Sharp Corporation made an LCD TV of gigantic proportions and gigantic price. The new TV is the biggest in the world and for its every inch you should give 1000 dollars.
Article continues below
At this year's CES in January Sharp Corporation announced that 108-inch LCD TV will be in the wild during 2008. To be more precise, the company announced similar beat two years ago, but this January they were very convincing and it turned out they know what they are talking about.
Shinjuku Piccadilly cinema multiplex will be opened July 2008, and Sharp chose it for the first delivery of its new beat, a 108-inch LCD TV brilliantly named LB-1085. (What's that 5 on the end? 0.5-inch? Do we have here 108.5 inch LCD monitor? Or is it the number of devices they will sell this year?) The new big LCD is aimed and business and commercial applications, but Sharp will welcome your order if you have a room long enough to set this in.
Sharp LB-1085 has an 108V-inch LCD called Advanced Super View LCD panel, and it is the best that Kameyama Plant No. 2 can produce from a single 8th-generation glass substrate (its dimensions are (2,160 x 2,460 mm). Sharp Corporation compares it with two tatami mats, and we'd like to have a comparison related to our western world. It's not that we can't calculate square meters, but they should go that extra mile (foot?) and compare the new LCD with, I don't know, an office desk.
On such a huge device there's obviously enough space for all connectors, from HDMI to DVI-I to everything you like. Sharp LB-1085 has no fan which means that it has no holes which prevents dust to go in. Nice feature for a device that will mainly be used on public spaces such as The Shinjuku Piccadilly.
A bit of technical data. Sharp Corporation's LB-1085 has screen size of exactly 2381.76 x 1339.74 mm, in other words 2737.7 mm measuring diagonally, and all that weights 195 kilograms. The native resolution is 1920 x 1080 pixels, the new LCD has capable of displaying 76 million colours with contrast ratio 1200:1 and excellent viewing angles of 176 degrees horizontally and vertically. The response speed is six millisecond grey to grey which means that it's fast enough.
Video signal can be supplied via analogue RGB or digital DVI inputs in NTSC or PAL standard. There are plenty of input and output connectors, from D-sub 9 do HDMI to composite and S-video, to five sets of RCA jacks. If you bought it for your office know that it requires 1130 watts and a proper stand able to stand its weight.
Sharp Corporation plans to build LB-1085 by contract and the price is somewhere around 100,000 dollars. In this case we can't say that the price will go down, it is hard to say how many units will be ordered around the world. However, it is an impressive device that would nicely suit many offices and larger houses. Take it into consideration. ■