July 7 - 8:10pm EDT   Sharp on Tuesday introduced its latest AQUOS LCD TVs, including several models featuring LED backlighting. New models in the E77 series include the The 65-inch LC-65E77UM and 60-inch LC-60E77UN, each featuring 1080p resolution and the company's Advanced Super View technology designed to reduce haze and reflectivity. Both offerings support 120Hz frame-rate conversion and a pixel response time of 4ms. [full story]

May 22 - 9:55am EDT   Sharp today introduced the world's first 20-inch LCD HDTV with a built-in Blu-ray recorder, the 20-inch AQUOS DX. Combined with a built-in digital TV tuner, the set lets users record digital broadcasts onto BD-R/R DL and BD-RE/RE DL. While users cannot write to DVDs, they can play media stored on them, including MPEG-4 and AVC (H.264) format files. Up to 30 hours and 20 minutes of HD video can be recorded on dual-layer Blu-ray discs in a 7X recording mode. [full story]

May 19 - 9:55am EDT   SoftBank has recently showed off this high-end camera phone, the Sharp 933SH AQUOS Shot. It not only sports a 10-megapixel camera but has an extremely high ISO sensitivity range, at up to 12,800, for capturing images in low-light environments without blur. The camera functions are accessed via a 3.3-inch, 854x480 rotating LCD touchscreen that is mounted on a two-axis hinge. Continuous autofocusing is also built in, and touching a subject on the screen will result in it always staying in focus, even if it moves. [full story]

May 11 - 12:05pm EDT   Sharp made a push in earnest into Internet-capable TVs on Monday with the launch of the AQUOS D series in its home country of Japan. The new sets add support for a Yahoo video service that streams multiple content channels online using a built-in Ethernet link. They also bring 1080p, faster 120Hz panels and 15,000:1 dynamic contrast ratios for every set. [full story]

March 23 - 5:00pm EDT   Sharp Japan on Monday announced the forthcoming release of it’s AQUOS A-series LCD HDTVs, made up of the 40-inch LC-40AE6, 46-inch LC-46AE6 and 52-inch LC-52AE6. All share the same 1920x1080 resolution 120Hz speed panels, a 15,000:1 contrast ratio and 450cd/m2 brightness rating while being very energy-efficient. According to Sharp, the 52-inch set uses 175kW/h over the course of a year, while the 46-inch will use up 145kW/h and the 40-inch model 120kW/h. [full story]

January 10 - 12:15pm EST   Sharp at CES launched aggressively into its third wave of AQUOS Blu-ray readers with two stand-alone players and a pair of home theaters that also carry the new storage. The BD-HP22U (not yet pictured) is the company's first Blu-ray Profile 2.0 player and uses an Ethernet connection to use Internet-specific special features on newer movies; it also bundles a 2GB USB drive to cache Internet features. Both this and the Profile 1.1-only BD-HP16U also have a slimmer design than past models, full 7.1-channel Dolby TrueHD and HD DTS Master Audio sound, and lower power consumption that drops to 19W. [full story]

January 7 - 5:40pm EST   Sharp today joined its rivals in updating its TVs by introducing three key new ranges to its AQUOS models. Leading the group is the BD series, one of the few HDTV lines to include a built-in Blu-ray player. The feature not only lets owners play HD movies without occupying an HDMI port but is also designed to be much more automated than a typical home theater: inserting a Blu-ray movie automatically activates the TV and begins playback. [full story]

December 5 - 4:15pm EST   Sharp will bring two world-first LCD HDTVs to the North American market in January, sporting built-in Blu-ray disc burners and another slot drive for DVDs and CDs, says Sharp Electronics Marketing Company of America president, Mike Troetti, according to a Thursday report. First introduced along with different-sized models in mid-October in Japan, the 32-inch set features 720p resolution and a 7,000:1 contrast ratio, while the 42-inch set has a 120Hz panel with 1080p resolution and 15,000:1 contrast ratio. The new AQUOS DX-series HDTVs are meant to appeal to people who want or need a clutter-free appearance, minimizing the amount of hardware, or want a clean-looking, ... [full story]

October 30 - 2:40pm EDT   Breaking relatively new ground for Japanese cellphone makers, Sharp on Thursday launched the FULLTOUCH 931SH for Softbank. The AQUOS-branded phone is one of the few full-touchscreen cellphones from the country but is also record-setting through a new, landmark display: the 3.8-inch touch LCD carries a 1024x480 resolution that rivals smaller notebooks and provides an extremely sharp view for browsing and videos, including live TV from its 1Seg tuner. The phone supports two-finger input for zooming into website views and even uses touch to focus its built-in 5.2-megapixel camera. [full story]

October 15 - 7:35am EDT   Sharp on Wednesday claimed a first by launching the AQUOS DX series of HDTVs. The line is the only to date to carry a Blu-ray burner and uses the slot-loading, side-mounted drive along with a dual digital tuner to record HD broadcasts even while the viewer is watching another channel. By using H.264 encoding and optimizing the bitrate, Sharp estimates as much as 21 hours of TV can be stored on a dual-layer 50GB disc. An electronic programming guide helps for scheduling recording in advance. [full story]

September 17 - 4:50pm EDT   Sharp is adding to its recently introduced GX5 line of AQUOS HDTVs with the 65-inch AQUOS LC-65GX5. It replaces the 52-inch version as the largest in the range, and is likewise Internet-ready. The 1080p, 120Hz display panel also features a moderate 15,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio and 450cd/m2 brightness. Sharp’s ARSS speaker system features a 2.1-channel set-up, while the built-in digital amplifier sends 7.5W to each speaker and 15W to a subwoofer. The viewing angle is 176 degrees from all four sides. [full story]

September 4 - 12:50am EDT   Sharp on Wednesday unveiled several new AQUOS LCD high-definition televisions to the North American market, including two limited-edition models. Sharp's D65U lineup offers a native 1080p resolution, and spans between 42- and 52-inches, featuring a 6ms response time. Sharp touts the energy-saving features of the line, saying it is Energy Star-compliant, with active backlight and contrast controls to reduce energy consumption while the set is in use. [full story]

August 28 - 10:20am EDT   Sharp today opened up its launches for IFA with updates targeted at HD video. The AQUOS XS1 is both the company's thinnest-ever TV at 0.9 inches -- half as much as before -- but is also its most vivid, using LED backlighting to boost the contrast ratio up to 1,000,000:1, besting plasma TVs and rivaling CRTs. The lighting also helps the set reach an extreme color accuracy of 150 percent of the NTSC color gamut, preventing the color banding that has sometimes affected past HDTVs. [full story]

August 5 - 3:10pm EDT   Sharp on Tuesday grew its AQUOS TV range slightly by launching a larger version of the SB series. Competing against VIZIO and other budget TV producers, all the sets push a true 1080p image but shed 120Hz panels and other extras that often inflate the price. Despite this, they still manage an average pixel response time between 6ms and 6.5ms and have between two and four HDMI inputs on each model. Dual component inputs and a lone VGA port are also present to attach other HD sources. [full story]

June 13 - 12:35pm EDT   Sharp today fulfilled promises made last year with news that it will begin selling what's believed to be the world's largest single-panel HDTV. At 108 inches diagonal, the LB-1085's screen is designed with public view in mind and produce a relatively rich picture for a large screen likely to be seen outdoors. While the contrast ratio is limited to 1,200:!, the 1080p image displays with as many as 76 million colors, or far more than the 16.7 million of most LCDs. [full story]