Customer Ratings & Reviews

Best picture for a LED-LCD and most plasmas - Highest contrast of any TV - excellent 3D picture - 240 Hz refresh rate for a smooth picture (plasmas still the best) - near perfect screen uniformity - Great performance in bright and dark rooms - local dimming over 300 zones Bezel Design is simple and none distracting - just a simple mat-black boarder that blinds with the ultra black levels - able to turn the status light on or off while the picture is on (if light is off its hard to tell if you turned the tv off) - just says Elite on the bottom center of bezel - less than 3 inches thick (really thin for being full-array backlight) Remote - simple just like most remotes nothing negative Internet content - a few apps that are pretty standard besides the elite help line Customer support - comes with 2 years full parts and labor warranty - support app on tv - able to run diagnostics over internet and phone The negative things about this tv - It's very expensive (if money is a deciding factor) - had issues with previous Elite and dead pixels but sharp replaced the tv under warranty with a brand new Elite. - poor viewing angle past 45 degrees contrast starts to drop off Overall if you want the best picture for a LED-LCD the Elite is the tv for you. An Other tv I would recommend. Panasonic 65vt 50 is a great option The Panasonic has better motion clarity, picture uniformity, and color accuracy. But the Elite is the better choice if you want the 70" size, great 3D performance, best black levels on any TV and better performance in brighter rooms.

I compared all the large screen televisions for a number of years. Finally narrowing it to some must haves; 60"+ minimum, must have full LED array backlighting and not edge-lit, must have good black levels (I watch a lot of drama, action and scifi movies that are typically dark), and color saturation. Good 3D would be nice too. After comparing several models, it was an easy choice to get the best which is this Elite 70" version. It is truly amazing and coupled with an Elite SC-61 receiver, the result is a wonderful video viewing experience. The 3D is truly spectacular, which I was amazed at, and now I'm buying 3D blu-ray for those movies that use that technology well. The price is pretty high, but if you want the best, this is the one to get.

Stunning ELITE HDTV elevates the 1080P standard!! BUT... This HDTV is DISCONTINUED!! Pioneer sold their ELITE division to Sharp & worked with Sharp to produce a THX Certified show stopper. If you have opportunity to pick up this HDTV as a demo, do not pass it buy!! Color, contrast, 5 HDMI Inputs, THX Certified both sound & picture, every imaginable feature, & WOW!!! The Picture is Stunning!! This is the only LED TV with contrast ratio matching Plasma, without the heat, shorter lifespan, higher power consumption & memory issues of Plasma!

The picture is excellent but if there is any fault, occasionally it looks like it could be from a soap opera. Otherwise it stands out from the competition. Cost of the TV is high even though I got a very attractive deal.

Nice tv. Wish it didn't cost so much,but the picture is fantastic. The depth with the 3D is great.

The picture on this TV is awesome. You can say goodbye to the movie theatre with this on the wall. The price was a bit more than I wanted to spend, but I will most likely not have to buy another TV of this nature.

We just love this TV!! We are gamers and sports fanatics and this TV serves both interest well.

The Sharp Elite PRO-70X5FD may be an LED-based television, but its picture surpasses that of most LCD and Plasma displays, including the previous king, Pioneer's Kuro line. At the time of this review, this is the only native 3D 70-inch HDTV television on the market. It has up-to-date HDMI 1.4a connections, numerous HDMI and other inputs/outputs, and is thin enough to be cleanly mounted on a wall. When the lights are out, the black levels on this TV are insanely good - you can't see where the letterboxing ends and the outer bezel begins. And the TV is so bright that daytime viewing is absolutely no problem. The screen is definitely a bit reflective, so you may have to make an adjustment here and there to your room to avoid distractions. My two biggest complaints are that this $8k TV doesn't have a basic feature like Picture-in-Picture, and can't run off of an APC J15 battery back-up power conditioner (possibly because that unit uses a step-approximated sine wave instead of a pure sinewave like on the APC S15). But Sharp's customer service engineers told me that this TV won't run on ANY battery backup unit, which makes the TV near useless in areas that have more frequent power outages or brownouts that any other TV could weather by being connected to a J15, J25, etc. The cyan issue noted in other reviews isn't even noticeable - it's purely a technical complaint by those whose meters measured some minor deficiency in color representation that few people would or could ever see. But the complaint is moot because Sharp has already announced a firmware update will be released by the end of 2011 that fixes this non-issue. Only calibrators and people who *think* they see a difference care about this issue at all. The 3D presentation of this television is breathtaking. Whether watching Avatar 3D, Hubble 3D, How to Train Your Dragon 3D, or any other number of Blu-ray titles, the image is engrossing, full of depth (which you can adjust!), bright (which you can also adjust!), and very crisp. Regarding the Soap Opera Effect, that isn't an issue if you turn off Film Mode (contrary to erroneous claims made by others that Fluid Motion or Local Dimming plays any part in causing this). But it is sorta cool to watch Lord of the Rings on Blu-ray with the SOA on - its like looking through a window, including the Balrog and Gollum! In summary, you're not going to find a better TV than this one. But the problem is you have to pay nearly $8,000 to get it! I would only recommend spending that kind of cash on a TV if you could truly afford it; there are other less expensive TVs that come close to the Sharp Elite 70", even if they don't quite match its picture quality. But if you want a native 3D HDTV that's 70-inches large, this is the only one out there, which is why Sharp can charge $8,000!

Being touted as best in class, this TV as of recent all come with severe green and pink DSE on all displays that I have seen and it shows in snowy and B/W scenes. Cyan push is impossible to mitigate and it shifts reds to magenta, 2 sets had dead pixels, and one had pulsing. Early Elites were stellar, but as of Nov they are all defective. Sharp does not care about this product line since they dropped Elite brand. Best Buy on the other hand was just absolutely great!!! 10 stars to Best Buy in Vernon Hills for their hard work trying to help me.

This television is by far the best I have ever had and at 691/2 I have had a few tv's. Really great support in setting it up. Pricey but well worth it !!!!!!!!!!!

This is by far the most amazing TV I've ever seen. I may be biased since I favor Pioneer electronics.

I set up this BEAST..and it is amazing..really brings me back to when I made the switch to HDTV about 4 years ago. Ever since then there has been a law of diminishing returns in effect with every progressive TV until now! The light output on this thing is astonishing, light is poring into my room from a slider and blacks are near perfect and the whites and colors are blazing! Night viewing or dark room viewing is even better. The black of the letter box bars blends into the bezel. Detail is as sharp as a tack. I am usually one to use sharpness for the "illusion" of detail and sharper text, but for this TV I put it up one spot to one, maybe two. Motion is very plasma like. I can safely say the color is every bit as good as the VT50..don't care what people say, especially being able to compare them within a short time frame. I have it in THX movie mode with just minor tweaks to Contrast, brightness, and the IVC on Advanced-Low, movie mode on standard and that's it, left the rest alone. It really is like looking out of a window. Earlier watched The Dark Knight here and there with select action scenes and dark scenes, flawless and amazing. The only one advantage the VT has over this set is off-angle, but I am always in the sweet spot so its all good!The extra 5 inches is amazing and the brightness, contrast and blacks have made it well worth the extra money for me. I have favored plasma TVs ever since I got into the HDTV game. At first I waffled between LCD's and Plasmas, stuck with plasma for the last couple years. Never liked all the bugaboos that went with led tvs, the clouding, flashlighting, haloing, and the way they handled motion. This one changes everything. If you are on the fence with the ELITE and the VT50, just know this TV looks feels and handles just like a plasma. From a value stand point the VT50 has the edge, but if you want one step above it in all aspects except off angle viewing, go with the ELITE!

Anyone that says this a Sharp Led with the Elite name stamped on it needs to do some research and found out the truth. First of all Sharp is only lending their manufacturing lines to Elite to make their panels but other than that and some other minor technologies not affecting picture quality or performance. Elite is a new company that is using their own parts and their own technology to create these panels and has done an awesome job. The black levels and overall detail with this LED are amazing and are not rivaled by any other LED Panel even the HX929 Series Sony which also has Local Dimming but nowhere near as many independent dimming sections. The processing technology is simialr to the HX929 acheiving a simulated 960HZ Speed through image processing. First of all with all these TV's there pictures straight out of the box are never close to what they can truely achieve. A professional calibration should be performed on almost all higher quality sets to get a true picture especially with LED-LCD's since the factory no matter the brand sets them so high in brightness and other colors, as well as contrast. Do your reserch before you prejudge. That is all I ask. I still own a60" Elite Plasma form several years ago and this TV thoroughly impressed me.

We've had this HDTV for some months now and it has improved the quality of television viewing for all the programs we watch, even making the regular DVDs look like Blu ray quality to our near-sighted eyes. The clarity and color improvement make it worth the money to us despite (or perhaps because of) our declining vision. We bought and viewed our first 3D movie on this set, and it won't be our last. It was a delightful experience despite having to wear the 3d glasses. We debated a long time before investing so much money, but this set was worth the extra cost to us and was the "best buy" we've made in a while. #We used the rewards money to purchase new DVDs including the 3D movie#.

I have had the Elite(the 60" version) for about three weeks. I couldn't be happier with it, aside from the price. The picture is extraordinary, the blacks rich, the colors vibrant, and I haven't had it calibrated yet. One thing I wasn't expecting, but was thrilled to find out, is the quality of sound that comes from this TV. On my Sony (KDL55XBR8) the sound was pretty good, but there were times when I felt the need to turn on the audio receiver. As a result I bought a $300 soundbar. But now, with the Elite, I don't need it. The quality of sound coming from the Elite TV's own speakers is superior to the sound coming from my soundbar. The dilema is, now what do I do with the soundbar? If I had to pick one thing that stands out on the Elite, I would say the black levels. They are absolutely astounding, to the point that I was distracted by the depth when I first starting using the TV. I have read that the black levels are better than for the previously made Kuro. I have never seen the Kuro's picture, but I would have a hard time imagining blacks any deeper than these. Though I always sit directly in front of my TV I was actually surpised when I had to get something on the other side of the room and the picture did not significantly degrade as I got farther off angle. This is a huge improvement over my Sony KDL55XBR8. I talked to a Sony rep at Best Buy a few months ago when I was getting "the itch" to buy a new TV. I was frustrated to find out that (according to the Sony rep) the HX929 was not a step up in quality from the XBR8. I said, "It's been almost three years. You mean to tell me that in three years Sony has not come out with a better TV?" He advised me to stick to my XBR8. I was astounded. Then I heard about the Elite at Best Buy a couple weeks before they came out. I talked to two of the sales people and they were both excited about the new Elite's coming out. When they came in a couple weeks later I knew I had to have one. So if you have a KDL55XBR8 and you want a TV that is better, with better picture, sound, black levels, and motion enhancement (and you have the money), this is your TV. You won't regret anything about the purchase...other than the price. Internet content most enjoyed:YoutubeWhat's great about it: The black levels, color, off angle viewing, with surprisingly good soundWhat's not so great: just the price...everything else is amazing.

Let me first start by saying I am a TV installer, and an official Electronic addict! I own 11 TVs currently. I purchase new TVs on a whim on a regular basis. On a daily basis, I am searching local stores as well as the Internet for televisions that meet our clients needs. Let me assure you, this is the best TV money can buy. It is obviously very pricey. I own one. Do not consider any reviews of people who do not own this television. I must say, I was disappointed to know that Sharp was the manufacture. After purchasing this television for one of my clients, all concerns were put to rest. I then went to Best Buy in Brentwood Tennessee, and purchased one of my own. I had 30 days to tweak it, and calibrate it. It was difficult justifying the $7000 price tag in my head but there is no buyer's remorse. I look at TVs all day every day. I've seen them all. Nothing is even close to this television. It is the best of both worlds for plasma lovers and LED/LCD fans. It offers the deep blacks and deep colors of the plasma yet the bright contrast that's only available in LCDs, plasmas cannot produce. The 3-D effect is as good as I've seen anywhere. If you can afford this bad boy, then rest assured you are getting the best television in the United States market. Again, I install and calibrate televisions for a living. I do not sell them for a living and I have nothing to gain by this recommendation. Buy one. Plug it up. Turn it on. Enjoy!

i purchased this tv about 3 weeks ago without even seeing it on display but finally sunday september 4th it was on display and let me tell you this is the best picture ive ever seen and also the best 3D ive ever seen the 3D was amazing the video i saw was of white water rafting and the splashes on water actually show up on your glasses its pretty crazy. i know the price is high but like they say you get what you pay for. this tv is truly elite. the best part about this tv is if you arent impressed you have 60 days to return it. but once you see it i think you will be hooked like i was. i definetly reccomend anyone reading this to go to your best buy/magnolia store to see it for your self.

I must say that the price was a little overwhelming, that's why I originally purchased the Panasonic Plasma 65VT50. I had this TV for about 4 days and after reading more of possible image retention with games and there was a lot of glare on the glass screen from my room and the audio was horrible. I did more research on the Elite and I could not find one person giving this TV anything but 4 - 5 stars. The major complaint was the price of the TV. I went back to the store and was able to trade up to the Elite 70 inch, which I should have gotten in the first place. The picture is just so incredible that it blows away and other TV. The colors and black tones are so incredible there are no words to describe them, you have to see them for you self. There is no brake in period for the LEDs so you can start playing your games immediately without worrying about image retention and the audio is excellent. If you want to calibrate it, they suggest at least 12- 14 hours a day on for 3 days for the LED's to brake in. The set comes with 2 pairs of 3D glasses and the 3D is an awesome experience in your own living room. The glasses have an option, if the person does not want to watch the movie in 3D there is a switch you can move on the glasses to 2D and that person can then watch the movie in 2D with the glasses on. The price is sticker shock but you get what you pay for, this is probably the last TV I will purchase for a long -long while, so why not get the best one on the market. You will not be disappointed with this TV in anyway. 10 stars plus

Unbelievable Blacks, Eye Searing Whites and every color in between. I replaced a Mitsubishi 65" Diamond Rear Projection television in my dedicated theater with this and could not be happier. Is it worth what I paid? Hard to say, it was very expensive(though BB price matched an online retailer for me). Wife did not like the 65" 8000 series Samsung and after seeing the Elite and comparing to the other sets in the store, there was really no choice for us. If I did not have grand kids over every weekend watching Netflix I may have gotten a Panasonic VT50 as it had the next best picture in my opinion. However, I could not risk Image Retention or Burn-In issues. Is it perfect? No, no display is. But for now it is probably as good as it gets.

Deep rich colors with extraordinary clarity from top to bottom and from side to side. Incredible 3-D picture experience! Internet works great with the wireless connection and is pre-loaded with great apps. If your looking for a 70" TV then look no further. Enjoy the best LCD picture on the market today!