CYBERSPACE: An unknown company is hawking glasses-free 3DTV sets at Amazon.com. No location or details are provided about StreamTV,which is offering 42- and 37-inch 3DTV sets with integrated Blu-ray players, 500 GB hard drives and browsing capabilities that purportedly require no glasses. No images of the TV sets are posted, and no further specifications are listed. Shipping information on the larger set describes it as 42-by-10-by-26 inches and weighing 78 pounds. The mystery TVs, listed for $6,000 and $4,000 respectively, are available for pre-order and set to be released May 7.
The StreamTVs could be similar to those demonstrated recently at a trade show in Japan by NewSight. (See “Glasses-free 3DTV Demonstrated.) The NewSight 3DTVs use parallax-barrier technology, essentially an overlay or a coating on the screen, to split the image so that it appears to be 3D within a very limited viewing area. Gizomodo speculates that StreamTV is using parallax-barrier displays from Sharp.
Amazon was among the first retailers in the United States to offer 3DTVs. It began taking pre-orders of Samsung models in February. The e-tailer launched a “3D 101” site today to consolidate information about 3D products and those it offers, but the StreamTVs weren’t mentioned. The site features only 3DTV sets from Samsung. (See “Amazon Creates 3D 101”)-- Deborah D. McAdams
