the Sharp 32DH500 32" TV.
Originally £599. And now it's £299. Sounds good! I'll take two!
Except I won't. Why? When I look at the specification of this set then things don't seem to add up. A £599 32" LCD TV that wasn't full HD? A £599 LCD TV that doesn't feature a myriad of clever image enhancement goodies? A £599 LCD set that only has two HDMI sockets? That's fair enough I suppose. It might be one of those "oddballs" manufacturers sometimes produce that sit higher in product range than the specification would suggest. But I can't confirm this possibility as the 32DH500 isn't mentioned on the Sharp website. A search using the model number is equally uninformative. So the only way to judge where this TV sits is to look at the spec Curry's provide and compare it with other TVs they sell. Funnily enough the TVs that match it closest are those priced in the £299 to £350 bracket. Indeed Curry's have other Sharp TVs. One, the 32LE600E is a much better specified TV with Full 1080p HD, back lit LED and more connectors than 32DH500. Yet it sells at £449, considerably less than the £599 they originally wanted for the 32DH500.
Confusing isn't it?
From the information I've gleaned I'd be forced to conclude that the 32DH500 is a bog standard sub-£300 LCD TV with little to distinguish it from the other TVs at this price point, beyond having "£300 off". I don't think there'd be any disputing that at £599 this TV would have been hopelessly outclassed. And desperately overpriced. I wonder how many they sold at the higher price?
Now obviously view is based on what I see in front of me, filtered by 20 years experience of electrical retailing. So I think that it's a reasonable conclusion to draw. But I'd have to concede that it is entirely possible this was Curry's most popular TV sub £600 set, and the bald figures on the website don't actually reflect it's real world performance. However the lack differentiation between it and the £300 Samsung's and LG's of this world, beyond the large "saving", triggers some scepticism that the 32DH500 was ever a competitive £600 TV. But it's still a tricky thing to call. After all dry specifications can be used to inform and bamboozle in equal measure.
Much, I suppose, like advertised savings.
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