As a leader in the realm of LCD TVs, Sharp often sets the standard that others follow. Among its most recent innovations is a new slimmer, lighter cabinet design that allows larger screen sizes to fit in smaller spaces, a trend that is quickly sweeping the LCD market. The 52-inch LC-52D64U is joined by three other models with screen sizes of 42, 46, and 65 inches that all offer great pictures in svelte packages.

FEATURES: Sharp touts the new cabinet design of the D64U series, which is 25 percent slimmer and 20 percent light¬er than previous models. Not only that, the bezel surrounding the screen is only 1.4 inches thick or 30 percent thinner than before. Sound emanates from speakers hidden below the screen in a stealth configuration. 

As with virtually all large LCD TVs these days, the LC-52D64U exhibits a resolution of 1920×1080, which lets you see HD DVD and Blu-ray as well as most broadcast HDTV programs in their full glory. And built-in tuners for analog and digital over-the-air and unencrypted digital cable signals get you started right away. All you need to do is add a good antenna, and some of the best HDTV available is yours for free.

The universal remote is a longish black affair that is fully illuminated and can control up to four compo¬nents in addition to the TV. The but¬tons are nicely spaced and mostly well organized, but there are no convenient direct-access keys for the inputs. A few buttons are found under a flip-down panel at the bottom of the remote, including one labeled av mode, which selects the picture mode.

Interestingly, there is no way to do this from the onscreen menu system. Speaking of which, the menu is reasonably well organized, but the picture menu doesn’t disappear when you’re using one of the controls to adjust the picture. It would be much better if the picture menu would go away and the selected control moved to the bottom of the screen so you could actually see how the adjust¬ments affect the image.

PERFORMANCE: Starting with my favorite torture test, Chapter 8 of Mission: Impossible III on HD DVD at 1080i, the slow pan across a long staircase had a moderate amount of wavy distortion—not the worst I’ve seen, but not the best, either. I could see some detail  in the background wall in the cata¬combs, but not as much as on some TVs of recent experience. Kung Fu Hustle is a strange movie about brutal Chinese gangs that break into complex choreography when they’re not killing each other with axes.

Despite the bizarre story, the Blu-ray version looks beautiful, mak¬ing it a good title to use when evaluat¬ing high-def performance. The red, green, yellow, and blue neon signs were gorgeous, and skin tones were completely natural, though the green bamboo fields were a bit exaggerated. Scenes in the slum of Pig Sty Alley were so sharp that I found myself wanting to get the heck out of there! I almost sneezed at the dirt on the floors and flour on the noodle maker’s table—I could even read the numbers on the tailor’s tape measure. 

Detail was also excellent on the Moulin Rouge DVD—I could easily imagine myself in a hot-air balloon floating over Paris, and Satine’s dia¬monds looked real enough to hock. The green absinthe glowed a bit, and Zidler’s red coat might have been a bit overdone, but this movie is all about riotous color, so I can’t lay all the blame for that at Sharp’s feet.  Shadow detail in Christian’s dingy apartment and the darkened club was very good, with plenty of visible tex¬ture and dimly lit items that weren’t obscured by solid dark patches, which happens on some TVs.

The black letterbox bars were never conspicu¬ous, but they never entirely disap¬peared, either. A pre-season football game between the Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers on the NFL HD channel from Dish Network looked fantastic—each blade of grass on the field, each scratch on the players’ helmets, and each fan in the bleachers was perfectly clear. The grass was slight¬ly greener than it should have been, but the red and gold of the 49ers’ uniforms looked just about right.  Regular (standard-def) TV pre¬sented a more difficult challenge, as it always does.

I saw some band¬ing in the subtle gradation of light from a nearby star in one scene from Star Trek: Voyager on Spike TV, and there was some shimmering along the edge of the moving star¬ship. Otherwise, detail was good, especially the dust on a derelict shuttle’s control panel—here comes another sneeze! Colors were like¬wise quite good, including realistic skin tones and the red shoulders on command-level uniforms. The black of space was reasonably deep, but not as deep and inky as with some of the flat panels in this survey.

BOTTOM LINE: The LCD TVs in Sharp’s D64U series are considered entry-level 1080p models, but there is very little that is entry-level about their performance—at least, if the LC-52¬D64U is any indication. Detail is superb, colors are right on for the most part, shadow detail is excellent, and blacks are reasonably deep. As for the price, you would have paid a lot more than $3800 for a 52-inch LCD even a year ago, and it would have been a lot bulkier than this slender beauty.  

• Screen size: 52″
• Pixel resolution: 1920×1080
• 1:1 mode: Yes
• Accepts 1080p: Yes
• Displays 1080p/24 at: 60Hz
• Response time: 4ms • Refresh rate: 60Hz
• Video inputs: 3 HDMI (1.3), 1 VGA, 2 com¬ponent, 1 S-video, 3 composite, 1 RF
• Other connections: RS-232, USB (service)
• Dimensions (WxHxD): 48.7″ x 32.9″ x 12.8″ (w/stand), 48.7″ x 30.5″ x 3.75″ (w/o stand)
• Weight: 74.9 lb (w/stand), 62.8 lb (w/o stand) • Warranty: 1 year parts & labor • Price: $3800