Rated 
Sharp LC-52D62U
Started Mar 31, 2007
Strengths: Excellent color, sharp picture, easy to use menu system.
Weaknesses: Banding!!!
Got an excellent price on this TV. Bought it home and set it up. Looked good, actually stunning in HiDef. Second day recognized the dreaded "banding" issue. Tried to get used to it, wash it out with the backlighting and contrast settings, etc. No luck. Store delivered a second one, same thing. The way to see the banding is to freeze the TV picture when you are changing channels before the next channel appears, so that you are looking essentially at a blank screen. You will see the striping of light and dark areas. If you watch a lot of sports, like hockey or golf, where there is a constant color (i.e. white or green) as the backdrop, the banding is very noticable as the camera pans from left to right. As the review on CNET.Com said, once you see it, your eye is drawn to it and it becomes very distracting. Can not get used to it. The store I bought it from had a technician come out to look at it. He said nothing can be done, that's the way the TV is. Store would not discount the price. Back it goes. Shame, because otherwise the picture is phenominal. Next trying the Samsung LN-S5296D. Will post results.
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