Sharp AQUOS DX series: world's first LCD HDTV with built-in Blu-ray

by Darren Murph posted Oct 15th 2008 at 1:25AM

Tough luck, Mitsubishi and Funai. Big talk is all fine and dandy, but in our world, it's the results that count. Say hello to Sharp's AQUOS DX family, the world's first range of LCD HDTVs to boast internal Blu-ray players. Slated to hit in 26- (LC-26DX1), 32- (LC-32DX1), 37- (LC-37DX1), 42- (LC-42DX1), 46- (LC-46DX1) and 52-inch (LC-52DX1) sizes, the whole lot will come equipped with an integrated HDTV tuner, bottom-mounted speaker and the ability to handle BD flicks sans an external deck. Of note, only the 37-inch through 52-inch sets offer Full HD 1080p resolutions (1,920 x 1,080), as the other two get stuck with "just" 1,366 x 768. Best of all, those in Japan will barely have to wait a month to see these in shops, as the entire crew is destined to ship in late November (in black and white motifs) for around ¥200,000 ($1,963) to ¥500,000 ($4,909) depending on size. As for the rest of the globe? Put on your patience caps.

[Via Impress]

Filed under: Blu-ray, Displays, Players, Sharp, LCD

Tags: 1080p, AQUOS, breaking news, BreakingNews, dx, dx series, DxSeries, HDTV, LC-26DX1, LC-32DX1, LC-37DX1, LC-42DX1, LC-46DX1, LC-52DX1, LCD, LCD HDTV, LcdHdtv, Sharp, worlds first, WorldsFirst

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

carg0 @ Oct 15th 2008 4:30AM

wow...a blue-ray player strapped to the back of an LCD tv. that's intelligent design.
have fun keeping that unit properly cooled and ventilated. (...morons)

Neutral

squiggleslash @ Oct 15th 2008 11:08AM

It probably saves power (and thus reduced heat) over-all compared to separate boxes. Blu-ray and ATSC have some areas of overlap, it's probably save to say that all the video decoding circuitry can exist on the Blu-ray side, which can also handle the upscaling, reverse-pulldown, and other image manipulation features that would normally be done by the TV itself. To be a TV, it just needs the tuner (not the decoder, the tuner) and stuff to convert the various analog signals into digital.

Add that to the fact the entire box is mounted vertically, allowing air to easily flow over the circuits without the need for fans, and you probably have a much more efficient and clean design than you'd ever have otherwise.

And if you're trying to push Blu-ray, building the players into HDTVs strikes me as a good way to do it. I'm surprised Sony hasn't been doing this.

Neutral

JimC @ Oct 15th 2008 1:23PM

Uh...then don't buy one...

Neutral

crawdad62 @ Oct 15th 2008 10:32AM

As long as it's not wall mounted I don't see how it could get any less ventilation than my PS3 gets in my equipment cabinet.

Neutral

chuckdaly @ Oct 15th 2008 1:17PM

The problem isn't heat, but taking the markets cheapest BD player and fusing it to a potentially expensive HDTV. Marrying the industries most unreliable product (Optical drives) to one of the most reliable products is dumber that dumb. Isn't anyone one on this board old enough to remember all of the VHS/TV or DVD/TV combos parents gave their college freshman children. The player almost never worked by the end of the first school year. Imagine if you had to send your HDTV out for repair everytime your DVD player malfuctioned or broke.

Neutral

LloydChiro @ Dec 31st 2008 12:12PM

It would be really handy if the TV had an HDMI input just in case that happens.

Neutral

ChiWax @ Oct 15th 2008 5:35PM

I think this is the kind of thing that gets Blu going for the average consumer. They will have no problem spending the money on the flat-panel tv that all of their friends have so what's a little more expense to get this Blu-Ray thing everyone is talking about. Once they have it and watch a Blu-Ray they will be sold like the rest of us already are. I pronounce XMAS 2008 and all of 2009 the Golden Age of Blu-Ray...Q

Neutral

George @ Oct 29th 2008 1:28AM

What software do I need to download to be able to shrink Blue-ray movies and copy them to my hard drive?

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