Small and defined: Sharp is looking to save on space with an innovative addition to its high-definition TV family. Sharp claims the Aquos DX, or LC-20DX1, is the world's first 20-inch LCD TV with a built-in Blu-ray burner. Apart from the basic function of showing high-definition television, the DX also offers Blu-ray, DVD and CD playback and video recording. The built-in video recorder can store up to seven hours of high-definition television, which can be copied to Blu-ray discs. Flat-panel TV sets with built-in Blu-ray players are not unusual, but they typically take up much more real estate with 40-inch screens or bigger. Getting a video recorder, much less a Blu-ray burner, into the picture typically requires a separate box again. So, Sharp's all-in-one approach is a smart sales pitch.
Cramming this much into so little means some kudos gets squeezed out. The biggest limitation of the DX is its screen. The resolution of 1366×768 is not enough to show Blu-ray movies properly on this screen they will look hardly any better than DVD standard. The lower specifications, which fall short of the full high-definition of level of 1920×1080, also limit the visual appeal of HD TV. But that is less of a problem as you need a screen of 40-inches or more to see a real difference in picture quality between the best and the rest in TV broadcasts.
Beyond the pixel counting, the DX includes a digital TV tuner and a decent 1,500:1 contrast ratio. It comes with a pair of HDMI ports and a varied selection of VGA, D4, RCA ad S-Video options, giving it good connectivity. The Blu-ray burner can copy to BD-R/R DL and BD-RE/RE DL discs and recording TV programs to either the built-in video recorder or straight to disc is straightforward.