Sharp Aquos LC37XD1E (37" 1080p HD Ready) LCD TV - €999 [Currys]

Basq · 03-11-2007 10:35PM #1

Just bought this today and am very happy with my purchase. Haven't collected it yet though as i'd no car with me when i bought it!

Reduced from €1399 to €999.. and got 5 year extended warranty for only €199 (which is very good value for this size TV.. and the salesperson was convinced it was a mistake). And got a very nice sturdy stand for it too which he took over €100 off.

Reviews (1, 2, 3 - the first 3 results i got in Google) for it i've read are generally very positive and for a 1080p, it's a bargain!

Amazon are selling it for £750 sterling too so price is obviously fairly decent.

6digitnumber · 03-11-2007 10:50PM

That does look like a very sweet offer. I've been thinking of getting a Samsung LE37R87BDX because it gets great marks for its standard definition performance, can anyone tell me what this Sharp TV is like with standard def?

Basq · 03-11-2007 10:53PM

Funny you say that as apparently it's weakness is with standard def. It's not terrible but i think the 3rd review brings attention to it. Best give it a read!

From the third review:

The majority of your viewing schedule is still likely to be taken up with standard definition material. The LC37XD1E does the best it can with the signal, but there's no escaping the fact you're watching a low resolution source. Freeview images were sharp, but there were noticeable artefacts from the compression visible.

It's really supposed to be used for HD material.

Will be collecting it tomorrow so will give you an opinion then but don't watch enough standard def TV to even notice it.

Qwerty? · 03-11-2007 10:54PM

Just home from setting one of these up for my Father in law. Standard def as far as I can tell so far is not brilliant. Apparently reviews say in HD it's amazing. I have hooked it up to a Upscaling DVD which is excellent. I'll have some more tweaking to do tomorrow.

6digitnumber · 03-11-2007 11:03PM

basquille wrote: »

Will be collecting it tomorrow so will give you an opinion then but don't watch enough standard def TV to even notice it.

Please do:) I don't have SkyHD, only crappy chorus so having decent Standard def is important for me. Great price for a Full HD 37" though, for an Irish store anyways!

Basq · 04-11-2007 01:59AM

Just found a massive thread (almost at 40 pages) all about the TV over at AVForums. Various peoples opinions and images from the TV in operation.

Only on page 2 but plenty of lovely images of it showing crystal clear standard definition (couple of images here of the TV showing standard definition: http://www.avforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3954499&postcount=33).

The full thread is here: http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=437300

Definitely buy it if you can.. but like i said, i'll try and give a more comprehensive review tomorrow.

EDIT: It's £699 on the Curry site here!

6digitnumber · 04-11-2007 03:20AM

Well that bloke in the avforums thread seems dead pleased with the SD picture! I am very interested in this set now...Let us know how it looks for you when you get it all set up:)

shanethemofo · 04-11-2007 03:36AM

Anyone know if pcworld are selling these as well?

brightkane · 04-11-2007 12:13PM

wheres our review!

Basq · 04-11-2007 12:24PM

There'll be problems with a review for Standard Definition as i don't have even an analogue service in my apartment as i'm waiting for Chorus Digital to be setup in the coming weeks. But there's plenty of positive opinions on the AV Forums of Standard Definition saying it has a knack of making "SD look close to HD" (quote from the forum).

So it's definitely worth a buy!

Currys in Sligo had 5 of them left when i was in there. But i had no car with me so was gonna get it delivered but he said i'd to wait for one from Dublin and it'd be a week or two. And he checked on his computer and said there was none in Dublin, none in Galway but can be back-ordered (but no guarantee i'd get it) so i bought it there and then. And it's put behind for me to collect today.

It's on the front of their catalogue which i got in the store anyways, so i'd imagine there's bound to be a few left around the country irregardless of what was said.

Will give a review of the set later for DVD / HD TV Rips but like i said I can't give much of a review for SD i'm afraid.

guest · 04-11-2007 02:17PM

basquille wrote: »

It may have been a mistake. I used to work for Currys. The Coverplan is drilled into the salespeople...they'll do anything to sell it. See they have to reach 8% Coverplan of their total sales or they are in serious sh1t.

Sometimes the wrong Coverplan code would come up, i.e. I'd bring up a €2500 TV on the computer, and the Coverplan associated with it would cover a TV worth between €1500-2000.

Legally, they must provide you with full coverage if you need to make a claim. I don't mean to worry you. Most of the staff are good people and again, it MIGHT be a mistake. Just if you do need to make a claim and they try to fob you off by saying it was the incorrect category code, remind them that the legal system doesn't sympathise with a silly computer system!

On another note, a good buy. 1080P is always the best way to go and I personally find the picture on Sharp LCDs to be even crisper than other brands incl Sony.

End of rant!:)

Basq · 04-11-2007 02:39PM

Cheers for the insight into the CoverPlan JossisBoss.

Yeah, the salesperson expected it to be around €420 - €450 for the extended warranty. And was amazed when it showed up €199 which he said is the price for the 5 year warranty for a standard CRT. The only reason he could come up with was when they reduced the TV, the price for cover was also reduced.

My brother bought a 42" Philips last week in there and said the warranty they quoted him was around the €400 mark so he didn't go for it but for €199, i had to go for it really!

PS - currently in the process of tearing apart my sitting room in order to make room for the new TV and stand. Absolute nightmare!

Akula · 04-11-2007 03:36PM

Bought this last week. Its a great set, sd and hd images are amazing. Only limitation is the strange input configuration... but if you are happy to put everything through hdmi then you have everything you really need.

Basq · 04-11-2007 04:14PM

Yeah, read about the inputs alright. I've got a scart box which will accept 3 inputs of scart cable but isn't there only 1 component connection in the back? I've got an XBOX and Media Drive which could both use that.

Going up to collect it in about 20 minutes anyways.

6digitnumber · 04-11-2007 06:37PM

JossisBoss wrote: »

It may have been a mistake. I used to work for Currys. The Coverplan is drilled into the salespeople...they'll do anything to sell it. See they have to reach 8% Coverplan of their total sales or they are in serious sh1t.

I rang the Currys store in Cork earlier today, they told me the prices for extended warranty for this set are as follows.

2 Year: 169.99
3 Year: 179.99
5 Year: 199.99

Very strange pricing scale there. 30 Euro diff between 2 year and 5 year! The 199.99 for 5 years seems to be what they have on their system though, mistake or not.

Basq · 04-11-2007 07:39PM

Alright so it's fully set up and all.. will take pictures tomorrow of it

First impressions: the sound is magnicent, video needs a bit of tweaking. Looks great on DVD's (just watched some of 'Planet Earth' on it.. phenomenal!). But my HDTV rips were are slightly off but it may have been settings on the media drive i was playing it off. The XBOX looks stunning on it.

Like i said, i can't really test SD.

All in all, can't go wrong for the money as the set is true HD and it does HD amazingly well. There's a couple of people giving optimal settings for picture over at the AVForums so gonna input them and see can i get the best out of it.

Took a few low quality pictures on my camera phone just to show my setup.. will take some better ones tomorrow.

1, 2, 3, 4

Basq · 04-11-2007 07:52PM

HOLY CRAP!

I just had my XBOX plugged in via Scart and it looks great. I plugged it via Component Cables and it's possibly the cripest clearest image i've ever seen!

Probably why my HDTV rips from my media drive looks off.. they're scart. Will try component for them too.

Shame there's only the one component input!

banchang · 04-11-2007 10:58PM

basq that looks great - well done & enjoy

what are component cables ?

Basq · 05-11-2007 12:02AM

banchang wrote: »

basq that looks great - well done & enjoy

what are component cables ?

Cheers.. it is a lovely piece of kit but minor quibble is i tried watching something on my media drive tonight and during bright scenes, the brightness would be pumped up and during dark scenes, it'd be lowered. Quite odd. But it's fine on DVD's so i think it's just the media drive itself. Might look into it a bit!

Oh.. and component cables are 3 cables (blue, green and red) which you recieve with most video equipment nowadays but not all TV's support it (hence the need for scart). Image of them below.. the only problem is i have my XBOX and Media Drive component cables (and only 1 input so have to look into some kind of switcher to switch between the two).

shanethemofo · 05-11-2007 12:44AM

anyone know if currys deliver in ireland? Living in waterford and we dont have one down here.

Edit: or any online shops?

Makaveli · 05-11-2007 01:37AM

basquille wrote: »

the only problem is i have my XBOX and Media Drive component cables (and only 1 input so have to look into some kind of switcher to switch between the two).

You could get the VGA cable for the 360 and connect it using that. Some people claim the colours are slightly more washed out using VGA but it's still a viable option. I have my 360 hooked up to a 19" LCD monitor using the VGA cable and the picture looks really good to me.

6digitnumber · 05-11-2007 02:40AM

What exactly does Currys extended warranty cover? I've heard it said before that it's not worth the paper it's printed on. Not my words, but the opinions of some other consumers on other websites.

Can you choose to purchase the extended warranty sometime after you buy the TV? So as I can take the terms and conditions home and see exactly what's covered

Stokolan · 05-11-2007 05:07AM

shanethemofo wrote: »

anyone know if currys deliver in ireland? Living in waterford and we dont have one down here.

Edit: or any online shops?

Have a look in PCworld. Pcworld, Curry's and Dixens are all the one afaik the offers might carry over to the other shops or they might not. worth a look tho!

tman · 05-11-2007 06:20AM

Makaveli wrote: »

You could get the VGA cable for the 360 and connect it using that. Some people claim the colours are slightly more washed out using VGA but it's still a viable option. I have my 360 hooked up to a 19" LCD monitor using the VGA cable and the picture looks really good to me.

I'd advise on getting the VGA cable as well (or even HDMI if possible... can't remember if basquille managed to get a 360 with HDMI or not...)
From my brief testing, VGA seems to be a good bit better than component for the 360
Bear in mind though, that some backwards compatibility games (namely Halo...) wont work with the VGA cable, so it might be worth hanging onto the component cable as well

Basq · 05-11-2007 09:45AM

Sorry, the component cables are hooked in via VGA. There's no direct component input.. there's an adapter provided with the TV to plug your component cable into and then the adapter plugs into a VGA input. It looks great that way though - i'll try and take a good picture of it later. It's crisp and colourful. Looks amazing!

tman: Oh.. and HDMI on my XBOX is a no-no. I got my XBOX just before they started releasing them with HDMI. Yes, i was pissed about that!

6digitnumber: The Curry's extended warranty covers any non-malicious to the screen. Basically, if the screen fails in the next 5 years - you'll get vouchers to the value you paid for the TV as the LCD's are not really viable for repair. But the warranty doesn't cover damage to the frame etc. It's worth the extra €200 as if the screen fails, i have a comeback.

Will try and take a couple of better photos later but if you can get this TV somewhere, i can't recommend it enough!

lynchie · 05-11-2007 11:02AM

Bought the 42" version of this in January and have to say its one of the best tvs I've ever bought. Have it hooked up to Sky HD box via hdmi.. SD quality is very good and HD is unbelievable.. Even better is the tv will do proper 1:1 mapping over hdmi with a PC so u get full 1920:1080 resolution in XP.

banchang · 05-11-2007 11:30AM

the only problem is i have my XBOX and Media Drive component cables (and only 1 input so have to look into some kind of switcher to switch between the two).
[/QUOTE]

is this the type of adapter you need for you scart box ?

Akula · 05-11-2007 11:51AM

I've hooked up my pc using a dvi->hdmi adapter. The only res I can get it to work on it is 1778x1000

Running it at 1920x1080 means the task bar and an area at the top of the screen are cut off. Any ideas?

Basq · 05-11-2007 11:54AM

banchang wrote: »

is this the type of adapter you need for you scart box ?

That's simply to convert the component cables to a scart input (which i have), but the scart input for the XBOX looks less impressive than when it's hooked directly into VGA via component cables.

It's pretty complicated all the choice of inputs i have. Will take a photo of them all this evening and the choice of inputs at the back of the TV.

Below is how the VGA Adapter looks (that i got with the TV) so i plug my component cables (red, green, blue) into that and then into the VGA socket on the back.

The problem is that there's only one VGA adapter to plug into and i've two sets of component cables.

banchang · 05-11-2007 12:04PM

something like this would do it?

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-86-49-en-70-2cs.html

Basq · 05-11-2007 12:11PM

Cheers for the link banchang. That looks great!

The only problem i see is i'd need 2 inputs with the YUV interface (red, blue, green) and it only shows 1 at the back (second section over).

PA.03052.003.jpg

EDIT: This (or this, or this) type of thing would do it. Will have a look on EBay tonight!

Sharp Aquos LC37XD1E (37" 1080p HD Ready) LCD TV - €999 [Currys]

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