set can produce is almost over the top. It literally hurts my eyes and lights up the entire living room, though I usually keep it at low settings because I am not into intensely bright screens.

My 46" set uses about 150W of power at 20% backlight -- not bad. It can use just over 300W at full brightness (actual measurement).

The internet service, "Aquos Connect", is fairly worthless. It is slow, takes up screen space (or the whole screen), and has terribly response latency -- if you switch views or turn it on/off, it takes a while to comply. It may be handy for showing weather or stock information occasionally, but you will probably be more likely to walk to a nearby computer or change to an appropriate TV station rather than work with the clunky TV internet interface. The possibility of remote servicing and diagnosis sounds promising, however.

I can't comment on the speakers as I use an external stereo.

The connections are well placed and, in particular, the HDMI and RCA ports on the right side of the TV are very useful for connecting temporary hardware, such as a friend's game console.

This TV handles many more resolutions with the VGA connector than any previous HDTV I've had. I tested it at 1600x1200, but no higher. Works well.
I use this screen mainly as a computer monitor, connecting my computers DVI-out to one of the TV's HDMI connectors using an HDMI cable and adapter. It looks beautiful and works very well for both business applications (even Photoshop, which has long been a poor program to run on other LCD screens due to color accuracy problems) and gaming. The response time is so fast as to not notice any blur or shearing, and the TV works perfectly at a full 1080P, 60 Hz.

This screen may be able to display at 120Hz, but it cannot accept input at 120Hz. 60Hz is the maximum, at least at 1080P. This leads one to wonder how it can play a Blu-Ray movie without shearing at 24P if it cannot accept input at an even multiple of 24.

One final noteworthy comment is that this screen does NOT have a glare problem at all. Many glossy screens, especially those on notebooks, reflect the surrounding light so well that you can shave in your reflection. Very distracting. This television has absolutely no glare problem whatsoever. Its glare is even lower than the previously popular matte (non-shiny) LCD panels.
I can only see noticeable light reflection at about a 60-90 degree viewing angle (though even at extreme angles, the picture still looks fine).

Overall I am very happy with this TV and find its faults to be incredibly minor. I'd recommend it over any other 2008 television set (though Samsung has very nice panels as well). However, if you want the highest-end and are willing to pay for it, look for something with LED backlighting.

This is an excellent TV, i am really happy with it. It actually weighs around 50 lbs, which is light compared to others i seen.

Cons: No digital audio coax output/input, however It has 1 optical audio in though.
If you plug in regular coax cable to the tv and the cable has a weak signal, you will see a constant display window showing the audio switching from mono to stereo. This is solved by flashing the firmware update provided free by sharp, just need a usb stick, or if you have a cable box for digital cable. Plug it in via HDMI (best), Composite, Component (better), or SVideo.

AQOUS Net is a total joke, the web browser is really slow.

Great Picture, however not seeing the 10 bit color difference, especially on an XBOX 360. The black gloss floor gradient on the NXE dash is using more color than what the TV has, which results in blotches or color gradient bands (not the "banding" issue some people complain about).

Pros: Light weight (about 50 lbs), 1080P HD, if your getting basic HD service for free, try skipping the cable box, the built in tuner might save you rental fees.
Smart stretch works great on 4:3. The design is great, however the remote can be better.

Overall it's a really great set.

Very good picture. The high-def image looks amazing. I've only had two small problems with it. First, I'll sometimes hear a high-pitched noise when changed from a digital channel to an analog channel. This goes away if I switch back to digital, then to analog again. Second, I've had the picture not display when turning the TV on. To fix this, I turn the TV off, wait for a few minutes, then turn it back on.