Loewe Show Glasses Free 3D TV at IFA

Sep 03, 2011 No Comments by Jonathan Tustain

Loewe have announced their interest in glasses free 3D TV in partnership with glasses free 3D solutions specialists 3D Impact Media at IFA in Berlin.

Loewe is one of the few remaining European television manufacturers, 29% owned by Sharp electronics. On display at IFA was a demo model of a Loewe 3D set that worked without glasses. Loewe launched a range of 3D TV sets earlier this year under the name Loewe Composer featuring 400Hz picture technology and 2D to 3D conversion. But with 3D TV sales stalling and the continuing pursuit for effective autostereoscopic panels, Loewe have joined forces with 3D Impact Media.

For a while, Swiss-based 3D Impact Media AG has claimed that 3D TV that requires glasses has no future and is another company, along with the likes of iPONT and Triaxes, attempting to make glasses free 3D technology one of today rather than the future, although still based around existing display hardware such as parallax barrier and lenticular.

3D Impact Media AG claim to have destroyed the myth that autostereo viewing is only possible from a restricted viewing zone and has maintained quality through so called transition zones. Information from Loewe is sketchy. Whether the company intends to commercially release glasses free 3D TV sets anytime soon is not apparent but Loewe has informed 3D Focus that this kind of solution would be on the market in two or three years.

Aside from the challenges of the hardware itself (low resolution displays and restricted viewing zones), the video needs to be converted into multiple viewpoints (unless it is specially shot with multiple cameras). Companies like iPONT and Triaxes have released such conversion software and 3D Focus TV will be interviewing both companies soon at IBC.

3D Impact Media have also recently announced a joint venture with Sony to provide glasses free 3D digital signage solutions for businesses. More information from 3Droundabout here.

Toshiba Show Huge 55" Glasses Free 3D TV for UK Release

In other glasses free 3D news from IFA, Toshiba have been showing the 55ZL2 – a 55" mammoth 3D TV that Toshiba claims is the 'most advanced TV to date'. With face tracking, 2D to 3D conversion and a quad core resolution ( 3840×2160 pixel resolution – four times the resolution of Full HD) , it won’t be cheap when released in the UK this December.

A Toshiba spokesman said, "To tailor the viewing experience to the viewers' actual positions in front of the TV, the 55ZL2 features face tracking technology. At the touch of a button, it is able to detect the viewers' position and to adjust the viewing zones accordingly by moving the lenslets as required,". He continued… "Glasses-free 3D images are delivered through a combination of Toshiba's innovative display technologies and CEVO ENGINE multi-core processing platform."

3D Radar recently reviewed the television at IFA and it is fair to say they were not impressed due to the flatness of the image. At Dimension 3, we experienced the same issue while viewing the rezga. It highlights the issue of the need for good quality two viewpoint stereo to multiple viewpoint autostereo software, otherwise glasses free 3D TV sets will be restricted to a few homes and digital signage applications for a while yet.

Stay tuned to 3D Focus for an update to this story next week.