Nice over the fireplace!

Author's Rating:

Pros: Flat screen Hi-Def at good price point

Cons: Weak volume

The Bottom Line: 
It's "only" 26 inches (equivalent to a 20" standard TV), but is good value; I'm very happy with it.

Author's Review
Moving into a new home, we wanted a second TV for our family room -- a 12 x 15 ft space with a fireplace centered on the long wall. For budget reasons I decided on the Sharp LC-26GA5U which had received favorable reviews elsewhere.

The Sharp is a 26" LCD High-Def TV with speakers flanking the screen. Out of the box it is mounted on a sturdy table stand with handle. Plugged it into the cable box and, wow, a great picture immediately! :)

PICTURE
The picture is awesome. Very sharp, great blacks and contrast. I have it connected to a Scientific Atlanta cable box with Cablevision service. We don't get very many high-def sources with this service, but the high-def channels are great. I don't know if this is normal for high-def, but channels in standard 4:3 aspect ratio are usually flanked by white or gray stripes on each side, rather than the black that I would prefer. A few channels show the black stripes.

ADJUSTMENTS
You've got a great deal of flexibility in adjusting the picture.
Picture settings include:
- backlight
- contrast
- brightness
- color
- tint
- sharpness

There's an option for automatically adjusting the brightness of the screen depending on the surrounding light (called "OPC"). There is a six-color adjustment setting for color management including hue, saturation and brightness value. You can control the color "temperature". And also within the OPC the black level is adjustable.

Within basic adjustments you also have a 3D-Y/C used to "provide high quality images with minimal dot crawl and across color noise." There's a monochrome setting (watching black-and-white movies_ and a film mode (3:2 pull-down to reduce artifacts).

Lots of additional settings for PC inputs, parental controls, audio, etc.

INPUTS
The inputs are arrayed neatly on the back of the panel and include one HDMI port as well as 3 sets of component video / S-video / composite video and audio inputs.

I hung our unit on the wall using a flat OMNI mount. The TV isn't exactly parallel to the wall, it tilts very slightly backward, and I don't know if that's a problem with the TV or the mount (I suspect the mount). I routed all the wiring behind the sheetrock wall; to make room for it I had to leave a back cover off the TV which is no problem at all for mounting, but I'll have to keep track of it along with the table stand in case I ever decide to move or sell the TV.

SOUND
It sounds OK but not great. I don't have a separate sound system in this room and am depending on the TV speakers. On a couple of channels I've had the volume all the way up to reach an adequate volume level. There is a Dolby Virtual sound mode that enhances the sound from movies.

REMOTE
It's a multi-functional remote and works fine. Simple layout with four programmable buttons for "favorite" channels.

SUMMARY
We've had the TV for two weeks and I haven't had the gumption to delve into all of the settings yet, but right out of the box the picture is great!