The LC42D83X makes an impression before you even turn it on. The frame and the included pedestal stand are come in a glossy black finish with a thin silver trim that runs along the bottom of the screen. The two 15W speakers are also discreetly tucked away on the underneath left and right hand sides of the screen, making this one stylish looking set.

Installation was straight forward and was a matter of securing the bracket to the stand and securing the stand to the TV with the included screws and allen key. Once installed, the stand can be rotated 15 degrees to the right or left, depending on your viewing preference. As with most high definition consumer tech products, a HDMI cable is not included in the box, so you'll have to remember to buy one or try and haggle with the salesman to score one for free.

Connectivity-wise, there’s almost every connection that you'd need. We say almost because it still uses a 15-pin D-Sub port (otherwise known as VGA) rather than DVI to connect to a PC. That’s a shame since most current PCs sport DVI jacks, which give you a pure digital output rather than converting the signal from digital to analog and back again.  

There are three HDMI connections, one S-Video, one RS-232C, one 15-pin D-Sub with audio out and a headphone jack, all located along the back right hand side.

If you don’t like cables visibly sticking out of your TV, you will have to sacrifice one HDMI port and the S-Video, as they aren’t positioned back far enough to hide the cables. Like most side ports, they’re best reserved for occasionally connecting camcorders and the like. The two rear HDMI sockets should be plenty for most anyway – enough to handle a DVD player and a PS3.

If your DVD player doesn’t have HDMI output you can still get a good picture using either of the two component video connections positioned at the back alongside an antenna input, a monitor output and a digital audio output.

The menu system has all the usual options such as backlight, brightness, contrast, tint and other audio and configuration settings. Some fiddling may be required to get the colour settings to your liking: as with many sets it defaults to the Dynamic preset, which pumps up the colour for showrooms but tends to over-saturate colours and produce quite a bit of noise in the process. That doesn’t do Blu-ray playback much justice, but changing over to the Movie mode offers a quick fix, while tweakers can play with the settings to get the exact look they want.

When playing Blu-ray discs Planet Earth and The Day After Tomorrow via HDMI, blacks were very good, with details clearly evident. There was good contrast as a result of the 10000:1 dynamic contrast ratio (with the native contrast ratio being 2000:1). There was also no noticeable tearing in fast moving scenes due to the televisions 100Hz/120Hz refresh capability and 24P cinema mode support.

Sharp has also included a feature which they call Optical Picture Control (OPC) which is a sensor on the TV that automatically adjusts the brightness in according to the lighting that you have set up in your room. In our well lit room, this feature seemed to have little impact on picture quality, so your results may vary.

Aquos Link, which is part of the HDMI specification, is also present and allows your TV remote to serve as a universal remote for any other Sharp products that you happen to own other Sharp hi-fi products that support Aquos Link, such as its Blu-ray players.

The good performance of the LC42D83X combined with the well thought out design, both in looks as well as the positioning of the connectors, means that this LCD TV is one to look out for if you’re willing to pay for the slightly higher asking price of a Full HD set. If Blu-ray has no appeal for you, a more affordable TV may suit you just as well.