The Aquos LB-1085 was released a couple of years to various trade fairs ago now, and it's only recently started to see shelf space in the department stores of downtown Tokyo. In other words, you can now buy this - but only if you're a "wealthy lunatic", as one popular mechanics reporter paints it rather comically.
LCD, known for large power saving advances, is not usually known beyond sizes of 42in. Most people would have assumed anything beyond this size is an engineering impossibility. But Sharp have proved the naysayers wrong with the Aquos LB-1085, thanks to a unique manufacturing process used to design the LCD panels. And Sharp is keen to boast the 'world's largest' LCD tag without so much as a mention of the actual price.
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| The Sharp LB-1085 will make PS3 games larger than life |
However, a quick Google search demonstrates that such TV size boasts are generally thrown around with unlimited abandon - blanket marketing statements that are not generally observed by any formal ruling body. If you have a really, really large TV, nobody is stopping you from calling it the biggest.
That's not to say the Aquos 108in isn't a marvel to behold. Perfect for impressive larger-than-life Blu-Ray movie viewings, the HD unit (1920 x 1080) features 400cd/m2 screen brightness, a 1,200:1 contrast ratio for better blacks and deeper colour hues and a viewing angle of 176 degrees. So 'almost' everyone in the room can see it without considerable neck strain.
Most impressively, this giant TV manages to stay fairly responsive with a better than decent 6ms response time. Specifications aside, you'll likely need a large front door to get this TV into your chosen room, or a purpose built space to house the TV, using a crane or otherwise to drop it into position.
Either way, it's going to be fun for the poor delivery contractors when they're faced with shipping all 195kg (unpacked weight) of the Aquos 108in LCD to your new entertainment paradise.
Still, if money were no object, we'd have no problems dropping 11,000,000 Yen to aquire this massive LCD beast. That's about AU$139,000; pocket change for any serious TV owner really.
Specs at a glance:
- 3 HDMI inputs
- 1 DVI
- 2 Components
- 1,200:1 contrast ratio
- 400cd/m2 screen brightness
- HD unit (1920 x 1080)
- Size: 2572 x 202 x 1550mm
- 7.6 million colours
- stereo sound rated at 15W per channel
Other items we'd buy If money were no object:
Lenovo's ThinkPad W700ds, the $7,000 laptop with a second screen
Leica's $14,750 compact digital camera