Sharp Intros Aquos Net, Expands LCD Investments

Sharp has made a number of announcements at CES, including an investment in an LCD plant, partnering with Toshiba on panels, and the introduction of the new Aquos Net service.

Aquos Net, accessible through Web-connected Sharp sets, allows user-defined widgets to be created and viewed for items like stocks and weather. Aquos Net also allows for full screen applications from Sharp's partners, including Weatherbug, Nasdaq, Uclick, Gallery Player for 1080p artwork, traffic.com and NBC, who will provide news, sports and entertainment programming.

Some additional unique features of Aquos Net are the ability for Sharp's technical support representatives to remotely diagnose and fix or guide customers to solve common problems, from the wrong input selection to the ability for end users to access a FAQ section and the owner's manual on the TV's screen.

In order get these new sets with Aquos Net connected, Sharp will have a PLC adapter available in one and four port versions that utilize the Homeplug A/V standard for speed. The adapters will allow for other devices, such as consoles, to be plugged into the four models.

New LCD Plant

Sharp president Toshihiko Fujimoto says that Sharp has big plans for LCD in 2008, announcing that the 108-inch LCD panel first shown at CES 2007 would be shipping commercially this year.

Fujimoto went on to describe the new 10th generation substrate LCD plant that Sharp is investing $9 billion in and the complex of factories that will be built around it to supply all the materials needed on site to produce LCD panels. This new plant will allow Sharp to produce larger LCD panels and more cost effectively produce panels in the 40-inch, 50-inch, and 60-inch sizes with higher yield rates, which will translate into lower prices once the plant is up and running.

He also points out that Sharp and its top engineers feel that LCD can be made with better black level, thinness, and other performance parameters. He says LCDs of today are only at 50 percent of its true potential.

The company believes that there are too many questions on the actual usable life of OLED panels, and that LCDs offer a proven and accepted panel life of at least 60,000 hours.

The company is showing a 65-inch LCD prototype featuring a thin surround bezel, one inch of depth, 1080P resolution, 100,000:1 contrast ratio and a total weight of only 88 lbs.

No release or production date was given for this prototype, but it looked stunning and is an indication of much closer we are getting to true picture frame-like hang-on-the-wall displays becoming a reality.

Sharp's new D643 model, for example, is 20 percent thinner and 23 percent lighter than its corresponding 2007 unit.

LCD Partnership With Toshiba

Sharp will be entering a partnership with Toshiba where Sharp will produce LCD panels for both companies and Toshiba will supply the LSI IC-based electronics.

This will give Sharp a stable supplier of LSI circuits, which are critical to the video processing board in LCD TVs.

Sharp also indicated that it will continue its focus on the gaming community that began with last year's GP1U series. It's introducing the GP3U series for 2008, a 32-inch 1080p panel with an updated version of VYPER drive that eliminates video processing lag in three colors (black, white and grey).

A special edition SE94 series was also announced in 65-inch, 52-inch, and later a 46-inch sizes. The LCDs will have Aquos Net, detachable bottom speakers, 1080P resolution, 120HZ frame rate, 10 bit color depth processing, 4 MS response time with 3 HDMI inputs, 2 1080P component and a VGA input.

New Blu-ray Player, Recycling Partnership

Sharp will also ship the BD50HTU Blu-ray player in the spring, which complies with the latest 1.1 Blu-ray specification, allowing for picture-in-picture and USB input capability.

It will also enable an end user to use a single TV remote to control the BD50HTU via Aquos Net and an HDMI connection.