Japanese Firms Push 3D Overlay Materials

July 12th, 2011

Two Japan based firms, Globalwave and Newsight Japan Ltd., both are offering new AS-3D overlay film solutions to turn the popular iPad or iPhone into a 3D display. At Display Taiwan, Kiyoto Kanda of Newsight Japan was showing off iPads creating an AS-3D image (no-glasses.) Later at the3D and Virtual Reality Exhibition, Tadahiro Kawamura, CTO of Globalwave, showed a product called Pic3D.

Pic3D uses a lenticular lens overlay, while Kanda told us his technology was a parallax barrier overlay sheet, to create the AS-3D image on the iPad product. On the big screen TV side, Kanda showed an eight-zone 42-inch AS-3DTV, also using parallax barrier technology. But he is not locked into PB for 3D images. Kanda also had an 18.5-inch 3-D screen using a lenticular lens and added that he could provide lenticulars for displays up to 80-plus inches in diagonal.

The Pic3D lenticular lens helps the company get “…a smoother, much more consistent picture.” They claim several advantages to conventional parallax barrier method including 90% light transmission (versus only 30% from parallax barrier films), 120-degree viewing angle (versus 30 to 60-degrees) and support for up to 23-inch size displays using this new lenticular film. Pic3D has product offerings in 23-, 21.5- 15-, 12, iPad, and iPhone4 sizes.

In a YouTube video, Kawamura said about the Globalwave approach: “Basically it will work with video files which are in the side by side format, and if you input URLs for side by side formatted content on sites such as YouTube, it will work with them too. Right now we plan to begin sales in early August, and at first we plan to sell it through our own direct sales website.” The product is sold on-line at the Pic3d web site with prices that range from $185 (23-inch size less VAT and other taxes) to about $25 for the iPhone overlay screen.

Kanda believes in a total ecosystem solution for 3D. His company, Newsight Japan, includes development of hardware, applications and content. His hardware solution extends from the largest 80-inch-plus LCDs from Sharp to mobile displays with his film overlay. Kanda also said they will develop 3D apps to help show-off the technology on the Apple (and other mobile) products. Newsight also does 2D to 3D content conversion, with several signs around Display Taiwan indicating 3D content shown (in the CPT booth for instance) which came from Newsight technology.

We think Kanda is right, and content will be the driving factor in adoption of these overlay films, particularly in the mobile space. Of course, this content is display agnostic: properly formatted 3D content will show correctly on either lenticular or parallax barrier systems. It won’t just be professional 3D content either. 3D images from new digital still cameras and other emerging CE devices will drive interest in displaying AS 3D on all size displays. Gaming will also help drive mobile 3D adoption, that could include content and film overlay distribution bundles with game software makers.

But the ultimate test will be in the image quality, and a “good-enough” AS-3D experience to warrant all the trouble. The engineers have built it, now will the sales come? – Steve Sechrist

Note: See an expanded version of this story including on-line pricing and other details in the upcoming Mobile Display Report on July 15th.

Will the Move to AS-3D Be Sooner Rather than Later?

June 21st, 2011

Headlines in the Taiwan Display press yesterday said AUO expects patterned retarder 3DTV sets, that cost more up front to make, will break out of the nearly dead heat status with active shutter 3D solutions soon. But AUO also has their eye on autostereoscopic (AS-3D) technology with a plan to have a PC customer offer a product this summer.

According to DisplaySearch, sales of active and passive glasses 3DTV panels has been very close since the beginning of 2011. Q1 global shipments of active glasses based 3DTVs have hit the 1M mark so far this year, while the passive glasses based 3DTV sales are just under 900K units. Passive 3DTV panel sales may exceed sales of active ones by the second half of 2011, according to a story in Digitimes.

But beyond glasses based 3DTV viewing, as Ken Werner hinted in his Display Taiwan article last Thursday, AUO has a new eye-tracking AS-3D technology based on an active lenticular approach with the potential to deliver the 3D sweet spot to the viewer (albeit a single viewer for now) because the system knows where you’re looking. Essentially an on-board camera tracks the eyes of the user and algorithms adjust how the 3D image is mapped to the pixels to always present a clear image. This “SuperD Player” is at the heart of the system. We were told the 3D content can be scaled to cover the entire screen, or a portion of the screen. Of what we did see, the single user technology is compelling and the 3D image fantastic. This was based on the 15-inch class prototype laptop display screen and player software in action (see the eye tracking in the image on the right.)

Can the approach be expanded to cover more than one viewer? No word from AUO.

For AUO the debate may not be over active vs. passive glasses, but rather how fast we can move to AS-3D using its eye tracking software and player, plus switchable lens technology creating a dead-zone-free AS-3D image – at least for single-user applications. – Steve Sechrist

3DTV Alive and Well-It’s the “Fad” Moniker That’s Dead

May 24th, 2011

“3DTV is just a fad…” The words struck me like a knife, not because of any vested interest in the technology, but because they were uttered by a well respected (not to be named) member of the display community, that happens to be a genuine hero of mine. Someone I deeply respect and aspire to emulate. Worse yet, there was no closure, as we were in a conference session, with no time to delve into the issue.

On the 3DTV front, a lot happened during Display Week in Los Angeles last week, and possibly the most significant development was Samsung’s announced partnership with RealD and the giant LCD TV maker introducing a passive glasses-based 3D solution. The Samsung move to passive 3D came on the heels of an outright feud over Active vs. Passive, with rival LG this past spring, with Samsung in the Active 3D glasses camp. (For details read Pete Putman’s outstanding review, in his March 14th Display Daily: 3D Theater of the Absurd.)

Suffice it to say, that with the Samsung endorsement of Passive 3D technology at SID, the circular polarized 3D method may have just gained the coveted de facto standard status among the major 3DTV suppliers, as LG and Samsung are the two largest makers of TVs worldwide. And a standard is something most analysts agree, is necessary for 3DTV to move beyond the “fad” and fully into the mainstream.

Despite these steps forward, it is not hard to make the “fad” case either. History is not on the side of the technology with several missteps since the 1950’s and perhaps before. More recently, TV makers were looking to the technology to boost profits by using the feature to break out of commodity pricing, much like LED backlights and thin-sexy sets did for LCDs during the holiday season in 2009. But the 2010 strategy proved to be a dud. Of Samsung’s $50B in revenue last year, only 1% was on the books as operating profit margin. For number two LG that number was around 2%. And top US CE retailer, Best Buy said its 16% decline in quarterly profits were due in part to 3DTV demand “…that did not materialize as the industry anticipated.”

Meanwhile, enough of those sets did sell to generate some interesting data from a comprehensive SmithGeiger study commissioned by the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG). They surveyed 3,065 3D-capable set owners (not potential buyers) and shed new light on some old ideas about 3DTVs. Read the Multichannel Newsstory here.

OK, here’s a brief sampling of the results:
* 85% of 3DTV Owners prefer to watch Half (23%), Most (35%), or All (27%) TV Programming in 3D
* 14% said they would watch Most Programming in 2D
* 60% view 3D content on their 3D-capable TVs
* 88% giving “thumbs up” to the 3D picture quality (91% rated 2D picture quality positively)
* 83% took no time, or just a few minutes to adjust to wearing 3D glasses
* 74% own two or more pairs of glasses
* 33% purchased an extra set with their initial 3D buy
* 52% said they received at least one set of glasses bundled w/ purchase
* 24% reported watching more TV in both in 2D and 3D

One final point, at the Awards Luncheon at SID last week, I sat with Jeong Kim, Chief Research Engineer at LG, the guy who was in the middle of the feud with Samsung a few months earlier (this is why Display Week is my favorite conference.) He told me that his group had no choice but to ship 3DTVs with passive polarizer glasses, and here’s why. He said the company has a mandate to deliver what the customer wants. Turns out they did their own brand of internal survey before CES, placing a random group of people in a room with the two versions of 3DTVs showing the same sporting match. There were enough active or passive glasses to view either technology-and by the end of the match, all were wearing passive 3D glasses. LG made the commitment to Passive 3D at CES and the rest is history.

But beyond technology vintage, the issue of 3D being a fad may have finally been addressed with this study and the building momentum of the technology. Personally, one look at a golf match in 3D was all it took to convince me. But the growing availability of 3D content both professionally produced, and home made, the commoditization of 3D features on next generation sets, push from 3D gaming and now the standardization of passive glasses for large displays may be enough to push the technology into the mainstream-demonstrating that even a personal hero, can be wrong now and again. – Steve Sechrist

Note: for expanded version of this story, see the upcoming June issue of Large Display Report.

Eye Tracking at the Cusp of the Next Wave

May 3rd, 2011

It’s sometimes nice to reflect on our roots, and remember that we in the display community are part of a broader Input/Output (I/O) equipment category in computing. Here, electronic displays date as far back as the early 60’s (1961 Burroughs CRT display console) and the ground breaking (relatively low cost) Tektronix 4010 computer display terminal, that followed a decade later (1971).

Displays have always been at the forefront of computer human interface. In fact, theComputer History Museum credits I/O devices as being “…primarily responsible for the transition of computers in the 1980s from ‘number crunchers’ to platforms for entertainment, visualization, and communication.”

Even before displays, when computer output was simply printed on large format “line printers”, engineers were tinkering at the frontiers of “display-output” pushing the machine beyond its design limits. Remember those crazy “computer art images” created from line code in Basic, COBOL and FORTRAN? While they served as a sort of late night data center entertainment, (OK, primarily for the hard-core geeks here…) they also served to demonstrate the visual possibilities well within our grasp, once low-cost electronic displays were made widely available.

Now fast forward to 2011-with multi-touch driven “Retinal” displays offering pixel densities that exceed human visual acuity and technology that can even trick our eyes into seeing a virtual 3D image on a 2D display (see theChris Brandrick article PCWorld.)

We are now seeing a trend in display technology to combine sensor inputs, sophisticated algorithms and fast processors to redefine the human interface. One example is using front-facing cameras for eye-tracking combined with accelerometers to create the interface of Brandrick’s article as shown in the photo. Just type “eye tracking” into Google and the breadth of devices (Mouse substitutes), new applications (from medical diagnostic to next gen shooter games) and even the virtual 3D mentioned above can be found. This is just the tip of the iceberg in what technology can deliver, especially as user intent is better understood-and accommodated by the system.

Another interesting example of this is a virtual reality game set-up created by students at University of Texas at Austin. It’s an eye-tracking system connected to a motorized pico-projector that moves the displayed image to where the user is looking. Julie Beck on popsci.com writes: “…as the camera tracks a player’s line of vision, the view of the gaming world shifts to follow their gaze. It does not require them to hold anything, or have anything attached to them.” She also speculates the technology being adopted to work with the Microsoft Kinect’s IR-based, gesture-driven technology to enhance play and include full body gestures.

Could it be that we are undergoing yet another transition in computer I/O only this time powered by the convergence of low-cost technology that tracks and translates human input in more meaningful ways? And much like that early-day leap from “line printer art” to electronic display, these enhanced sensors offer the potential to render today’s technology as “quaint” (and perhaps as fondly remembered) as those first line-printer drawings of decades past. – Steve Sechrist

3D for the Small Screen Coming in View

It’s not here yet but some of the thunder from the upcoming Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona Spain was unleashed last week. LG officially announced the “World’s First 3D Smartphone,” the LG Optimus 3D, that will be shown at the February 14th confab on the Iberian Peninsula. The device promises “a full 3D experience right in the palm of the hand,” according to the Feb 1st press release, and offers a glasses-free autostereoscopic (AS-3D) display to deliver this.

But LG isn’t alone, and not the first to offer an AS-3D Smartphone. Sharp’s Android-based Galapagos (003SH and 005SH) both offer an AS-3D display using a 3.8-inch LCD. The devices were first shown in Japan in November 2010, and like the LG, will be on hand at MWC this month.

Long-time readers of the Display Daily know we’ve been writing about small AS-3D displays, many of which have been used in handsets, particularly in Japan. As early as 2003 Sharp and wireless carrier NTT DoCoMo partnered up to launched an AS-3D enabled cell phone, long before those devices got “smart.” But while the device sold 2.8M units in Japan, the product was discontinued, reportedly because “…the carrier didn’t make money selling related services and products” according to Arthur Berman’s coverage in our July-07 issue of Mobile Display Report (p. 32).

But all this begs the issue, do consumers really want a 3D Smartphone to begin with? Back in 2007 NEC did a study on its prototype 2D/3D cell phone showing users various applications empowered by 3D. The study found the top cell phone applications desired by consumers included 3D “photo-mail,” 3D movie, and 3D gaming. Of the group of 345 participants, NEC reported 86% could see the stereoscopic image, 77% considered this a display advancement, and 46% said they wanted to use the technology.

Since the top consumer interest in 3D was “Photo-mail,” LG did the right thing and included two cameras in the Optimus 3D so users can take 3D photos of themselves, view them on the phone and e-mail them to friends.

Since the Sharp/NTT DoCoMo 3D experiment in 2003, we’ve seen a complete revolution in the wireless/handheld space, with advances in virtually every aspect of the technology. Perhaps like the Apple Newton, (pre-cursor to the iPad) and the early days of pen computers, 2003 was simply too soon for 3D technology to deliver all that was required for a rich user experience. Lack of content in 2003 and other ecosystem improvements since then like connectivity to a larger 3D display and the processing power and battery life to render mobile 3D games and other Apps fun and useful come to mind.

We think the time is ripe for AS-3D handhelds. Unlike the early 3D phones launched in Japan, LG and Sharp are offering full-blown, hand-held computers by comparison, which come with HDMI and DLNA connectivity. And perhaps more importantly, the Optimus 3D comes equipped with a dual-lens 3D camera allowing users to create their own content for viewing on the small screen, or easy connectivity to a larger 3DTVs. And the only thing more compelling than one’s own image on a display just may be that image in 3D. – Steve Sechrist

 

Is The 3D Sports Engine Running out of Gas?

November 16th, 2010

It’s 4th and 10 at the 50 yard line, with 2-minutes on the clock and your team is down by 3. With all the excitement of a close football game, this holiday season may be make or break for CE manufacturers selling the newest must-have consumer devices—and the clock is ticking for ESPN 3D sports content.

Avatar Again? Too Much of a Good Thing…

August 24th, 2010

It’s the highest grossing film of all time $2.7B and also the top selling BRD (Blu-ray disc) ever released—so what do you do for an encore? Well if you’re James Cameron and Warner Brothers Pictures, re-release the film, this time in 3D only. That’s right, just eight months after the initial Dec 18th premier in theaters showing the film in both 2 and 3D formats Avatar’sproducer Jon Landau said a 3D only Avatar with almost nine minutes of new footage will be shown to audiences starting August 27th.

“StarCAVE” Experience Get’s Close to Star Trek

It’s not every day one get’s an invitation from a King (in this case the King of Saudi Arabia) to attend the inauguration of “the world’s newest university” – King Abdulah University of Science and Technology” or KAUST for short. So we jumped at the opportunity to ride (on the King’s nickel) to his oil rich nation, joining several thousand world-class intelligentsia, academics, and administrators (you know the type, University President’s, Chancellors and their spouses) plus the media to a grand opening event. The inauguration is slated for Sept. 23rd the one Saudi national holiday, which comes on the heels of the Muslim holiday, Eid.

Steve Sechrist
Senior Analyst and EditorFor Insight Media, the hook was the Geometric Modeling and Scientific Visualization Center (GM & SVRC) at KAUST with its groundbreaking 100M pixel (in stereo 3D mind you) visual environment system known as “Cornea” plus several derivative vision systems.

The project was developed with the Kings money (lots of it) and international support (including the University of California San Diego) and the California IT2 (Institute for Telecom and Information Technology) and partner companies.

While visiting the KAUST campus, we had a chance to try both the StarCAVE and NexCAVE systems on a recent media tour (look for a complete write-up in the Oct. issue of Large Display Report.) While NexCAVE used tiled 3D flat panels (JVC x-pol type) to create a remarkable visual effect, we found the StarCAVE to be downright AWESOME!

The totally immersive and contained experience is as close as you can get to Star Trek’s Holodeck (only viewers must wear 3D glasses.) One full side of the CAVE opens for entry with five of the six sides (four side-walls plus ceiling and floor) “on” and working when you enter.

Ambient light is dim, but not to the point of seeming noticeably dark in the large room that resembles a studio with control room monitors off to the side. One bank of four racks of the powerful Sony projectors (there’s twenty-four in all) stands about 12 feet from the rear projection screen that also serves as the door to the cave. Once inside with the door shut, the immersive experience complete with audio kicks-in with remarkable visual display and sound acuity.

We were shown a virtual mock-up of a Jordanian archeological dig, first flying in to the site from about 1000 feet overhead. Anyone using the Google Earth software has had a similar experience of zooming down into the details from this overhead view. But that’s where the similarity ends.

Inside the dig, at ground level we began seeing the colored 3D objects (artifacts placed in the exact location at the find) popping out as we moved through the space together. We “walked” down into a pit with rock walls, spiked formations and large crevices, with the artifacts circling around us in full 3D space.

One user (there were five of us in the enclosed cave) wears a head-tracking device that follows movements using sonic wave technology chosen for its effective tracking ability and minimal effect on the CAVE environment, according to Dr. Steve Cutchin, Visualization Lab manager and former UCSD researcher. We were all told to stand near the person wearing the device to get the full effect of the virtual reality.

Remarkably, the floor of the CAVE system was also lit up with four projectors, so looking down you could see deeper crevices, fissures, and cliffs that seemed so realistic, Cutchin told us most folks would not “jump” down into a particularly large gap between the rocks-even though they logically knew they were simply standing on a display screen floor.

As we descended deeper into the dig we could look up and see the surface perhaps 25 feet above us. As we continued to go lower, our voices began to echo adding a whole new dimension (audio) to the experience. The “spatial audio system is developed by UCSD and Berkeley, CA based Meyer Sound. Cutchin said Cornea is the world’s only known research center with this type of audio system.

It’s hard to describe the additive impact of the dimension of “spatial sound” to the immersive visual experience. To emphasize the point, Cutchin, removed the echo bringing up a “flat voice” sound that momentarily “killed” the visualization experience. It was the visual along with sound that somehow allowed suspended belief, convincing the brain that you were actually standing 30 feet below the surface of the earth in the midst of an archeological cornucopia.

This immersive experience should give researchers new clues by placing them inside the event, from where artifacts were located in archeological digs, to the interaction of molecules in chemical compounds, to stellar objects in outer space. We are at the threshold of a new way of learning through cognitive-interaction.

So was it worth the 17 hours flying time, jet lag adjustment and complete change of weather, and diet – you bet! Good job on the Holodek, boys, now if you can just get that Star Trek Transporter to work… Steve Sechrist

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