Sharp has announced the largest consumer-available LED HDTV on the market, beating its own previous record by 10 diagonal inches. The Sharp Aquos LC-80LE632U measures a full 80 inches, making it the largest LED HDTV available in retail stores.
The LC-80LE632U is a connected HDTV with built-in Wi-Fi and access to streaming media services like Netflix, CinemaNow, and VUDU. It includes Sharp's Aquos Advantage Live system, which lets Sharp tech support remotely access the HDTV to set up and fix the screen. As an 80-inch HDTV, it has more than double the screen area of a 55-inch HDTV. It uses a 1080p 10th generation LCD panel manufactured in Sharp's new LCD facility in Sakai City, Japan, and features a 120-Hz refresh rate. Sharp claims the HDTV has a 6,000,000:1 contrast ratio, but our tests have found LCDs of all makes and models to have different contrast ratios from their stated numbers. Keep an eye on PCMag.com for a review in the future, where we will measure the HDTV's contrast ratio ourselves.
This is the continuation of Sharp's focus on large screens over the last year. Since January, the company has launched 16 HDTVs over 55 inches: ten 60-inch HDTVs and 5 70-inch HDTVs in Sharp's Aquos and Elite lines. The LC-80LE632U is part of Sharp's Aquos line, but the company will likely launch an 80-inch Elite HDTV by CES 2012 in January. The Elite line of HDTVs is Sharp's upscale brand, adapting the brand from Pioneer's Elite series of plasma HDTVs.
The LC-80LE632U is currently available at Fry's Electronics, PC Richard & Son, H.H. Gregg, and Magnolia retailers, with a suggested retail price of $5,499.