Sharp's New LCD Offers Industry's Highest Contrast Ratio

October 3, 2005

Sharp Corporation has developed a "Mega-Contrast" Advanced Super View Premium LCD that defies conventional wisdom to deliver an unprecedented contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1 the highest level in the industry.

This contrast ratio goes well beyond that of self-illuminating displays such as CRTs, plasma and organic EL displays, and represents a revolutionary technology which is ideal for master monitors used in darkened locations such as television broadcast studios, mobile broadcast vans and motion picture production houses.

37-inch prototype "Mega-Contrast" LCD has 1,920 x 1,080 resolution.

The TV broadcast infrastructure around the world is rapidly making the shift to digital format and demand for LCD TVs, which are designed to be the primary TV set in home living rooms, is also expanding extremely rapidly on a global scale. In addition to low power consumption in a thin profile, and the ability to display high-resolution images such as full-spec HDTV pictures, LCDs offer high contrast ratios in bright spaces such as the homes of ordinary consumers, making possible bright, clear, high-quality image displays.

On the other hand, master monitors used in settings such as TV broadcast stations, mobile broadcast vans and motion picture production houses are typically used in darkened spaces and demand even higher contrast ratios. CRT-based monitors have been used so far for this application, but the remarkable improvement in the display performance of LCDs is fueling an extremely rapid increase in demand for LCDs to be used as master monitors in these settings.

Sharp’s Mega-Contrast LCD developed at this time is based on an accumulation of unique "one-of-a-kind" technologies nurtured over long years of experience in the field of LCDs. This revolutionary technology achieves the industry’s highest contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, delivering a wide dynamic range resulting from this unprecedented high contrast ratio. This new LCD will enable filmmakers and video producers to check video images to the most demanding levels of clarity and color reproduction.

Source: Sharp