Sharp Aquos LC-40LE700M (40-inch LCD)

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By Philip Wong, CNET Asia
Oct 23, 2009

The Aquos LC-40LE700M is conceived by Sharp to "bridge" the huge price premium between a traditional and an LED-lit LCD TV. To achieve this feat, this 40-incher is stripped bare of all value-added features such as Integrated Digital TV (IDTV), multimedia playback, etc. In fact, what the Japanese company has created is a very focused panel that delivers all key essentials, ranging from an ultra-high dynamic contrast ratio to a strong A/V connectivity suite for a bargain price. This effectively makes this 40-incher easily one of the most affordable LED-lit TVs in Asia.

Design

The panel frame has a unique "dual tone" finish besides cosmetic blue lighting.
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At 92.5mm-thin, the LC-40LE700M is hardly sleek compared with most of its LED-backlit and -edgelit counterparts. Yet, we are drawn by its clutter-free styling accentuated by soothing blue lighting and a silver shade that fades toward the bottom of the piano black frame. This glossy treatment is also applied to its boxy pedestal stand which lacks a user-friendly swivel function. The TV's auxiliary inputs and controls are conveniently clustered on the bezel's right edge. These jacks are just slightly recessed to conceal unsightly cables while offering quite a comprehensive selection.

Design and layout

Form factor	All-in-one design; 92.5mm thin
Finishing	Piano black
TV controls	Right side; non-backlit; push buttons
Auxiliary A/V inputs	Right side; HDMI, composite-A/V and earphone
Mounting option	Fixed table stand, manual wall bracket

A plain vanilla remote with dedicate video playback buttons.
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There's nothing to shout about for its no-frills remote which has hardly evolve since 2007. That said, it is functional and comes with widely spaced buttons that provide adequate tactile feedback. If you own an Aquos Link-compatible Sharp player, there're also video playback controls hidden under a flip cover at the bottom of the clicker. To hasten switching between different video sources via its TV/Video toggle key, the LC-40LE700M can be manually programmed to skip its HDMI and PC inputs. Analog sockets, on the other hand, are automatically filtered if they are not connected.

Remote control

Form factor	Longish; arched bottom; 210mm long
Finishing	Matte black
Key backlighting	N.A.
Input switching	TV/Video
Multifunctional control	N.A.

Sharp has generously included seven picture modes, but with limited tweaking options.
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Tweaking options are limited as far as Sharp's primarily text-based user menu and interface are concerned. There're seven picture modes factory-tuned for different program genres. Dynamic, Standard, Movie, Game and PC could be further tailored to your likings, but affect across all the video inputs. They are unlike User mode which has independent memory and can be fine-tuned for each source. Additionally, most of the A/V configurations are pretty basic with the exception of backlighting adjustment, 100Hz processing and film mode nested in five structured submenus.

Software Menu

Text-based; colored	Text-based; colored
Video modes	Dynamic; Standard; Movie; Game; PC; User; Dynamic (Fixed)
Audio modes	N.A.
Advanced settings	Backlight; 100Hz engine; film mode