Sharp LED TV With Integrated Blu-ray

This unit doesn't have any 200Hz options as such but calls their motion control "film" modes. These modes can be set to one of three settings from High to Low or can be turned off altogether. At the highest setting the motion was smooth but it removed too much motion blur making the images look a little fake. However, at the lowest setting the motion was excellent. There was still a little judder but it wasn't distracting. What setting you choose to use is subject to personal preference but it is good to see the option available to make that choice.

The LC-40LB700X achieves a six star energy rating thanks to its various ECO features. One of the most obvious is the backlight control which dims the backlights when the maximum setting is not needed. In addition to lower power consumption this also increases the life of the backlights too. However, the dimming is noticeable and somewhat distracting so we tended to have it permanently disabled during testing. There are also ECO features designed for the Blu-ray player which turn the drive off completely when not in use and other ECO features like automatic shutdown when the TV has been inactive for a certain period of time.

The image quality of the panel is top notch. We tested with the integrated Blu-ray as well as an external Blu-ray device and the difference was negligible. We used a wide variety of films to test how well the television handled colour, contrast and motion and also used the Spears and Munsil professional test disc. The results were impressive although we did have to turn off some of the eco-features, turn down the sharpness level and increase the backlight brightness to achieve the best image quality. The unit handled colour exceptionally as shown in the film "Speed Racer". There were no overblown hues although we did turn the colour down just a little from the default setting. The contrast was a mixed bag at first until we turned off some of the Eco-features (which we will go into a little later) but once optimal settings were achieved there was no detail loss in the darker scenes of "The Dark Knight".

This unit doesn't have any 200Hz options as such but calls their motion control "film" modes. These modes can be set to one of three settings from High to Low or can be turned off altogether. At the highest setting the motion was smooth but it removed too much motion blur making the images look a little fake. However, at the lowest setting the motion was excellent. There was still a little judder but it wasn't distracting. What setting you choose to use is subject to personal preference but it is good to see the option available to make that choice.

When it comes to image quality, this TV certainly competes brilliantly with other LED TVs available. However, its appeal comes mainly from the integrated Blu-ray player which is able to play back Blu-ray films and upscale DVDs quite well. The only complaint we have about this unit is the load times which need a lot of improvement. Whether this can be done with a simple firmware update or if we have to wait for the next model to get faster load times remains to be seen.