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Gadget Showdown: Sharp Aquos vs. Sony Bravia Are LCD TVs ready for your living room?

By WILSON ROTHMAN

More Information: sharpusa.com More Information: sonystyle.com How Much?: MSRP $1,800 - $1,900
Posted Wednesday, Apr. 12, 2006 If you are among the many people wondering when it might be time to buy a flat-panel LCD TV, Ive got some good news. This year, LCDs are ready for prime time. I tested this hypothesis by borrowing high-definition 32-inchers from two industry leaders, Sharp and Sony. A price check alone tells you just how competitive LCD sales will be this year. At CES 2006, Sharp introduced the Aquos LC-32D40U (not to be confused with 32D4U) with a list price of $1,800, but its already appearing online in the $1,600 range. Sonys 32-inch S-Series Bravia the KDL-32S2000 lists for $1,900, but is also appearing online for around $1,600. Ill state now that my one-on-one review didnt cover the many other brands with reputable LCD sets. However, my initial testing made me pretty lazy: I didnt want to look any further than these two sweet HDTVs. For true comparison, I connected both TVs to a Sony DVD player, using a special (and expensive) box. The DVD player upconverts the video signal from DVDs to high def. That doesnt mean that the videos themselves are HD, but they do look pretty good. I was able to view movies such as Batman Begins, House of Flying Daggers and The Incredibles on both screens at once. Later, I connected the TVs to my cable box to watch true high-definition signal the ESPN HD broadcast of last Monday nights Phillies-Braves game. This might not be termed a scientific review, but rest assured I viewed with the scrutiny of someone who really likes watching TV, and someone who has been disappointed by many TV pictures. In previous years, LCDs had a problem with something called response time; that is, the time it takes for the pixels on the screen to change. When the response time is greater than 10 milliseconds, your eyes can perceive the lag, and things can look streaky. Sometimes objects get an unintended halo. The Bravia has an 8ms response, and the Aquos has it beat with a 6ms response time. But I can tell you that, for both companies, the problem appears to have been eliminated. I did not notice any response time issues. The other commonly discussed LCD shortcoming is its contrast, or black level. LCD TVs have a backlight, an actual bulb shining behind it, not the case with plasmas and regular old tube TVs. Because of this always-on bulb, parts of a scene that were supposed to be pitch black used to look more like a charcoal gray, or even a deep blue. Bad news for film-noir lovers, for sure. Both TVs had tolerably good black levels, but side by side, the Sharp was better, exhibiting visibly higher contrast than the Sony. In Sonys defense, the 32S2000 has some great features. The display, including the stand, weights 5.5 lbs. less than Sharps. Also, it has video input jacks that are accessible from behind, making it easier to mess with your inputs when youre using the stand. In truth, though I had to pick a winner, theres no loser here: you would be proud to own either of these sets. The real winner is LCD technology. Its the future, at least for now.
Reprinted through the courtesy of the Editors of Time Magazine 2006 Time Inc.

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Sony KDL-32S2000 Sony KDL-V32XBR1 Sony KLV-32U100M Panasonic TC-32LE60 Panasonic TC-32LX60 Panasonic TC-32LX600 Panasonic TC-32LX50 Samsung LN-S3238D LN-S3241D Samsung LN-S3251D Samsung LN-S3252D Samsung LN-S3292D Samsung LN-S3296D Samsung LN-R329D Sharp LC-32D40U Sharps LC-40C32U Sharp Aquos LC-32D5U Sharp Aquos LC-32D6U Sharp Aquos LC-32GD6U Sharp Aquos LC-32D50U Toshiba P32LSA Toshiba32HL66 Toshiba32HLV66 Toshiba32HLV66 Mitsubishi LT-3280 NEC LCD3210BK Akai LCT3226 Soyo DYLT3260 Olevia LT32HV Olevia LT32HVM Olevia LT32HVE Maxent ML-32HLT21 Hisense TL3220 ViewSonic N3251w Vizio L32HDTV

32 AT AT 1300 NO

8ms 178 8ms
Commnets 150 31.0 Med wide gray bezal UPC: 32.Bd Cnet review - Dark Bezal Sony $126 31.No Color control 126 31.Inner blk >silver 126 Extra color processing 147 CnsmrRprt
AT 32 at AT 5000 AT AT AT AT 1200 NO 800 1600d 1600d 32 no Y no no no no AT AT 450 AT AT AT
170 8ms 178 8ms 6ms 176 6ms 176 6ms Y 1

na 170 146

Wide Blk Bez Silver Bez Blk Bez narrpwest Blk Bez
Black panel Gd online review Vry nar blk bez

6ms 12ms

Great Bez - 24 bit clr 135 135

8? 8ms 500 170

150 32.33.0 43