Reports: Toshiba and Sony Prepare Glasses-free 3DTV

TOKYO: Toshiba plans to roll out glasses-free 3DTV sets by the end of the year, according a Japanese newspaper article that caught fire on the Web. CNet News said the article in Yomiyuri
was not confirmed nor denied by Toshiba.
A company spokeswoman told inquiring U.S. news outlets only that Toshiba was indeed working on the technology. Techno Gadgets said three models, including a 21-inch display, are in the pipeline for a holiday season retail launch. The new imaging system is said to emit light rays from various angles to produce the illusion of 3D.

Sony is also working on glasses-free 3DTV technology, according to a report from The Press Association. A Sony executive told the U.K. wire service that cost and technical obstacles had to be worked out before a retail launch could be planned.

Glasses-free TV isn’t a new phenomena. Alioscopy, a French imaging company, demonstrated glasses-free 3D displays two years ago in Singapore, according to SlashGear. Philips was said to have similar display technology. More have been popping up over the last few months. A Tokyo company, NewSigh Japan, demonstrated a 70-inch glasses-free 3DTV set at Japan FineTech in April. The set used parallax-barrier technology. (See “Glasses-free 3DTV Demonstrated”) A company by the name of StreamTV was offering glasses-free 3DTVs on Amazon in April as well. (See “More Glasses-free 3DTVs Appear”)

LG Electronics showed a liquid lens, glasses-free 3DTV at the Society for Information Display trade show in May. LG didn’t indicate a possible release date for the technology at time.
-- Deborah D. McAdams