Sharp AQUOS D80U Series LCD HDTV Including Blu-ray Disk Player Review

Sharp’s D80U AQUOS series offers a quality HDTV with an integrated slot loading Blu-ray Disk player package. It’s an offering for those who want to watch Full HD (1080p) movies from Blu-ray DVDs without any of the need to set up separate components. There are a wide range of display sizes in the Sharp D80U series including the 52 inch LC-52BD80U, 46 inch LC-46BD80U, 42 inch LC-42BD80U, 37 inch LC-37BD60U and 32 inch LC-32BD60U.

Sharp AQUOS D80U Series LCD HDTV

Sharp’s D80U series Full HD (1080p) LCD HDTVs also feature improved video performance over earlier models. Improvements are delivered by Sharp’s Fine Motion Enhanced technology for 120Hz Frame Rate Conversion and a market edge pixel response time of 4ms. Energy performance has also improved with this series exceeding the EPA’s ENERGY STAR certification requirement by at least 15 percent.

As well as the 120Hz technology, it should be noted that the Sharp D80U models have a special anti-judder capability which delivers smoother reproduction of film content. A common source of judder in movie content is a slow panning shot.

Sharp’s Next-Generation Advanced Super View (ASV) LCD Panel

Sharp’s ASV LCD panel used in the D80U models is 10 bit which means it has the color bit depth to reproduce over 1 billion colors. A wider available range of colors means that colors can be reproduced more accurately.

120 Hz Fine Motion Advanced

The D80U series uses 120Hz Fine Motion Advanced Frame Rate Conversion as a way to help improve picture quality. Increasing the rate at which frames are shown from 60 to 120 frames per second makes on-screen motion smoother. Sharp also apply a unique algorithm to help smooth edges on moving objects.

120 Hz

AQUOS Net

The AQUOS D80U Series LCD HDTVs have an Ethernet networking port for Internet connection through the AQUOS Net portal. The AQUOSNet Internet portal delivers two main services; customized Web based content downloads and live access to Sharp support.

Sharp AQUOS Net Console

Web Based Content

Customized Web Based content seems set to become a differentiator between Internet connected HDTVs. Content available through Shap’s AQUOSNet includes, local weather reports, time, calendars and the AQUOS Image Gallery. Some information is delivered as a feed through easily-configured widgets much like the sidebar widgets of Window’s Vista for example, Web-based content that can be viewed in full screen or split screen.
Content services currently available include;

Weatherbug | live neighborhood weather information. The WeatherBug widget can be customized to receive live, local weather information and camera images, daily and weekly forecasts, live Doppler radar, and severe weather alerts for multiple locations by entering the appropriate zip code.

NASDAQ | for The Nasdaq Stock Market allowing users to track stocks, market activity and market news.

UCLICK | a leading digital entertainment provider offering a broad mix of popular comic strips for the web and mobile phones. Uclick delivers entertaining comics and games to hundreds of online clients, including major consumer and news portals such as Yahoo!.

GalleryPlayer | the leader in high definition art and photography for HDTV displays, delivers a wide variety of rights-protected, premium content that will transform any screen into a window on the world’s most exotic places and creatures, a frame for the rarest masterpieces, or a seat right on the 50 yard line of your favorite team.

Traffic.com | a leading provider of personalized traffic information for U.S. drivers, provides complete real-time traffic, interactive traffic mapping and custom MyTraffic mobile alerting for commuters across the country. Traffic details provided include drive times, accidents, construction and local events.

Sharp intend to upgrade their AQUOS Net portal with new content services over time.

Live Support and Help Resources

AQUOS Advantage Live is a new interactive tool that enables online Sharp technical support advisors to remotely connect to your AQUOS D80U Series LCD TV, and assist in adjusting your TV’s settings to optimize picture quality for the best viewing experience. HDTV optimization can be a complex task so this is a valuable service.

There is also access to help information about you LCD HDTV including FAQ, specifications, terminology glossaries and User Manuals.

Connectivity

The D80U series TVs incorporate ATSC, QAM and NTSC tuners, giving access to analog and digital programming available over the air and via cable TV providers.

There are six 1080p Full HD inputs including 3 HDMI inputs (v1.3 with x.v. color) and two HD component inputs. A PC can be connected using the ethernet port but, there is also a dedicated PC input. There is an RC232 port for custom installations.