THats a bit of a mystery to me. They very well could be some of the panels used by Sony. If TVs were produced when Sharp panels did not hit the market, then what we know for sure that these are not Sharp panels. You have to look for contrast ratios. 9705 with Sharp UV2A panels is listed as 10,000,000. While current 9704 has a listed value of 5,000,000 whatever that number means. But in any case I would wait for the first review of UV2A containing panel TV before spending something. Sharp is coming out with quite new designs which could compete with Philips as well.
P.S Thats very nice of you, Clare , to get official statement from Philips. I am personally quite interested to read their official tale for the customers. And I personally dont see much harm in using " conjectures" which is defined as unproven proposition appearing to be correct, and which has not been disproven. Probably you wanted to say something different, right?