Dennis Nicholls
Senior HTF Member
I just picked up a Sharp 27F641 as a gift for some HT averse friends, and thought I'd write a short review. This may be a fairly good choice for a "second set" for HT types in that it has a flat 27" CRT and does the anamorphic squeeze to put it into 16:9 mode for viewing anamorphic DVDs. It's not an HDTV set - just NTSC - but the squeeze mode (called by Sharp "V-compression") really improves the picture quality for anamorphic disks.
Basic specs: 27" flat CRT 4:3 NTSC set. Has 3-line digital comb filter. Squeeze mode for anamorphic DVDs. 2 composite inputs rear/1 front. S-video and interlaced component inputs on rear. $330 everyday price at Best Buy.
This set isn't very automated, and many mode changes require going into the setup menu. This includes changing the aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9. My friend's Sony WEGA changes aspect ratio automatically. Still this feature elevates this set above the typical $300 27" sets you see at Frys.
After running the set for about an hour, I set it up with Video Essentials (the old version). As shipped the contrast was set at 100% but after some tweaking the pq settled down nicely. Sharpness needed to be set at the bottom. There is some red push: I initially set the color with the SMPTE color bars, but the red was still oversaturated. I dropped it down a few notches by eyeball. About 5% overscan all around. The power supply must be better than on the really-cheap Sharps because it did well on the Video Essentials "bent line" contrast setup pattern. I'll have to let my friends use it for a couple of months and then tweak it again with VE.
I changed over to 16:9 mode and watched selections from The Patriot superbit and Lawrence of Arabia CE (non-superbit). Overall the set looked pretty good. I was able to set the black levels well and so the selections from the introduction to The Patriot were excellent. This is no HDTV set but it presents interlaced NTSC video as well as can be expected. This is the cheapest set I remember seeing with aspect ratio control so it may be good to keep it in mind for non-critical viewers, college students, and as a bedroom set for HT types.
Basic specs: 27" flat CRT 4:3 NTSC set. Has 3-line digital comb filter. Squeeze mode for anamorphic DVDs. 2 composite inputs rear/1 front. S-video and interlaced component inputs on rear. $330 everyday price at Best Buy.
This set isn't very automated, and many mode changes require going into the setup menu. This includes changing the aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9. My friend's Sony WEGA changes aspect ratio automatically. Still this feature elevates this set above the typical $300 27" sets you see at Frys.
After running the set for about an hour, I set it up with Video Essentials (the old version). As shipped the contrast was set at 100% but after some tweaking the pq settled down nicely. Sharpness needed to be set at the bottom. There is some red push: I initially set the color with the SMPTE color bars, but the red was still oversaturated. I dropped it down a few notches by eyeball. About 5% overscan all around. The power supply must be better than on the really-cheap Sharps because it did well on the Video Essentials "bent line" contrast setup pattern. I'll have to let my friends use it for a couple of months and then tweak it again with VE.
I changed over to 16:9 mode and watched selections from The Patriot superbit and Lawrence of Arabia CE (non-superbit). Overall the set looked pretty good. I was able to set the black levels well and so the selections from the introduction to The Patriot were excellent. This is no HDTV set but it presents interlaced NTSC video as well as can be expected. This is the cheapest set I remember seeing with aspect ratio control so it may be good to keep it in mind for non-critical viewers, college students, and as a bedroom set for HT types.
