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Old 14th Apr 2018, 11:12 am   #21
'LIVEWIRE?'
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Default Re: What has become of Sharp?

GJ, I didn't even know that Sharp had a research lab. in Oxfordshire.
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Old 14th Apr 2018, 12:31 pm   #22
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Default Re: What has become of Sharp?

Here is a Sharp speaker from a broken radio cassette player being used in a DIY radio. I am using an LM386N chip to drive it. Sounds pretty good.
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Old 14th Apr 2018, 3:49 pm   #23
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Default Re: What has become of Sharp?

Asda sell Sharp Branded TVs along with their Polaroid ones.
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Old 14th Apr 2018, 5:52 pm   #24
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Default Re: What has become of Sharp?

Quote:
Originally Posted by McMurdo View Post
For some time now they've been availing themselves of contract manufacturing. Back in the early 1990s, a mate of mine who used to work for a well-known amusement park in the vicinity fitted out the retail units with Sharp intelligent tills in all the outlets. He was so pleased with the result that he bought the latest Sharp TV (one of those with a postcard sized main board with surface mount, an early adopter). The TV lasted years and so when it came time to buy flat-screen, he bought another Sharp. It was made by Vestel.
A few weeks ago his Indesit washer broke and so he bought a new one...a Sharp. Again made by Vestel.

I remember reading an article online a few months ago about Sharp USA selling one of their american factories to Hisense along with a brand licensing deal. So Sharp-branded products are coming out of a Sharp-built factory both of which are now owned and operated by a Chinese company.

I suppose they're just following the trend.
Foxconn, who now owns Sharp is starting to build a large plant in southeast Wisconsin USA, not too far from where I live. It's supposed to employ thousands of persons.
They're going to have their own glass plant, as well. Right now, they're working on acquiring all the real property for the project.
This state lost a lot of industry in the last 50 years. This should help a bit.
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Old 14th Apr 2018, 6:10 pm   #25
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Default Re: What has become of Sharp?

Information from another list:
"More bad news this is the end of the line for the original sharp
products, the Sharp tech web has been switched off and so all the service
manuals, software and technical bulletins have now gone, in case you were
not aware Sharp sold out to UMC who no longer support the old sharp
products."

Dave
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Old 14th Apr 2018, 7:22 pm   #26
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Default Re: What has become of Sharp?

I thought Sharp was controlled by Foxconn.

Interesting BBC news item, I have no idea what the outcome in court has been.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-40246908
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Old 14th Apr 2018, 7:44 pm   #27
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Default Re: What has become of Sharp?

The Sharp European research centre referenced in #20 does seem to be active, though I've no idea what they do and it may be some sort of trojan horse operation to keep the EU quiet. I'll have a look next time I'm down that way (there's a rat run through there to the local Lidl, avoiding congestion on the ring road).
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Old 14th Apr 2018, 9:29 pm   #28
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Default Re: What has become of Sharp?

Company was founded in 1915 and the brand name SHARP comes from one of the first products developed and produced by the firm, the "Ever Sharp" pencil.

From Sharp-World: http://www.sharp-world.com/corporate...any/1915_1919/

Didn't Sharp do some pioneering work into LCD television screens?

DFWB.
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Old 14th Apr 2018, 10:53 pm   #29
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Default Re: What has become of Sharp?

Bought this Sharp EL8100S calculator in 1975 from Newcastle wholesaler Michael Black.
It's still in use from time to time.

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Old 15th Apr 2018, 12:19 am   #30
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Default Re: What has become of Sharp?

The research centre used to be very active indeed. I remember going to a talk given by its director. He showed a picture of Philips' very first CD transport which consisted of an 8' x 4' optical table covered in lenses and mirrors and electronics. He then went on to claim that Sharp had been pivotal in miniaturising that down to the size and cost of a commercial unit. He also talked about flexible display screens. He said that they were putting a 'large' amount of effort into a particular problem with thin-film transistors for flat panel screens and when someone asked what 'large' meant he said that globally they had more than 400 PhD scientists working on just that problem. It was impressive.

Cheers,

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Old 15th Apr 2018, 2:26 am   #31
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Default Re: What has become of Sharp?

My current (2017 model) TV is Sharp branded. I bought it because it was one of the last models I could find which still had a decent variety of AV connector types on it, whereas the generation which followed it rarely have anything but HDMI connectors, useless if (like me) you own a lot of legacy AV sources with RGB SCART output, etc. I will say that the picture quality from its integral tuner is fantastic when the programme material is genuinely HD. The downside is that the microprocessor side of things is hopelessly underpowered. For about the first two minutes after power on it ignores any input from the remote, so if it was left up loud when it was last turned off, there is nothing that can be done about that until the set has finished initialising.
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Old 15th Apr 2018, 10:00 am   #32
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Default Re: What has become of Sharp?

The Manchester warehouse is now owned by MCC and has been converted to the Sharp campus see https://www.google.co.uk/maps/uv?hl=...BiYQoioIpQEwDg
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Old 15th Apr 2018, 10:18 am   #33
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Default Re: What has become of Sharp?

Quote:
Originally Posted by SiriusHardware View Post
My current (2017 model) TV is Sharp branded. I bought it because it was one of the last models I could find which still had a decent variety of AV connector types on it, whereas the generation which followed it rarely have anything but HDMI connectors, useless if (like me) you own a lot of legacy AV sources with RGB SCART output, etc. I will say that the picture quality from its integral tuner is fantastic when the programme material is genuinely HD. The downside is that the microprocessor side of things is hopelessly underpowered. For about the first two minutes after power on it ignores any input from the remote, so if it was left up loud when it was last turned off, there is nothing that can be done about that until the set has finished initialising.
Our two-year-old Sony is like that, though not as bad. It produces superb HD pictures and we are very pleased with it generally, but for the first 20 seconds after switch-on it is impossible to select input, change channel etc. But we can change the volume even if the volume slider graphic doesn't appear. Sorry OT.
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Old 15th Apr 2018, 10:57 am   #34
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Default Re: What has become of Sharp?

Most later Sharp CRT TVs were made in Spain and most likely designed there as well. Remember the CS chassis? A clever piece of production planning but dreadfully unreliable in use. Later DS and ES series TV sets were much better.

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Old 15th Apr 2018, 11:38 am   #35
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Default Re: What has become of Sharp?

I was just going to mention the 'Squad' and CA10 SMD horrors!

Interestingly, the last TV repair place to close near me in Madrid (from the five or so there were before) was the Sharp service centre. I think they and Toshiba had a good reputation for service.

They were innovative though- I still have a VHS talking remote control and a few of the vertical linear tracking VZ turntables. One of them is an Optonica. I don't think they ever escaped the mid range in terms of quality though - Never seen a high end sharp VCR for instance.
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Old 16th Apr 2018, 10:50 pm   #36
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Default Re: What has become of Sharp?

Quote:
Originally Posted by dsergeant View Post
Information from another list:
" the Sharp tech web has been switched off and so all the service
manuals, software and technical bulletins have now gone, in case you were
not aware Sharp sold out to UMC who no longer support the old sharp
products."

Dave
Only just stumbled across this thread.

Yes, Sharp tech web ended a couple of weeks ago.
This is because its been replaced by SharpONE.
All the manuals for their current, and some not-so-current products are there. However, users have to register to make use of the site.


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Old 17th Apr 2018, 6:31 pm   #37
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Default Re: What has become of Sharp?

The Sharp CS chassis must have been designed by the devil. They were very unreliable. To much in a to small area,which got to hot.

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Old 17th Apr 2018, 11:02 pm   #38
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Default Re: What has become of Sharp?

I know that by now it's an old model, but, IMHO, having owned one for several years, the SG500E Music centre was quite 'high end' with it's Direct Drive Turntable, which featured a good quality 'S' shaped tone arm, fitted in my case with an Audio Technica Cartridge. It also incorporated a quite sophisticated auto-reverse cassette deck, multi-waveband tuner, and 2 x 40watt amplifier. True, it was housed in a plastic cabinet, and was probably let down by the 3-way speakers supplied with it, and was also somewhat gimmicky in that it featured the type of touch controls which made use of finger resistance bridging two contacts to control most functions, but it was designed probably over 40 years ago now.
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