The company provides a good selection of on-screen controls for fine-tuning the image quality and various other settings, as well as presets for several content types and viewing scenarios (standard, sports, games, movies, and the like). However, no explanations appear on screen when you choose an option, and while the intended use for some presets is obvious, it isn't for others. For example, what are the 'Dynamic' and 'Dynamic Fixed' presets optimized for?

You can access the LC-60LE835U's Internet features by pressing the Apps button on the remote. Navigating them can be a little confusing: Sharp scatters apps and a browser around a few screens labeled Aquos Net, Aquos Console, and Aquos Advantage Live. The last item is a feature that allows you to hand off control of your settings to a Sharp technician, which can be reassuring to nontechnical users who are displeased with their image quality but uncomfortable about experimenting with settings on their own; you can talk to the technician on the phone while he or she is fiddling with your set. Note, however, that this service does not provide professional calibration--it merely lets someone else tinker with the same controls that you could access.

Sharp offers and on-demand streaming services, as well as an assortment of widgets for news, stocks, weather, horoscopes, and the like. Even though the widget selection includes Twitter, in general it falls short of Yahoo's widget assortment. The set has a built-in browser, too, but I found the control and navigation options using the remote and an on-screen keyboard to be awkward at best. In this respect Sharp still has some catching up to do with top-tier competitors, whose Internet offerings are generally more abundant and easier to use. Of course, this shortcoming might not matter to people who have invested in a third-party streaming media product such as the Boxee Box or a Roku set-top box.

The LC-60LE835U supports multimedia playback from either a USB drive or a DLNA server on the same network as the set. File-format support is fairly basic, though: You can view JPEG images, play MP3s or LPCM-encoded audio, or watch MPEG2-PS, MPEG2-TS, WMV, ASF, MP4, MOV, or AVI video.

Sharp's remote could use a design overhaul. It has pretty much any control you might want, including playback keys for external devices, but the buttons are generally smallish and not always immediately easy to find. The long and slim remote lacks a backlight, which makes it a bit difficult to use at night.