ITRI's display manages 2D and 3D at once, set to challenge Toshiba for hybrid supremacy

By Tim Stevens posted Jun 11th 2010 11:17AM

We're still not really sure how Toshiba managed to do both 2D and glasses-free 3D in a single display, but we do now know that it isn't the only company to have achieved this stereoscopic feat. Engadget Chinese caught sight of ITRI's similar composite display, which is able to add depth to individual sections of the screen whilst leaving the rest of it stuck in Flatland. It's a 22-inch, 1680 x 1050 panel and, while 3D content is said to be rendered in much lower resolution than the rest of the display, SecondLife doesn't really require that many pixels to freak you out anyhow. No word on a possible retail release, so you'll just have to keep crossing your eyes at your current monitor.

Engadget Chinese

Ready or not, the latest 3D technology is coming home

By Ben Drawbaugh posted Oct 26th 2009 11:36AM

Feature

Now wait one second before you start on the whole "I'm not wearing any stupid looking glasses," because no matter what you say, there are more people paying extra to go 3D movies than ever and the reason is simple; it's because this isn't like the crappy 3D you saw during the Super Bowl last year -- or that our parents grew up with. No, the 3D that Sony, Panasonic, and others are promising next year is like nothing you've seen. We've come a long way since the old anaglyph red and blue glasses that come in cereal boxes, so before you knock the new technology before it's even out, click through and read about the technologies that might bring us a real 3D revolution.
3D, the basics

We have two eyes for a reason and while we've enjoyed stereo sound since-like-forever, stereoscopic images haven't quite arrived. At its core, 3D is as simple as using two cameras to capture the data that our eyes would, but it's the display part that's proven tricky. Ultimately, the technology has to find a way to present each eye with a different variation of an image, at that point our eyes and brain do the rest.

Circular polarized or active LCD shutter glasses

The one thing that hasn't changed about 3D is the need for glasses -- if you're holding out for 3D on a big screen without glasses, you're going to let this generation of 3D pass you by. The technology in the glasses varies by a lot and the main two types these days are circular polarized and active LCD shutter. Both serve the same purpose, to ensure each eye sees a different image, but in much different ways.

Circular polarized glasses are easily the most common used in 3D cinema today. If you've been to a 3D presentation of a Pixar movie, or maybe to Disney World and used what look like cheap sunglasses, you've probably tried the technology. Without going into too much detail, each lens is set to filter out different light, so for example in a polarized system like RealD's, there can either be two projectors with different polarizing filters in front of each (pictured below) or a special ZScreen which can alternate the clockwise and counterclockwise polarization for each frame. In either case, the right and left frame alternate at about 144 times per second so that each of 24 frames per second of a movie is displayed 3 times per eye.

RealD circular polarized filter in front of a projector

One of the problems with circular polarized 3D is that a special silver screen is required and some argue it can negatively affect the color accuracy. But what's worse is that most of us don't have a projector at home and so far only a few HDTVs like the ridiculously expensive JVC GD-463D10 LCD TV at $9,200 can pull off the same polarization trickery.

LCD shutter glasses

So in comes the LCD shutter glasses -- the technology itself has actually been around for some time, in fact there were eight Sega Master Systems games that worked with shutter glasses dating back to the 80's. But the technology was limited by the display technology of that era which could only show 480i at 30 frames per second, which worked out to about 15 FPS per eye in 3D -- so yeah, the flickering could make you sick.

Sega Master System shutter glasses

Basically the way shutter glasses work is each lens can be blacked out very very quickly to synchronize with a frame displayed on the HDTV. This way a different 1920 x 1080 progressive image can be shown to each eye.

Notice that the LCD shutter on the left is closed.

An IR emitter connected to the TV sends signals to the glasses to keep 'em in sync. In larger demos, multiple emitters are mounted throughout the venue to ensure all the glasses get the signal. This is obviously less than ideal for a large movie theater, but shouldn't be a problem at home.

IR emitter used in Pansonic's 3D demo

The other reason shutter glasses make sense at home is because they don't limit the viewing angles of the display -- not to mention the glasses are more expensive and someone would likely steal them from a theater. But besides these advantages, proponents argue that the colors are more accurate, there's less ghosting and smearing, and it is argued that the contrast is greater between the left and right eyes. So, you add all these reasons together and the technology should provide the most realistic and reliable 3D technology ever unleashed on consumers -- at home or anywhere else.

It's not all good though, besides the cost of the glasses and the added emitter in the TV, some say that there is added flickering, and with the shutters closing in front of your eyes, the image is dimmed a bit. Both Sony and Panasonic claim these are no longer issues in thanks to the super fast refresh rates and brightness available on the latest HDTVs.

Short Panasonic promotional video about how its 3D technology works

Sony, Samsung, Mitsubishi and Panasonic

Yes, you read that right, all four of these tech giants are pushing the same home 3D display technology. While Samsung and Mitsubishi have been demoing its DLP HDTVs with shutter glasses for-like-ever, both Sony and Panasonic have been showing LCD and Plasma (respectively) HDTVs that can display 3D HD at CES, CEDIA and other shows. In fact Sony and Panasonic promise to release the first consumer 3D capable displays next year. That last part is an important one, so listen up: both will offer HDTVs next year that will work just like any other HDTV today, but will also work with 3D. So not only are the HDTVs going to be fully backwards compatible, but supposedly the new sets won't cost much more than a normal HDTV. In fact Panasonic believes that in the next few years most of its HDTVs will be 3D ready.

XpanD LCD shutter glasses and special 3D Blu-ray player used in Panasonic's 3D demo

But why can't my current HDTV do 3D?

We know what you're thinking, you just bought a new HDTV and you want to know why it can't handle 3D. Even if it was possible to add an IR emitter to keep the shutter glasses in sync, the experience at 30 FPS per eye wouldn't be as enjoyable. And just like when the first 1080p HDTVs hit the shelves without the ability to actually accept 1080p input, the current crop of 120hz HDTVs can't actually display 120 frames per second -- only show each frame of a 60 fps signal, twice.

3D sources

Of course, 3D-capable displays don't do much without 3D content, and the good news is that most of the infrastructure needed for 3D in the home is already here thanks to HD. With the new 1.4 spec, HDMI has been updated to accomdate 3D and the first source is almost guaranteed to be Blu-ray. In fact as we speak the BDA is working on standardizing the storage of 3D movies on a Blu-ray Disc. It actually isn't nearly as hard as it sounds, because what is essentially needed is to up the spec from 1080p at 30 FPS to 1080p at 120 FPS. In fact a 50GB Blu-ray Disc has more than ample capacity to handle a 3D HD movie thanks to the wonders of video compression where only the difference of each frame is stored. So 3D movies only require about 50 percent more space, and the one thing about the new 3D Blu-ray standard that has been determined, is that every 3D Blu-ray Disc will include a 2D version of the movie.

3D camera used to broadcast a College Football game on ESPN.

This part might surprise you, but there have already been 3D broadcasts of major sporting events. Using RealD's circular polarized technology, ESPN broadcasts 3D presentations of major sporting events to theaters around the country. The most recent was the USC vs Ohio State game on September 12th, but other events like the National Championship game last year, and the Olympics before it, were beamed to theaters in 3D. And let us tell you, if you haven't seen your favorite sport in 3D, you're really missing something. In fact we wouldn't be surprised if the real killer application for 3D in the home was sports. Sure movies will be the first to be delivered thanks to the slow evolution of broadcast technology, but we still have our hopes that ESPN 3D will be next. But while we wait for CableLabs and the SCTE to hammer out the details of a 3D delivery standard, satellite subscribers in the UK appear to be on track to get a 3D channel next year.

The other 3D content that is coming eventually is 3D gaming. Sony was showing 3D games at IFA this year and there have been a number of rumors that real 3D gaming is coming to the Xbox 360. The only thing we really know for sure at this point is that Avatar will be one of the first 3D games, although no word on what technology will be used.

But not everyone can see 3D

When we say that 3D isn't for everyone, we mean it. In fact it is estimated that 4 percent of us are actually physically incapable of seeing 3D no matter what the display technology. And even worse, according to the College of Optometrists in Vision Development, "Research has shown that up to 56 percent of those 18 to 38 years of age have one or more problems with binocular vision and therefore could have difficulty seeing 3D." So if you are one of these affected, it might be time to see an opthamologist and get screened for amblyopia. And if you happen to be blind in one eye you can still watch 3D, but it'll just look normal to you -- assuming of course you have the glasses on.

Where we go from here

One thing we weren't able to learn in our quest for 3D knowledge was how compatible these different technologies are. Essentially we assume that the functional compatibility between the two main 3D display technologies described above are like the differences between LCD and Plasma -- in other words, they both connect to the same HD set-top-box and Blu-ray player -- but until the BDA announces the final details of the 3D specification there isn't really any way to know for sure. But it seems that if Blu-ray was compatible with both circular polarized and LCD shutter glasses, then certainly whatever broadcast standard or game console announced down the road would also work with both.

Conclusion

Like it or not, 3D is coming and just like HD before it, there will be plenty of technology pundits predicting its demise. The problem right now is very few have had the chance to check out the technology and if you have been lucky enough to see it, it is hard to convey how cool it is to others. On top of this, 3D has a long road ahead because most people think they have seen it because they've tried the anaglyph glasses during a Super Bowl Commercial. The other big hurdle is the whole stupid looking glasses argument -- which doesn't make that much sense since you'll be wearing them in the privacy of your own home. Now we know that the same technology lovers who read Engadget would never hate on any new technology without experiencing it first hand, but tell your friends and family that something new is coming, and no it isn't like anything else they've seen.

[SID] Toshiba's LCD Panel Displays 2D, 3D Images at Same Time

Jun 2, 2010 23:38 Shinya Saeki, Nikkei Electronics

Toshiba's new LCD panel

Toshiba Corp developed an LCD panel that can partially convert a 2D image to a 3D image and can be viewed with the naked eye.

The LCD panel was announced at SID 2010, the largest international conference on display technologies that took place from May 23 to 28, 2010, in Seattle, the US.

The LCD panel is compatible with the "integral imaging method," which the Toshiba Group has been developing, and has nine viewpoints. Its screen size is 12 inches. The pixel count is 1,400 x 1,050 for 2D images (full screen) and 466 x 350 for 3D images (full screen).

The panel displays 3D images by using the "GRIN (gradient index) lens," which changes the distribution of refraction indexes by controlling the gradient (orientation) of liquid crystal molecules.

The prototyped panel is equipped with an LCD panel that generates the GRIN lens and is positioned in front of the LCD panel used for displaying images. When the power of this second LCD panel is off, the refraction index does not change and light passes in a normal way, showing a 2D image. When the power is on, the liquid crystal molecules are aligned in a radial pattern in parallel with the electrodes arranged like stripes in the vertical direction. And they work as lenses to show 3D images.

It is possible to show 2D images and 3D images at the same time by partially turning on the second panel.

However, the liquid crystal layer of the panel equipped with the GRIN lens (the second panel) is 150μm thick, which is several tens of times thicker than that of a normal LCD panel. And it considerably slows the response speed. Therefore, the power of the prototype's second panel is always on.

Toshiba added another (third) LCD panel that can change the polarization of light by 90° between the two panels, whose transmittance is about 90%, to switch between 2D and 3D images at a high speed.

Toshiba flexes its paper-thin LCD muscle, moves the world (video)

By Sean Hollister posted Jun 1st 2010 8:10PM

Toshiba's found an interesting use for flexible LCD technology: user input. At SID 2010, the Japanese display manufacturer showed off an 8.4-inch wide, 0.1mm thick SVGA panel that could be grabbed and physically bent to zoom in or out using Google Earth. While it's a far cry from 6DOF and perhaps not as entertaining as controlling the time-space continuum with forefinger and thumb, the bend sensor seems like an obvious addition to the gamut of crisp, rollable, data storing, energy generating flexible tech already in development. It's also worth noting that Toshiba isn't the only one working on the idea; IBM filed a patent application for "flexible displays as an input device" back in 2006. Video after the break.

[Thanks, Lennart]

Tech-On

Sharp plunges headfirst into 3D market with LV-series Quattron TVs, Blu-ray DVRs

Sharp plunges headfirst into 3D market with LV-series Quattron TVs, Blu-ray DVRs

By Sean Hollister posted Jun 2nd 2010 at 1:01AM

Looks like Sharp's keeping its word -- next month, the fourth-largest LCD TV maker will launch a slate of new 3D TVs in Japan, just as planned. Based on the same Sharp Quattron quad-pixel technology that made George Takei's jaw drop, the new LV-series of AQUOS panels will come in 40-, 46-, 52- and 60-inch sizes when they debut July 30th, and feature 1080p resolution, UV²A panels and a high-speed signaling technology named FRED that Sharp says increases brightness and reduces crosstalk. More interesting are the AN-3DG10 glasses that come with them, which reportedly allow each individual viewer decide whether to view content in 2D or 3D -- we're guessing by tweaking the glasses to show either the left or right image to both eyes simultaneously, instead of flipping back and forth. Of course, you'll also need something to watch, and thus Sharp will also release a pair of Blu-ray DVR units, the BD-HDW700 and BD-HDW70, which record two simultaneous Japanese television programs onto terabyte-sized hard drives when they're not sending Blu-ray 3D content to the aforementioned displays.

While mum's the word on pricing, Impress Watch believes the TVs will start around ¥280,000 (around $3,067) and top out at a cool ¥600,000 ($6,581) for that 60-incher, and says that US and European variants are expected later this year. While you wait, why not take a deep dive into the details -- you'll find an entire brochure's worth at our source links.

TVs (Sharp), Blu-ray DVRs (Sharp)