Toshiba To Launch No-Glasses 3D TV This Year

angry tapir writes "Toshiba is readying two 3D televisions that can produce images with the illusion of depth but don't require the user to wear glasses, the company said Monday. It will launch the televisions in Japan in December. Toshiba will offer a 12-inch model and a 20-inch model. They'll cost around ¥120,000 (US$1,430) and ¥240,000 respectively. Toshiba's new TVs have a thin sheet of small lenses in front of the display. This splits light from the screen and sends it to nine points in front of the TV."

¥240,000

[NemoinSpace]

They'll cost around ¥120,000 (US$1,430) and ¥240,000 respectively.

and for the math challenged that works out to US$2,860 for the 20 inch model. :)

Don't get excited

[Lucas123]

I was at a Toshiba media event earlier this year and they were very clear that this generation of glassless screens have horrible fields of view and are only good for advertising in public places like airports where, by walking by them, you'll get the 3D effect. It's almost analogous to the old 3D baseball cards where you'd move them and get the illusion of depth.

Re:3d hype.

[NFN_NLN]

I don't get the hype lately for 3d that requires glasses, I seem to recall 3d movies being around since The Three Stooges, let alone Jaws 3d and the like. I know it's not exactly the same as modern movies, but how is it so very different? A 3d display that doesn't require glasses, that's finally something worth getting interested in.

Those old movies used "complementary color anaglyphs" to simulate 3D which resulted in distorted color. Modern 3D glasses use polarized light or timed shutters so there is no color distortion (just headaches for some).

The glasses-less technology for Nintendo 3DS uses "autostereograms". I heard there was a study done by Sega 15 years ago that stated children with extended exposure to autostereograms developed vision problems.

Re:Great, if it scales up.

[XaXXon]

I don't understand how people expect to see 3d without glasses in any useful way. In order to see 3d, a different picture needs to get to each eye. There are a limited number of ways of making that happen. You either emit the pictures in different directions resulting in a very small area in which they can be seen properly, or you emit them in all directions and wear glasses to only pick up on the correct one for the corresponding eye.

There's no magic way to make 3d happen.

Re:I saw Avatar the other day

[mkiwi]

Sometimes I like raisins, usually inside a cookie. Of course, in French raisin means grape, so you could also somehow be referring to wine.

Or maybe you meant "raison d'être."

For the record, I'm fine with either interpretation.

3D Parallax Barriers

[sonicmerlin]

Like the Nintendo 3DS, this will require that you look directly at the screen to see the 3D effect. Anyone looking at the screen from an angle will not see the effect.

This of course makes it kind of useless as a TV, but I think it's perfect as a computer monitor. Just a bit too expensive.