Sharp Elite PRO-60X5FD Review Archive

Contrast

Contrast tells the story of how dark a TV gets versus how bright it gets. A television that can get very dark and very bright should be able to show a more detailed image, at least according to conventional wisdom.

With our calibration methods, the results were good, but not as awe-inspiring as the Elite Pure picture mode. The darkest black level we recorded with these settings was 0.09 cd/m² , which is decent, but does not live up to the fabled heritage of the Pioneer Kuro Elite plasma TV.

The Elite Pure mode, which tries to emulate the performance of the Pioneer Kuro Elite, was able to produce a superior contrast ratio than our calibration did, although it came at the expense of color accuracy. The deepest black level that we measured was 0.02 cd/m² , which is phenomenally dark. With a peak brightness of 181.99 cd/m² , the Elite PRO-X5FD achieved a contrast ratio of 9100:1—a fantastic score.

Color & Greyscale Curves

The color curves produced with our calibration settings were superb. Red, green, blue, and the greyscale ramp up smoothly, meaning that transitional colors and shades of grey will display.

The curves produced by the Elite Pure settings were all over the place. The jaggedness of these curves means that they jump up in luminance when certain input signals are given, only to drop down in luminance for the next input signal. The result is an uneven transition from a color's lowest level to its highest.

Color Temperature

Using our calibration methods, we were able to minimize color temperature error. All of the fluctuations inside the greenish rectangle are not visible, meaning that only the darkest images will have a slightly warmer hue.

Color temperature error on the Elite PRO-X5FD using the Elite Pure settings was more noticeable. There wasn't any noticeable color temperature error for most of the greyscale, although the darker greys produced a much warmer hue.

Color Gamut

Both of the color gamuts produced were similar, but there were some notable differences.

With our calibration settings, the reds matched up perfectly with the industry standard. Greens and blues were less accurate: both were oversaturated, meaning that at their highest input signals, greens would look slightly more neon and blues would look more purple. The white point, which affects color temperature, was spot on.

The color gamut using the Elite Pure settings also had excellent reds and less accurate greens and blues. The difference with this gamut is that less of the greens are oversaturated, while the blues will appear even more purple. Additionally, the white point was off.

Picture Dynamics

When we refer to picture dynamics, we are talking about the TV's ability to display blacks consistently, no matter how dark or bright the screen is. The same applies to white levels.

Both of the calibration settings produced good picture dynamics on the Sharp Elite PRO-X5FD. To be more specific, our calibration settings produced a luminance of 0.09 cd/m² when the screen was 90% black and a luminance of 0.10 cd/m² when the screen was 5% black. With the Elite Pure settings, a 90% black screen had a luminance of 0.02 cd/m² and a 5% black screen had a luminance of 0.05 cd/m² . The great score here is a result of the local dimming feature on this TV, which adjusts certain LED backlights depending on the content displayed. More on how we test picture dynamics.