Sharp Japan on Friday announced it has added five new HDTVs as part of its AQUOS DX2 lineup, with all sporting built-in Blu-ray disc recorders that are claimed to fit seven times more recorded content on them than a traditional Blu-ray disc without sacrificing picture quality. The new LCD HDTVs are available in 26-, 32-, 40-, 46- and 52-inch sizes, with the top three models sporting 1080p, 15,000:1 contrast ratios and 3 HDMI inputs, while the 26- and 32-inch models make do with 720p resolution, 7,000:1 contrast ratios and 2 HDMI inputs each.<\/p>\n
All of the TVs connect to the Internet thanks to an Ethernet port and support BD-Live, IPTV and Yahoo Japan. A program guide lets users set automatic recordings for the two digital tuners and a terrestrial one. Recordings can be made in the MPEG-4 AVC\/H.264 format and transcoded, with a dual-layer, 50GB Blu-ray disc capable of storing 30 hours of HD video.<\/p>\n
Sharp was the first to release an HDTV with an integrated Blu-ray recorder back in May, with the introduction of its 20-inch AQUOS DX. Compared to this original DX HDTV, Sharp has introduced a new and built-in light sensor to adjust brightness levels depending on the ambient light.<\/p>\n
The five new AQUOS DX2 TVs will be released on September 10th in Japan, with the 52-inch LC-52DX2 priced at the equivalent of about $5,048US, the 46-inch model at $3,993US, the 40-inch model at $2,943US. The lower-resolution 32-inch model will cost about $2,000US, while the 26-inch model will be priced at $1,787US. All but the two top-tier models are available in white, red or black. The 52- and 46-inch models lose the red color option.\u00c0<\/p>\n