Be it the AQUOS BD-AV1 or the BD-AV10, you'll get 1 Terrabyte of hard drive storage to boot. These new Blu-ray player-recorders from Sharp pushes the envelope for capacity in-house, though the AV10 will be your choice for premium capacity on recording - it supports dual-layer Blu-ray burning.

Otherwise, both units will come with a single digital TV tuner, one HDMI port, a single FireWire (IEEE 1394) port, and an assortment of connectors for the usual composite connections to standard players and television sets.

The AV10 comes in at a hefty US$ 1,040 price tag (JPY 120,000) and US$ 865 (JPY 100,000) for the AV1. Prices get slashed by approximately 50% if the versions without the hard drive are picked up. We're not sure where the new units will hit first, but these babies will most likely appear in Japanese electronic entertainment stores before anywhere else.

Here's a bit of warm and fuzzy, good news-y stuff for you guys today. After helping brighten the lives of sick children in Australia some time ago, this time they're helping out kids in Los Angeles. Nintendo of America, longtime manufacturers of "Fun Centers" for the Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation, is donating the 5,000th Fun Center to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

The Fun Center includes a Sharp Aquos liquid crystal flat-screen monitor, a DVD player, and a Nintendo GameCube system.

Fun Centers, by the way, were developed more than a decade ago as a tool hospitals can use to help curb the anxiety and weariness that hospitalized children face during extended stays. As "Patch" Adams has shown, it's not all about plugs and needles, sometimes it's about caring. To date, more than 1,000 hospitals throughout North America have received one or more Fun Center units since Nintendo started the program.

If you were stuck in a smelly room in weird hospital robes, getting probes of all kinds stuck into you, while all your friends are enjoying themselves in the playground outside, you'd love to have something to help pass the time right?

Don James, Executive Vice President, Operations of Nintendo had this to say: "It is fitting that Starlight Starbright's 5,000th Fun Center is a gift from Nintendo; we wouldn't have it any other way, I'm also pleased to announce that we will begin shipping new-and-improved Fun Centers to hospitals starting in summer 2007."

James also promises that Nintendo will increase its funding to Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation. He also notes that the ease to of rolling the Fun Centers around the hospital make the Fun Centers excellent for numerous situations that hospital-bound children could face like anticipating surgery, long outpatient clinic treatments, waiting in the emergency room, or even fighting loneliness after visiting hours have ended.

Caregivers report that Fun Center use may even result in a reduced need for pain medication. The new Fun Centers that James mentioned will feature a Wii instead of a GameCube. Hunter "Patch" Adams will definitely love this bit of news.

Sharp Electronics (UK) Ltd is giving its line of Aquos LCD TV a major boost with the addition of eight HD-Ready models. All models are equipped with Sharp's latest panel and picture enhancement technology. Four models offer integrated digital Freeview, while two have been given the EU-Eco label for low energy consumption and ecologically-friendly design.

Each product features a contrast ratio of 1200:1, a 1,366 x 768 pixel resolution and a 6ms response time ideal for sports and action movies. Colors remain crisp and bright with the enhanced 176-degree viewing angles. As with all Sharp Aquos models, each comes with a low reflection Advanced Super View Black TFT LCD panel with brightness at 450cd/m2.

The Aquos 32-inch widescreen LC-32GA9E and 37-inch LC-37GA9E (analogue models) and the 32-inch LC-32GD9E and 37-inch LC-37GD9E (digital models) are equipped with Sharp’s TruD anti-judder technology for picture, contrast and sharpness enhancement, as well as smoother playback from DVDs and HDTV sources.

Sporting a silver and black design, the Aquos LC-32GD8E (32-inch) and LC-37GD8E (37-inch) come with an integrated digital DVB-T tuner for receiving Freeview channels. Analogue tuning is offered by both Aquos LC-32GA8E and LC-37GA8E.

All models include an HDMI In digital interface with HDCP support, two Scart connections, AV/S-Video In, Audio Out, PC In and headphones. To ensure that the models are future-proof, two HDMI inputs are included on the GA9/GD9 series. Furthermore, all models can be controlled from a PC via the RS-232C interface or used as a monitor via the analogue PC input (RGB analogue). On the GD models, a CI Slot is included for Top Up TV.

The LCD TVs have integrated speakers that offer full cinematic sound. Sharp’s Clear Voice Function enhances the quality and clarity of on-screen dialogue. On the GA/GD9 range, a clear flat speaker (15W + 15W) is included for clearer, better sound quality.

No word yet on pricing, but these HD-Ready babies will hit retail shops in the UK at the end of June.