Sharp started by talking to us about its ‘Open platform’ that is on its SoC-based displays. The platform now has support from 16 partners who have applications that can run on the platform.
The company was also showing new 46″ and 50″ LCDs for professional applications (they will support 24/7 operation, we heard) and will include the mini-OPS slot that Sharp launched last year with Intel. At the moment, final brightness has not been decided, but we understand that it is likely to be at the lower end of the range for this class of product. Features will include loop-through to make it easier to build multi-monitor systems.
Mini-OPS has not been widely adopted by other brands and only Sharp modules were on show although Sharp told us that AOpen is developing modules, too. A new module will include support for the Intel Compute Card which was introduced around CES. (We have been sceptical about Mini OPS partly because, although it is smaller in area, the depth is the same. It seems to us that few display makers had a problem finding enough area on the back of their displays, but many would like to reduce the thickness – Man. Ed.)
Sharp was promoting the new mini-OPS LCDs. Image:Meko
A new product on show was an UltraHD version of the Aquos Board which has PCap touch and was shown in 70″ diagonal. It has a mini-OPS slot to allow the support of Windows and the panel is direct bonded for minimum parallax. Accuracy of the touch system is said to be +-2mm. The display may not start shipping, though, until Q1 2018.
