Sharp LC-37B20E review

Another irritation is the way the inputs are labelled. Out of the box, the TV doesn't tell you what each input is connected to onscreen. It simply says 'EXT-4' with no clear way to tell what EXT-4 is. It could be an HDMI, component or even VGA input. You can add your own labels, though, so the frustration should be short-lived.

We are impressed by the Sharp's menu system. It looks nice -- although it's not especially fancy -- and it's easy to use. We didn't have any problems navigating around the settings or getting where we wanted to go.

Performance
We've noticed in the past that Sharp LCDs tend to be intolerant to interlaced video. What this means for the viewer is that Freeview can sometimes show de-interlacing artefacts, such as jagged lines. The B20 is, however, a good performer on digital TV. Once we reduced the backlight, we noted that pictures looked natural and had good detail levels. It certainly seems that Sharp has gone out of its way to improve the flaws we've previously seen.

We took a gander at some HD movie clips from our Popcorn Hour A-100 media streamer. A 720p clip of the US comedy Weeds looked nice. It was very detailed and even the smallest things on screen were crisp and clear. The Dark Knight trailer also looked superb.

We tested Men in Black and Anger Management on Blu-ray and both won our praise for exceptional detail. We were especially impressed by the sharpness and the decent black levels really appealed to us. To get the best performance, we did need to turn the backlight down again, but we're aware this is generally necessary with LCD TVs. Hopefully, manufacturers will get better in the future at calibrating TVs for the home.

Sound, which is so often a problem on flat panel TVs, was actually very crisp and clear. We noticed there was very little low-end bass, but this isn't a surprise.

Conclusion
The Sharp is a nice-looking TV with decent picture and sound performance. We've got some reservations about the way the TV de-interlaces standard-definition content, but it's not a showstopper. Overall, this is a competent TV albeit with some 'Sharp-isms' that make it irritating at times.

There are plenty of 1080p LCDs around these days and many of them cheaper than the B20. Take a look at Toshiba's Regza 37XV505D or a Samsung LE40A6 for more inspiration.

Edited by Shannon Doubleday