Sharp's Speedy 57-Inch LCD-TV

The 2006 Consumer Electronics Show doesn't officially begin until tomorrow, but the big CE vendors are all holding their press conferences today.

I dropped in on Sharp's presentation, where they announced a 57-inch LCD-TV with an impressively fast 4 millisecond response time. We used to think 12 and 16ms displays were pretty darn speedy! Here's a photo of it:



Sharp has a bigger set: There's a 65-inch Aquos, but it's not nearly as fast and its contrast ratio is a measly 800:1 compared to the 1500:1 of the coming set.

If this new set sounds good to you, start saving. Sharp says it will ship in March for a MSRP of $16,000. Guess the best things in life aren't all free after all.

Fast LCDs are shaping up as a trend here. Outside the Las Vegas Convention Center, Viewsonic posters tout "the world's fastest LCD monitors." On their Web site, a news release promos a pair of 4 ms monitors, the 19-inch VX924, and the 17-inch VX724.