The final main Sharp TVs we reviewed got here out almost 10 years in the past, and since then many of the firm’s choices have been aimed toward companies or finances buyers. With its Aquos XLED line, Sharp is making an attempt to leap into the premium TV area once more. The $2,499.99 65-inch mannequin we examined (4T-C65FV1U) is clearly competing with flagship fashions from LG and Samsung when it comes to specs and value. It’s a mini-LED TV with a quantum dot panel, and it’s brighter and has a wider coloration vary than the wonderful Samsung S90C and the LG C3 Evo. Brighter and wider don’t at all times imply higher, although; its colours aren’t very correct out of the field, and shadow particulars are inconsistent relying in your viewing place. It additionally lacks an ATSC 3.0 tuner for 1080p TV broadcasts and a hands-free voice assistant. It is a commendable effort from Sharp, however Samsung and LG stay squarely within the lead.
Design: Modern Display, Clunky Distant
TVs, even high-end fashions, not often have a lot visible aptitude anymore, however the Aquos XLED tries to be subtly attention-grabbing. The highest and sides of the display are bordered by a skinny brushed metallic band, whereas the underside has a slender, flat, gunmetal bezel with the Sharp emblem within the center. These parts are all typical, as is the oblong protrusion under the underside bezel that holds the infrared distant sensor and indicator LED. The distinctive ingredient is a sweeping, gently curved accent that runs from the decrease corners and over the sensor module. It doesn’t visually come out, however it’s a chic contact that avoids the standard nondescript bezel-less rectangle design that almost all TVs have embraced. Simply remember that the arch has a large, shallow recess on both facet of the sensor field that can most likely be a magnet for mud.
The bottom can be simply barely completely different sufficient to be attention-grabbing. Visually, it’s a typical rectangular darkish grey metallic plate that helps the TV on a thick metallic stem. Nevertheless, the stem pivots left and proper, so you possibly can regulate the horizontal angle of the display as much as 15 levels in both path. Most TVs, particularly bigger screens, have mounted stands that don’t allow you to flip the display to a special angle, so this can be a uncommon profit. With the 65-inch mannequin we examined, the swivel base appeared secure even when turning the display. When you do not want the swivel motion, you should use an included locking bolt to maintain the TV mounted in place. You can even mount the TV on a wall with out the stand.
(Credit score: Will Greenwald)The Aquos XLED’s ports are cut up between two sections on the left facet of the again of the TV. Two HDMI ports, two USB 2.0 ports, a 3.5mm composite video enter, and a 3.5mm service port face left. Two extra HDMI ports (one eARC), an optical audio output, a 3.5mm headphone jack, an Ethernet port, and an antenna/cable connector face straight down. A small four-directional management stick sits close to the ports within the decrease left nook, providing some potential to make use of the TV with out the distant.
The included lengthy, slim distant is practical, however not significantly elegant. It’s coated in buttons, with a big, flat quantity pad, a set of playback controls, and devoted service buttons for Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, and YouTube close to the highest. A round navigation pad sits under them in a less-than-convenient place, with quantity and channel rockers additional down. It isn’t as glossy or refined because the remotes included with high-end TVs from LG and Samsung. LG’s Magic Distant has nearly as many buttons as Sharp’s, however with a friendlier, extra curved design and buttons which can be simpler to determine solely via contact, plus performance as a motion-sensing air mouse. Samsung’s Eco Distant is a tiny rectangle that depends totally on the navigation pad and incorporates a photo voltaic panel and a USB-C port for a chargeable battery (whereas LG’s and Sharp’s remotes use two AA batteries).
(Credit score: Will Greenwald)Sharp packs the Aquos XLED with audio energy, giving the TV an 85-watt speaker system with six midrange drivers, 4 tweeters, and one subwoofer. Right here, the subwoofer is best described as a bass driver, because it’s built-in with the TV and lacks the bodily area a traditional, separate subwoofer makes use of to supply true wall-shaking sound.
It provides a better peak output than most 65- and 75-inch TVs, and the a number of drivers can ship a large and detailed sound area from the entrance because of Dolby Atmos help. Nonetheless, there’s a restrict to the dynamic vary and spatial audio imaging a TV’s audio system can present, and should you actually need booming lows or all-around encompass sound, it’s best to take into account a separate soundbar with its personal subwoofer, upward-firing drivers, and/or rear satellites.
LG and Samsung have an edge on this entrance, not just for the spectacular audio system of their high-end TVs, however as a result of their respective Wow Orchestra and Q-Symphony options let sure soundbar fashions work along side these built-in audio system for higher imaging and dynamic vary as a substitute of disabling them like most soundbars sometimes do.
Sensible TV: Google TV, However Not Palms-Free
The Sharp Aquos XLED makes use of Google TV as its sensible TV platform, offering entry to all main streaming companies and loads of options. Apps for Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Crunchyroll, Disney+, Max, Netflix, Twitch, and YouTube can be found, amongst many others. It additionally helps Google Solid for native streaming out of your Android gadget or Chrome tab.
(Credit score: Will Greenwald)Regardless of what seems to be microphones on the TV’s infrared sensor cluster, it doesn’t help hands-free Google Assistant entry like Google TV-powered fashions from Hisense, Sony, and TCL. Contemplating the excessive value, this can be a notable omission.
To entry Google’s voice assistant on the Aquos XLED, press the microphone button on the distant earlier than you converse into it. Google Assistant is helpful for trying to find content material, getting common info just like the climate and sports activities scores, and controlling sensible house units.
Efficiency: Barely Cool Colours
The Aquos XLED is a mini-LED 4K TV with a 120Hz refresh fee and help for prime dynamic vary (HDR) content material in Dolby Imaginative and prescient, HDR10, and hybrid log gamma (HLG). It has an ATSC 1.0 tuner for over-the-air TV, however no ATSC 3.0 for 1080p broadcasts, which is disappointing. LG’s C3 Evo additionally lacks an ATSC 3.0 tuner, however Hisense and Samsung’s higher-end TVs have them.
We take a look at TVs utilizing a Klein Ok-10A colorimeter, a Murideo SIX-G sign generator, and Portrait Shows’ Calman software program. Out of the field, with an SDR sign in Film mode, the Aquos XLED exhibits a peak brightness of 199 nits with a full-screen white area and 218 nits with an 18% white area, together with successfully excellent blacks. That is fairly dim even for SDR, however growing the backlight to full and setting each native dimming and distinction management to excessive pushes that peak brightness as much as 472 nits with a full-screen white area and 1,270 nits with an 18% white area. These settings do make the blacks lower than excellent, although, at 0.001cd/m^2, which, to be honest, continues to be wonderful.
With an HDR sign, the Aquos XLED exhibits a peak brightness of 523 nits with a full-screen white area and 1,648 nits with an 18% white area, together with negligible black ranges. Native dimming LED backlight arrays, particularly mini-LED arrays, can reduce out sufficient mild to supply black ranges just like OLED panels with little mild bloom (which OLED TVs basically don’t produce), making distinction ratios for these TVs successfully infinite. Although the distinction ratio quantity has change into a lot much less related, peak brightness and the power to show high-quality shadow particulars are nonetheless essential.
(Credit score: PCMag)The above charts present the Aquos XLED’s coloration efficiency in Film mode with an SDR sign in contrast with Rec.709 broadcast requirements, and an HDR sign in contrast with DCI-P3 digital cinema requirements. In each circumstances, the TV runs a bit cool, with whites drifting a bit towards blue. Pink, greens, and yellows are spot-on in SDR, however cyans and magentas are additionally pulled towards blue. HDR is a little more balanced, with whites only a contact hotter however nonetheless cool, and cyans and magentas far more according to the place they need to be. Greens and reds exceed the DCI-P3 coloration area, however yellows are barely undersaturated. Usually, that is an impressively huge coloration gamut, however not probably the most precisely saturated one out of the field.
The “Lions” episode of BBC’s Dynasties appears to be like superb on the Aquos XLED. The greens of Serengeti grass look vibrant however not oversaturated or cartoonish, and the high-quality texture of frivolously coloured lion fur and darkish cowhide comes via clearly. In Film mode, colours seem pure and balanced throughout the board.
Whereas colours are vibrant when viewing the Aquos XLED from straight on, they begin to desaturate as quickly as you progress greater than about 30 levels off-angle, which additionally causes some discount in distinction. The fading isn’t important—it’s the dip in coloration vary and distinction you’ll get shifting from a high-end TV to a midrange TV with out quantum dots, and the image stays fairly viewable as you progress to the facet. It simply loses some vividness in contrast with viewing the display within the candy spot instantly in entrance of it.
In The Nice Gatsby, black fits worn within the social gathering scenes seem correctly darkish, however their cuts, contours, and textures fade a bit into muddiness with out a lot shadow element when considered straight on. When you transfer a bit to the facet the main points come out, however the blacks get much less darkish as nicely. The whites of lights, balloons, and shirts all pop and look very shiny whereas retaining loads of spotlight element when instantly in entrance of the TV, and pores and skin tones are saturated and balanced. Some tweaking of the native dimming and auto distinction settings within the TV might help convey out shadow particulars whereas preserving the general distinction, however out of the field in Film mode there’s a little bit of an imbalance relying on the place you sit.
Shadow particulars in some content material would possibly get barely muddy, however the Aquos XLED nonetheless has a wonderful image while you’re watching it within the candy spot. The mini-LED backlight produces deep blacks when wanted whereas nonetheless exhibiting shiny and vivid highlights, as seen when viewing demo footage from the Spears & Munsil Extremely HD benchmark disc. In a dim-to-moderately lit room, shiny topics like cacti in opposition to fully black backgrounds come out and present little or no mild bloom round their edges.
Gaming: Fast, However Not the Quickest
A 120Hz refresh fee and help for variable refresh fee (VRR) make the Aquos XLED interesting for gaming, regardless that it doesn’t help AMD FreeSync or Nvidia G-Sync.
Testing enter lag on the TV with an HDFury Diva HDMI matrix, we measured 7.8 milliseconds in Sport Mode. That’s under our 10ms threshold to think about a TV good for gaming, although it doesn’t hit the sub-millisecond speeds we’ve not too long ago measured in OLED TVs just like the LG C3 Evo and the Samsung S90C. Each LG and Samsung TVs additionally characteristic very helpful management panels particularly for checking and adjusting settings whereas gaming, which the Aquos XLED and different Google TV units we’ve examined lack.
Verdict: A Good Effort That is Priced Too Excessive
Sharp makes a valiant effort to compete with LG and Samsung’s flagship TVs, and in some ways the Aquos XLED comes shut. Its mini-LED backlight could be very shiny and produces wonderful distinction, and its quantum dot LCD panel produces a large coloration gamut. However until you’re watching from a candy spot, these colours desaturate rapidly, and so they run a bit cool out of the field. As well as, the shortage of a far-field microphone array for hands-free Google Assistant and an ATSC 3.0 tuner are disappointing at this excessive value. The Samsung S90C and the LG C3 Evo OLED TVs each present way more correct and lifelike coloration, have higher shadow element, and provide hands-free entry to Amazon Alexa, so they continue to be on the prime of the pack.
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