While the U.S. distribution rights for Sharp-branded TV products remains with Hisense, the original, underlying Sharp Corporation continues to remain active in many markets and product venues.
In particular, they continue to develop display panels, long a key business for Sharp.
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Heading the marketing and sales initiatives is Rey Roque, a longtime display industry executive who has previously held senior product and marketing positions at Westinghouse Digital, Samsung Electronics America, Princeton Graphic Systems and Mitsubishi Electronics America. According to Roque during CES this week, “TV is an app on a display,” which led the market to a variety of configurations beyond the traditional set with a tuner and speakers. Toward that end, the products previewed by Sharp during CES are true displays, with the eventual go-to-market product form factor and feature lists to be determined at a later date.
Indeed, everything shown by Sharp is just that: a display panel fed by external switchers and source electronics to show multi-window and multi-display applications for home and enterprise applications. A key example of this is the use of an 85-inch 8K display showing four simultaneous 4K image windows. Perhaps different from other single-source 8K demonstrations at CES, this shows the potential for high-end consumer installations where sports viewing is a key element. Also on display for a similar application is a 120-inch 4K display.
Demonstrating the video image quality of the product concepts, Sharp is showing off its own 8K camcorder feeding a 70-inch 8K display with an outstanding live display of intricate, close-up body painting. Showcasing another application possibility for 8K display, a 27-inch display module is also being shown.
The 8K camcorder, initially intended for broadcast applications, is currently in production while the three 8K displays are still in development with availability possible to select markets within the next twelve months.
