Hot on the heals of Pioneer and LG, Sharp have announced their own 'true black' or 'infinite contrast' range of flat panel LCD TV's with their new 'X' series.

Manufacturers are suddenly clambering to produce a version of the latest must have technological feature, 'infinite contrast', usually quoted at 1,000,000:1.

LCD has to surmount different technological challenges than Plasma to achieve deep contrast levels. LCD requires 'backlighting' to illuminate the screen and here lies the problem. For a number of years 'local dimming' technology has been under development in an attempt to achieve the holy grail of LCD development, true blacks.

RGB LED backlighting is under development by a number of manufacturers with the use of controllable LED lights instead of traditional CCFL lights a common theme. Sharp's new X series LCD TV's are the first to offer full-colour RGB LED dimming rather than 'black & white' only dimming.

'The difference is that our image can be fine tuned above and beyond our rivals,' said Shigeaki Mizushima, the executive managing director of Sharp's research and development group.

The 52in and 65in will become available in limited numbers worldwide in the next few months with Sharp claiming 'Kuro' (Pioneer's plasma range) beating black levels.

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