There is no dearth of 3D TVs in the market. In fact, not only are they in abundant supply in the market but are also often accompanied by attractive promotional advertisements highlighting their features urging you to buy one soon. But in reality there is a lack of real 3D content or ‘active’ content. To enjoy the 3D content on a TV you have to put on a not so enjoyable pair of glasses which doesn’t come really cheap. Time to change things says Toshiba with their concept of Glasses free 3D TVs which they has also demonstrated at the recently concluded Consumer Electronic Show.

At the CES, one of the most eye catching exhibits on display at the Toshiba booth was a 65 inch panel which was mounted on the wall with 3 pairs of foot guides. The next logical question is what are foot guides and why do you require them to watch TV? Well they are three thick pieces of black tape denoting the three best positions to get you seated to enjoy the 3D content on the TV with optimum effect. However, and unfortunately too, the quality of the picture left a lot of be desired. There is no way one will be left mesmerized by the images which somehow were just not up to the mark. While this was for the central position, things remained the same with the other two positions on the right and the left with no appreciable enhancement in picture quality. In fact, even slight movement of the head led to the images getting hazy and to become distorted. So while this is very much likely to cause headache to the viewer, the 3D effect too does not seem to stay with the viewer for very long times. Its like it just comes and disappears.

Now the distortion that one gets due to head movement is caused due to the fact that the TV uses a set of parallax barriers to create what you call the 3D effect. This would in turn send a different set of images in either of your eyes. What the glasses do is combine these images and give you an in depth set of images. But what you get from watching this is nowhere near in quality to a TV that uses a pair of active shutter glasses.

The display of the panel is set at a whopping 4,096 by 2,160 pixels. It’s huge compared to an HDTV with the highest resolution of 1,920 by 1,080. But on this large panel the images don’t really appear sharp and crisp with the parallel barrier technology at use. What is worst about watching this is the set of vertical line running all across your screen giving you a distorted and hazy display.

Now Toshiba has only demonstrated at the event about what this technology would look like. But I don’t think they have polished it enough before putting it up in public for a display. The company is hoping of producing the world’s first 3D TV that won’t require wearing of glasses but it’s just in the conceptual stage. We have to wait and see how they turn it into reality. They have not yet announced an approximate price for the glasses free sets. They stated that this upcoming model would be a flagship 3D HDTV model from the house of Toshiba.

Now with the theory of watching a 3D TV only with a pair of glasses being cemented on many people’s minds they would not like to spend a fortune to buy a 3D TV which doesn’t use glasses. Hence looking at the future the company has also decided to produce UL610 Cinema Series of 3D TVs requiring active shutter glasses to experience 3D along with the TL515 line of 3D TVs, which requires a set of polarized glasses easier on the pocket. Well with Toshiba our expectations are high of bringing about a revolution in the 3D technology and we hope they would have them fulfilled by the year end.

via pcmag

Sovan Mandal  (446 Posts)

Sovan Mandal is the senior tablet and tech corespondent for goodereader.com and 3D Specialist. He brings a international approach to news that is not just applicable to the North American market, but also Asia, India, Europe and others. Sovy brings his own writing flavor to the website and is interested in Science Fiction, Technology and Writing. Any questions, send an email