Sharp 42″ Aquos LCD HDTV Review

Heads up: I wrote this review back in 2006 and I’m keeping it here for the archive. That Sharp Aquos has been discontinued for ages. If you just want to know what to actually buy in this size today, skip to Updated for 2026 at the bottom.

My living room wasn’t bringing the kind of audio visual pleasure it once did, so we had to take the step up to a new HD TV. The problem was, which one to get?

The absolute dimensions for our built in cabinetry dictated that we could go no larger than a 40-42″ flat panel TV, depending on the brand. After doing quite a bit of comparative analysis we finally decided on the Sharp 42″ Aquos LCD (LC-42D62U), which we got at Best Buy.

The Deal

This TV was only released a few weeks ago and Best Buy’s initial pricing was $2,299. Just before Thanksgiving they put it on “Sale” for $1,999. Being a Reward Zone member, and a pretty darn good customer of Best Buy, we had received a coupon good for 12% off the purchase, which brought the pricing down to $1,759.

HINT: Tell the people in the store that you got a 10% or 12% off coupon but left it at home and they’ll give it to you on any large ticket item in the store.

At the time of purchase, a quick search on Price Grabber revealed that I couldn’t even get it online anywhere cheaper, so we went ahead and picked one up.

TV Details

There were four primary characteristics which drew me to this TV:

1. With a resolution of 1920 x 1080, this is a full 1080p high definition screen.
2. The image quality and screen refresh rate were outstanding in the store.
3. The glossy piano-black case on the TV is the best looking out there.
4. Nothing less than $1,000 more comes close to the value of this set.

The TV has a Built-In HDTV Tuner, but that’s only good if you’re going to use it with an antenna. To get HD via cable or sattelite you’re going to need a box, or one of the new HD TiVos.

The two HDMI inputs mean that you can either hook an HD tuner and an upconverting (or HD / Blueray) DVD player to it simultaneously, or you can use an HDMI switching A/V receiver.

Real World Performance

After getting the TV home and hooked up to our Time Warner HD DVR I’m pleased to report that the HD picture quality is outstanding. I’d give it an 8.75 out of 10. (I mean, I’ve seen better – but you’re going to have to spend double to triple what this one cost to get it today.) And that is only with a 1080i source. I imagine that 1080p will be even better, but I’ll wait till either Blueray or HD DVD win the standard war before investing in one of those.

Sound quality on this set is adequate, but personally I don’t rely on the internal speakers as we run it through a 5.1 surround system. One thing I found out the hard way is that if you use the digital optical output on the TV to connect it to your receiver, you can no longer use the variable volume control. I mean, the settings will allow you to choose it, but turning the volume up and down on the TV has no effect on the actual volume level. I suppose this is because it’s a digital signal, but it would have been nice of them to tell you this in the manual.

The remote control that comes with the TV is pretty weak in my opinion. I don’t find it to be layed out very intuitively and it’s too large. Luckily I’m not planning on using it as I’ll likely convert to a Logitech Harmony programmable remote in the not too distant future.

Finally, I’ve noticed that non-HD shows seem to have a little more difficult displaying contrast between shades of black or other dark colors. I’m not sure if this is my cable box, the quality of the broadcast, or the actual TV. Anyway, it’s not that bad, but I do notice it. The simple solution is to just watch as much HD content as possible. :-)

Summary

The exceptional picture quality combined with the low price make this HD TV an outstanding bargain. For those that require lots of features such as picture-in-picture or high end internal audio systems you might want to move along to a Sony XBR, but for the money – at this point in time – the Sharp Aquos simply can’t be beat.

Updated for 2026: What to Actually Buy Now

I wrote the review above in 2006, when a 42-inch 1080p LCD for $1,759 was a screaming deal and “HD” was the exciting part. That Aquos is long gone and the whole landscape has flipped. Here’s what actually matters shopping this size today.

What Changed

1080p is dead; 4K is the floor. The real divide now is OLED versus LED/LCD. OLED lights every pixel on its own, so black is truly black and the contrast is spectacular (see RTINGS and Consumer Reports). LED/LCD got far better too, especially “Mini-LED” sets with full-array local dimming that hit serious brightness for less money. And the TV is a computer now: every set ships with streaming built in, the big three being Roku, Google TV, and Amazon Fire TV, so you don’t need a separate box or a cable tuner anymore. If you game, look for HDMI 2.1 and a 120Hz (or faster) panel; for movies, Dolby Vision HDR.

Two I’d Point You At

Premium: the 42-inch LG C5 OLED is about as good as a small TV gets, top-tier picture and gaming (120Hz-plus, HDMI 2.1, Dolby Vision), and it fits tight cabinetry the way that old Aquos did. What Hi-Fi names it the best 42-incher.

Value: a current 43-inch TCL or Hisense Google TV gets you 4K, HDR, and built-in streaming for a fraction of what I paid in 2006. The budget models change every few months, so I’m pointing you at the current crop rather than a specific set that’ll be discontinued by the time you read this.

The Bottom Line

Same rule as 2006: buy the best picture your budget allows and skip the features you won’t use. The difference is the “best picture” bar today is absurdly high even at the cheap end.