JAPAN: Could this little blue rabbit be the future of 3D TV?
3D TV hasn't quite been the runaway success manufacturers had hoped, so now the big names are looking beyond the current technology, and into TVs viewable with simpler passive glasses, or even no glasses.
And this little blue rabbit, sitting on a table in a Japanese government-sponsored research lab, could show that they're thinking even more outside the box. Literally so, in fact.
The idea of 3D TV was simple: it would enable TV manufacturers and content providers to charge premiums for their products in the face of tumbling consumer electronics prices and cinema attendances, and allow the likes of Panasonic and Sony to take a technological lead over their rivals, principally those from South Korea.
Except it hasn't worked out like that: Samsung holds more than 80% of the US flatscreen market, and prices of 3D TVs have fallen rapidly, to the point where not much more that £1000 will buy you a very decent one in the run-up to Christmas.
So some solid rethinking is going on, as manufacturers aim to re-establish a technological lead. There's a wide acknowledgment that no-glasses 3D TV may prove a major draw, and already some companies are showing viable, if rather small, TVs able to deliver just this.
And the little blue rabbit? Well, it may explain the ultimate goal – and how the Japanese aim to deliver on their mind-boggling plans for holographic coverage of the 2022 World Cup. Click here to find out how…
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Comments
Well, the research labs in Japan suggest it could be 2015 before such technology is commercialised
10 to 15 years is a little of the mark , they managed to get passive tech into our houses within 2 years , i'm pretty sure you'll see this tech sooner than you think, e.g Nintendo DS
It was just over 6 years ago the flatscreen tv hit our homes and look at the advancements thats happened since then
Would agree with Andrew there. Got to me more like 10 -15 before this comes into our homes maybe more before its affordable.
Think 10-15 years, james9002uk, and you might be nearer the mark.
This is what I've been waiting for, will be 5 years off before we can see it in our living rooms though. Fingers crossed. Will this be the end of what we call a 'Television'?