Sharp's Mega LCD Preview

The location: somewhere in transit between Osaka and Kameyama, Japan. Its a cold winter morning, though there is a hint of excitement in the air as we head for a place that has the potential to enthrall. The occasion: LCD pioneer Sharp was providing us Indian press delegates with a sneak preview of its upcoming range of high-tech LCD TVs.

These TVs, which will release officially in March, belong to a new series called the A series. The models names will be 52A83, 46A63 etc. Interestingly, a few pieces have already started retailing… I wonder where they came from!

Sharp’s Kameyama 8th-gen LCD factory

Currently, the Sharp LCD plant at Kameyama is putting nut to bolt at a frenetic pace, cutting out A series LCD panels from 8th generation mother glass. A note about LCD generations for the uninitiated: the term ‘generation’ corresponds to the size of the mother glass out of which LCD panels are cut. The sharp guys provided us a lot of info about the generation trend, and about the LCD industry on the whole.

It wasn’t some boring press conference where MDs talk about market share, instead they provided an insight on the manufacturing process, technical trends, and cool stuff like the first LCD TV ever made, samples of the liquid used in Liquid Crystal Displays, magnified views of glass panels and pixels, triple-view LCD screens – but I’ll elaborate on these later; they are simply awesome! We’ll also be putting up web videos of all that this week, so watch this space.

The A series pieces being tested for durability

The New A series Lineup
The A series will be state-of-the-art panels, ranging from 19-inch WXGAs to 52-inchers at full HD. These are all 8th generation panels, with some cool new physical and technical features. The first that deserves mention is the slim design, with a bezel that is 25.5 mm at the sides, and a thickness of 90 mm overall. The physical volume of the piece is thus reduced 35 percent over the PX5 series.

The USP of this device, which has been exhausted this CES by many brands, is the 100, 120 Hz frame rate doubling. A proprietary algorithm doubles the frame rate of 50/60 FPS and aims for a smoother moving image. It’s got full HD 1920 x 1080, and weight-wise it’s just 21 kgs (for a 42 incher!) The 3 HDMI ports plus specs like 500 cd/m2 brightness and 10,000:1 dynamic contrast are impressive. Prices haven’t been divulged yet, but we were told they will be competitive.

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Factory snapshots
The factory was a mammoth techno complex that made me feel like a pixel. State-of-the-art automated robots and conveyor belts populated the place, and the intricacy and neatness was impeccable. It was a bit like what I imagined NASA would be.

Earthquake-resistant plant

While we were not allowed into the coolest places, we still managed to get never-before-seen pics of an LCD factory, so don’t forget to check out the gallery!

A corner of Sharp’s technology museum

Other goodies
After being supplied with information about the A series, we were taken to Sharp’s memorial and technology museum in Tenri. This is where Sharp displays its landmark achievements in technology, which are numerous. Stuff like the first double tape recorder, first front-loading VHS player, first LCD TV and more.

I saw a dual- and triple-view LCD, which basically shows different material from left and right angles. It was insane, to put it mildly. From one side we can see maps and stuff, while the passenger can view a movie or whatever. The second pic might not explain much; we have panned video footage showing the image changing in real time.

_Dual view
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One section showed charts and diagrams of the manufacturing process, RGB views of pixels, ultra high resolution medical LCD screens (man, they were Sharp!) and more. All this stuff is in the upcoming videos, so check those out. There’s no point writing about it here… and yes, I’m just plain lazy.

Siddharth Bhatia was in Japan on invitation from Sharp Electronics Co Ltd.