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Computers

Sharp unveils 32-inch 4K2K LCD monitor

By Paul Ridden
December 14, 2012
Sharp unveils 32-inch 4K2K LCD monitor
Sharp has announced the forthcoming Japanese release of a 32-inch 4K2K computer monitor
Sharp has announced the forthcoming Japanese release of a 32-inch 4K2K computer monitor
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Sharp's PN-K321 32-inch LCD monitor has a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels, at a density of 140 ppi, a response time of eight milliseconds, 250-nit brightness and an 800:1 contrast ratio
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Sharp's PN-K321 32-inch LCD monitor has a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels, at a density of 140 ppi, a response time of eight milliseconds, 250-nit brightness and an 800:1 contrast ratio
Sharp has announced the forthcoming Japanese release of a 32-inch 4K2K computer monitor
2/2
Sharp has announced the forthcoming Japanese release of a 32-inch 4K2K computer monitor

In common with many of today's digital content junkies, I get my daily entertainment fix from a computer screen and not a TV. Even if I could afford to buy into the jaw-dropping Ultra HD image quality I witnessed from the giant goggle boxes being showcased by Toshiba, Sony and LG at IFA 2012 in Berlin a few months back, they'd likely spend much of their time powered off. As such, the upcoming release of a 32-inch 4K2K computer monitor from Sharp would be of great interest, were it not being aimed specifically at the business community in Japan.

Sharp's PN-K321 32-inch LCD monitor's crisp and clear 3840 x 2160 pixel resolution (four times that of full HD) at 140 ppi pixel density should attract a spatter of appreciative applause from video/graphics professionals, CAD users and others looking to squeeze a large amount of information onto one screen without loss of detail. It features the company's proprietary IGZO technology which provides LED backlighting from the monitor's edges and in-so-doing allows the company to reduce the depth of the unit to just 35 mm.

Sharp's PN-K321 32-inch LCD monitor has a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels, at a density of 140 ppi, a response time of eight milliseconds, 250-nit brightness and an 800:1 contrast ratio
Sharp's PN-K321 32-inch LCD monitor has a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels, at a density of 140 ppi, a response time of eight milliseconds, 250-nit brightness and an 800:1 contrast ratio

The 4K2K monitor also benefits from a wide 176-degree viewing angle, a response time of eight milliseconds, 250-nit brightness and an 800:1 contrast ratio. The PN-K321 is compatible with the latest DisplayPort and HDMI specifications, allowing for single-cable PC connection. It also sports two integrated 2W speakers and 3.5 mm audio in/out jacks.

Sharp says that the new model will be introduced in Japan as of February 15. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, there's no official word on if or when the unit will be released elsewhere.

Source: Sharp

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ComputersLCDSharpComputersMonitor4K2K
9 comments
Paul Ridden
Paul Ridden
While Paul is loath to reveal his age, he will admit to cutting his IT teeth on a TRS-80 (although he won't say which version). An obsessive fascination with computer technology blossomed from hobby into career before hopping over to France for 10 years, where he started work for New Atlas in 2009. Now back in his native Blighty, he serves as Managing Editor in Europe.

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9 comments
Tom Arr
Wasn't the accepted reasoning for 1080p that anything less than ~50 inches at standard viewing distances was a waste of pixel power? How is this a step in the right direction,or necessary?
DaveBG
It is necessary because of its resolution. I have 2560x1600 resolution and i already find it insufficient for me.
sascha.kremers
@Tom This isn't meant for living rooms, but for desktops, where you sit much closer.
BZD
About time there is a move towards mainstream going past 2560x1600.
It's more than a decade ago I bought a 2048x1536 monitor and the monitor industry has always been moving at a snails pace - mainly because the average Tom, Dick and Harry's of the world that happily settle for "good enough".
sunfly
I cant read Chinese, but looking at the pdf on their web site, it appears to require either 2 HDMI or 1 displayport. I can't wait for the day 4k monitors are affordable.
Sambath Pech
This would be really useful at work. I currently have 3 monitors running simultaneously at HD resolution. With this new technology, I would simply need one monitor and it would be able to display the equivalent of 4 HD resolution monitors seamlessly. Can't wait until this becomes affordable so i can get one for the home office.
Barry Weingart
Unless one monitor is big enough you might get all the info on it, but you also might not be able to read it because the text will be too small.
All one has to do is hold up an iPad or a Galaxy Note next to a regular HD display to see the difference.
The monitor companies have definitely dropped the ball on this one. Maybe they were waiting for reasonably priced larger panels to be available.
Daishi
@barry 32 inches is pretty large for a monitor. How much bigger did you have in mind?
David Guzman
Barry the text size can be adjusted in the near future, the operating systems will have support for this. It has been adjusted in smartphones, tablet PCs & laptops so it will be adjusted for other computers and devices just as well. It will actually make text look way better.
Personally I am happy with the resolution of HD TVs at the moment, all it takes is to remember how bad old TVs looked, yiaaaackkk!! Also many newer HD TV buyers are going to be upset because the old TV standard lasted very long albeit a bit too long but the point is that they will feel that their investment in expensive HD gear will be betrayed because their TV sets will become obsolete too fast.
That's without counting the fact that if a new disc format is introduced shortly after that to cover Ultra HD format video their Blu-ray investment will be obsolete too, they won't like that and after Ultra HD what? Super Ultra HD at 8k or 12k or anything else 6, 8 years or so down the road? And there goes people's investment again.
And remember that the mainstream public, the bigger majority of people do not buy into such technology until a few years after it is released when it becomes more affordable so that's 2 or 3 years after the initial release when mostly high end buyers acquire such new technologies. So that translates into even less years of life for their product and faster obsolescence.
I remember our old 25 inches Panasonic CRT TV, it lasted a year for every one of its inches of diagonal size, yes 25 years of good service and at the end it still looked good and it wasn't obsolete, now what? 4 or 6 years and boom, obsolete and if you are one of those people that bough a high end 3D HD TV at thousands of dollars your are going to like that even less.
The older TV standard was too slow to change and I was glad that it finally evolved but this new one is going away way too fast.
Where I want to see this resolution now is on my 22 inches desktop PC monitor which is at the moment HD and because of that it has about 120 dpi but at Ultra HD desktop monitors of about that size will have about 240 dpi which will put them in the retina display ballpark so desktop PCs can finally enjoy the sharp text and graphics that the newer portable computers users have been enjoying for a while, and if they make them with 10 bit colors that would take care of the two most annoying current display problems: jaggies and banding.
Jaggies have been somewhat handled with anti-aliasing technology but not completely, notice how many people still complain about the quality of computer displays text even at HD resolutions. Now, at retina like resolutions anti-aliasing makes them virtually disappear.
Some people don't know a few things and they confuse this with something like a 300 dpi old laser but 240 to 300 dpi continuous colors (varying gradations of colors within a single pixel) are not the same cause with continuous colors anti-aliasing can smooth the edges of fonts and graphics and photos & videos are anti-aliased naturally so the output of something like this is way better than the output of a 300 dpi old printer except of course for continuous tone photo printers that use a different technique from inkjets and lasers which use halftones and dithering. The output and quality are more equivalent to that of much higher resolution printers.
Retina like 10 bit color displays for desktops. That's what I would buy, That's what I would like to see!!!