Live from Sharp's CES press event
It's CES week and that means the press conferences never stop, with Sharp the next up to flaunt its wares for the coming year. Last year the company ducked the Widget onslaught and continued its own AquosNet path, we'll see what 2010 has in store.
3:44PM Bonus question: VUDU Apps? Yuuuup, Sharp is planning to partenr on VUDU Apps at some point in 2010.
3:43PM That's it for Sharp, there's a Q&A going on but we're figuring no one is going to ask them to count all trillion colors on stage, so it's a bit of a bust. One good question is about the lack of 3DTV, they have a prototype in their booth, hope to bring it out in the 2H of 2010. We'll definitely check it out when the floor opens, but 'til then that's all she wrote for Sharp.
3:40PM Sharp sees QuadPixel as a tech customers will come to stores asking for, the older display does look quite paler on some scenes, but we're still not ready to lay down the cash just yet.
3:38PM Now the BD-MPC41U HTIB -- all you need to know is it's got an iPod dock. The soundbar and rear channel speakers, assortment of audio codec support and more are merely afterthoughts. It's due in February for $749.
3:37PM Available Q1 for $499.
3:37PM Now on screen is Sharp's latest Blu-ray player, the BD-HP70U, with the usual high quality features, plus Netflix in this box as well. To not have it would be uncivilized. Oh - and RS-232 for the home automation fans.
3:35PM Also new for '0: a 60-inch series, with three LED backlit sets and two CCFL panels.
3:34PM Sharp now offers up to 8 LCD screen sizes, with new small screens available, including 22- and 32-inch 1080p TVs
3:33PM Oh wait there's more: AQUOS Net "to add more streaming video providers in the future." We knew you wouldn't leave us hanging Sharp, we were just confused. Also on AQUOS Net - Twitter (you're following us right? We promise to never RT Reverend Run, Deepak Chopra or spam with Foursquare check-ins.)
3:31PM They're explaining the X-Gen panel technology but all we're hearing is "deep inky blacks", 240 Hz and more.
3:30PM The LE920 AQUOS series (left side of stage) go from 52- to the industry's first 68-inch size LCDs, while remaining only 1.6-inches thick.
3:28PM There's a display on the stage without QuadPixel tech (far left) but we'd be hard pressed to pick it out ourselves if asked. These are hardly ideal conditions and we can't judge the quality now, but it's just not an easily apparent difference from here.
3:26PM QuadPixel a game changing announcement? Sharp thinks so, we're just wondering where it will find the additional color information embedded in our television, movies and games.
3:25PM Sharp expects 60 percent of 2010 sales to be in LED TVs.
3:24PM Sharp is making a big deal of being first to add internet to TVs, which is true, but it's been surpassed by tohers now. This year it's coming back with Netflix added to AQUOS Net. You know we love our Watch Instantly queue, adding that is never a bad thing, but are getting greedy to want another service or two alongside it?
3:20PM Michael Troetti from Sharp U.S. breaking it down now, talking solar cars, but we don't see Halle Berry and some Hawaiian kids on stage, so it's kind of hard to pay attention. Still, the possibility of U.S. based solar panel plants is intriguing. LED lams for industrial and commercial markets should be out this year.
3:18PM That's it for Mr. Katayama, so after peeping the global outlook, they're promising an update on the U.S. LCD TV biz -- yeah, tell us more about this "Y".
3:17PM LED light bulbs are energy efficient, plus they can change color and brightness easily. Going from yellow to white is a neat trick, but unless they can improve our home wiring too, they'll still blow out every other month.
3:16PM Plasmacluster Ion technology sounds suspiciously Smarter Image-ish to us, but claims to increase Ion density in the home to that of the outside, improving air quality, and is already in use at some medical facilities worldwide. We might need a noses-on demo at our CES trailer -- you know where to find us Sharp.
3:14PM Sharp is way into the power and solar cell business, while it might not directly make our TVs better, if their manufacturing is a bit greener, we certainly won't complain about it. Up next? "Room Environment Innovations"
3:11PM New Crystal and Thin Film cells are used in the new solar panels to improve energy efficiency -- all of these are coming off of the line at the new Sakai City 10g LCD plant
3:09PM UV2A panels, RGBY color & LED make Sharp think it has the most innovative displays on each of the three levels mentioned -- they may have a point.
3:08PM 1 TRILLION colors possible. Of course, they're using the flower video reels we've usually seen demoing OLED screens to try and show off all of them at once.
3:06PM Latest display innovation from Sharp: QuadPixel technology adds yellow to the typical RGB colors used by HDTVs.
3:06PM Now there's an LCds since '73 chart on the screen, we can appreciate the innovation, but they could've left this PowerPoint style in the '80s where it belonged.
3:04PM "TV beyond TVs" we don't know what it means, but there's a feeling we might find out in the next few minutes.
3:03PM Prez & CEO Katayama is on stage, ro present his 3 innovations: Display, Energy and Room Environment
