Sharp intros lots of new AQUOS products - LCDs, recorders, and even a TV stand
Sharp just dropped a truckload of new AQUOS products on us. They announced, get this, nine new LCDs, four recorders, and even a TV stand/audio system. Out of the new LCDs, five of 'em have the speakers underneath the screen and four have them on the side. The two of the four 37-inchers that were announced are rocking the 1080p resolution, while the rest of the new line-up are the normal 1366x768 resolution we have came to expect. This is all set on a new "Black ASV LCD" that is suppose to give the sets a deeper contrast ratio with the full 1080p sets have a 1500:1 contrast and the other seven a 1200:1. The 32-inchers and larger are sporting two HDMI inputs and one DVI, along with a full arrey of legacy inputs, but also are rocking four 6.5cm woofers and two 2cm tweeters. The smaller sets only have one HDMI and DVI port, along with only full-range speakers. The sets should start coming out sometime in September and continue through the first part of October, with the 1080p 37-inchers retailing at 380,000 Yen ($3,311.54) and contiuning down to 140,000 Yen ($1,200) for the 20-inch.
Info about the recorders and TV stand/audio system after the jump.
Sharp's new recorders look rather nice too. We probably won't see any of these here in the States but might see a variation of them somewhere down the road. The DV-ACW38 is their new flagship recorder with a massive 800GB hard drive to record off of the two digital and one standard tuners. This guy isn't going to be cheap when it is released in September, but the 190,000 Yen ($1,655) price tag isn't that bad for the amount of storage you're getting. The other three recorders are very similar but must feel some sort of inferiority complex with their smaller 400GB or 250GB hard drive, but they do have a lower price which will probably make them even more popular then their big brother. The DV-AC34 and DV-AC32 are set to come out on September 15th and the DV-ACV32 on October 20th, with a price of 120,000 Yen ($1,024), 100,000 Yen ($871), and 130,000 Yen ($1,321) respectively. The DV-ACV32 has a higher price tag because of the included VHS deck, but we think most people will save their cash and go with the non-ancient technology.
Lastly, Sharp introduced a fresh take on the TV stand. Well, it is somewhat fresh considering Onkyo has had two versions of these things so far. These new TV stands incorporates speakers and a sub to give the owner a better sound experience without the added space of more speakers. There will be two flavors of this stand to better fit with Sharps LCDs and really, the only difference is whether your LCD has speakers on the bottom or side. The 'stand' has a built-in receiver with HDMI inputs (we don't know how many) so you can plug all of you stuff into that and the receiver will change the sound mode on the fly, depending on what you are watching. We think it might sound rather nice with it's 6-inch sub, two 2.5-inch mids and two 1-inch tweeter, all paired with a digital receiver. This really could be a great option for those people that want better quality sound, but not the extra speakers -- that is if you can rock the ultra-modern look of it. They both should retail around 130,00 Yen ($1,100) when they are release on October 23.
Read - New Sharp LCDs
Read - Recorders
Read - TV Stand/Audio System
Watch - Akihabara News HD coverage of press release
