Toshiba may have
announced a
few things today at CES, but its
press event was all about one major product: Cell TV. From what we can gather, the company is hopping on this bandwagon in a way we haven't seen since it sank its teeth
into HD DVD, and if all the claims pan out, you just might be looking at your next television. Details were short on future pricing and availability, but we get the idea that Tosh wants this on the market as soon as humanly possible. Reportedly, this thing will enable 2D-to-3D conversion of practically any content you watch; of course, we've seen content that was
shot in 3D look awful when behind the glasses, so we're not counting on the quality of the metamorphosis to be anything mind-blowing. That said, having such a chip within a TV opens up a whole new world of possibilities, and the accompanying uber-box shown in the gallery below is likely to sell right alongside of it. The purpose? To connect your "entire home" with your HDTV, not to mention bringing web content, video calling and stellar image quality to your otherwise drab den. Needless to say, we're on pins and needles here waiting for more information, but we'll be sure to pass it on as soon as it becomes available.
posted January 6th 2010 2:10PM
If 2D to 3D is any good, it would make this TV a clear early adopter winner, as consumers wouldn't have to wait for providers to broadcast 3D sports. If it was reasonably priced (
And Toshiba takes the lead.
@10nisman94
indeed.
@10nisman94 arg!, it cut off half my comment, continued:...~$2800 for the 55inch)
@10nisman94 The problem is that 2D to 3D won't be any good. Just like other recent Tosh claims it simply doesn't have any basis to be making the claims.
Proper 2D to 3D conversion would require multiple passes of the content and human interaction. It's basically glorified colorization and obviously needs a human to supervise the transition.
The most you can expect from a TV making this claim is perhaps that some kind of motion estimator that kicks in during pan / zoom operations and makes some very crude estimation of depth and then starts assigning depth using some crude posterization technique. The rest of the time it can't do squat and will have to revert to 2D.
I expect the effect will look pretty abysmal for the most part, although it might impart an acceptable effect in controlled circumstances such as cameras tracking football games from the side.
Maybe this will come out in Korea first.
Also if the cell is so great why do i need to wear glasses.
@danhawk911
The cell can't make up for the fact that you have lousy vision...
Oh wait, you meant 3D glasses...
More 3d novelty garbage.
@(Unverified) you're garbage!
can this display 3D as well as converted 2D to 3D?
@(Unverified)
Yes. It was in the press release posted about this TV earlier.
Is anyone else having trouble with these image galleries? I can't get any picture other than the first one to load.
ok so tv is great and I know lots of families like to have them and stuff. but I live alone and couldn't care less about a television . . . I'll get some good computer monitors and usb tv tuners instead.
@(Unverified)
cool story, bro.
Gorgeous :D!
3D simply will not take off until the porn industry gets involved.
Luddites make me giggle. "Novelty 3D" HA!
Novelty like color was an incremental increase in picture quality. Novelty like HD was in incremental increase in picture quality. Novelty like DVD was an incremental increase in picture quality over VHS. 3D is an incremental increase over 2D, and just like the color picture, DVDs, and HD it is entirely optional.
Nahvulty Threeeee D. Derp derp derp.
@Smurf
I think the issue most people have is the addition of the rather cumbersome glasses. All the other things you mentioned didn't involve anything like that. I like the 3D in small doses (e.g. like the occasional movie at the theater), but having to have a bunch of glasses laying around the house for family and visitors isn't exactly appealing in any way.
@Smurf as long as 3D requires glasses, it's a novelty.
As long as 3D requires glasses, and makes it look like you're watching miniatures play acting in a terrarium, it'll be a novelty. Once the glasses are out of the equation, then I'll be interested.
Even then they have to get past that "moving diorama" effect, which makes everything seem smaller, not bigger, than a traditional 2D viewing.
@Alan Strangis
"Even then they have to get past that "moving diorama" effect, which makes everything seem smaller, not bigger, than a traditional 2D viewing."
Very good point! I got that feeling quite a few times while watching Avatar. The movie is visually stunning, yet at several points in the movie I suddenly got the impression I was watching miniature models. It would pass fairly quickly, but it was disruptive to the experience when it happened.
@Smurf
I don't think that 3D will become the prevailing technology for a while. Until they come out with 3D sets that don't require glasses to view, adoption rates will remain low. And then there will always be people that won't ever get a 3D TV, like my dad, since he's only got one eye, and the glasses won't do squat to help him.
More TVs? looks like a whole bunch of crap to me.
@HighestRanked
You should turn off the computer and get a job. Things are cooler when you can afford them .
Seriously though, please turn off your computer.
I LOVE THE FUTURE!
2010 is going to be a great year for tech.
Someone explain to me how you turn a 2d image to 3d. I dont care how powerful tv's/computers are, you cant just create a different angle version of a video.
@Maurizio I think it works something like this: image A from input is shifted left/right in sync with active shutter glasses
@10nisman94
That still doesn't give the other eye a different perspective of the picture. 3D works in the following way:
A picture is shot by two cameras positioned next to each other to mimic the human eyes looking at an object from two perspectives. When the picture is watched, you use technology to make sure that the right eye sees what the right camera shot, and the left eye what the left camera shot. You cant get 3d from a single camera system.
I'll echo the sentiments of a few people here. I'm unconcerned with anything requiring the wearing of 3D glasses, since they don't work if you're already wearing a normal pair. I don't wear contacts.
So until I get that 3D Princess Leia R2D2 droid thing experience going on in my living room, Tosh and everyone else won't be getting any access to my wallet.
Anyway, my next tv is supposed to be SED or OLED. I wish they would get real on their existing promises before jumping on the next useless flop bandwagon.
This is going to take off about as well as Toshiba's "XDE upscaling" idea...
in home 3D will fail until glasses are no longer a part of the equation
So these are LCD right? I'll stick with my new Panasonic plasma.
I doubt the quality of the 3D it would make, but I can see it getting a larger market simply because people don't have to rely on 3D specific content. http://www.jeffsguidetocheaptv.com/general/ces-2010-toshiba-reveals-cell-tv/
Surely 2D - 3D wont work. I imagine it would be 3D Readym Like what HD Ready is now...
someone join me in saying... GIMME GIMME GIMME!!!