Next Generation 3D Won’t Require Glasses

In the last couple of years 3D has made a resurgence in the theater and is now invading your home on blu ray. With the huge success of the 2009 blockbuster film Avatar which grossed 2.78 billion dollars worldwide, 3D has become the latest must-have in home entertainment.  The new active shutter 3D technology is a dramatic improvement over the old Red-Green anaglyph glasses our grandparents wore on their first date. But the latest version of 3D has just hit the shelves of retailers and is already in danger of becoming obsolete.  

The latest incarnation of 3D may very well be the most advanced to date but it has one of the worst names of all time:Parallax Barrier. Whoever came up with this should have consulted Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale who created the Flux Capacitor. Now that was a cool name. But don’t let the terminology intimidate you. A parallax barrier is simply a thin film of liquid crystals placed on the front of your TV. This film acts like a filter by diffusing the light into two distinct images: one image for your right eye and one for your left. Thus creating the illusion of depth and VOILA: You have 3D!

There is a catch however, at least for now.

3D content on a parallax barrier TV can only be viewed from an incredibly precise ‘sweet spot’. So small in fact, that even two people side-by-side couldn’t enjoy the full effect of 3D images. Luckily, researchers are working on creating a solution by generating 4 distinct images versus 2. This should help increase the viewing angle. One advantage of the parallax barrier technology is that it can be switched off for 2D content viewing, a popular feature for the skeptic consumer.

Sharp, LG, and Toshiba are among the first to jump on the parallax bandwagon.  Sharp’s Nintendo 3DS features the technology while Toshiba is scheduled to release the first glasses-free 3D TV in Japan later this month. But don’t throw away your active shutter lenses just yet. The 20-inch REGZA GL1 glasses-less TV is expected to sell for 240,000 yen ($2,885).