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Sharp unveils THX-certified, 70-inch Ultra HD television

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Sharp's 70-inch AQUOS Ultra HD LED TV
Sharp's 70-inch AQUOS Ultra HD LED TV
Sharp's 70-inch AQUOS Ultra HD LED TV
Sharp AQUOS Ultra HD LED TV at the unveiling in New York
Sharp's 70-inch AQUOS Ultra HD LED TV
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Sharp has opened CE Week in New York by unveiling a new flagship for its AQUOS line of televisions – the 70-inch AQUOS Ultra HD LED TV.

Boasting four times the pixel resolution of high definition displays, the new model makes use of its dual core processor to optimize the original picture quality which is then interpolated and upscaled to a "4k-like" 3840×2160 image.

Looking forward to a time when Ultra HD content is more widely available, the TV's four HDMI inputs accept native 4K signals and there's also an SD-card reader and two USB ports built-in. Active 3D is on board and two Bluetooth 3D glasses are included in the purchase.

The design is marked by a thin, metallic black frame and a 35-W, "in-front" six-speaker configuration that reduces the TVs footprint to that of a 65-inch screen.

Sharp AQUOS Ultra HD LED TV at the unveiling in New York

The new LED also gets the latest version of Sharp's internet-connected SmartCentral platform, which enables a split-screen web browsing / TV watching experience. Android and iOS devices can be used to control the TV using the company's Remote Control app and content from these devices can be shared on the big screen via built-in Wi-Fi. When you are not watching TV, Wallpaper mode can be used to turn the TV into a 70-inch picture frame.

The other key selling point highlighted at Sharp's press conference today is world first THX 4K certification, which is discussed in detail in the following video.

The AQUOS Ultra HD LED TV is due to ship in the US in mid-August at a price of US$8,000.

Our first impression: it looks pretty sharp.

View gallery - 4 images
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5 comments
SciFi9000
Firstly, is this really an LED TV, or just an LED backlit TV? The difference is massive and I would expect a technology reviewer not to simply regurgitate advertising hype. i seriously doubt that this is an 'actual' LED TV at this size. As for the THX certification, well, it's nice and all,but who buys this sort of unit and not use an equally high end sound system to go with it? really? Now for the debate about 4K, it's nice at this sort of size, and I do see merits for changing up to this standard, but wow, who's going to support the content, and what media/streaming service will handle it? Maybe when we all have fibre to the home... one day....
SciFi9000
.... oh and another question regarding the 4K content, would studios have to re-digitise to the new content, or is their stock already at a higher rezolution? I don't even want to think about 'upscaling', it's such a fake. I would imagine that the standard modern movie would have been shot on higher resolutions (including classic films already converted from celluliod).. if not... wow.. here we go again... but a lot of people won't want to buy their movies all over again.....
GoodLife03
Actually Upscalling works better the more pixels you have to work with. It will work MUCH BETTER than upscaling DVD to HD.. Also algorithms have improved. You will SEE the difference.
Roy Smith
whats next, a THX flower that smells good all around you?... THX brand apples?- (for that THX crunch...) last time I checked TVs only had 2 speakers... no mention of sound aspect details of THX in the video- is there an AMP built in to the TV?.... when did THX become about picture quality?... .. I thought digital sounds discrete channels made THX obsolete - there use to be all kinds of Dolby signs on your amp.... this idea was probably invented by the same marketing team that brought us the Ferrari baby pram....
mgb
Actually, Sharp have just revealed an 8K tv in Japan a couple of weeks ago.