The remote control is clearly laid out and comfortable to hold, with intuitively labeled buttons - including those under the flap at the bottom end. The menu is also clear, but the irritatingly small text lets the side down. We'd also have liked it if the TV minimized the menu while the user adjusts a setting, making it easier to judge the effect of the adjustment.

Light Sensor and Power Consumption:

Apart from the lack of picture-format switching for HD signals, the Sharp offers a lot of functionality. Energy-saving features, for example, include an automatic switch-off function and an "OPC" light sensor, which adjusts the screen's brightness to suit the ambient illumination - this therefore also improves power consumption. But, without the dynamic backlight adjustment of competing models, the Sharp cannot rival the most eco-friendly TVs on the market. Indeed, at 172 watts, the Sharp's operating power consumption is fairly high for an LCD of this size.

There's even more:

Further extras include a swivel pedestal and a Level 2.5 Teletext decoder, whose output can display beside the TV picture.

The "Movie" preset delivers a natural TV picture with no over-sharpening or over-saturation. In this mode, the Sharp differentiates dark sequences excellently. The digital (DVB-T, or "Freeview") tuner's picture is crisp, but the analog tuner's pictures lack a little fine detail.

Weak channels show more noise on the Sharp than on, for example, Panasonic's close competitor, the TX-P 42 GW 10. The Scart input delivers a better-than-average picture, which brings important benefits for those using older satellite receivers. For the Scart connection, be sure to select the central value of the five optional color temperatures - otherwise, the picture looks too brownish.

In the "Movie" preset, the Sharp's colors are largely natural, though there is a slight lilac tint.

In some DVD movies, such as our favorite tough cookie, "Six Days Seven Nights", line flicker appeared often - we found that inputting interlaced, digital signals via HDMI-576i resulted in better de-interlacing. The screen's semi-matt finish suits daylight well, producing an impressive maximum brightness of 300 candelas per square meter.

Blu-ray movies profit from the 42 DH 77 E's slight sharpening effect, particularly when viewed from the typical three-meter viewing distance. Movies in 24p format appear correctly, but it's hard to make out the typical movie judder because of the weak motion clarity. Activating the 100-hertz technology does little to help, but at least it doesn't introduce artifacts.

With the "Film" mode at its highest setting, motion shows no judder, thanks to artificially generated intermediate frames. But this also produces errors - at the start of Chapter 2 of "Casino Royale", the picture stutters briefly. The lack of format-switching for 1080i/p signals also grates on the nerves a little.

Apart from a slight lilac tint, which the user is powerless to rectify, the Sharp's movie pictures look great, especially in darker scenes. Here the viewer will enjoy rich contrast and deep blacks that are unusually color-neutral for an LCD TV.

The picture's depth is impressive, too, and surpasses that of competing models such as Toshiba's 42 RV 635 D. Using test patterns, we detected slight hotspot formation and patchiness in the screen's illumination, but this lack of uniformity wasn't visible in practice.

AV Mode: Movie

Contrast: +30

Brightness: +3

Color: -4

Tint: 0

Sharpness: +1

Color Temp.: Low

Active Contrast: Off

DNR: Off

Monochrome: Off

C.M.S. Hue/Saturation: All set to 0

* These settings apply to realistic playback of HDTV/Blu-ray material through the HDMI interface in a darkened environment. Manufacturing and HDMI playback device deviations could necessitate slight adjustment.