Home audio & video forum: Why "Zero-Out" the Sharpness Control?

http://reviews.cnet.com/how-we-test/tv/#TVcalibration tells a little about how they do that work. As to your question, it's interesting but I've rarely done or seen that advice. It's like ice cream flavors or your preferences. Only those new to this will declare that "this is the true way." Or tell you "this is the setting to use." It may be a good place to start but if you don't like the settings, change them.
Bob

In the other thread I replied but clearly wasn't reading your questions clearly enough.

I was thinking *contrast* while you are asking about sharpness settings. Hypothetically, on an HDTV the sharpness will already be quite good, so zero might be a good place to start, then gradually boost it until it suits your needs, based on individual inputs/content/etc. There's more on this @ AV (& AVS) too if you poke around. One example thread:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/pictureperfect-tv-picture-setup-help/1675217-panasonic-plasma-2012-tv-recommended-picture-settings-shown-menu-examples.html

I like this answer from the Crutchfield website:

"Sharpness: Sharpness could more accurately be called "artificial edge enhancement," and generally only improves the look of lower-quality signals like standard broadcast, cable, and satellite programs. Increasing the sharpness is like turning up the treble control on your receiver; you may think you're getting more detail, but the result is definitely not more accurate. Having Sharpness set too high often creates halos around the edges of objects onscreen. Many DVD movies already have edge-enhancement added during mastering, so you can generally turn Sharpness nearly to zero for your DVD input. Sharpness is also not needed for most HDTV sources."

Everyone has a slight difference in opinion and settings. I start with everything in the middle and work from there. My current set was a bit too bright so I was able to reduce the brightness to 40%. intensity, seperate from brightness, at 50% contrast at 50%, no adjustment was needed in any color or hue. Sharpness it 50% was also too sharp and a reduction to 35% was more pleasing, however when playing a BR input on HDMI the sharpness needed a return to 50%.