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  • Series Information

  • Design & Hardware

  • Software & Smart Features

  • Picture Quality & Viewing

  • The Verdict

  • Calibration

  • Contrast Ratio

  • Viewing Angle

  • Color Gamut

  • Grayscale & RGB Balance

  • Gamma

  • Series Information
  • Design & Hardware
  • Software & Smart Features
  • Picture Quality & Viewing
  • The Verdict
  • Calibration
  • Contrast Ratio
  • Viewing Angle
  • Color Gamut
  • Grayscale & RGB Balance
  • Gamma

Underneath the cost-cutting design and dressed-down smart features, the 43-inch UB30 delivers blazing bright highlights, accurate colors, and satisfactory motion performance. It also upscales sub-4K content well, giving you good picture quality even when watching 1080p (Full HD) content.

It's not without drawbacks, however—namely, the TV's black levels could be better. They aren't terrible, but this TV's shadow performance may not satisfy viewers in dedicated theater environments. It simply can't compete with the performance you'll find on models with full-array backlights. But still, for $599 online, it's hard to complain.

Editor's Note:

We originally stated that the 43-inch UB30 used LED edge lighting, but each of Sharp's UB30 TVs use full-array LED backlights. The 65-inch is also equipped with local dimming.

Series Information

Sharp's UB30 series comes in four screen sizes

The Sharp UB30 4K TV lineup (2015) is available in four sizes:

  • 43 inches (model: LC-43UB30U, MSRP: $799)
  • 50 inches (model: LC-50UB30U, MSRP: $999)
  • 55 inches (model: LC-55UB30U, MSRP: $1,299)
  • 65 inches (model: LC-65UB30U, MSRP: $2,399)

Smart features, connectivity, and design are identical between the four different models. Our test unit, the 43-inch UB30, was received brand-new on loan from Sharp. It was given a 12-16 hour break-in period prior to review and evaluation.

Design & Hardware

Won't raise complaints, won't turn heads

When it comes to design, the LC-43UB30U doesn't break the mold. Narrow black bezels emphasize the screen, but otherwise there are few design frills. The panel perches upon two curved, wide-set feet, and sits quite low to the tabletop—a familiar Sharp design element. Sharp's logo graces the lower bezel, flanked by the TV's IR sensor and power indicator light.

Credit: Reviewed.com / Lee Neikirk

The 43-inch UB40 features trim black bezels and wide-set black feet. Like most modern TVs, this design places maximum emphasis on the screen.

The 43-inch UB30U is very light at just 22 lbs., making it easy to assemble and move around. You'll find the panel is very thin at the edges, too, giving this TV a decidedly modern look. A/V ports, which you'll find on the back of the TV, include four HDMI inputs; two USB inputs; shared component/composite hookups; digital audio out; a headphone jack; RCA (dual analog) audio outputs; and an ethernet (LAN) input for internet connectivity. The TV also has built-in WiFi.

From a hardware perspective, the UB30 isn't lacking, but the remote is a different story. Included with the TV is one of the lightest, smallest, and cheapest-feeling remotes I've seen. The remote is extremely thin—about half an inch at its thickest—and features an interesting array of hybrid buttons and a big, dedicated Netflix launcher. It's visually interesting (as TV remotes go), but the button travel and overall low weight feel extremely cheap. Some users may love how small and nimble it feels, but if you're at all picky about your clickers, you may want to pick up a good third-party option.

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Software & Smart Features

You can stream 4K—everything else is just icing.

If you're going to buy a 4K TV, a smart TV—one that connects to the internet—is the way to go. Built-in 4K-compatible apps like Netflix are one of the easiest ways to stream 4K content reliably. This is a gold star for the UB30U: It means once you're online, you can hop right into Netflix and watch some 4K content (provided you're paying the $12 monthly fee to access it). On the downside, it's missing Amazon Instant and UltraFlix, so 4K content is quite limited.

The LC-43UB30U's other smart features don't earn as much spotlight as its 4K-capable apps, but all in all it's a useful package. Like most modern smart TVs, pressing the "Smart Central" button on the remote launches a string of favorited (or previously used) apps horizontally along the bottom of the screen, emphasizing content visibility.

Sharp LC43UB30U smart central
Credit: Reviewed.com / Lee Neikirk

Sharp's "Smart Central" platform is a well-organized collections of apps, streaming services, and cable integration.

The UB30U also features a web browser and cable integration function. Using the browser can be dicy, mostly due to the unfortunate fact that the TV responds sluggishly to remote inputs. Setting up cable programming is quite easy, however. Simply plug in your zip code and select your cable provider from the list, and after a few moments the TV will load up a live list of available programming. Nice and simple.

Sharp's "Smart Central" platform is mostly on equal footing with other providers, but it's still lacking a little polish. Apps and web pages load quickly enough, but navigation feels ham-fisted at times, and some of the interface options (like setting up your internet connection) are trickier to execute by comparison. This feeling carries over into the menu interface.

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From audio, to picture, to system options, the UB30U isn't missing anything. You'll still find a good array of pre-sets modes optimized for various use cases, and invested picture purists will enjoy the TV's 2- and 10-point white balance controls. Unfortunately, the TV's Color Management System (CMS) is a little broken. Adjustments made to red, in particular, don't seem to actually do anything. For more on this issue, and to see our calibration recommendations, check out the Science Page.

Picture Quality & Viewing

Good enough that you'll wish the screen was bigger

From a pure performance standpoint, the 43-inch UB30U checks off a lot of the right boxes. Testing (and viewing) revealed numerous strengths, including terrific peak brightness, accurate colors, and decent motion performance (with a bit of tinkering).

But the first thing to consider is whether it's worthwhile to pay for 4K in this size. You can easily appreciate the increased resolution in a 43-inch TV (especially while watching actual 4K content, not upscaling), but you have to sit quite close. If you sit more than four or five feet away, don't expect to be blown away by the added detail—the screen just isn't big enough. Note that this doesn't necessarily apply to the larger sizes in this series.

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Additionally, there are a couple of drawbacks to consider. For one, the TV's viewing angle is not the widest. If you're watching with some friends on the couch, people on the far ends aren't going to have the best time of it. You can expect picture quality to dip some if you watch from more than 3.5 feet to either side while 10 feet away from the screen. You could back up further to get more space, but at more than 10 feet out you're going to have trouble appreciating the 4K resolution you paid for.

Assuming you're in the right seat, the motion performance here is palatable, but picky viewers may still take issue. Because the UB30 uses a 60 Hz panel, fast-action content can exhibit blurring. Sharp includes motion compensation software (and a telecine/film mode) to aid with the TV's performance, but they don't always play nice with the "Revelation" upscaling engine. In this screen size, smaller motion artifacts don't stand out much, but the AquoMotion smoothing setting will still require tinkering.

Credit: Reviewed.com / Lee Neikirk

HD cable content looks fine on this TV, but lower resolution sources won't look their best when drastically upscaled.

Speaking of upscaling, Sharp has clearly done its homework. Blu-rays or Full HD streaming both look quite good, especially if you sit close enough to really soak in the details. You'll still want to scale down any post-processing effects (such as dynamic contrast, or added sharpness) to get the cleanest picture, and of course don't expect 100% satisfaction from low-rez content like 720p news or DVDs.

Most edge-lit TVs struggle a bit with backlight uniformity, often showing ugly light bleed at the edges of the screen when they're dark but the middle is bright. The UB30's full-array backlight helps it deftly avoids that problem, but also in a somewhat undesirable fashion: Its backlight uniformity is good because it fosters fairly bright shadows across the entire screen.

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The Verdict

A valuable buy, but ultimately outperformed by its competitors.

Taken as a standalone product, the 43-inch UB30 earns some praise. It's bright, capable of accurate color production, and does a good job upscaling sub-4K content.

On one hand, pricing a 43-inch 4K TV for just $599 (online) is definitely some kind of steal. On the other, the staunchest bargain hunters may want to consider other options.

A 43-inch 4K TV for $599 is definitely some kind of steal.

For example, Vizio's 2015 M Series may not be the absolute best 4K TV on the market, but in terms of price-to-performance, it does outperform the entry-level UB30 lineup.

Note that one size in this series, the 65-inch, utilizes a full-array backlight like Vizio's M Series, and thus may be an exception. Considering that backlight schema is probably the M Series' biggest strength, the 65-inch option may be in a different class than the smaller, edge-lit UB30 models.

If you're looking for something smaller than 65 inches, however, you're probably better off with the M Series. Considering you can find the 43-inch M Series for the same price as this Sharp, it's hard to outright recommend the latter—but it's also commendable enough that we'd never call it a bad value. The Sharp LC-43UB30U (MSRP $799, online for $299) is a very solid performer for the price, but it has some drawbacks, too. Mainly, this TV's biggest issue is black level (shadow) production: While the depth of its minimum luminance is good enough for normal or dimmer rooms, they're not quite dark enough to pass in totally dark theater viewing environments.

On the other hand, the UB30 has lots of strengths. It tested with accurate colors, plenty of luminance, decent motion performance, and surprisingly even backlight uniformity for an edge-lit TV. The TV's menu also contains enough calibration controls that calibrators will be able to hone in on even better performance—unfortunately, some of the color management controls don't work as they should, which limits the TV's full potential.

Calibration

We calibrate each TV we test for two reasons. First of all, calibrating the TV reveals its full potential for matching the international standards for performance. Secondly, it gives us the best idea of just how close or far a TV's performance lies from those standards when it's right out of the box.

Calibrating the UB30 was tricky because some of the controls simply don't work as they should. I aimed for a dark room calibration (about 40 fL peak brightness, and a gamma of 2.4). While the TV was able to hit most of the error margin marks without trouble, its color management controls didn't all work as expected. Fortunately, both the 2- and 10-point white balance controls worked as expected.

Below, you'll find Sharp's default settings in Movie mode (on the left) alongside my final calibration settings (on the right).

Contrast Ratio

Contrast ratio—the difference between a TV's darkest and brightest light output—is a huge factor in a display's overall quality and immersion. Especially considering that video and TV content, much of which is film or modeled after film, puts a huge priority on dynamic range in terms of cinematography and artistic endeavor.

The UB30's contrast is quite good for an edge-lit LED TV, though of course not nearly at the level of plasma or OLED TVs. It boasts much more peak brightness than black level, however, meaning it's better suited to normal or brighter rooms than dim or totally dark rooms. Using the standard ANSI checkerboard pattern, I measured a black level of 0.076 cd/m2 and a peak brightness of 278.60 cd/m2 in the TV's Movie mode default. This gives the UB30 a contrast ratio of 3665:1.

Viewing Angle

Viewing angle is one area where the UB30 could have performed a bit better, but overall is definitely not the worst LED TV we've tested. I measured a total viewing angle of 38°, or ±19° from the center to either side of the screen. This gives the viewer a lateral viewing cone of about 7 feet, which is a good result, but shrinks to a little over 3 feet at 5 feet away.

Considering the TV's screen size and 4K resolution, this means that sitting close enough to appreciate all the added 4K detail may be a solo experience. You could partner up with a buddy or two, but those of you on the end seats of very wide couches may find the TV's contrast falls off considerably from your point of view.

Color Gamut

A color gamut is a visual illustration of a TV's primary and secondary colors, and its white/gray point production. The color gamut compares the hue/saturation of these seven points (red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, yellow, and white) against the international standard for HD color. Ideally, a TV's color points will fall within a Just Noticeable Difference (JND) range of the standard color presentation.

The 43-inch UB30 performed well here. While it oversaturates green a bit, the other primary colors (red and blue) are both within acceptable ranges, though they're also imperfect. Likewise, the TV's secondary colors are on-point, but its grayscale/white point production are a little more blue than is ideal—a common issue with edge-lit LED televisions.

After calibration, I was able to make very small improvements to the TV's color, but perfecting it proved impossible due to the downright ornery nature of the TV's CMS.

Grayscale & RGB Balance

Displays produce grayscale (gray/white) elements via a combination of their three primary colors: red, green, and blue. This "RGB" additive color system means that a TV must balance the hue, saturation, and luminance of its three primary colors to produce a standard white (illuminant D65, or 6500K) across the entire grayscale spectrum—from very dark grays through midtones and into highlights.

Error within grayscale production is measured in a collective maximum called deltaE, where a deltaE of 3 or less is considered ideal. The UB30 performed decently here, boasting a grayscale dE of 5.31 prior to calibration. This isn't within the ideal range, but it's quite close. After calibration, I lowered the grayscale dE to 1.46.

If we take a closer look at the underlying RGB emphasis beneath the TV's grayscale production, we can see where the initial error lies: The TV over-emphasizes the blue sub-pixel at the expense of red and green, causing those two colors to fall off starting at 50 IRE and moving through 100 IRE, as more and more blue is added to the picture to compensate for missing brightness.

Gamma

Gamma is the measure of how quickly (or slowly) a TV adds luminance at each IRE (intensity) step as it exits black and moves into midtone grays and highlights. While TV standard gamma wasn't finalized until 2011 (a new consumer standard called BT.1886), most TVs adhere to a power sum gamma standard of 2.2 or 2.3 by default (depending on the manufacturer).

The UB30 tested with a fairly steady gamma of 2.32 in the Movie mode default. While it isn't a completely flat logarithmic step process, the discrepancies are small, and this is quite close to the 2.3 gamma standard. After calibration, I was able to use the TV's grayscale controls to get pretty close to the 2.4 dark room standard, ending up on a (again) mostly flat 2.41.

Meet the tester

Lee Neikirk

Lee Neikirk

Former Editor, Home Theater

@Koanshark

Lee was Reviewed's point person for most television and home theater products from 2012 until early 2022. Lee received Level II certification in TV calibration from the Imaging Science Foundation in 2013. As Editor of the Home Theater vertical, Lee oversaw reviews of TVs, monitors, soundbars, and Bluetooth speakers. He also reviewed headphones, and has a background in music performance.

See all of Lee Neikirk's reviews

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