Sharp Launches Initial Batch of OLED-Enabled Roku Smart Televisions

This may sound a bit strange, but the first OLED Roku smart TVs are launching today. And, oddly enough, they’re manufactured by Sharp—a company that’s been mostly absent from the U.S. television market for about five years. Two sizes of Sharp AQUOS OLED Roku TVs are now available, plus a range of differently-sized LCD models.

As you may know, Roku TVs are sold by several brands , including TCL, VIZIO, Hisense, and Roku itself . Some of these brands sell QLED Roku TVs, but none of them offer an OLED TV with Roku software. It’s a glaring omission in Roku’s catalog, but Sharp is coming to the rescue. By filling this premium niche, Sharp hopes to regain the respect that it had in past decades. (All Sharp TVs sold in the U.S. from 2015 to 2019 were made by Hisense. Sharp reacquired its U.S. branding because it felt that Hisense had tarnished its name .)

These new Sharp TVs are pretty impressive. Obviously, they use OLED display panels, which achieve a better contrast ratio than LCD or QLED. But they’re also enhanced by HDR10, Dolby HDR, and Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG) technology. When viewing content that supports these standards, you should experience cinematic color and extremely accurate contrast with minimal noise in dark scenes. The TVs also offer a 4K resolution with a 120Hz variable refresh rate for all four HDMI inputs. An automatic low-latency function is also included, so there’s no need to screw with the motion smoothing setting before a gaming session.

The Sharp AQUOS OLED Roku smart TVs also contain a pair of 15-watt speakers, which should be quite loud. That said, OLED TVs tend to be thinner than those with LCD or QLED panels, so the sound quality probably isn’t too amazing. You may want to plug a soundbar into the TV’s HDMI eARC port to circumvent the problem.

Sharp’s AQUOS OLED Roku TVs are available today in 55-inch and 65-inch configurations. They cost $1,500 and $2,000, respectively, and offer an identical set of features. For those who don’t want to spend a fortune on OLED, Sharp is also launching a range of 4K 60Hz LCD Roku smart TVs that start at $340.

Source: Roku, Sharp

Also read: