Sharp’s LC-32X20E is a self-consciously game oriented TV set.
It’s even pitched as a games TV in some of its marketing, and has two key features up its sleeve to make good on its promise. Firsly, there’s the dedicated ‘Game’ picture preset.
This isn’t completely unique by any means, but it seems more effective than any similar mode elsewhere.
LCD with Full HD
The other key game-friendly feature – assuming you’re doing the sensible thing and using an HD console – is a Full HD resolution.
Cramming 1920 x 1080 pixels into such a small screen area should, on the evidence we’ve witnessed on larger screens, deliver a purer, sharper, less noisy HD game image, as there’s no need for 1080-line game outputs to have to be rescaled to a lower resolution.
Also helping LC-32X20E’s chances of finding its way into your gaming room is its size. It’s unusually small, with a really thin bezel ensuring it takes up scarcely more space than a typical 26in LCD TV.
Hook up all your consoles
The good times just keep on rolling with the discovery of three HDMIs, meaning you’ve still got a digital HD connection spare even if you happen to own both an Xbox 360 Elite and a PS3!
Those HDMIs are also 24p compatible – meaning they’re also Blu-ray friendly – while other bits and bobs include a film mode that tweaks the progressive scan processing to better suit film as opposed to video sources, and noise reduction circuitry.
Plus, there’s a D-Sub PC port if you’re inclined to add PC use to your gaming obsession.
Playing our Xbox 360 Forza Motorsport game on the LC-32X20E is even more enjoyable than usual, thanks to the excellent gaming picture quality.
Spectacular pictures
For starters, that Full HD resolution is made to count in quite spectacular fashion: every leaf on every tree of the game’s trackside graphics and each tiny colour shading detail on the cars is immaculately rendered.
The Full HD resolution also helps the TV produce outstandingly subtle colour blends, thanks to its greater pixel density. Provided you play Forza with the TV’s Dot By Dot mode activated – so there’s no overscanning – video noise is pretty much non-existent too.
Going back to colours, they’re superbly saturated – ideal for gaming – yet decently natural when winding down from some hard racing with a little TV viewing.
