Like the illusions they create, emerging 3-D technologies seem to be coming at us from different directions at warp speed — with the latest word coming from Panasonic that it is developing a 50-inch, 1080p “3D compatible” plasma HD panel that will work in tandem with a pair of “high-precision active shutter glasses” to enable what it said will be home viewing “equal to theater quality.”
Panasonic’s 3-D prototype will be demoed at CEATEC Japan 2009 in Chiba City, Oct. 6-10, (CEATEC is the “Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies”).
The 3D HD trial product (which Panasonic said evolved from its own Plasma Home Theater System) includes a 50-inch screen by design. The maker is predicting 50 inches-diagonal will become the preferred size for 3D home theaters in the near future. (It’s already among the more popular sizes for HD today.)
Panasonic said its new “high-speed 3D drive technology” is designed to enable an ultra-rapid illumination of pixels while maintaining brightness, and also simultaneously incorporating its own “crosstalk reduction” technology that it says will allow only minimal double-image “ghosting” that can occur in 3D viewing (where left- and right-eye images are alternately displayed).
The so-called active-shutter glasses, Panasonic said, are tasked with precisely controlling the shuttering necessary for separate left- and right-eye screen imaging to create the illusion of three dimensions.
Sony and JVC have also announced plans to begin shipping 3D-capable HD units by 2010 (and both companies likely will offer some of their own 3-D demos at CEATEC Japan 2009 next week).
