Sharp LC-60UI7652E: A good 4K 60 inch (152 cm) TV at 600 €

Presentation

The Sharp LC-60UI7652E television has a 60-inch (152.4 cm) 10-bit (8-bit + FRC) 10-bit VA panel that displays an Ultra HD resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 px. This panel supports a native frequency of 50/60 Hz. This model marks Sharp's return to Europe. Recall that the Japanese company is now owned by the Taiwanese giant Foxconn, but that these are European companies which exploit the name Sharp in Europe. Thus, Sharp televisions are managed by the Slovak company Skytec Universal Media Corporation, whose assembly plant is in Poland while the license of the brand Sharp for household appliances is exploited by the Turkish Vestel. So much for the history. We are therefore dealing with televisions produced in Slovakia, but which all the same benefit from Sharp's image expertise. The TV has two 10 W speakers and a 10 W subwoofer signed by Harman / Kardon and the Aquos Net + home operating system.

Launched at € 800, the Sharp LC-60UI7652E television is now sold for around € 600. It is in direct competition with the televisions the Samsung UE55NU7105, the TCL U55C7006 and the Hisense H55A6500.

The brightness and colorimetry measurements mentioned in this article were carried out with a SpectraCal C6-HDR probe and the CalMAN Ultimate software.

---

Image quality

The Sharp LC-60UI7652E television uses a VA panel well. This technology promotes contrast at the expense of viewing angles. These are narrower than those measured on TVs equipped with an IPS or Oled panel. On this Sharp TV, we measured a loss of brightness of 70% at 45 ° on the sides.

Measured at 3,130: 1, the contrast ratio is good and makes it possible to obtain a fairly deep black in the dark. In absolute terms, it remains quite far from the contrast ratio measured on the best VA panels, the ratio of which exceeds 5,000: 1 (Samsung QE65Q9FN, Hisense H55U7A or Sony 65XF9005). Of course, it cannot compete with Oled TVs.

In video mode, this television limits color drift. We measured an average delta E at 4.7. Remember that the eye perceives the difference between the colors displayed on the screen and the ideal colors when the delta E exceeds 3. The drift is therefore very slight on the Sharp television and the final rendering remains very good.

The default gamma is a little above the reference curve and we simply notice a small drop on the very dark grays which are a little underexposed. The average measured at 2.34 is close to the reference value and above all the curve is fairly stable over the entire spectrum. The overall rendering is good.

The color temperature is slightly too high and lacks a bit of stability. Indeed, the average measured at 7 110 K is higher than the reference 6 500 K of the video standard, but this has very little impact on the final image.

The scaling engine is very basic and allows you to display Full HD content on this Ultra HD panel without distorting the original source too much. The treatment is simple, nothing more. On the side of the motion compensation motor, it is much simpler since there is none. It is therefore necessary to deal with the blurring which can appear on moving objects.

---

HDR

With a maximum HDR signal of 10,000 cd / m², the television nevertheless follows the reference EOTF curve (in yellow). It is a bit excessive between 40% and 50% of luminance and then smoothes the signal to avoid clipping. The peak of brightness is limited to 308 cd / m², rather classic for an entry-level television. If this TV is HDR10 compatible, its limited brightness peak does not allow it to display a quality dynamic image. It is on this kind of television that we would like to find an HDR10 + or Dolby Vision compatibility which really allows to adapt the HDR signal to the capacities of the television.

HDR Video mode provides the best color rendering. We measured an average delta E at 6.2. The colors cannot therefore be considered as perfect, but they are in the good average, especially for HDR.

The Sharp LC-60UI7652E television covers only 52% of Rec.2020 coverage. It is little, but common to most entry-level and mid-range LCD TVs on the market. The cinema is currently satisfied with the DCI-P3 color space and the Sharp television covers 71% of this space. It's better, but we are far from the 90 to 95% of P3 displayed by Oled TVs and the best LCD TVs. It is still in the average of televisions of the same range.

---

Video games

This TV is barely average for playing. The remanence time measured at 21 ms is very high and results in a quite annoying ghosting effect (streaks behind moving objects). Measured at 36 ms, the delay in the display is in the good average. It represents a little more than 2 images of delay compared to the source, and its impact on the playability is limited. In comparison, Samsung reaches 15 ms on its 65Q9FN and on the latest 65Q85R, the 2018 Oleds like the Panasonic 55FZ950 or the LG 55C8V are 21 ms behind, and the latest LG OLED 65C9 even drops to 13 ms.

The game mode reduces the delay in the display, but also changes the color rendering. To find something more faithful, go to Configuration> Image> Game Mode and then set the temperature to hot. Once this small operation was carried out, we measured an average delta E at 5.8. The colors cannot be considered as perfectly faithful, but the colorimetric drift is controlled.

---

Clouding

The use of a Direct Led backlight system limits the risks of clouding, but this defect can still appear if the light distribution filter is damaged during transport. If we did not find a clouding problem on the model we tested, we could see light leaks in the corners.

We have measured the average difference in white homogeneity over the entire slab at only 10%; a fairly good figure especially for a 60 inch LCD model. Remember that below 20% the eye sees no difference in uniformity.

---

Ergonomics

Sharp is not really original and is satisfied with a very classic and versatile design. The plastic frame is completely black.

This television adopts two offset metal feet and it is necessary to provide a piece of furniture at least 112 cm wide to put it down. On the photo above, you can also see the infrared receiver which also acts as a status LED (red for standby, white when the TV is on).

The screen edges are not particularly thin for a 60-inch TV. The glossy plastic frame is pretty well finished, especially for an entry-level model. We did not note any assembly defect.

The filter used by Sharp is very basic and filters almost no reflection. This TV is no better than other entry-level models like the Samsung NU7105 or the Continental Edison 43 "4K UHD.

The dimensions on the TV stand are linked to that of the base, which is 28 cm deep. This television is comfortable on our reference unit which measures 160 x 40 cm, but we have already seen 65 inch televisions with feet 25 cm deep (Sony KD-65AG9).

The back of the TV is very simple. We find the power connector on the left, the connector on the right and the VESA 400 x 200 mm mounting holes in the center. The cable management system is basic: a plastic cable tie.

Present on the back of the TV, but distributed in two places, the connection consists of three HDMI 2.0 inputs, two USB 2.0 ports, an Ethernet port, a composite / component hybrid input, an optical digital audio output, a TNT antenna socket / cable and a satellite antenna socket, headphone output and more surprisingly an SD card reader. The TV also has 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac Wi-Fi. However, it ignores Bluetooth.

The Sharp Aquos Net + system is very basic. It is content with the essentials: Netflix, YouTube, a web browser and a Net + application store that is not really at the level of the competition. There is still a media player that supports a large number of file types and containers (H.264, Xvid, AVI, MWV, MKV, etc.) and the Miracast functionality that allows you to use the TV as a wireless screen from a smartphone or computer. The good news is that this system is very responsive and responds to the finger and the eye to all requests. Sharp obviously remains behind Android TV, Tizen and WebOS which now offer a more convincing experience, particularly in terms of the number of applications and voice search.

The remote control is classic, but effective. Light, it fits well in the hand and the rubber keys fall naturally under the thumb. The keys make no noise. The remote control gives access to all the settings and even offers multimedia keys. Dedicated keys also allow direct access to Netflix, YouTube and the Net + app store. The buttons are not backlit and the remote control does not carry a microphone.

The first start-up of the TV takes about 23 seconds, a bit long, but still a little faster than Android TV. The extinction is instantaneous while the recovery is done in less than 5 seconds; a great time, especially since the TV consumes less than one watt in standby.

---

Audio

The audio system consists of two 10 W speakers and a 10 W subwoofer. This audio part by Haman / Kardon delivers a rather neutral sound and even manages to restore some of the low-mids. It provides a frequency response between 100 Hz and 20,000 Hz. If the package lacks bass, the range of coverage is wide enough to watch TV. As always, cinema lovers will use a sound bar, a home cinema kit or even a PC speaker kit.

---

Consumption

We measured the consumption at 99.8 W on our test chart with a white set around 150 cd / m². The relative consumption is 99 W / m², which is slightly above the average of the televisions tested (around 95 W / m²). It is higher than that of Edge-Led televisions, but also than Full-Led televisions like the Sony 65XF9005 (71 W / m²) and even more than some Oled TVs like the Panasonic 55FZ800 (97 W / m²). The Sharp TV is about average, but it can do better. In standby, consumption is less than 1 W.

---

Conclusion

The Sharp brand signs its return to Europe with an entry level Ultra HD television which does not have to be ashamed of the competition. It sins by a little lack of rigor in the calibration of the image and by a limited ergonomics, but compensates thanks to an excellent balance quality / size / price: this model of 60 inches is indeed displayed at only 599 €.

---