Now this is the kind of news us HD nuts live for. HDTV everywhere, in everything!

Sharp has announced that all of its large LCD offerings from now on will be full HDTV. No more 1024 x 768 or somesuch.

Curiously, the article gets the definition of HD wrong. It says that an HD display has to be 1920 x 1080, citing displays with 1366 x 768 therefore as being non-HD. But this isn’t true. 1280 x 720 is also HD, so because 1366 x 768 is finer than that in both screen dimensions, it is HDTV.

So it seems that Sharp thinks 1920 x 1080 is “full” HD resolution.

Interestingly, Sharp’s new LCD displays also make use of a hybrid backlight:

With the full HDTV introductions, Sharp now offers five sizes ranging from 37 inches to 65 inches. Some models are already on the overseas market, and Sharp intends to add a new 57-inch model by February in the U.S.

The new 57-inch model features a hybrid backlight with red LEDs and a cold cathode fluorescent lamp. The use of LEDs for backlight illumination is emerging as the next-generation backlight, but a full LED backlight is still unavailable in terms of cost and power consumption, said Nichiharu Nishihara, division deputy general manager for Sharp’s LCD digital systems division.

“Full LED backlight is technically possible even now, but I personally think that it will come into products widely in two to three years,” said Nishihara.

With the use of red LEDs, backlight costs for 57-inch TVs increased by about 30 percent while power consumption increased by about 50 W, according to Nishihara.

This 57″ LCD display will be taking aim at similarly sized plasma displays, filling out their product range some more. This new LCD HDTV gives Sharp a flat-panel offering between 50″ and 60″.

EETimes.com - Sharp tunes in full HD for flat TVs
ABC News - Sharp Takes on Plasma With 57-Inch LCD TV