glasses-free 3D
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LG Display busts out 84-inch 3DTV with 3,840 x 2,160 res, we want the 2D version
Yesterday we brought you Samsung's 19 inches of transparent AMOLED goodness, today LG counters with an 84-inch 3DTV boasting UHD resolution and a claim to being the world's biggest of its kind. To be honest, at that size you really can't get away with old reliable 1080p, so it's comforting to see LG's keeping pixel pitch in mind when designing its headline grabbers. In other news coming out of the SID 2010 show, LG is demonstrating a "liquid lens" TV that'll give you glasses-free 3D, though the details of how that works are a bit scarce, while the company's also pushing its IPS wares in a big way, with a 47-inch HDTV, a 32-inch pro monitor, and a 9.7-inch (sounds familiar) smartbook on show. Also at 9.7 inches, we have color e-paper that's slated for mass production before the end of the year, while that flexible e-paper from January is also making an appearance. A pretty comprehensive bunch of goodies from LG, we'd say. Update: We just noticed a small but freaky 3.98-inch UHD LCD with a world's best 394ppi density. Amazing.
Fraunhofer's 3D posters make your fish-based advertising really pop
The pinnacle of 3D-based content? Glasses-free, of course, and Fraunhofer has reached that level for static images -- and it plans to use it for advertising, of course. The company is talking up its new 3D posters that rely on 250,000 lenses embedded in a grooved sheet, each lens with a 2mm diameter. The effect is said to be similar to those simple "3D" lenticular postcards and cereal boxes we've all seen, but Fraunhofer promises that improved accuracy used in manufacturing here will make the resulting images far clearer, enabling the effect to be clearly seen on these five meter posters even from across the street. That's good, because when was the last time you walked up to a billboard to get a closer look?
Toshiba Mobile Display touts 21-inch glasses-free 3D HDTV, raises a few eyebrows
While we were fretting about what special tech Nintendo's 3DS would use to generate autostereoscopic imagery on its comparatively puny screen, Toshiba Mobile Display (and others) have been working on bringing that same headgear-free 3D to TV-sized panels. Employing a "multi-parallax" technique, the latest from the Toshiba spinoff firm promises "significant reduction in eye fatigue" as well as approximately a 30 degree horizontal viewing angle. The latter might be peanuts compared to a quality 2D display, but let's not begrudge being offered at least some positional flexibility. Other specs include a 1280 x 800 effective resolution and 480 nits of brightness, which are notable achievements when you consider that the 9-parallax implementation requires the generation of 9 separate images and therefore could be achieved with only an "ultra-high definition LCD module." We've sadly no info about this panel's potential for retail availability, but judging by the bezel-free picture we've been given, that might be a good way off from now.
NewSight's 70-inch 3DTV keeps the glasses away with its parallax barrier tech
Last week's Finetech Japan 2010 expo allowed display manufacturers to show and tell each other about their latest innovations and advancements. One of the unquestioned highlights was NewSight's implementation of parallax barrier technology on displays up to 70 inches in size. The company is claiming its demo unit as the world's largest glasses-free 3D screen, but regrettably deprives us of any further details. All we're told is that the parallax barrier is "affixed to commercial-grade" LCDs, which suggests to us that perhaps the technique and hardware could be applied atop your favorite brand's existent 2D models. Of course, that'd only matter if these displays deliver a manifestly better picture and experience than what we have now, but it's looking like we'll have to wait a little bit longer to find out.
Sharp's 3D tablet panel doesn't require glasses, RGBY 3D TVs launching this summer do
Don't think Sharp's going to sit by and let Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony have all the 3D TV fun. The Japanese company, and fourth-largest LCD TV maker, plans to begin selling its own 3D TVs in Japan this summer before launching in the US, Chinese, and European markets sometime later in the year. To prove it, Sharp ponied up some sample RGBY ("Y" for yellow) 3D LCD panels it claims to be the "industries brightest" in sizes up to 60-inches. While these biggie panels all require active 3D shutter glasses for the extra-dimensional effect, Sharp was also showing off a 10.1-inch 3D display prototype for netbooks or tablets that -- like its 3.4-inch parallax barrier display announced last week and suspected to be headed to Ninty town -- doesn't require glasses at all and can be produced with or without a touchscreen. No word on when that pup might begin mass production, however. 60-inch panel pictured after the break with a real live woman doing the pointing -- amazing.
StreamTV's 42- and 37-inch 3D TVs don't require glasses, do include Blu-ray, might not exist
Ever heard of StreamTV? Us neither. Yet there it is, a pair of entries just added today to Amazon.com. Most interesting is the 42-inch 3D TV that, like its 37-inch bro, includes a built-in 500GB HDD, Blu-ray player, and "full browsing capabilities using Entertainment Portal." Oh, and it doesn't require 3D glasses. Do you believe it? Take our advice and wait for a bit more info before entering your $5,999.99 pre-order. May 7th isn't too far away.
New glasses-free 3D tech uses per pixel prisms for zero crosstalk, audience flexibility
Try as manufacturers might, attempts at autostereoscopic (glasses-free) TV have been subpar; existing tech typically makes for messy images due to ghosting, only provides a 3D effect if you're standing in one of a very few predetermined spots (usually 8-10 viewing angles, though we've heard of 64), and reduces display resolution -- all because only some pixels can be seen from each spot. With the occasional exception, it's not terribly impressive. Scientists at the National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan are looking to change that. Rather than block light with a parallax barrier, their screen uses a matrix of specially cut prisms to reflect it, reducing ghosting to nil and maintaining display resolution by sending the same image to each viewer. Though there are still a fixed number of viewing zones, the prisms are so tiny that manufacturers can simply add more prisms to each pixel to increase that number -- with 11 prisms per pixel, researchers say such a system could support 100 simultaneous 3D moviegoers. We've no word on whether the tech is affordable or when we'll see it, but we expect it to handily beat cyborg eyeballs to market.
i3D's glasses-free prototype screen aims to take on all of 3D's problem areas
Uncomfortable, expensive glasses and a lack of 3D content -- that'd be the short list of stuff we dislike about current 3D TVs, but coincidentally it also happens to be the exact issues i3D is determined to wipe out with its glasses-free technology. We stopped by to meet with the young, Los Angeles-based company last week, and though it obviously isn't the first to develop spec-less displays, its proprietary hardware and software combo was really impressive. The demo of a 7-inch prototype really tells the whole story -- and we encourage you all to see it for yourself in the video after the break, though obviously you won't be able to experience all three dimensions from your standard LCD. Our time screen-gazing was pretty breathtaking, even though the smaller display was far from immersive. As for the viewing angle issue that's the Achilles' heel of the others, i3D claims its technology allows for three-dimensional viewing at close to 90 degrees, though it was hard for us to really evaluate that on such a small screen. The coolest thing by far is the software's ability to convert 2D to 3D content on the fly. One second we were watching a two-dimensional clip of Cars and then with the tap of the 3D button the car was driving off the screen. While this isn't the first company dabbling in 2D conversion, we haven't seen any others doing this without the glasses, and i3D does claim it can convert any resolution programming. We'll have to see it to believe it, but if it does work and the quality lives up to what's being promised there'd go our lack of content issue! Apparently the price of the technology should add at most 20 percent to that of a current HDTV, but here's where we tell you that we wouldn't be surprised if it took years for all this technology to make into Best Buy's Magnolia Home Theater section. Given the fact that we met with the company in a backyard, we'd say that both it and its technology are in the early stages. But hey, it makes you feel better that someone is working on that 3D frustration list, right? %Gallery-88839%
Nintendo announces 3DS -- the glasses-free 3D successor to the DS
Whoa, now this is a whopper coming (almost) out of nowhere. Nintendo has just slipped out a press release in Japan informing the world that all-new 3D-capable portable hardware is coming, with a full unveiling set for E3 2010 this June. Tentatively titled the 3DS, this glasses-free 3D wonder is pitched as the successor to both the DS and DSi, and will use a "compatible cart" that should ensure backwards compatibility with your vast library of favorites from the older consoles. Nintendo expects to launch the 3DS into retail "during the fiscal year ending March 2011." Update: Unofficial reports from Japan suggest the 3DS will have a parallax barrier 3D LCD from Sharp, a vibration function, and a "3D control stick." Read about it all here.
No-glasses 3D display with 64 viewing angles to debut at CeBIT
Singaporean outfit Sunny Ocean Studios is pledging to put all of the autostereoscopic 3D we've seen so far to shame with a new 27-inch display offering 64 viewing angles it will show at CeBIT. A serious upgrade from the 8 or 9 viewing angle lenticular displays we saw at CES this year, the company claims it's ready to refit regular displays for 3D and also assist in 2D-to-3D image conversion. We've got all of the usual questions lined up like how will this affect resolution, what's necessary to render the necessary 64 different frames for each viewing angle and of course, how much does it cost, but founder Armin Grasnick says his company can handle screens of up to 100-inches quickly and inexpensively, likely by not wasting precious R&D funds on website design. The current state of 3D is glasses all the way, but we could get a peek at the next step March 2 in Germany.
Intel shows off glasses-free 3D demo -- now this is more like it
If you've kept even a loose eye on our CES coverage this year, you'd know that 3D is firmly "in." But our main gripe is that the glasses requirement makes it largely impractical for in-home use. Intel had a comparison demo setup in its massive booth, and it had a top display arranged to showcase glasses-free 3D and the bottom to demonstrate the more traditional glasses-required 3D. A technician at the booth explained that the footage was all specifically shot to fit the format, and a special overlay was applied to the 3D HDTV in order to complete the magic. He confessed that the resolution was "sub-720p," and there were only eight specific places that you could stand at in order to actually get the full experience. We stood around 10 feet back, dead center, and were downright wowed by the results. You could honestly see loads of depth, and everything appeared buttery smooth. Stepping closer resulted in less-than-awesome visuals, but we're definitely stoked by the possibilities here. Take note, TV / content makers -- glasses free > glasses-required. %Gallery-82534%
Hitachi exhibits 10-inch glasses-free 3D display
Hitachi's face-recognizing, power-saving plasma may have been the outfit's show-stopper at CEATEC, but this little bugger here showed some pretty fantastic potential as well. The 10-inch 3D display, more formally known as the Full Parallax 3D TV, one-upped most every other 3D display at the show thanks to its ability to showcase dimensions sans any glasses. Unfortunately, the native resolution is just 640 x 480, and yes, it really is just 10-inches in size. In due time, the outfit hopes to scale up to screen sizes that may actually be appealing to end users by utilizing multiple projectors (each of which with a 800 x 600 resolution), though a 4K x 2K 3D display (of the glasses-free variety) is still probably a couple of trade shows out. At least.[Via 3D-Display-Info]
NY storefront hosts the first no-glasses 3D LCD ad
Like 3D, don't like glasses? Check out 750 7th Avenue at 50th Street in New York for the Snickers display where Inwindow Outdoor and Alioscopy have teamed up for the first 3D LCD ad on a storefront. The 42-inch panel uses an 8x recorded autosteroscopic (read: no glasses) 3D process to make the catchphrase jump off the wall at passers-by. The installation debuted May 6, and for the small cost of being marketed to vs. the now-shelved €18,000 Philips screen we once lusted after, it's a cheap way for us to get a peek at the future.
Tough economic times cause Philips to axe a dimension, get by with just two
Many people are giving up many things to get by in this dire recession, things like vacations, new cars, and highly expensive though well deserved plastic surgery procedures to finally deliver the pectoral definition that nature and daily push-ups won't. Sacrifices all, but perhaps none as big as that made by Philips, which is getting rid of an entire dimensional plane and going strictly 2D. Last year the company talked up display after display after display with glasses-free 3D tech, but now they, along with the company's entire 3D Solutions division, are all being scrapped in favor of more immediately profitable endeavors. So, who wants to buy a vibrating jacket?
3DFusion debuts glasses-free 3DFMax display
Forget all those 1080p sets with internet connectivity -- what you really want is an HDTV that does three-dee. Over at the Digital Signage Expo in Las Vegas, 3DFusion has announced the market launch of its 3DFMax stereoscopic, glasses free, broadcast ready (get all that?) 3D display. The set is built upon the Philips WOWvx 3D solution, but outside of that, we're really left to wonder what this thing's made of. No resolution, no contrast ratio, no price. Just the hope of a chicken in every pot and a 3D HDTV in every den.
