sharp

Putting the TV on a sound pedestal

A story for your grandchildren: In ancient times, there were these things called armoires--once used for clothing, they evolved into big and bulky cabinets where people hid their big and bulky TVs. But now that plasma, LCD and even OLED sets (the ultimate anorexic model) have completed the television set's swan-like transition, it's understandable if their proud owners no longer want to keep their TVs under wraps.

For these unabashed exhibitionists there's a new Sharp home theater system, a self-contained credenza with built-in speakers, subwoofers and amplifier outfitted with Dolby technology throughout, according to Tech Digest. Sound … Read more

LCD TVs getting a lot slimmer soon

CHIBA, Japan--Sharp, Hitachi and JVC are taking the bulk out of large LCD televisions.

All three manufacturers are showing off LCD TVs here at Ceatec this week with panels that are less than an inch thick. The TV stand and the electronics add bulk, but the electronics can be put in the base of the stand or in a unit that connects to the TV wirelessly.

Hitachi had the thinnest. It showed off a 32-inch TV with a panel that measured only 19 millimeters thick. Sharp showed off a 52-inch TV with a 20-millimeter thick panel. There are 25 millimeters … Read more

Sharp looks for an edge in iPhone stakes

CHIBA, Japan--The iPhone won't be the only finger-flicking phone on the market for long.

Sharp Electronics is showing off a touch screen at Ceatec, Japan's big tech trade show taking place here this week just outside of Tokyo, that lets you control the interface with finger swipes. Just as with Apple's iPhone, you can flick to shrink the size of images, blow them up, and scroll left to right or up and down. The device is called the "system LCD with embedded optical sensors"--not quite as catchy a name as iPhone.

But it's … Read more

Sharp rolls out Blu-ray recorders for Japan

We have been hearing news about the upcoming HD recorders, and now it seems that Sharp has jumped the gun with not one but nine Blu-ray models, though only for Japan. The lineup includes a top-of-the-line 1TB hard drive model and an assortment of disc-only equivalents in contrasting hues.

Collectively branded under its Aquos family, the BD-HDW20, BD-HDW15, BD-AV1 and BD-AV10 all feature dual HD tuners, DVD/CD backward-compatibility and the new Aquos Fami-Link or HDMI-CEC.

The hard drive-enabled HDW-series also supports film-centric 1080p24 HDMI for judder-free movie playback. However, this lacks 50GB dual-layer Blu-ray support, relying on the onboard … Read more

T-Mobile debuts Sidekick Slide and Sidekick LX

OK, kids--hope you've been nice this year, because here's something you might want to add to your holiday wish lists. Today, T-Mobile announced not one, but two new Sidekicks to be added to its lineup: the T-Mobile Sidekick LX and the T-Mobile Sidekick Slide.

Let's start with the latter since it brings something new to the mobile messaging device: a slide-up screen (all together now: oooohhh, ahhhh). Unlike previous models, which have been manufactured by Sharp/Danger, the Sidekick Slide is made by Motorola and features a smaller design. It measures 4.6 inches wide by 2.… Read more

Future Implications: Ethics in technology

As I sat here today, trying to decide what the topic should be for this week's Future Implications piece, I thought of the ever-popular topics of computing, smart phones and even HDTVs. But alas, I came across this list from Ethisphere that lists the World's Most Ethical Companies for 2007.

Upon opening the link and examining the list, I was aghast at what I found: most major tech companies were nowhere to be found. Is this an endemic issue in the technology business? And more importantly, what can be done to fix it?… Read more

Sharp's Blu-ray player loads discs in 10 seconds

There are a whole bunch of Blu-ray players being announced at CEDIA, but for the most part, there's not too much to differentiate them. Sharp's new Blu-ray player, the BD-HP20U, is its first-ever, but is still mostly the same as other players. Yet the company's press release claims that the BD-HP20U will load Blu-ray discs in 10 seconds. For those of you not used to the sluggish speeds of high-definition media, that's very fast--we're used to most high-definition players taking from 40 seconds to well over a minute to load discs.

Sharp BD-HP20U's key … Read more

Sharp's thin LCD in a race with time

It's taken awhile, but that whole thin-vs.-thick thing between LCD and plasma TVs will soon be a thing of the past at this rate. The most extreme example of the LCD crash diet is a prototype that Sharp is reportedly calling the "future of television."

The reason for the boast is in the numbers: A 52-inch screen with a contrast ratio of 100,000:1 that weighs 55 pounds and measures only 20 millimeters thick (about 0.78 inches), about 80 percent thinner than most LCDs of that size on the market today. And just for … Read more

Blue Blue and solar

Quick, what do BP, Sharp and Sanyo all have in common?

. . .

Give up? They are all among the largest producers of solar modules. And recently Honda and Applied Materials have entered the solar business as well.

If you are a renewable energy fan, you have to get excited when large semiconductor equipment experts like Applied Materials get in the game.

But the most recent prospective entrant (which I have blogged about) is IBM. Big Blue's program is still under wraps, but it has worked on solar technology in its research arm since the 1970s and has massive expertise in … Read more

Down the Line: Sharp flat-panel LCD

We've reviewed three models from Sharp's 2007 flat-panel LCD lineup lineup so far this year: the LC-52D92U, the LC-32GP1U, and the LC-32D43U. If those model numbers don't mean much to you, don't worry. We'll take you through the company's extensive 2007 LCD lineup from least to most expensive, and when we don't have actual reviews we'll provide our take on step-up features and how the models relate to one another.

Sharp LC-D42U series

Sharp LC-D43U series

The main 2007 entry-level series of Sharp's widescreen flat-panel LCD lineup--we'll ignore the company'… Read more