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Sharp shows off the world's first Super Hi-Vision 85-inch LCD with 16x more detail than 1080p

While Japan's NHK has been working on the successor to HDTV, Super Hi-Vision, for years, there haven't been any direct-view HDTVs capable of showing its full 7,680 x 4,320 pixel resolution until this prototype unveiled today by Sharp. Its 103 pixels per inch may be just a fraction of those found in some of the pocket displays we've seen at SID this week, but that's still far more than the 36ppi of a 60-inch 1080p HDTV. If estimates are correct, we'll still be waiting until around 2020 for that 33MP video and 22.2 channel sound to actually be broadcast, although there's a possibility of some demonstrations happening during the 2012 Olympics. Skip past the break for the available specs and a video demonstration, or just head over to the NHK's Science & Technology Research Laboratories in Tokyo between the 26th and 29th of this month.




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Sharp and NHK Successfully Develop 85-Inch Direct-View LCD
Compatible with Super Hi-Vision, a World First*1


NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) (Shibuya Ward, Tokyo; President: Masayuki Matsumoto) and Sharp Corporation (Abeno Ward, Osaka; President: Mikio Katayama) have jointly developed an 85-inch LCD compatible with Super Hi-Vision, a next-generation television broadcast format. This is a world first for a direct-view display.

NHK began R&D into Super Hi-Vision, which has dramatically higher resolution than current HDTV, in 1995 and aims to begin trial broadcasts in 2020. With approximately 33 megapixels (7,680 [H] x 4,320 [V] pixels), or 16 times the resolution of HDTV, Super Hi-Vision will offer powerful, life-like image reproduction.

Under the joint development, Sharp's UV2A*2 LCD technology was used to create for the first time in the world a direct-view LCD compatible with the unprecedentedly high display performance of Super Hi-Vision. The combination of the Sharp technology and NHK's expertise and know-how in Super Hi-Vision will make possible ultra-detailed, super-high-quality images. The incredibly detailed images on the giant screen will immerse the viewer in a virtual-reality-like experience.

Super Hi-Vision-Compatible LCD
Screen size 85 inches (approx. 1.9 x 1.05 m)
Pixel count 7,680 (H) x 4,320 (V) pixels
Brightness 300 cd/m2
Gradation 10 bits for each RGB color
*1 As of May 19, 2011, for direct-view displays compatible with Super Hi-Vision.
*2 UV2A: Ultraviolet induced multi-domain Vertical Alignment. A photo-alignment technology for precisely controlling the alignment of liquid crystal molecules in a simple LCD panel structure.

This LCD will be shown to the public at NHK's Science & Technology Research Laboratories in Tokyo from May 26 to 29, 2011