by Stephen Shankland
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RealD, a company whose 3D display technology already is widely used in
movie theaters, has enlisted a raft of prominent partners for the TV
industry: Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba, JVC, Samsung, and DirecTV.
Vuzix builds two displays directly into its Wrap 920AR glasses.
Vuzix builds two displays directly into its Wrap 920AR glasses.
(Credit: Vuzix)
This week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, RealD
announced deals that will bring its technology to Samsung products,
Toshiba's ZX900 TV, Panasonic's Full HD 3D Viera TVs, Sony's Bravia
HDTVs, and LCD monitors from JVC.
Beverly Hills, Calif.-based RealD also announced it's cooperating with
those same companies for 3D eyewear.
Being able to display the 3D imagery is one part of the transition.
Getting the imagery to the TV is another matter. There, RealD
announced a partnership with DirecTV.
"We look forward to working with RealD and our programming providers
to deliver 3D content later this year to owners of 3D-capable TVs,"
DirecTV Chief Technology Officer Romulo Pontual said in a statement.
"No new set-top boxes will be required."
Closer toward the eyeball part of the 3D pipeline, Gunnar Optics
announced RealD-capable 3D glasses at CES available this quarter.
Prescription versions will arrive in the third quarter, the company
said.
RealD, which uses polarized light to separate imagery for the left and
right eyes, isn't the only contender for 3D technology. XpanD, which
uses liquid crystal to briefly make one side or the other of its
eyewear briefly opaque, announced a 3D partnership with Vizio.
XpanD also announced a range of X102 and X103 glasses in various
colors. XpanD uses Bluetooth to synchronize the glasses' behavior with
the imagery on the TV screen.
And if you want to sidestep the whole issue of 3D displays, you can
try Vuzix's Wrap 920AR stereo display glasses, which build two
separate 1504x480-pixel displays into the glasses themselves to create
stereoscopic vision. The glasses monitor position and orientation so a
person's view can be adjusted according to head position, and they
have external cameras that can feed in what a person would ordinarily
see without the glasses. Sounds handy for the budding concept of
augmented reality.
XpanD announced two models of 3D glasses.
XpanD announced two models of 3D glasses.
(Credit: XpanD)