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  • Introduction

  • Tour & Design

  • Blacks & Whites

  • Color Accuracy

  • Motion

  • Viewing Effects

  • Calibration

  • Remote Control

  • Connectivity

  • Audio & Menus

  • Formats & Media

  • Power Consumption

  • Vs Vizio VO370M

  • Vs LG 37LH30

  • Vs Toshiba Regza 40XV645U

  • Conclusion

  • Series Comparison

  • Introduction
  • Tour & Design
  • Blacks & Whites
  • Color Accuracy
  • Motion
  • Viewing Effects
  • Calibration
  • Remote Control
  • Connectivity
  • Audio & Menus
  • Formats & Media
  • Power Consumption
  • Vs Vizio VO370M
  • Vs LG 37LH30
  • Vs Toshiba Regza 40XV645U
  • Conclusion
  • Series Comparison

Introduction

Tour & Design

Front


The front of the LC-40E67UN has a clean, smart design, although the bezel is a little shiny and can pick up reflections.

 

Back


The back is the home of most of the ports and sockets of the LC040E67UN.  For information about the ports on the back of the Sharp LC-40E67UN see our Connectivity section.

 

Sides


On the left side of the body of this display are the controls and additional inputs. For information about the ports on the side of the Sharp LC-40E67UN see our Connectivity section.

 

 

 

Stand/Mount


The rounded stand of the LC-40E67UN does a good job of holding the large panel of the display in place. It is secured by eight screws: four that hold the base together and four that secure it to the panel itself. Fortunately, a hex key is supplied with the display so you don't have to find your own screwdriver.

 

Controls


 

 

Remote Control


The remote control that comes with the LC-40E67UN is rather large, but with small, awkward buttons. It can control multiple devices, but the system for switching between them is awkward, limiting the usefulness of this feature.

 

 

In The Box*(7.0)*


There are few frills that come with this display: you get a manual, remote control, batteries and a set of screws that hold the stadn in place. And that's it: no cables, cleaning cloths or other extras.

 

Aesthetics*(5.5)*


The LC-40E67UN has the same clean, smart design that we see on most modern HDTVs, with a dark bezel surrounding the screen itself. Unfortunately, it is marred by a couple of problems: the bezel is shiny and shows reflections, and the curve of the bezel makes it somewhat prone to showing reflections from roof lights.

Blacks & Whites

Black Level*(8.0)*


We measured the deepest black that the LC-40E67UN could produce at 0.1 cd/m2, which is a very decent score for an LCD screen. Most LCDs favor brightness over the black level, but this one takes the opposite approach, which means that the black level is very decent compared to other LCD HDTVs.

 

 

Peak Brightness*(7.2)*


At the other end of the scale, we measured the brightest white that this display could produce at 217.82 cd/m2. That's a decent, but unspectacular measurement; other LCD HDTVs have produced much brighter whites. What this means is that the whites on screen won't be as bright as others, and that the images won't look as good as brighter TVs in bright light. So, don't use this display near the hot tub unless you are a fan of midnight bathing.

 

 

Contrast*(7.38)*


The ratio between the deepest black and the brightest white is the contrast ratio, and this represents the range of blacks and whites that the display can reproduce at the same time. For this display, the ratio is 2178:1, which is a very decent ratio. Again, it is not the best that we've seen by a long way, but it is above average.

One thing to note here is that we disabled features such as Active Contrast, which try and extend the contrast ratio by turning the backlight down on dark scenes. Our method of measuring the contrast ratio is also different from the manufacturers: they typically quote bigger numbers obtained by measuring the black level with the backlight turned down. Because that is not how people use these displays, we don't use that method; we measure both black level and peak white with the backlight turned up to maximum. 

 

 

Tunnel Contrast*(9.75)*


Televisions seldom get to display just white or black screens; most images contain both. In this test, we look at how a display manages this; do the blacks on the screen get brighter as they are surrounded by more and more white?  The answer for the LC-40E67UN was no; we found that the blacks remained mostly constant, even when just 5% of the screen was black and the rest was white. So, if you are a fan of documentaries about polar bears, their deep black eyes should still look good and black on this display.

 

 

White Falloff*(9.97)*


The flip side of this coin is the white falloff. Do the whites on the screen remain just as bright if there is a small bit of white on there, or if there is a lot? For the LC-40E67UN, the answer is yes again; we saw very constant whites whether there was just a small amount of white on show, or if the entire screen was white. So with your polar bear documentaries, the Icebergs they live on will remain bright white if they are big or small.

 

 

Uniformity*(6.25)*


We saw some issues with the LC-40E67UN in our tests of uniformity, where we look at how uniform the screens are with both black and white screens. On a black screen, there were some blotchy patches of lightness on the screen that gave the display a motttled look. On a bright white screen, the left and right edges of the screen were distinctly paler than the center, although the transition between the two areas was smooth. This is a good thing as sudden jumps are much more noticeable than more subtle changes.

 

Greyscale Gamma*(7.30)*


The way that the display handles the process of going from black to white is called the gamma: if the gamma is too high, the image will turn into a grey mess.  If it is too low, it will look too dark as the grey details get lost in the black. The ideal we look for here is a gamma of between 2.2 and 2.3, but the LC-40E67UN was a little outside this at 2.65. That's not a huge problem, but it is a little higher than we like to see.

 

 

Resolution Scaling*(5.72)*


The LC-40E67UN is a 1080p screen, but it won't always have the luxury of being fed a 1080p signal. Instead, it will have to deal with the lower resolution signals that many devices output. So, we test how well all HDTVs can take these signals and process and scale them to fit its screen.

480p*(6.25)*

Devices such as standard definition DVD players with HDMI outputs usually output 480p signals, and the LC-40E67UN did a reasonable job of displaying these. In our test sceens, we saw fairly sharp text and no major issues with glitchy or jagged edges. The image is overscanned (by about 4%) and this can't be disabled, but this is pretty normal.

720p*(5.4)*

This display did a less impressive job of rendering a 720p signal; for one thing, the image was more overscanned than we usually like to see at around 6% on the horizontal and 5% on the vertical, which could means some elements at the edge of the screen are cropped out. This overscan can be removed by changing over to the Full Screen mode, but it is a pity that there is no option imbetween the two. But there were still some glitches in the Full Screen mode; in a test screen filled with a herringbone pattern, we saw an odd blocky pattern that was not present in the original image.

1080i*(5.5)*

A 1080i signal (such as one produced by a cable or satellite box) has the same resolution as a 1080p one, but it is interlaced, with the image being transmitted in alternate frames. This can cause some HDTVs problems, and we did see some glitches on this one. Although it had no problem rendering our test screens as still images, any movement on the screen (such as an icon moving on a computer screen) caused the entire image to jump and flicker.  This problem was less apparrent when watching video, but there were still some issues with jerky motion (see our motion tests here).

 

Color Accuracy

Color Temperature*(9.22)*


In this test, we look at how consistent the whites are: as they go from the brightest white to gray, are there any shifts in the color of the white that could lead to colored greys? We didn't see any serious issues here with the LC-40E67EU; the whites remained mostly constant, with only a slight error at the lower end of the intensity range.  As part of our calibration process, we set the color temperature of the brightest whites to as close to 6500k as possible: we found on this display that the closest we could get was the warm color temperature mode, which we measured at about 6100 degrees kelvin.

 

 

RGB Curves*(8.8)*


All HDTVs create the colors you see on screen by mixing the primary colors of red, green and blue. So, it is important that a display is able to represent the subtle changes in these colors that images contain to produce accurate colors. We found a few minor issues here, but overall the LC-40E67EU did pretty well. The RGB curves were mostly smooth, although there were some bumps in the RGB curves that could translate into problems reproducing subtle color changes. We test this by outputting a signal containing all of the different color intensities from 0 to 255 (the complete range that a HD signal can contain) and measuring the intensity of the color on the screen. We then plot this to produce the color response curve.

On a perfect display, this curve would be completely smooth, meaning that every slight change in the signal was reproduced. In practice, we find that most displays have slightly bumpy response curves, but the LC-40E67EU is no bumpier than most that we see; there are some bumps and jumps in the response curves, but these are small and  didn't translate into problems in real world use, as our test photos that include subtle color changes mostly looked fine, with no problems in reproducing the fine details of things such as sunsets, flowers, etc.

Another way to look at these results is to create a gradient that shows the response curve in action.

 

 

 

 

 

Color Gamut*(5.29)*


The total range of colors that a display can reproduce is called the color gamut. What thsi gamut should be is defined in an international standard called Rec.709, so we test how close a HDTV gets to these limits. The answer for the 40E67EU is not that close; we found that while the blue was almost spot on, both the red and green corners of the gamut had errors. On the green corner, the colors are too intense, while on the red corner they are a little too pale. These errors are not likely to be particularly visible unless you are looking at this HDTV next to one with a more accurate color gamut, but they are definitely there.

For those who are fans of chromaticity coordinates, both the Rec.709 and our measurements are shown below.

 

 

Motion

Motion Smoothness*(3.75)*


The LC-40E67UN lacks the higher speed motion processing that is becoming commonplace on more expensive displays, and this definitely showed in our motion tests, as video had a jumpy, jerky look, especially with high contrast objects (such as a white edge against a black background), where the edges became blocky and jagged as they moved. More complex objects such as faces also suffered, becoming blurry and hard to distinguish amidst the movement.

 

Motion Artifacting*(4.0)*


We also saw some issues with artifacts, especially on dark grey areas of the screen. Even on still images some grey areas of the screen had an odd moving interference pattern, as if the display was constantly changing its mind about how to process that area of the screen. Some dark colored objects also turned grey and lost color, and we saw an occasional rolling shutter effect, where a solid line turns into a stair step as it moves.

3:2 Pulldown & 24fps*(7.0)*


The LC-40E67UN had no issues in detecting a 3:2 pulldown signal (which is used by many TV companies to give their programs a more film-like look), and the processed video was clean and glitch-free. It also had no problems reading displaying a true 24 frames per second signal outputted by a high-end Blu-ray player.

 

Viewing Effects

Viewing Angle*(2.21*)**


The LC-40E67UN performed poorly in our viewing angle test; we measured the angle at which the contrast ratio fell by 50% at a very weak 17 degrees, which means that people on the edge of the couch are going to see a much paler and less attractive picture than those in the center. Although LCD HDTVs typically have a rather poor viewing angle, this one has a smaller angle than most that we have seen.

Colors were also seriously affected by being even just a few degrees off from straight on. Reds became much darker, while other colors were remained fairly static.

 

Reflectance*(5.5)*


The screen of the LC-40E67UN shows reflections from lights, but they are not overly distracting; we didn't see any of the starburst or haze effects that we saw on some other displays. The shiny plastic bezel of the display is rather prone to showing reflections, though, especially the curved bezel at the top, which can easily pick up a reflection from ceiling lights. As this is right next to the image on the screen, these can be kind of distracting.

Video Processing*(2.5)*


The LC-40E67UN has a number of features designed to enhance the quality of the image on the screen, particularly with low quality signals.

Of these, the only one that might be useful is the OPC feature, which could be useful if you use the display in both daylight and at night; it reduces the backlight level if the room is dark, which would be more comfortable for nighttime viewing. If the room is light, it cranks it up to the maximum (which is 16, not 11).

 

Calibration

Calibration


[

](http://www.displaymate.com/)Televisions rarely come out of the  box with optimal picture quality. To make sure we're scoring TVs based on their optimal performance, we first calibrate them. To do this, we use the calibration procedure in DisplayMate , as well as taking measurements with a CS-200 ChromaMeter.

Below is a chart that outlines the changes we've made. If a setting isn't listed below, we left it at the default settings. Feel free to use these settings as the basis for your own calibration, but remember that these settings aren't optimized for your own personal viewing environment, so your best settings may vary. In particualr, we test LCD TVs with the backlight at maximum, which is not an ideal setting if you watch in a dark environment. If you really want the best quality, you should pay a professional to bring their own CS-200 ChromaMeter into your viewing area and calibrate the TV for you.

We disabled the OPC (Optical Picture Control) feature because this uses a light sensor to adjust the brightness of the backlight, and we have found that this interferes with our results. Likewise, the Active Contrast feature was disabled because this dynamically adjusts the contrast of the screen, which adversely affects our test results.

 

Video Modes


The LC-40E67UN has several video modes on offer, but these are a little hard to find. To change the mode of the display, you have to flip up the cover at the bottom of the remote and hit the AV Mode button; they cannot be accessed through the on-screen menu.

One unusual touch here is that each input can have a specific mode associated with it, so you could set one input (such as the Cable input) to use standard mode, and another (such as one of the HDMi inputs from a Blu-ray player) to Movie mode. As you switch between the inputs, the display will automatically change modes as well.

Remote Control

Ergonomics & Durability*(4.25)*


The remote control that comes with the LC-40E67UN has a rather ungainly design that is not particularly easy to use. For one thing, the long, thin remote is wider at the top than bottom, so the weight is more towards the top, which means it has a tendency to tip forwards when you hold it by the bulge at the bottom in one hand. Several buttons are also concealed below a flip-out panel on the bottom of the remote, which is rather awkwardly placed. The remote also feels rather flimsy; the panel over the hidden buttons could easily break off if you dropped the remote with it open. The buttons themselves also don't have a very positive feel; they are soft and squidgy, so you can't tell by touch if you have pressed the button in properly.

 

Button Layout & Use*(5.5)*


The buttons on the remote are small compared to the size of the remote, but the layout is mostly logical. When holding it in the hand, the directional control falls under the thumb, but you can still reach the channel and volume controls easily with the thumb for one-handed use. The other controls are out of thumb breach, though; you'll have to use both hands to reach the channel number buttons or the buttons for controlling another device or turning the power on or off. The four colored buttons at the bottom can be programmed for specific channels. Several buttons are also located under a flip-out panel, including some that might be used more frequently, such as the buttons for controlling the surround sound mode and switching picture mode.

 

Programming & Flexibility*(7.0)*


Most remotes that come with HDTVs can only be used to control the HDTV itself, but this one can also control a number of other devices, such as DVD players, cable boxes, etc. The programming process is pretty simple; hold down the function and display key and enter the device code for the device to be controlled. A good number of these are listed in the manual, including most major manufacturers. However, using this is a little awkward, as you have to use the function key to switch between the 5 different devices that can be controlled. Say you want to change the volume of the audio device: you have to press the function key 4 times (to switch between TV, cable, VCR, DVD and audio), then hit the volume buttons to change the volume control. To control the TV again, you then have to hit the function key again to switch back to the TV control mode. It's a clumsy system that rather undermines the flexibility of the remote. Other Sharp devices can also be controlled using their proprietary Aquos Link system, but this only works with devices made by Sharp.

 

Connectivity

Input Ports*(6.5)*


The LC-40E67UN has a decent selection of input ports on the back and right side of the screen; on the side is a single HDMI and a composite video and audio input. The rest of the ports are on the back, on the left side of the case (looking from the back of the screen). These ports include 3 HDMI (with an accompanying analog audio input), two component video, one S-Video and two analog video inputs. That should be enough to ensure that every device gets a port on most home theater setups.

Output Ports*(3.0)*


There are relatively few output ports on the LC-40E67UN; you get a single digital optical audio output and a stereo analog out. There is no way to output video from this screen; if you want to run more than one device, you'll need to use a splitter.

 

Other Connections*(0.0)*


The only other connections on this display are two service ports; a serial port on the back and a USB port on the side. Neither of these is much use to most people, but they are useful for professional calibrators who can use these to delve into the inner workings of the display for maximum tweakage.

 

Media*(0.0)*


This display has no media ports; you cannot connect a USB device and play back music, videos or photos.

 

Placement*(4.75)*


The ports are reasonably well placed: the ones on the left side of the display are easy to reach, and the ones on the back are also easy to reach by reaching around the side of the screen. The ports are oddly labeled, though; instead of being labeled by type, they are labeled by number, from 1 to 8. This could be a little confusing if you don't remember which port is which, especially if the display is wall mounted, where you can't see the labels, as there is no indication from the on-screen menu of what type each of the ports is.

 

Audio & Menus

Audio Quality*(3.75)*


There are two 10 watt speakers built into the body of the LC-40E67UN which produced disappointingly,flat sound. To get any decent bass out of them we had to turn on the bass enhancer feature and increase the bass level in the two-channel graphic equalizer. The pseudo-surround sound system that was built into the display was equally disappointing; it didn't add much to the sound and made it sound even thinner and reedier.

 

Menu Interface*(4.0)*


Sharp really needs to work on their menu system; the on-screen menus of the LC-40E67UN are difficult to read and to use. You access the main menu by hitting the menu button, which takes you into a screen with 5 options: Picture, Audio, Power Control, Setup and Option. Most of the commonly used options are on these screens, but some options ( such as the advanced picture features) are on sub-screens). The white text on a blue background is also rather difficult to read, especially from a distance. You move between options with the up and down key, and change the settings with the left and right key. This also means that you have to go back to the top of the list to move between the sections, which can be rather irritating if you pick the wrong one.

 

Manual*(7.0)*


The LC-40E67UN comes with a very decent printed manual, but there is no quick-start or setup guide.  The manual itself does a decent job of explaining how to wset up and use the TV in both English and French, although some users may be a bit intimidated by the number of options on offer and the rather complex menu structure. You can find the Sharp LC-40E67UN's manual online here.

Formats & Media

Formats*(10.0)*


The LC-40E67UN is a full 1080p screen with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels, which means it can faithfully reproduce every pixel of a 1080p HD signal, the highest resolution currently in use. It can also handle all of the other lower resolution HD signals out there, from 480p to 1080i.

 

Photo Playback*(0.0)*


There are no photo playback features on this display

 

Music & Video Playback*(0.0)*


Neither is there any way to directly play back music or videos from a USb device or memory card.

 

Streaming Playback*(0.0)*


The LC-40E67UN has no Internet connection, so it cannot play back streaming media or show other forms of Internet content.

 

Power Consumption

Power Consumption*(8.50)*


The Sharp LC-40E67UN sucked down a reasonable amount of juice, but not an extortionate amount. We found that at our standard brightness level (which involved putting the backlight to +13), it consumed an average of around 153.5 watts. This means that if you were to run this TV for an average of about 5 hours a day, it would use around $30 of electricity over the year. Because this display wasn't capable of running at the higher screen brightnesses that many displays are capable of, the price for running it at the maximum brightness is not much higher: about $34.73. If you prefer to live in darkness, the price to run it with the backlight at minimum (-16) fell to $12.24 a year.

So we can compare TVs, we set the backlight for our standard setting so that an area of white on the screen measures about 200 cd/m2. The figures below are for this standard setting across our comparison displays. One thing to note here: the LC-40E67UN does offer a number of power saving modes, which work by reducing the brightness of the backlight: the standard power saving mode reduces it to 80% of the maximum, while the advanced mode reduces it to 70%. We tested with all of these disabled.

 

Vs Vizio VO370M

Value Comparison Summary


Both displays are similar in the specs they offer: they are both 1080p screens that don't include many fancy media functions. They are both well procved, though. The Sharp is a bit more expensive than the Vizio, but it is also larger, at 40 inches against the 37 of the VO370M. Whether these extra 3 inches is worth the extra $150 or not depends on the size of your living room.

Blacks & Whites


Both displays have their pluses and minuses here: the Sharp had significantly better blacks, while the Vizio had brighter whites. But in terms of the range between the two, the Sharp is the winner. So the Sharp is the winner, unless you are looking for a display that can hold its own in a brightly lit room, in which case the Vizio is the one to go for.

 

Color Accuracy


Both displays had good performance in our tests of color accuracy and performance; both had consistent whites and  resonably smooth RGB responses/ Both also had errors in their color gamuts, but both had a broadly similar range of errors.

 

 

 

Motion


Neither display did particularly well in our motion test, with both displays having issues of jerky, juddery motion and odd glitches that detracted from the quality of the image. Neither display uses the faster image processing of their more expensive cousins, and it shows.

 

Viewing Effects


You could call a weak viewing angle 'the curse of the cheap HDTV', and neither the Sharp or the Vizio would disagree: both had weak viewing angles. For the Sharp, the contrast ratio fell by 50% at just 17 degrees off axis. The Vizio was slightly better, but both did poorly here; neither would be suitable for larger families or for office displays.

 

Connectivity


Both displays are well connected in terms of inputs; they have plenty of HDMI and other analog video inputs, plus accompanying analog audio inputs. Both should provide a sufficient number of inputs to connect the range of devices in the typical living room.

Vs LG 37LH30

Value Comparison Summary


the LG is the cheaper HDTV, but it is also the smaller one; at 37 inches. The Sharp is a 40-inch model, so it provides more screen real estate. However, in other respects, both HDTVs are similar; they are both LCD screens that run at the full 1080p resolution.

Blacks & Whites


the Sharp has the advantages in our tests that look at blacks, but the LG was the brighter screen. But the distance between the blacks and whites on both displays wasn't that different; the Sharp had a slightly wider contrast ratio, but not by that much.

 

Color Accuracy


The Sharp performed slightly better in our tests that look at color accuracy; it had slightly more consistent whites and slightly smoother RGB response curves. But there was not that much difference between the two; neither produced results that indicated any major problems.

 

 

 

Motion


Neither display produced particularly good motion; both had jerky, glitch motion where the fine details of the image got lost when things moved on the screen. This is no surprise as both screens lack the faster motion processing of their more expensive cousins.

Viewing Effects


Both displays also had poor viewing angles, with the contrast between black and white quickly falling off as you move away from right in front of the display. This is the same on most cheap LCDs, though, so it is no big surprise. But it does mean that neither display would be a good pick for an office display.

Connectivity


Both displays have a decent set of inputs that would allow for connecting a variety of high def devices, such as cable boxes, game consoles, etc without having to swap cables over. Both also include some ports on the side of the case so you can easily connect and disconnect devices such as camcorders or digital cameras.

Vs Toshiba Regza 40XV645U

Value Comparison Summary


Both displays are the same size: 40 inches. But the Sharp is the cheaper display, by the considerable margin of $150.

Blacks & Whites


The Toshiba had a definite edge here: it had deeper blacks, brighter whites and a wider contrast ratio between the two. This is unusual; we usually see cheaper displays go with deeper blacks or brighter whites, but the Toshiba manages both.

 

Color Accuracy


The Sharp had a definite advantage in our color tests: it had more consistent whites, smoother RGB response curves and a slightly more accurate color gamut.

 

 

 

Motion


The Toshiba also had better performance in our motion tests; we saw smoother, more accurate motion and fewer glitches. This is no doubt thanks to its 120Hz motion processing, which means it updates the screen quicker and produces frames imbetween the ones in the signal to produce smoother motion.

 

Viewing Effects


Both HDTVs did have the same issue we see on most low cost LCD screens: weak viewing angle. On both displays, the contrast ratio fell to below 50% of the maximum at less than 20 degrees off axis, which means those on the edge of the couch will see a much weaker picture than those in the middle.

 

Connectivity


There is not a lot to choose between the two displays in terms of connections; both include a decent number of inputs (although the Sharp has one more HDMI port than the Toshiba) that should allow for the connection of a good number of devices. They also include plenty of analog audio inputs, which provides additional flexibility for connecting devices (scuh as computers) which don't have digital audio outputs.

Conclusion

 

 

 

Series Comparison

LC-40 Series


Sharp offers a wide range of products in the 40-inch size, from low cost models up to models with LED backlights.

Meet the tester

Richard Baguley

Richard Baguley

Contributor

@@rbaguley

Richard Baguley is a veteran writer who has written about technology ranging from Alphabet to Zip file utilities. He has contributed to pretty much every major tech publication, including Amiga Format Magazine, PC World, Wired, CNET, Toms Guide, Forbes, and many others. He lives in the Boston metro area with his wife, dog, and an indeterminate number of cats.

See all of Richard Baguley's reviews

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