The Sharp Aquos LC-60LE650U dispels the notion that buying an inexpensive big-screen HDTV means settling for a stingy feature set. For $1,499.99 (list) you get a well-designed 60-inch edge-lit LED TV with a 120Hz refresh rate, built-in Wi-Fi, and a very generous catalog of Web apps. Skewed color accuracy and narrow viewing angles are part of the deal, but this set still represents a good value for the price.

Design and Features
A nice looking HDTV, the LC-60LE650U uses thin (0.8-inch) glossy black top and side bezels and a 1-inch bottom bezel in a black textured finish. Below the bottom bezel is a thin panel containing remote and ambient light sensors and Sharp's illuminated upside-down 'V' logo.

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The cabinet is a little more than 3 inches thick, and weighs 55 pounds. It can be mounted on a wall or you can use the included black rectangular stand, which is sturdy but doesn't let you swivel the set.  Power, Volume Up/Down, Channel Up/Down, Menu, and Input buttons are mounted on the lower left side of the cabinet. A pair of front-facing 10-watt speakers sit below the screen; they're sufficiently loud and full-sounding, and deliver a decent virtual surround sound effect. Toshiba 55L7200U

At the rear of the cabinet, facing left, are four HDMI ports, one USB port, and one 3.5mm audio output. Outward facing ports include a VGA port, one set of component A/V jacks, two sets of composite A/V jacks, and a 15-pin RS-232 serial port, while a secondary USB port, a LAN port, an antenna/cable connector, and two audio ports (digital-out and analog-in) all face downward.  The LC-60LE650U integrates 802.11n Wi-Fi.

The included 9.5-inch remote has 54 buttons and four arrow keys. None of the buttons are backlit, but there is a dedicated Netflix button along with a Smart Central button that opens a Favorites bar along the bottom of the screen that you can populate with frequently used apps. The bar also gives you access to a Web browser and popular video services like Netflix, Hulu Plus, CinemaNow, Vudu, and YouTube. It also includes music and social networking services like Pandora, Rhapsody, Flickr, Picasa, and Skype, along with hundreds of Vudu apps including a Facebook app. The set also supports mobile device integration, with both Android and iOS versions of Sharp's Sharp Beam app that lets you stream photos, videos, and music to the HDTV.

The LC-60LE650U offers seven AV modes (picture presets) including Standard, Movie, Game, User, Dynamic, Dynamic (fixed), and Auto. The Dynamic (fixed) setting restores everything to a factory default setting and cannot be tweaked, while Auto optimizes the picture according to ambient light and image signal.

Basic picture settings include Brightness, Contrast, Color, Tint, and Sharpness, and there are several advanced settings including C.M.S. (Color Management System) settings for Hue, Saturation, and Value. You can fine-tune the white point in the advanced Color Temperature menu, plus adjust gamma levels and enable or disable Film Mode and Noise Reduction options when needed. 

Performance
The LC60LE650's 1,920-by-1,080 panel delivers a generally good picture, but colors are oversaturated out of the box. After basic dark room calibration, the CIE chromaticity chart below shows red and blue landing just outside their corresponding boxes (inside the box is ideal, according to CIE standards) while green is off by a significant margin. As a result, there is a slight green cast in highlight details; for example, in Piranha on Blu-ray, Elizabeth Shue's blond hair has a subtle green tinge to it. The hot greens aren't saturated to the point where they affect skin tones, however.