It also means the quality of your picture is dependent upon the Blu-Ray built into the TV though, which, like all integrated devices, can’t exactly be changed easily should an even better version of the technology emerge.

An interesting idea, and ideal for the lazy person who just wants to buy a TV and Blu-Ray unit without focusing on the details, but not one, I suspect, for the hardened HDTV nut.

[Source: Engadget]

The company has just announced its latest range of Sharp Aquos LCD TVs, each of which comes with a built-in Blu-Ray recorder. The Sharp Aquos DX series is a range of 16 new LCD TVs from the company that let you play Blu-Ray discs, record your programmes onto the built-in Blu-Ray recorder, and even watch and record at the same time.

All the LCD TVs provide a smooth picture using Sharp’s Kameyama LCD panel, and the sizes range from 26 inches to 52 inches. The only downside is the contrast ratio, which, at 2,000:1, is a little weedy compared to other top-range TVs (although Sharp is one of the leaders in TV screen technology, so its screen might compensate for a relatively low contrast ratio with sophisticated algorithms and what the industry-insiders call “gubbins”!)

You get the usual array of incomprehensible acronyms with these TVs, ensuring you’re well up to speed with the latest state of the art in TV technology, but it’s the built-in Blu-Ray player that’s the big differentiating feature for these TVs.

This time last year, people were still undecided about whether to buy a dedicated Blu-Ray player, as the battle between Blue-Ray and HD-DVD was still being hard fought. The idea of integrating a Blu-Ray player into an expensive TV (the top of the line 52″ version of the Sharp Aquos DV TVs willl cost 3,200 Euros) would have seemed madness, when the format war was still being fought.

In little over a year’s time, the war has not only been won by Blu-Ray, but with companies such as Sharp confident enough to integrate it into their TVs, it seems destined to become the new de facto standard for High Def video for years to come.

[Source: Akihabara News]

There is, however, one small problem. TVs are generally situated in a lounge, which might get a fair amount of sun, but enough to power an entire HDTV day and night?

Maybe I’m being, like the British weather, unnecessarily gloomy here. It’s not October, we haven’t seen sun in any meaningful measure since June, and won’t see it again until next May. Solar-powered anythings aren’t exactly workable solutions in the UK, and a solar powered HDTV is no exception!

Still, if you’ve been bitten by the green bug and feel the need to assuage your carbon guilt by throwing vast chunks of money at slightly ridiculous “solutions” – and you happen to live in California or some other over-sunny place – then maybe the Sharp solar-powered HDTVs are for you!

[Source: Aving.net]

It also comes with an LED backlight to give a brightness of 450cd/m2, which apparently means something to some people!

In addition, Sharp have also announced their new AQUOS.jp Video On Demand service, which lets you watch video streamed form the Internet, as well as browse the Web and read the newspaper.

Eh? Yup, AQUOS.jp will let you read an online magazine that’s exactly the same as its paper version.

Note entirely sure why you’d want to do this when the same content is usually available on the Web anyway (and better formatted than a scanned magazine, no matter how good the scanning technology used!), but you can’t have too much choice(can you?!)

[Source: Akihabara News]

There will be three television commercials; two of them have the tagline: “Change your TV, Change your Life”. The other commercial will focus on the greener side of things, again with a tagline which claims a lot: “Change Your Power, Change Your Planet”. This however may not change the planet for the better, the commercials will be focusing on LCD screens which, as we posted last week, use a gas in production that is 17,000 times more harmful than CO2. For some reason they don’t mention this… instead they big up the energy saving you will get from LCD screens. The upside to the “Change Your Planet” campaign is that solar power will also make an appearance, which until proven otherwise is good for our planet.

Alongside the TV commercials they are launching a micro-site: lifechangingbox.com and a supporting Facebook game. The game involves a box which you steal from your friends, and then other people can steal it from you. The idea is to be in possession of the box when it opens so you win the prize inside it.

It is interesting how green has become the new black, it would seem that if you aren’t appearing to save the world, you will be put in the corner with a dunces hat on. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for being environmentally friendly and I actively try and do as much as I can, but with it becoming a marketing ploy, are the “right” things being done or are they only doing things that will make the most noise in the market place? Turns out this actually has a name: Greenwash. LCD screens are a prime example of this; they seemed good on the face of it but it turns out they are actually harmful. They have become so popular, in part, because “energy saving” is easy to market.

[Source: Sharp USA]