16. Interpolation And PC Mode

When playing DVDs, the images were very sharp with S-Video and even with the cinch input. The flip side of the coin, however, is that the images were very jagged, and even at a viewing distance of a few meters, this was still a problem. Moving to VGA/DVI greatly improved things, and the jaggy effect more or less disappeared when we moved to HD format. The situation was still acceptable with DVD video, but Xbox games showed the set's limitations. Contours were very uneven, a situation that was particularly evident with Burnout 3, for example, where the contours of the cars in the preview were too jagged. With games, the images clearly lacked proper smoothing.

Sound Quality

Despite the debatable positioning of the speakers under the panel, we found the sound of the Sharp Aquos LC 26 GA3 to be excellent. (The US model, the LC 26 GA4, uses a different location.) The speakers are high-quality, and put out warm, well-balanced sound. We should say, however, that you shouldn't expect the kind of bass a subwoofer can put out in such a limited space. But it sounded quite good - definitely sufficient for broadcast TV and acceptable for DVD.

Conclusion

In the final analysis, Sharp has a high-quality product here, one that's especially well suited to those who like to fiddle with the adjustments of their equipment to get the best possible picture. On the other hand, the disappointing interpolation spoils the pleasure somewhat with video, and particularly with games. Using PC mode more or less eliminates that fault, and that's the solution to use where HD is not available.