3D television technology is becoming more popular with each passing day. Due to the rise of popular 3D movies (namely Pixar’s Up and James Cameron Avatar), major TV manufacturers began developing three-dimensional home TV technology in 2009.
There are several methods these manufacturers use to create 3D images on an LCD TV; some are more expensive than others, and some are more feasible than others. This article will look at the three main methods of 3-D home theater technology that will be used in the coming years.
Lenticular display: This technology has been pioneered by Philips and is available from today. Televisions that use this technology can be viewed without those funny glasses that the public used in theaters. These televisions use a lens that can send different images to each eye. That is, your left eye will see a completely different image than your right eye, which will emulate your two eyes’ use of stereopsis (the process by which your eyes perceive depth). However, the only weakness of lenticular viewing is that the viewer must sit in a very specific spot in front of the TV. This means that only a couple of people could comfortably watch TV at a time due to its small viewing angle.
Passive glass systems: Hyundai is developing this type of LCD monitor that will allow viewing images in both 2D and 3D. To view the images in 3D, viewers will need to wear traditional glasses to be able to see three dimensional media. This technology is nothing new: the television has two superimposed images and the glasses have polarized lenses. Each lens is polarized so that you can see only one of the two superimposed images. This technology is very feasible and currently 40 to 50 inch LCD TVs can be purchased with this technology.
Active glass systems: This system is very similar to the passive glass system, except instead of the TV doing all the work, the lenses do. The glasses sync with the TV’s refresh rate, then alternate the polarization of each lens, causing the wearers of the glasses to see 3D images. With this technology, people could comfortably watch a 2-D movie and then switch the movie to 3-D. This type of monitor is being developed by Samsung and Mitsubishi, but the downside is that the glasses can be very expensive. Some predict the glasses will cost upwards of $100.