It looks like the 3D display that doesn’t require 3D glasses will be the next achievement for manufacturers. Toshiba is next in line to try and offer offer such devices. The company will supposedly release several 3D TVs that can be used without 3D glasses later this year. According to Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, the manufacturer will produce the three models before the holiday season, but potential customers need a warning, those TV definitely won’t come cheap. The newspaper stated that they’d most likely cost several thousands of dollars.
How did Toshiba manage to come up with a TV that works completely without glasses? Well, the technology used displays rays of light at different angles. Because of this it looks like the glasses aren’t required.
“We are developing 3D TVs without the need for glasses, but cannot comment further as we have yet to decide upon when to commercialize such a product, concrete specifications, or any other details,” a Toshiba spokesman said in an e-mail.
So we know they’re coming, but we don’t know anything about them, isn’t that great? Somehow I’m not that thrilled. Glass-free 3D technology is currently used for smaller-screen devices such as Nintendo’s 3DS pocket gaming console. Of course, some managed to make something even bigger than a 3D TV, while it’s true that they pulled it off with the help of multiple smaller displays. Sunny Ocean Studio announced an 84-inch 3D wall that also eliminated the need for glasses.
Also, Toshiba isn’t the only one working on technology that can make 3D TVs work without glasses. In fact, most major manufacturers have the same goal. 3D is the next big thing for TV and electronics manufacturers and whoever gets to release a brand new no-glasses-required 3D TV might get a bit of extra market share, revenue and popularity until other manufacturers manage to catch up. On the other hand, in these rough economic times people aren’t rushing to shops to spend several thousands of dollars on a brand new TV and they won’t really be doing that for the next year or so other.
Mitsubishi, another manufacturer that’s working on glasses-free 3D TVs aims to implement the same technology that’s currently used in current 3D in-store displays. The displays do show different images at various angles to create the illusion of dimension and depth. However, they also require people to stand on a specific spot to view the image properly. The overall image quality is also somewhat inferior.
To come up with a proper product, Toshiba needs to somehow perfect this technology. You can’t ask consumers to pay thousands of dollars for a new technology TV and then inform them that only one person can watch TV at a time, and only from a certain spot, preferably while holding his head in a certain way. This is why Toshiba has a long way to go to release a 3D TV that works without glasses and can be used comfortably.However, the manufacturer seems to have thought of all this. Apparently it declared that the technology they’ve worked on will enable decent viewing angles If Toshiba does get it right, it might be the beginning of a new era for TVs and lead to a completely new movie viewing experience.
