Sharp 50GM6245K Review

Introduction

If you’re old enough, you might remember the days when Sharp Electronics was emblazoned on the shirts of Manchester United. Safe to say that neither Sharp nor United are in the same place they were then.

After its 90s heyday, Sharp seemed to disappear from the TV discussion as Korean and Chinese TV brands hoovered up the sales. Now it is back as a brand that offers value-focused TVs.

The 50GM6245K is a model name that doesn’t roll off the tongue, but most people looking for an affordable TV won’t mind that. What they will mind is whether it delivers a good performance without breaking the bank. Let’s find out if the Sharp 50GM6245K does that.

Design

• Quick to assemble
• Good looks

Design-wise, the Sharp 50GM6245K is not one to rip the guidebook up. Of note is that it comes with feet at either end of the screen, so you’ll want to make sure the surface is wide enough to plant the TV on.

The black bezel that surrounds the screen is thin and barely noticeable from a distance, while the silver bottom and feet add style you don’t always get from the best cheap TVs.

The depth of the TV is 80mm – not too thick but it won’t sit flush for wall-mounting. Assembling the TV with its feet takes around two-and-a-half minutes, which is speedy.

Viewing angles might not matter as much on a 50-inch screen but the 50GM6245K offers better viewing angles than the Amazon Fire TV 4-Series.

Colours don’t fade as fast when shifting away and black levels hold up decently at a wider angles. All-in-all, it’s hard to find anything to argue against in terms of design.

Connectivity

• Three HDMI 2.1 inputs
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

The Sharp 50GM6245K has three HDMI inputs, which for a TV at this price point is common (Sky Glass Air has the same allocation). One input supports HDMI eARC for pass-through of high quality audio, such as Dolby Atmos, over to a compatible soundbar – the rest support HDMI 2.1 but only at 60Hz refresh rates.

There’s an input for plugging in your aerial, another for satellite, two USB inputs, a digital optical output for audio, a 3.5mm headphone out/line out and an Ethernet for a hard connection to the Internet. There’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support too.

User Experience

• TiVo interface
• Freely support

TiVo has been making strides in the UK market as an alternative to the likes of Google TV, Android and Roku, focusing mainly on affordable sets.

It’s easy to use, but things did get off to a slightly shaky start as the interface got stuck in an update loop. It wasn’t anything a few power cycles couldn’t (eventually) resolve.

You customise what you want to see, which services you want to view; and like Roku and Google TV, TiVo takes a platform agnostic approach to content recommendations. Any content is good content.

However, the TiVo interface isn’t the fastest. Screens and images take a few seconds to load when flicking through the various menus.

The integrated voice search is pretty good, and it understands what you’re looking for and the context. Say you’re looking for action films and then want to focus on Tom Cruise movies and TiVo will assist in your request.

Voice search is more about finding content. Try to switch to HDMI inputs and TiVo doesn’t understand.

There’s plenty of free content and you can create your own watchlist to keep track of what you want to watch. The ‘What Others Are Watching’ is an interesting idea to tap into other people’s tastes.

There’s also Freely integration, which serves programmes over the Wi-Fi (no aerial required) and replaces Freeview Play. Freely is fine, though at the time of review, it’s not as fully featured as Freeview Play is, but new features are added on a regular basis.

Picture Quality

• Not the brightest HDR
• Black levels lack detail

On the picture side, the Sharp supports HDR10, HLG, and Dolby Vision HDR, beamed through a Quantum Dot panel (QLED).

What does that mean for you? Some context is needed first. The Sharp 50GM6245K isn’t the brightest TV. On smaller HDR test patterns, in Dynamic mode it hits a high of 370 nits, while in Normal mode it’s closer to 270 nits. Compared to the Amazon Fire TV 4-Series and it isn’t as bright, making its HDR performance just that bit duller.

Highlights don’t sparkle and bright objects are more faded than brilliant, the Sharp does showcase skintones in animated flick Into the Spider-Verse (4K Blu-ray, HDR10) with a pleasing depth and richness on the Sharp that isn’t matched on the Amazon.

But the Amazon presents colours with more brightness, and along with stronger black levels, the Amazon TV is more HDR friendly if that’s what you’re after.

Watching Alien Romulus (4K Blu-ray, Dolby Vision) and the Sharp is a bit hard on the black levels at the expense of detail, the richness of its colours comes across as a bit more saturated than normal.

It does offer very good levels of detail and clarity – better than a competing Metz TiVo QLED, and it reveals more colours than the more expensive Sky Glass Gen 2 does.

It’s when it has to deal with dark scenes that the Sharp doesn’t strike the fine line between strong blacks that retain detail. With its backlight always on, detail is lost causing the picture to look a little shapeless when watching Zero Dark Thirty (4K Blu-ray, HDR10). It’s hard to see what’s happening in some of the film’s darker scenes.

Upscaling

• Not the most vibrant colours
• Solid with low quality sources

When it comes to upscaling HD and SD content, the Sharp puts in a serviceable job but it leaves some potential on the table.

A Blu-ray of Man of Steel is more colourful on Sky Glass Gen 2, the flames of an oil explosion more brightly rendered. The richness of its HDR presentation is replaced by colours that appear more restrained.

Colours aren’t the most vibrant, skintones are a little less than warm too, while backlight uniformity –the consistency of brightness across the screen – isn’t the most consistent with some parts of the screen taking a slightly different tone.

The advantage the Sharp has over the Sky TV is that its processing doesn’t create odd artifiacts with Glass Gen 2 showing visible red/green striping across streaming and HD sources.

Switching to a DVD of Peter Jackson’s King Kong and the upscaling performance can be considered good for the screen size. Noise is well-managed in close ups of the actors’ faces, detail levels are good and there aren’t any soft edges or jagged lines unless you get up close to the screen.

The colour performance feels stronger here than with Man of Steel, as are the black levels with SDR highlights that come across as bright enough for a decent level of contrast. It all adds to the feeling that the Sharp offers decent HDR and upscaling performance for the price as long as you manage your expectations.

Sound Quality

• Dolby Atmos support
• Limited bass

On the audio front there’s Dolby Atmos piped through the TV’s 24W Harman Kardon sound system.

Like many cheap TVs, it does not sound good at higher volumes. The Sharp is uncomfortably tinny when streaming The Expanse (5.1 channel) on Prime Video. Don’t push the volume above 20 unless you want your ears to suffer.

It’s neither the most expansive-sounding TV nor the clearest, with traces of sharpness and sibilance audible with dialogue.

With Dolby Atmos soundtracks it seems to be a teeny bit more confident with decent levels of clarity and detail, but the soundstage is a flat one (so much for that sense of immersion) and the TV doesn’t get much louder as the volume nudges up.

Bass is limited to the point of being non-existent. The sound system lacks punch, it lacks heft – it’s not the most enjoyable way to enjoy what the TV offers.

A soundbar is what you’ll need, and even if you can’t shell out for the best soundbars, this list of the best cheap soundbars can provide a boost.

Should you buy it?

FAQs