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I’ve long wondered when a TV provider would come out with a TV that offered double vertical resolution on a Passive 3D TV, allowing 1080 lines of resolution in each eye (right now most Passive 3D TV’s have to cut your resolution in half, turning a 1080-line screen into 540 for each eye).  LG has answered my question with their new LW6500, capable of 3840×2160, double 1080P in each direction.  They’ll be demonstrating it at CES, but due to it’s other “virtues” I somehow doubt it’ll be coming to a living room near you anytime soon.

With a 2,13 meters diagonal, the new LG 3DTV will occupy 183 cm by 103 cm of your living room wall estate ! The probability to see this monster at your nearby TV outlet is still extremely slim. And if it appears one day, expect the price way north of 10,000$…

via Worried about Passive 3DTV Resolution?.

Hardware 3d, ces, lg, passive, stereoscopic, tv

PhysOrg has a short article about a company called “Imec” that hopes to make holographic TV a reality in 2012 through an interesting nanoscale silicon processes.

In their nanoscale system, they work with chips made by growing a layer of silicon oxide on to silicon wafer. They etch square patches of the silicon oxide. The result is a checkerboard-like pattern where etched-away pixels are nanometers lower than their neighbors. A reflective aluminum coating tops the chip. When laser light shines on the chip, it bounces off of the boundary between adjacent pixels at an angle. Diffracted light interferes constructively and destructively to create a 3-D picture where small mirrored platforms are moving up and down, many times a second, to create a moving projection.

They hope to have their first “proof of concept” designs in 2012, although I imagine a marketable version of the tech is a good 4-5 years away.  Check out their demo video from IEEE Spectrum below.

via Holographic 3-D looks tantalizingly closer in 2012.

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A recent research study in the UK shows that a significant majority of 3D TV owners only own the glasses that came with their equipment, and a percentage (13%) don’t even own that.

“The glasses issue is very real,” says Jia Wu, a senior analyst at the firm. “Naturally enough, people would rather not have to wear them, but a majority of 3D TV viewers are prepared to put up with the inconvenience when the experience and entertainment value justify it.”

Of course, they claim that Price is the issue but I think a bigger issue is that people just don’t want to wear glasses.  So many 3D tv producers ship crappy little glasses that, if you’re like me, won’t fit over your regular prescription glasses.

Autostereoscopic is the future.

via In Depth: Are glasses killing 3D TV? | 3D Radar – 3D news and reviews.

Hardware 3d, glasses, tv

A new spot for Carmax showcases the work of Framestore and Amalgamated, working under direction from Tom Kuntz to  combine live action, CG, and digital matte paintings into some clever spots.

For “Kid in a Candy Store” Framestore uses digital matte paintings and augmentation of live action plates to show what a geek, a mermaid, a wrestler, a hippy and an acrobat have in common. In the spot, “Gas Station”, Framestore helps a modern day man collide with an old-fashioned gas station in order to show that customer service should not be a thing of the past.

“It’s been great working with Tom Kuntz again on this campaign” says Framestore Executive Producer, James Razzall, “We worked together closely to layer in those additional details- adding crowds and flying saucers, replacing skies/backgrounds as well as bringing the mermaid’s tail to life – that really bring the spots to life.”

Both spots below.

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Samsung has just put a new 3D TV on the market, the PN50C490, which is available for only $989, making it one of the first large-format 3D televisions under $1000 I know of.  At 50″, it’s only 720p but a nice 50-inch Plasma.

I do have to wonder about the ability to sell a 3D 720P television, but if you want to dip your toe in the water of 3D without going full-out, this might be a good “Starter” TV.

Amazon.com: Samsung PN50C490 50-Inch 720p Plasma 3D HDTV: Electronics.

Hardware 3d, plasma, samsung, tv

Etnews.co.kr is reporting that Samsung is demonstrating a 19″ transparent AMOLED (active matrix organic light-emitting diode) panel. The new panel comes in at 30% transparency. At CES in January, Samsaung showed off a 14 inch version of this screen. Why would anyone want a transparent display? Well, it could be used for heads-up displays for vehicles, or more likely, for eye-catching advertisement displays.

via : Etnews.co.kr

Hardware samsung, tv

Today on Amazon, a mysterious new product has emerged from an unheard of company called ‘StreamTV’.  Currently on Amazon with a regular 55-inch TV that includes an integrated BluRay player, 500GB Hard Drive, and internet connectivity, the two new version boast one interesting additional feature: Glasses Free 3D.

The two new products, the StreamTV 37″ 3D TV for $3,999 and the StreamTV 42″ 3D TV for $5,999, have no picture and are rather light on specs.  The only details are:

42-Inch 3D TV viewing without glasses. Builtin browser, Entertainment Portal, Video conferencing, over 500 FREE Live TV Channels, Download and Stream, 500 GB HDD, 3D Gaming, Software to convert 2D videos and pictures into 3D, Plug and Play, Accessories – Remote Control, Game Controller, Camera, Keyboard with built in mouse

No word on if they are LCD, Plasma, or OLED, and no word on how exactly they are accomplishing the stereo.  My guess, actually the only real possibility, is similar autostereoscopy as what is used in the Alioscopy televisions.

Both TV’s are listed on Amazon with availability dates of May 7th, exactly 1 month from now..

Hardware 3d, stereoscopic, tv

Forgive me for being the pessimist, but I do not think that 3-D television will take off this year. I know that it is being pushed heavily, but I do not see people going out and buying a new television set when many people have switched over the past few years to HDTV. There are other factors affecting this as well. For one, there is the added cost of purchasing a 3-D TV. For another, there is the lack of content to watch on a 3-D TV. As of this writing, there is only 1 movie that is 3-D on Blu-Ray. CNet has published an article talking about the arrival 3-D televisions, and their problems.

The most obvious hurdle is the fact that viewers still need to wear glasses when they watch 3D TV. TV manufacturers are working on technology for glass-less 3D viewing. While similar technology is being used in digital signage, it’s still years away from showing up in consumer TVs.

Simply getting people to even wear special glasses isn't the biggest problem. The real issue is that the glasses that work with the current version of “active” 3D TVs require crystal shutter glasses, which work by very quickly blocking each eye in sequence. The glasses, in addition to the liquid-crystal lenses, contain electronics and batteries, typically good for 80 or more hours, that sync to the TV via an infrared or Bluetooth signal. These glasses cost about $150 a pop. And to make matters worse, glasses made for one manufacturer’s TV won’t work with a competitor’s TV, even though it uses the same “active” 3D technology.

Personally, I would rather buy a passive 3-D TV, preferably one where the glasses use circular polarization. But since my current LCD HDTV works just fine, I do not plan to go out and buy one any time soon.

via 3D TV has arrived, but glitches remain | Signal Strength – CNET News.

Hardware 3d, tv

Start up company Prysm has announced that they are getting ready to make LASER Phosphor Display (LPD) televisions. What are LPD televisions and how do they work? LPD TV uses a laser to scan across the screen of a television excite the red, blue, and green phosphors to produce the picture. The lasers can turn a pixel on or off very rapidly, and there is no back-light needed. The company claims that this is more power efficient that current displays, since they consume 75% less power. Also, they claim that there are no harmful chemicals (i.e. mercury) that are being used. Initially their targeted users will not be the consumer. From the CNET article:

The company is initially targeting commercial customers who can use the displays in retail or public spaces such as sports arenas where many tiles can be used to make one giant screen. Later the company expects to target the residential market, executives said. The image quality will be as good as existing flat-screen TVs and be competitive on price, said Dana Corey, vice president of sales and marketing.

via Prysm preps super-efficient laser phosphor TVs | Green Tech – CNET News.

Hardware hdtv, lcd, tv

Comcast will be showing a live 3D broadcast of the Masters golf tournament from April 7 through 11 to subscribers of Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, and Cablevision. The broadcast will be produced by the Augusta National Golf Club. Recently Comcast gave a preview of what it would look like.

On Wednesday, Comcast showed off test footage to reporters at the Sports New York studios. The company demonstrated the technology on three devices: a 3D-enabled laptop, an LG “passive” 3D TV, and a Sony “active” 3D TV. There are technical differences between the “passive” and “active” TVs, but for consumers, the difference between the two is that the passive technology requires glasses that cost about $1.50, while the active version requires glasses that cost $150.

via Comcast demos live 3D TV | Signal Strength – CNET News.

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