sharp 32-inch 4k igzo lcd monitors free sample

Prepare to be amazed. Sharp presents the groundbreaking PN-K322B, a professional-use LCD monitor that delivers a stunning level of visual precision. Cutting-edge IGZO* technology enables this monitor to achieve 4K Ultra-HD resolution (3,840 x 2,160 pixels)—four times the detail of 1080p. The touchscreen-equipped PN-K322B means that the potential applications are extremely wide-ranging. Wherever there’s a demand for the very finest in visual display quality, Sharp has the solution.

IGZO technology offers the key advantages of extraordinarily high resolution and improved energy efficiency. The small size of semiconductors made with IGZO technology enables smaller-sized pixels, which in turn provide stunning high resolution. With 3,840 x 2,160 pixel resolution (4K Ultra-HD), the PN-K322B boasts four times the resolution of 1080p full HD. This means users can view all the content of four HD screens on a single, seamless display. And because IGZO technology supports increased pixel transparency and reduced current leakage, the monitor can operate with reduced power consumption.

The PN-K322B is compatible with devices running Windows® 8, the latest operating system from Microsoft. Windows® 8 supports smooth and intuitive touchscreen functionality, which can be experienced to its fullest on this beautifully responsive LCD monitor.

The PN-K322B supports both DisplayPort™ and HDMI™ interfaces. 4K Ultra-HD video signals can be transmitted via a single easy-connecting, clutter-reducing cable.

IGZO technology and edge-lit LED backlighting enable the PN-K322B to sport a stylishly slender profile. Measuring only about 36 mm at the thickest point, this sleek and lightweight monitor blends in effortlessly in almost any location.

When you"re surrounded by huge 4K TVs cranked to retina-damaging brightness, it"s easy to get desensitized to the high resolution. But, when you are standing in front of a 32-inch monitor (31.5-inch to be exact) at that same resolution, it"s a whole different story. In the gargantuan halls of CES, Sharp is showing off the 4K-resolution low-power IGZO LCD panels it announced November last year. They had two touchscreen versions on show -- one for Windows 7 and another for Windows 8 -- as well as one non-touch model. The touch versions were also slightly different in that you can lie them horizontally if you need to. Honestly, the resolution and color reproduction on the panels were absolutely incredible. They looked so good, in fact, that I fantasized about tearing it from the table and making a break for it, if only for a second.

That"s the only way I could end up "owning" one, as the non-touch model will be "at least" $5500 when it launches in February, and the touch models will be "at least" $1000 more when they arrive sometime in Q2. They aren"t really intended for general consumption, anyway, but for the medical sector, serious design pros and other commercial uses. The pics we got of them can be found in the gallery below, but unfortunately, it was hard to do the displays justice in the crowded, dimly lit Sharp den. %Gallery-175376%

If you have been itching for a 4K Thunderbolt Display from Apple, you may be waiting a little while longer. Sharp is prepared to scratch that itch, though, and intends to add full pen and touch compatibility with OS X later this year. The announcement comes from Mac Otakara (Japanese link) and comes after July"s announcement of the PN-K322B 32-inch professional display, which was already touch compatible with Microsoft"s Windows 8 and other Windows variants.The scarcity of touch options in OS X displays is of little concern to most users, but visual artists and other professional users may benefit from an integrated display and touch solution.

Sharp"s IGZO display technology drives these high resolutions without sacrificing power efficiency, and the company just announced a 15.6-inch model. The road to ultra high-definition (UHD) displays on every desk is a long one, though; this beauty is expected to cost upwards of $5,000 when it hits stateside. By then, visual professionals should expect to be able to whip their stylus across an array of 8 million pixels.

There"s more display news from Sharp, too. At CEATEC Japan 2013 today, Sharp was the recipient of an award for its MEMS-IGZO exhibition that showcased a combination color e-paper MEMS and IGZO LCD display. The prototype display features always-on capability, similar to E Ink, and the color richness and pixel density that IGZO can bring while sipping less power than current technology. It will still be a while before we see the combo displays in handsets and tablets, but they may be worth the wait.

The clunky IGZO name is derived from indium gallium zinc oxide, the semiconductor material on which the screen is based. Each pixel in an LCD screen is controlled by its own transistor and making those transistors on IGZO brings several favorable characteristics over the amorphous silicon that is used in today’s LCD panels.

Electrons move faster in IGZO and that brings benefits in current flow that mean the transistors can be made much smaller. Because the size of the transistor directly affects the size of the pixel, a smaller transistor allows for smaller pixels and so more can be crammed in per inch than today.

One prototype 6.1-inch screen on show at IFA crammed in 2560 pixels by 1600 pixels, or 498 pixels per inch. That’s a 50 percent increase on the 326ppi screen used in Apple’s iPhone 4S and roughly double that of the new iPad. The difference is easily apparent: the Sharp screen displayed a stunningly detailed image. (See video of the IGZO prototypes at IFA on YouTube.)

This difference in current flow inside the screen also means that transistors don’t have to be continually refreshed when a still image is on the screen. That leads to lower power consumption and, for touch panels, much less interference from the screen’s electronics so the touch panel becomes more accurate and sensitive, said Nobuhiro Okan, a manager with Sharp’s display device group.

Okano pointed to a comparison the company was showing between twin 10.8-inch panels that were cycling through a series of still images. A prototype IGZO panel consistently drew two third less power than an amorphous silicon panel and the amount of energy used by the backlights on each panel was always lower on the IGZO screen, sometimes by more than half.

Higher resolution in a small screen, lower power consumption, more accurate touch panels — these are all things in high-demand by the portable gadget industry so it should come as no surprise there’s been a string of speculation about when IGZO will make it into products, particularly those from Apple.

For now, that remains just speculation. Sharp hasn’t announced any customers and no companies have said they’re using the technology, but if Sharp can deliver on all the promises at an affordable price, it could be making its way into gadgets soon.

IGZO technology has its roots with Tokyo Institute of Technology professor Hideo Hosono, who first synthesized transistors using the semiconductor in the mid-’90s. Since then it’s been the subject of research and development at scores of companies in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

Prototype LCD and OLED screens based around the technology have been shown, but it’s not until now that a company has seriously talked about commercialization of the technology.

Sharp began sample production of three IGZO panels at its Kameyama plant in central Japan earlier this year: a 7-inch panel for tablets and e-book readers, a 10-inch panel for laptop computers, and a 32-inch panel for professional monitors.

Sharp said it will be ready to begin full production in the fourth quarter of this year and will initially target the professional market. At IFA the company was showing for the first time a prototype monitor with a 31.5-inch IGZO screen with 4K resolution (3,840 pixels by 2,160 pixels) that will be targeted at the CAD/CAM, broadcast and medical imaging markets.

Pricing of the screens hasn’t been announced, although Sharp’s Okano said it wouldn’t be substantially more than current LCD panels because the basic manufacturing cost is similar.

The 8M-B32C1 32 inch 8K IGZO LCD monitor adds a whole new category to Sharp/NEC’s range of 8K professional displays as it is the only 8K 32 inch HDR Colour Management monitor with 1000 cd/m² peak brightness. This highly innovative display gives you absolute confidence that you are always seeing the true picture. So it is the perfect choice for professional applications and content creators in photography, broadcasting, post production, imaging, medical education, CAD studio, defence, gaming production environments and more that demand supreme colour accuracy and image quality.

IGZO technology offers the key advantages of extraordinarily high resolution and improved energy efficiency. The small size of semiconductors made with IGZO technology enables smaller-sized pixels, which in turn provide stunning high resolution. With 3,840 x 2,160 pixel resolution (4K Ultra-HD), the PN-K322B boasts four times the resolution of 1080p full HD. This means users can view all the content of four HD screens on a single, seamless display. And because IGZO technology supports increased pixel transparency and reduced current leakage, the monitor can operate with reduced power consumption.

IGZO technology offers the key advantages of extraordinarily high resolution and improved energy efficiency. The small size of semiconductors made with IGZO technology enables smaller-sized pixels, which in turn provide stunning high resolution. With 3,840 x 2,160 pixel resolution (4K Ultra-HD), the PN-K322B boasts four times the resolution of 1080p full HD. This means users can view all the content of four HD screens on a single, seamless display. And because IGZO technology supports increased pixel transparency and reduced current leakage, the monitor can operate with reduced power consumption.

Hon Hai Precision Industry, parent of Foxconn, announced that it has acquired a 10 percent share of consumer electronics unit of Sharp, as well as almost half of the shares in LCD maker Sharp Display Products.

According to a new report from Japanese paper Diamond Online, Apple may be on the way to using Panasonic’s LCDs for its devices. Panasonic has reportedly dropped out of the TV-set LCD business, and it wants to move to making LCDs for smaller devices like tablets, handsets, laptops, desktops, and more. It has provided “sample high resolution LCD panels for Apple,” and Apple is said to “be satisfied with the samples.”

Panasonic will begin work on the smaller LCDs at its Himeji factory, an eco-friendly factory founded in 2010. The plant aims to “reduce energy use in production.” There are no details if an agreement has been signed between Apple and Panasonic or when that might be.

In the past, Apple has used Samsung, LG, and Sharp for high-resolution panels. However, in recent reports, many have said that Apple is reducing component orders from Samsung due to the two companies’ ongoing patent disputes that have been playing out worldwide.

Apple may be looking for new display partners so it can avoid running into production hiccups when a new product is launched. Part of the iPhone 5 delay for many customers could be contributed to manufacturing difficulties at Sharp and others. More partners means more production.

The PQ321Q clearly compares favourably with Dell"s range of UltraSharp monitors in terms of overall aesthetic and functionality, with a sleek minimalist design that also allows for flexible positioning of the monitor. Build quality is generally excellent, and the display has a weighty feel to it. The PQ321Q comes complete with a stand that allows for full tilt, swivel and rotation of the screen, and there"s also an option to wall-mount the monitor if you so desire.

Along with the usual, colour, contrast, black level (brightness), brightness (backlight), and sharpness controls, we also have dedicated two point white balance controls, in addition to the ability to adjust gamma and manually select which colour space we want the monitor to operate in (full range/limited RGB, and automatic). An option to switch to MST mode allows for 4K/60Hz video from one DisplayPort cable.

In terms of connectivity, there are two HDMI inputs and a solitary Display Port located on the left side of the unit. It is possible to output a 30Hz 4K signal using a single HDMI lead, but to get the full 60Hz experience you"ll either need to use both HDMI inputs in a multiple monitor set-up, or to take advantage of the single Display Port connection instead. The slim form factor - just 1.4 inches deep - also houses a set of stereo speakers, accepting audio from the two HDMI ports. Sound quality is quite crisp and clear, but due to the thin size of the cabinet bass is sorely lacking with distortion coming into play at higher volumes. Audio support here is obviously something of an afterthought, with Asus seemingly presuming that you have a discrete audio system already in play.

Rather than opting for an IPS or VA panel, the PQ321Q is powered by an IGZO panel developed and manufactured by Sharp, featuring an edge-lit LED backlight. The advantage here is that by substituting the layer of amorphous silicon found in regular LCD panels with Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide (IGZO), transistors are smaller, resulting in more densely packed pixels that more quickly react to changes in electric current. This allows for massively high resolutions in small screen sizes while potentially providing a boost in motion resolution.

While the panel itself features a full 3840x2160 resolution, the PQ321Q is a tiled display, meaning that the screen displays two separate 1920x2160 images side-by-side in order to generate a full 4K picture. This explains how Asus has managed to break the 4K 30Hz barrier - by effectively running two lower bandwidth images side-by-side. Tiling is achieved via a single DisplayPort lead, but it does cause some problems - specifically extremely limited support for other resolutions in this Multi-Stream Transport mode. Indeed, even if MST is disabled and a standard dual-link DVI connection is used, support for staple resolutions like 2560x1440 appears to be absent, with 1080p just about the only other viable standard resolution.

"Just like HD before it, 4K adoption will be driven by video games support. However, running 4x1080p resolution at 60 frames per second requires a vast amount of GPU power - twin GTX 780s in SLI if you want to maintain high settings."

This library capture of Crysis 3 running on a six-core Intel PC with three GTX Titans in SLI highlights two of the major issues facing the 4K standard. First, the GPU power required to get a consistent experience is mammoth - certain effects cause frame-rate drops even with all this power - and secondly, the 30Hz upper limit on the existing HDMI 1.4 standard. HDMI 2.0 is coming but in the meantime, Asus used tiled displays - two 1920x2160 images side-by-side - to deliver 4K at 60Hz.

LCD panels" resolutions are often quoted in terms of raw subpixels, misnamed "pixels" in manufacturer"s specifications. Each real pixel includes one subpixel for each of three colors, so calling subpixels "pixels" inflates the claimed resolution by a factor of three. This bit of marketing obfuscation is calculated as horizontal resolution × vertical resolution × 3. For example: 640 × 480 VGA is 921,600 subpixels, or 307,200 pixels, 800 × 600 SVGA is 1,440,000 subpixels, or 480,000 pixels, and 1024 × 768 XGA is 2,359,296 subpixels, but only 786,432 full-color pixels.