Startup Deep Light claims to have multiplexed 3D HDTV
We may not like to admit it, but we do like a good 3D movie now and then (no, we're not talking "Shark Boy" here; more like the odd IMAX flick). But, of course, those glasses (not to mention the helmet thing you need for IMAX) have gotta go. So, the idea that we can see real 3D without glasses — and see it in HD, too — is a tempting proposition. And the concept that a roomful of people can watch the same set and each see a different program, in HD 3D, well, that kind of gives us the shakes. But that's what entrepreneurs Dan Mapes and Robert Kory are claiming. Their startup, Deep Light, bases its work on "time multiplexing," a concept developed by Cambridge prof Adrian Davis, which pushes streams of 30 frames-per-second of video at 10 different viewing angles. According to Mapes, Deep Light is developing a 1,280-line HD set that can display different 3D programming to different viewers depending on their viewing angle. Deep Light plans to unveil its first prototype at CES next year. We'll be waiting; a quick Google of Mapes and Kory shows that their last big idea was a failed "Wizard of Oz" theme park. We're not saying HD3D will meet the same fate; in fact, if it succeeds, we'll feel like we're, well, over the rainbow.
