3D TV

Love it or hate it, 3D TVs are obviously here to stay, but eventually 3D TVs will be ubiquitous and it will be time for TV manufacturers to push a new round in the upgrade cycle. The next round is likely to include a system for viewing content in 3D without special glasses, one of the most oft-requested features for current 3D TV technologies. The challenge is developing a technology that provides convincing 3D images at a wide viewing angle without bieng cost prohibitive. Researchers at the MIT Media Lab have been workinging on one possible solution that promises to deliver on both accounts. Their glasses free Tensor Display technology involves layering three LCD panels with offset images and utilizing complex algorithms for staggering the steroscopic strobing generated by the lower panels to maintain the 3D effect across a wide viewing angle, even when the viewer is in motion. What's more, the Tensor Display could be built using mature production materials and facilities, requiring only that manufacturers continue their refresh arms race until they hit 360Hz, which give how quickly manufactures have pushed their way up to 120Hz and 240Hz, shouldn't take long at all.

Despite impressive recent advances, holographic television, which would present images that vary with varying perspectives, probably remains some distance in the future. But in a new paper featured as a research highlight at this summer’s Siggraph computer-graphics conference, the MIT Media Lab’s Camera Culture group offers a new approach to multiple-perspective, glasses-free stereo-3D that could prove much more practical in the short term.

To date, 3D TV technology hasn't really done anything for me. Even aside from the fact that my TV isn't ready for an upgrade, the idea of wearing glasses to watch TV does not appeal, and the idea of convincing my family to wear special glasses while watching TV appeals even less. Perhaps LG will start a trend with their new glasses and make wearing 3D glasses a little less of a geek accouterment. LG has announced that they are prepping a line of "stylish" 3D glasses. The F320 clip-ons in particular should be attractive to folks like me who wear glasses full-time.

There's no pricing info available, but LG touts that they're all light and comfortable thanks to the film patterned retarder (FPR) 3D tech that its TVs employ. Like all FPR glasses, you can bring your own pair to the cinema (assuming it's using RealD 3D) if you really want to show off.

The Verge

A company named Stream TV Networks has announced that they will be launching their Ultra-D technology at CES 2012. Ultra-D technology is supposed to provide real-time conversion of any 2D content to 3D, and even the conversion of any glasses-required stereoscopic 3D content to glasses-free autostereoscopic 3D. On the one hand, the technology sounds like it could legitimately provide a response to one of the biggest issues with the adoption of 3D TV technology: the lack of available content. On the other hand, I have gone to the theater to see a couple of movies that have been post-converted to 3D, and if Hollywood cannot make it look good for a summer blockbuster, I find it hard to believe a little company out of Philly has the problem licked. In fact, it actually makes more nervous that the company is trumpeting the fact that the user can adjust the level of 3D as a feature. I will be scared to watch TV at my friends' houses for years to come. It reminds me of the early days of home theater systems when folks would buy a $200 home-theater-in-a-box and then show it off by popping in Jurassic Park and cranking the volume until the speakers crackled, only now it will be the heads of the dinosaurs clipping off into the ether. What do you guys think? Can Ultra-D live up to it's name?

 Stream TV Networks, under the Ultra-D brand, has 3D-capable products coming out for TVs, converter boxes, tabs, PCs of all shapes and sizes, smartphones, and even digital signage and picture frames. The technology also allows for the user to customize the 3D effect, letting users increase or decrease the real-time 3D rendering effect.

TechCrunch

Samsung and RealD are splitsville. Samsung and RealD were showing off their RDZ technology at CES this year and officially announced a manufacturing partnership back in May. The idea behind RDZ or ZScreen was that that TV viewers could use passive glasses because the active shutter element would be built into the LCD screen itself, all without compromising 2D performance. Indeed, there was some expectation that one could use the same RealD glasses at home and at the theater. Between falling TV prices and stumbling economies it's not hard to see where Samsung might have been wary of trying to push a new, more expensive 3D technology into its panels. Any bets on who might be willing to step in and work with RealD in Samsung's absence? 

In its Q2 earnings report released yesterday, RealD confirmed that the agreement fell through since Samsung's "initiative to manufacture panels... is not being pursued." RealD did say it's decided to explore "other potential partners," for the ZScreen technology but it has yet to offer any specifics. 

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