Sharp QuadPixel: to its members it's the fourth primary colour

Are you tired by your TV’s inability to display more than a miserable billion colours? The good people at Sharp think you must be, which is why the company has chosen today at CES to unveil its proprietary QuadPixel technology.

As the name suggests, QuadPixel adds a fourth primary colour (yellow) to the ubiquitous red, green and blue – this enables more than a trillion (count ‘em! A trillion! On second thoughts, actually, don’t bother) colours to be displayed.

This four-colour technology, then, equates to RGBY – so why Sharp decided not to call it RUGBY is anyone’s guess. They’ve missed a trick there, if you ask me.

QuadPixel features on the new Aquos LE920 TV, launched in 52in, 60in and 68in screen sizes this Spring – pricing is yet to be confirmed. The LE920 also features LED edge-backlighting and 240Hz motion processing.

There's a number of new Aquos screens due in the first quarter of this year, actually: the LE820 will be available in 40”, 46”, 52” and 60” sizes and makes do with just the billion colours and 120Hz motion processing.

There’s also the LS520 range, which is a Full HD design in 32” and 22” incarnations, while the 19” version must make do with 720p resolution.

On the Blu-ray front, Sharp will introduce its BD-HP70 Blu-ray player, wireless ready and equipped with video streaming capability, in the first quarter too.

That’s alongside the BD-MPC41, a Blu-ray home-cinema-in-a-box system – it’s configured with a soundbar up front, rear speakers and a subwoofer to deliver 5.1 HD audio from a fairly discreet package.

US price is fixed at $750, but bitter experience tells us this has no bearing on the UK price whatsoever.

Simon Lucas is a freelance technology journalist and consultant, with particular emphasis on the audio/video aspects of home entertainment. Before embracing the carefree life of the freelancer, he was editor of What Hi-Fi? – since then, he's written for titles such as GQ, Metro, The Guardian and Stuff, among many others.