Last Updated December 16, 2008   Product Rating   5 HDMI ports Power-saving room light sensor Very good HD video output   Mediocre SD video output Tweaking of settings required for best picture

Sharp's latest 52-inch HD LCD TV, the Aquos LC-52D65U, is full of connection options and functionality that puts it above the rest and performs nicely in testing. It features 1080p HD resolution with a 52-inch screen and 5 HDMI connections and its low-price make it a TV to look at if you're in the market to purchase a new television soon.

The design of the Sharp Aquos LC-52D65U is very visually appealing. It features a brushed-finish bezel design with a surrounding beveled edge with a black glossy strip. It's design makes it perfect for any location, either wall-mounted or on its stand. Along the bottom edge of the TV is integrated stereo speakers, which perform nicely for a small to mid-size room, but you'll want to use external speakers connected to a stereo for a larger size room. In total, the TV body itself measures around 50 x 31 x 3.8-inches (height x width x depth) and weighs around 64 lbs. With the included stand, it adds a few inches to the height and about 9-inches to the total depth. These measurements make it a fairly compact TV for it's 52-inch size.

On the back of the Aquos LC-52D65U is what we liked most about this model from Sharp. They have included 4 HDMI ports (and 1 additional side-mounted), which is the most yet on any TV, for connecting external media sources, such as DVD players and video game consoles. There is also two component HD-compatible video inputs, VGA, S-Video, and an RF input for the integrated analog & digital cable tuner. The remote control is pretty typical of the Aquos TV's, including orange backlighting, and programmable for 4 additional devices.

Sharp has been making a big point of saying that the LC-52D65U is the one of the most energy efficient TVs on the market today. It is Energy Star 3.0 compliant and has been tested for energy efficiency from various sources and they all seem to agree with that as well. There is also a built-in room ambient light sensor which monitors the room's lighting and adjusts the TVs backlight for better picture and energy saving.

The 1080p HDTV resolution on this TV is pretty nice in the sense that it shows all pixels on the TV at once and doesn't "overscan" as some other similar TVs do. If you enable the Movie Picture preset in the settings, it allows for more advanced color and grayscale configuration and overall better quality than the default settings. This TV is definitely well-suited for a well-lit viewing environment, but in a darker room, the blackness of the picture may not appear as black as it should. When viewing a standard definition (SD) video source, a few of the brightest and darkest details of the picture were either not what they should be or flat out missing. Shadows don't seem as dark as they should and are a little lighter. This is because of the TV's active contrast feature, but it can be improved by enabling the TV's power-saving feature or selecting the Movie preset as described earlier. When viewing a high-definition (HD) video source, the picture drastically improved and is very clear. There is no visible motion-blur or loss in detail at all. The HD processing power of the Aquos LC-52D65U is very good and allows for virtually crystal-clear picture when viewing video from an HD source.