Sharp Aquos Quattron LC-60LE830U

Last year Sharp made a splash with ads featuring Star Trek's Mr. Sulu--George Takei--comically extolling the virtues of a technology called Quattron. With the memorable "Oh, myyy" tagline, the spots attempted to convince TV buyers that the technology, which adds a fourth yellow sub-pixel to the standard array of red, green and blue, improved color fidelity. Despite covering the launch in-depth we never reviewed one of those 2010 TVs, but after spending some time with the 2011 version, represented by the LC-LE830U series, we're a bit less impressed than Sulu was.

If you calibrate the LC-LE830U series properly--something we do with every TV we review--the yellow pixel has no major impact, positive or negative, on picture quality. What will have a negative impact for critical viewers are the set's lighter black levels and sub-par screen uniformity. We appreciate some aspects of its performance, as well as a feature set with Wi-Fi and best-in-class product support, but in the end the LC-LE830U does little to stand above the tough competition in the edge-lit LED-based LCD TV category.

Sharp thinned the TV's dimensions to 1.6 inches deep.

The HDMI, USB, and a few other ports are mounted along the side and bottom of the input area.

Thinner and longer than most clickers, Sharp's wand is plagued by lack of backlight and insufficient differentiation between the mostly too-small keys.

One great feature, however, is the trio of programmable buttons that provide instant access to your favorite apps.

A relatively slim bezel helps keep the Sharp compact, but its looks are a bit generic.

The low-profile stand allows the TV to swivel.

The menus appear to the top and side of the TV image, shrinking it but not obscuring anything.

Explanations pop up when you select a menu item.

Sharp's color management system lets a calibrator dial in more accurate color despite the extra yellow pixel.

Aquos Advantage Live is Sharp's excellent live help feature, which we described in 2009.

The main Aquos Net interface needs work. It occupies half the screen and widgets live in that "console," an arrangement that works fine but doesn't accommodate custom widget sizes. Worse, the widgets can be hard to find; the main "Add widgets" menu only lists a portion, while the Aquos Network houses some more. The design seems outdated, the menus are crowded and there's no obvious way to rearrange or customize widgets placement in the console.

Sharp gets the newer Netflix interface with search and a browsing grid.

The main Apps menu appears as a strip overlaid along the bottom of the screen, and in addition to the streaming options it provides a shortcut to Aquos Net (with widgets like news, weather, photos and traffic) Aquos Advantage Live and USB and DLNA access.