The Sharp LC-46LE831E 3D TV info/owners thread

[dennett316]

Sharp LC-46LE831E TV review - Trusted Reviews

The review is very positive, particularly for the 3D abilities of this set. WiFi dongle in the box is a nice plus, but again they don't bother putting the 3D glasses in.

Manufacturers - please stop trying to fleece customers and actually include an accessory which is required to experience the big selling point of the set.

Other than that, I like the sounds of this one.

 

[dennett316]

Sharp LE835 / LE830 review - FlatpanelsHD

Another good review, and some settings to try.^

Sharp LC-46LE831E review from TechRadar UK's expert reviews of Plasma and LCD TVs

And another. It convinced me, ordered one from Kays. I had pre-ordered a LW770T, but the guy on the LG thread notified me it's not coming out in the UK now, and the 980T will be significantly dearer than the 770T already was.

The Sharp is cheaper even when accounting for the glasses, and the reviews speak very highly of it's 3D abilities. Passive was great, but let down by panel quality in terms of banding. No mention of that in these reviews, indeed a couple say it's the best Edge LED they've seen.
If I get it and it has banding, I'm giving up and getting an old style chunky flat screen from a few years back...or maybe CRT.

 

[dennett316]

Have now received my TV...and it's a little cracker!

The backlight is VERY good, really bright and not a trace of banding on Football (had a clip recorded to show the problem with my LG I sent back), cricket or during Djockovich vs Tsonga.

I'm currently using the standard settings out of the box, and they look very good. Colours are a little over saturated - especially green - but the HD pictures are gorgeous. SD looks a little rougher up close, but acceptable for me. Watching a movie in Standard mode looks very video-y thanks to the picture processing (Film mode is set to High, so switched that off for now) but I will fiddle with all that stuff a little more when I try the settings from the Flatpanel review. I see no clouding, there might be a wee trace of light bleed in the corners, but not enough that would drive me mad and certainly not enough that it's ruining the picture.

Tried my 360 in Game mode online and felt not a jot of the lag I felt with the LG, movement felt fluid and natural with none of that sticky feeling you get with lag present. A cool thing I've noticed is that it's automatically labelled the inputs for me as I've tested them - well, all except my Asus O!play. Sky+ HD, Xbox 360 and PS3.

Don't put it on Dynamic AV mode though, it'll melt your retinas.

The unit itself is very solidly built and very sleek looking. The bezel is just about an inch thick including the silver trim, and the bottom part is very stylish with it's angular look and cool little lit up swish. The base has a similar angular look and looks very stylish IMO.

The included wifi dongle doesn't get too good a signal (2 bars) when my 360 slim is capable of getting 4, so for me I think I'll be using ethernet rather than wifi. The selection of apps is very small, hopefully this will expand. No BBC iPlayer yet, but there is Youtube, Cartoon Network and DailyMotion and a few others, will try them out when I switch to wired connection.

The remote is OK...feels kind of light and plasticky and there's no back lighting option like there was with the LG and Sammy. It does it's job.

The menus are pretty good with how they work, if a little cramped due to being over on the right hand side of the screen while what you're watching takes up about 3/4 of the space. If you hover over each option before going in to make adjustments, it tells you what exactly it is you're changing, eg Hovering over the OPC option under Setup tells you it Adjusts Brightness Automatically. I find that handy as I'm a bit of a numpty with what does what.

There's a quick start guide and a sheet with the spec in each language, but the full instruction manual is provided on a Euro 2012 branded USB stick ( a 2gb stick with 1.86gig of useable space, only 300mb of which is free).

I've taken a couple of pictures, but I've only a rubbish mobile phone camera and I'm not much of a photographer either...the pictures don't really do the panel justice. And unfortunately, I can't try out the 3D as the TV was delivered earlier than it should have been and the glasses haven't turned up yet. Will update when I get them in and have a chance to test stuff.

 

[dennett316]

Tried the Flatpanel settings and found them a little dull. Have done it through Standard mode instead - you can't adjust the Colour Gamut Range though.

All settings are the same other than Backlight at +8, and colour temp at Mid-Low rather than Low.

 

[dennett316]

Just found out the glasses for the TV have been put back till the 2nd of August by my catalogue... Not happy, they said delivery within 7 days when I ordered them.

 

[Chrism47]

Just found out the glasses for the TV have been put back till the 2nd of August by my catalogue... Not happy, they said delivery within 7 days when I ordered them.

That's a shame but if manufacturers would include them with the tv you wouldnt have this problem.
What's the problem are we not paying enough in the first place for these sets?? they expect us to fork out a further £70 for the glasses

 

[dennett316]

Watching the set in the dark tonight I did notice some very minor clouding on a dark screen during credits. During the movie I couldn't see a thing, not even on the letterbox borders.

Pic attached.

 

[ciscokid1]

Thanks for the feedback dennett
Keep it coming.
I'm currently looking a this set (46in), and may take the plunge.
Also lookking at the LG980T, but would have to wait for that one

 

[dennett316]

Thanks for the feedback dennett
Keep it coming.
I'm currently looking a this set (46in), and may take the plunge.
Also lookking at the LG980T, but would have to wait for that one

Hi mate, I was waiting for the 770 until LG Dave informed me it wasn't coming to the UK and I doubt I could afford the 980T, so the reviews for this one caught my eye.

It's bob on so far, but no 3D glasses for a wee while yet....and I'm itching to try it out as well.
None of the banding problems of the LG passive, nice bright backlight with only a tiny bit of barely visible clouding on a dark background (invisible when something is on the screen) means I'm already more than happy with the purchase. Let's just hope the 3D lives up to the Tech Radar review.

 

[Tony Gster]

Thanks for the updates, keep them coming!

I've been struggling for weeks on what new 40" LCD tv to buy & it's only in the last week or so that i've been reading up on the Sharp, and it's all been good so far. The other two tvs on my list, Sony 40ex723 & Samsung 40D6530 have had worrying mixed reviews.

I look forward to hearing about the 3D performance, especially with gaming.

 

[dennett316]

Slight clouding on mine, but nothing that bothers me. I like the design of the Sharp, but design is way down the list of priorities for me so I'm not that reliable a judge. Thin bezel with a silver trim is nice, as is the LED swish (which can be turned off) and the little angular look at the bottom I find nice.

Picture wise, SD is pretty good when compared to the LG Passive (Sharp is better IMO) and the Sammy plasma (Sharp is worse IMO, but Plasma handles SD very well).

As for settings, I've taken the FlatPanels settings....

Picture mode: Movie
Backlight +16 (+2, turning off Scanning Backlight means you don't need the backlight so bright)
Contrast +32
Brightness: 0
Color: 0
Tint: 0
Sharpness: 0
Color gamut range Standard (Expanded)
Color temp. Low (Mid-Low, looks far nicer than Low to my eyes, bit more vivid without killing colours)
Sub pixel control. On
Scanning backlight 200 Scan (Off, gives a video like effect on films, can be turned on for sport but the backlight level would need raised)
Gamma adjustment +1
Film mode Off
Active contrast Off
DNR Off
R Gain (LO) 0
G Gain (LO) -2
B Gain (LO) +2
R Gain (HI) +1
G Gain (HI) -8
B Gain (HI) +8
OPC Off

But changed the stuff highlighted in bold. These settings look good to me. The yelows and greens aren't as in your face as they were under defaults.
Skin tones are natural, motion looks good and gaming performance under game mode is great under standard game mode settings apart from a little boost to the colour.

It's a better picture than the LG LW450 for 2D, and only slightly worse than the 2010 C7000 from Samsung.
3D thoughts will be updated ASAP.

 

[dennett316]

Just received a set of unofficial Active glasses I bought off eBay and tried them with the set briefly on a few things.

First impressions are very, very good.
Noticed a bit of crosstalk on SBS material that I didn't see before on the LG passive, but what little there was was very minor and not tinted like the old Samsung I had with ugly yellow ghosts all over the picture.

With this it's confined to the extremes of the 3D field, mostly during pop out moments, but nothing ruinous and nothing I didn't also experience with passive and stuff pointing out at you (eg Transformers 3 when Deep Wang is pointing guns right at the camera).

The various brightness boost levels the set has are also very good, giving a nice and bright picture that's on par with the LG passive (LW450) in brightness terms. Watching the SBS mkv of Drive Angry reveals a sharper image than I got through the LG, but that's to be expected with the resolution drop that passive suffers. There's a lot of adjustment possible in the 3D settings too that weren't available on the entry level Passive set I had and they appear to be seperate from the 2D settings. Not had a chance to play with that on the three 3D AV modes yet (Standard, Movie and Game) but I'll have a fiddle over the next few days.

The glasses themselves are the generic compatibles and have a slightly cheap and plasticky feel, but they appear to do the job well so far. They weren't as comfy as the 2010 Sammy glasses I had before on the bridge of the nose, but are more comfy behind the ears. A lot less flicker on them too. With the Sammy's I could see flicker when glancing over at the window, now I see no flicker unless I'm looking at my digital alarm clock. Will compare with the official Sharp glasses when I receive those.

To sum up - very happy with this telly so far, the only minor fault being a bit of clouding which I can definitely live with. The active 3D on this set is streets ahead of the 2010 Sammy C7000 plasma I had - brighter, less crosstalk - I'm finally happy with a 3D TV!!!

 

[ciscokid1]

Thanks again for the feedback dennett
Is the minor clouding only visible on dark scenes etc?
What is your veiwing distance for 2D and 3D?

I nearly bought the Sammy PS50C7000 last year for just it's 2D performance on SD alone----was that impressed........but I didn't. What is the 2D SD performance of the Sharp compared to the sammy

 

[dennett316]

Thanks again for the feedback dennett
Is the minor clouding only visible on dark scenes etc?
What is your veiwing distance for 2D and 3D?

I nearly bought the Sammy PS50C7000 last year for just it's 2D performance on SD alone----was that impressed........but I didn't. What is the 2D SD performance of the Sharp compared to the sammy

Viewing distance is about 3 meters. There's clouding on the top left and bottom right of the screen, and most of it is only visible in the borders of a widescreen film. Very occasionally it can be seen intruding into the picture if it's very dark, but it's not bad enough to come to my attention most of the time.

2D performance of this set is worse than the Samsung...it's very hard to get close to plasma on that score. For me the SD performance is pretty good, I think it's better than the LG 450u I had, but definitely worse than the Sammy. Plasma just smoothes out the rough SD much better than an LCD does.

 

[boneym]

Hi, just found this on jl website and didn't realise you ended up with this one dennett!! I have had my third and last lw450/550 tv so was looking for a suitable replacement. Could you tell me though before I get onto JL is a screen a matte finish/like the lg was, or is it glossy. Cheers

 

[ciscokid1]

Hi, just found this on jl website and didn't realise you ended up with this one dennett!! I have had my third and last lw450/550 tv so was looking for a suitable replacement. Could you tell me though before I get onto JL is a screen a matte finish/like the lg was, or is it glossy. Cheers

Hi bonym,
I visited Currys yesterday and they had one on display. It is a Matt screen. However, the picture on BBC HD while watching the F1 compared to the Samsung UE46D7000 next to it was not as good. Perhaps dennett will confirm that the picture standard settings aren't that good and you have to do some considerable tweaking.

 

[boneym]

Hi bonym,
I visited Currys yesterday and they had one on display. It is a Matt screen. However, the picture on BBC HD while watching the F1 compared to the Samsung UE46D7000 next to it was not as good. Perhaps dennett will confirm that the picture standard settings aren't that good and you have to do some considerable tweaking.

Hey, thanks for that, that's good news. Would be good to hear about the settings from dennett, although sometimes the store set up isn't that great and tbh i wonder sometimes if they make some tv's look better to get the sales !!!

 

[dennett316]

The standard settings of the set had very vivid colours (especially yellows and greens) and changing the settings to those listed in post 11 greatly improves the picture...for me it's slightly better than the LG450u for both HD and SD and the 3D is better in terms of resolution but slightly worse in terms of crosstalk. It has a nice bright backlight that makes the picture look iffy in Standard and Vivid. Movie mode is much better, but even standard can be improved by lowering the backlight.

There's also 10 point colur setting settings and various methods to change the hue, saturation and value that I haven't touched....just went off the flat panel settings and tweaked a little. I'm sure there's plenty of scope for further improvement but I'm happy with what I've got at the moment.

 

[boneym]

The standard settings of the set had very vivid colours (especially yellows and greens) and changing the settings to those listed in post 11 greatly improves the picture...for me it's slightly better than the LG450u for both HD and SD and the 3D is better in terms of resolution but slightly worse in terms of crosstalk. It has a nice bright backlight that makes the picture look iffy in Standard and Vivid. Movie mode is much better, but even standard can be improved by lowering the backlight.

There's also 10 point colur setting settings and various methods to change the hue, saturation and value that I haven't touched....just went off the flat panel settings and tweaked a little. I'm sure there's plenty of scope for further improvement but I'm happy with what I've got at the moment.

Right I've taken the plunge and gone for it! 550 being taken and this one being delivered sometime by the weekend, I can't wait to watch banding free tv and hope this Sharp one is uniform in not having that particular issue! So glad I found this tv and the forum, cheers guys and dennett

 

[ciscokid1]

Nice one bonym
I'm still dithering because of being stung so much in the past. Any feedback would be really appreciated, including anymore from dennett. This could be the TV for me, especially now I've found out the LG 980T will have a glossy screen.
Keep it coming Guys

 

[dennett316]

The only bit of different feedback I have at the moment is the 3D effect on the Sonic 20th Anniversary demo is absolutely abysmal on the 360 - there's crosstalk/ghosting no matter the 3D depth setting and the graphics look horrible, they get very pixellated. Was just about to say it was laggy in 3D mode, but forgot I had it on 3D standard rather than 3D game mode...oops. Anyway, 3D doesn't work well on the side scrolling sections of that game I can tell you that much.

I'm also starting to notice the minor clouding less and less when watching movies...I actually think it's gotten a bit lighter as it barely intruded when watching The Ring. In fact, I only noticed it during the credits.

Slight ammendment to the settings above, I've now set colour temp to Mid-Low as I found it looks far nicer.

 

[dennett316]

Nice one bonym
I'm still dithering because of being stung so much in the past. Any feedback would be really appreciated, including anymore from dennett. This could be the TV for me, especially now I've found out the LG 980T will have a glossy screen.
Keep it coming Guys

I don't blame you for being gun shy, getting the tellies and then finding faults and realising you're going to have to pack up another telly, unscrew the stand and all that stuff really is annoying.

The Sharp was basically my last go at a 3D set before I tried to pick an older model to avoid banding and the like. Glad I finally got one that's banding free and has very good (but not perfect) 3D performance.

Theres a few patches of minor clouding, but only one of them really intrudes into the picture in a significant way and it needs to be pitch black for me to see it - like I said I seem to be noticing it less and less. The 3D settings can be tweaked a lot more than the LW450 could be, including being able to turn off the Trumotion equivelant and change the colour etc. on all the 3D AV Modes.

The Net functions and apps are very basic at the moment. The browser is OK but with no flash (I hope they can include this in firmware updates) and the best app is the Youtube one. There's a couple of really simple games like Blackjack, but nothing to even come close to the LG and Samsung Smart offerings. But again, hopefully stuff like iPlayer will come with updates as the loading and playing of vids through ethernet is pretty quick compared with the Smart 3D blu ray player I had.

I wish I could show you some decent photos, I took a few I will post tomorrow but the camera quality is poor and doesn't really do my screen justice.

Anything else you want to know just ask and I'll see what I can do.

 

[boneym]

Hi dennett, how's the tv, is it still a good replacement to the LG? Am still waiting to hear about getting mine delivered so am hoping you're still happy with yours!

 

[SevloW]

Does not suprise me that the 831e is proving an excellent tv, I have the non-3d 40lc821e and the picture quality on that is outstanding (though it did take a lot of tweaking with the settings)

 

[dennett316]

Hi dennett, how's the tv, is it still a good replacement to the LG? Am still waiting to hear about getting mine delivered so am hoping you're still happy with yours!

Yep, still happy with it. I think the 2D sd and hd picture quality is better than the LG and the 3D is very good. Bit more crosstalk than the passive, but for me there's greater depth to the image than the passive offered. Have an SBS mkv of Drive Angry and the sense of depth is much better on the Sharp. Bit extra crosstalk, but it's not as distracting as my old Sammy C7000 was which was heavily yellow tinted.

Watched Avatar all the way through and there were no problems with fatigue, so I'm onto a winner at the third time of asking. I've mentioned that theres a bit of light clouding, but I very rarely notice it now so not a deal breaker.