PICTURE QUALITY. It did a very good job displaying the fine detail of HD content. Color accuracy was acceptable, but below that of most models. Color temperature was slightly on the cool side, lending images a bluish tone. Lack of contrast gave images a flatter appearance with little depth. Brightness level was only fair, dimmer than most, best-suited for a darker room. The model had fairly deep black levels, just shy of the best models. In scenes with subtly shaded light-to-dark areas, such as a sky during sunset, the model did an excellent job producing a smooth transition without distinct, coarse bands. The deinterlacing and film mode operations were excellent on HD content; there was little or no trace of jaggies on the edges of objects for video and film-based 1080i video content, such as from cable.
VIEWING ANGLE. This Sanyo has a narrow viewing angle overall, below-average performance among TVs for this attribute. Only those seated directly in front of the screen will see the best picture quality. When we viewed the TV from the sides image quality degraded significantly. The picture showed a strong loss of color, so flesh tones looked very washed out, along with a moderate color shift. Black levels visibly brightened, reducing contrast especially on dark scenes. When viewing the image from above or below eye level to the screen, the vertical viewing angle was good. The picture showed some change in color, contrast, and black level.
MOTION BLUR. This Sanyo TV has only fair motion performance, with significant blurring on our motion tests. This is typical of LCD TVs with the basic 60Hz frame rate. Though this model includes Sanyo's "BMR120", a feature designed to reduce motion blur, we found it was ineffective. The visibility of blurring on typical program content is often subtle and may not bother most people, but keen-eyed viewers may detect some loss of texture and detail on scenes with movement.
SCREEN REFLECTIVITY. Though not as mirror-like as on some models, this screen surface is glossy and therefore susceptible to reflections from a nearby lamp or window. It does a good job reducing glare from ambient light and maintains contrast in a brighter room environment.
SOUND QUALITY. This model has fair sound quality with below average performance. It's acceptable for typical programming, but shortcomings become obvious with movie soundtracks and music. With movies, dialog was generally clear but background music and other sounds were slightly recessed. Bass was lacking, but treble was nicely detailed, while the overall sound was on the bright side and closed in. The speakers produced good volume so this model should play sufficiently loud in typical room environments, though sound quality degraded at the highest volume settings. Also, at higher volume, dynamic compression kept the sound from distorting, but also limited the clarity of peaks in loudness, which can be distracting on some audio content. If sound quality matters to you, you might want to add a soundbar or other external speaker system.
EASE OF USE. Overall, it was very easy to setup and fairly easy to do routine things. The dark labeling of the connectors on the TV console is very difficult to read. On first power up there is an on-screen guide that helps you through setting up the TV. It lacks the ability to add custom labels to different input sources.
STAND ASSEMBLY. The TV's base does not come pre-attached, so some assembly is required. Mounting the support stand to the TV is straightforward, though the stand requires the assembly of one part before mounting.
INTERNET FEATURES. This TV provides advanced Internet capabilities. Movie streaming services include: Netflix, Amazon, Hulu Plus, YouTube, HBO Go.
CONNECTIONS. This model has three HDMI inputs and one "component/composite shared" input (which means you can only use one type or the other at a time). It also has one USB port, a coaxial digital audio out, a headphone out. Note: HDMI and other cable connections made to the rear-facing panel will protrude beyond the panel's slim depth.
INCLUDED IN THE BOX. A printed user manual. A quick start guide. A remote control without batteries.
