Masterimage 3D to reveal improved glasses free 3D tablet

After much media attention at CES, Masterimage 3D are planning to reveal an improved version of their 1080P 10.1 inch glasses free 3D tablet.

In conversation with 3D Focus, Matt Listz, VP of Marketing for Masterimage 3D, said “All mobile phone manufacturers have said that, going forward resolution is key for them. For us to be able to offer 3D with that quality (720P) was big. With Texas Instruments we debuted our 10.1 inch 1080P 3D tablet for the first time at CES. It was beautiful and it received great reviews but even we knew internally that it wasn’t ready for primetime. At Mobile World Congress we are going to be debuting the next version of the glasses free 1080P 3D screen. Both our partners Qualcomm and Texas Instruments will be showing reference tablets with our screens in their booths”.

Liszt continued … “The one we showed at CES was an alpha build. We have now had more time to work on it and the resulting quality is better but our 4.3” 720P mobile screen is a done product. We really feel that the quality is very high there and that is going directly to the OEMS and being worked on.”

The reference tablet will only offer 3D functionality in landscape mode but the final product will feature switchable landscape/portrait 3D viewing options. Masterimage 3D’s patented glasses free 3D technology relies on parallax barrier technology which works by blocking the left and the right images using a physical barrier unlike lenticular technology which ‘bends’ the light of both images towards the left and right eye. Parallax is cheaper but can suffer light loss, however  that is not an issue with Masterimage 3D technology according to Liszt…

“From a traditional stand point, parallax barrier does suffer from light loss compared to lenticular. Ours do not and the reason for that is we do not just use straight stripped parallax technology. We use a patented cell matrix parallax barrier technology. Traditional stripped parallax barriers consists of a series of slits that are aligned vertically and the trade-off is that half of the screen is being taken up by the left eye/right eye barrier based on which side is being reflected at that moment. Our patented technology deploys a series of microscopic cell gaps. Our initial research showed that the brain does not need a full strip in order to see the entire depth and disparity of the image; they can have slight gaps in-between them so for us to be able to use a series of small cells rather than stripes means more light can get through."

Masterimage 3D made the headlines in April last year when they claimed they were in advanced talks to license their glasses free 3D technology for use in the cabins of aircraft, a market Liszt still believes offers huge potential saying “We also think that tablet usage and inflight/in-car entertainment is aligned. We are aggressively pursuing these markets with dedicated a team and we have a lot of discussions taking place”.

Masterimage 3D, which also builds glasses required solutions for professional movie theatres, has formed its own content portal which is designed to customers with something to assist them with launching glasses free 3D products.

Liszt is optimistic that 2012/2013 will encounter the perfect storm for driving 3D into homes…

“Our number one market is cell phones and tablets. The pure opportunity for the volume is just enormous. If you look at 3D in the home, the barrier has been people have had issues with the glasses for the TVs. You are also seeing more adoption of streaming services like Netflix who just had a wonderful fourth quarter, a lot of which has been usage of Netflix streaming on tablets.  If you believe that streaming is something that already exists, happening on mobile devices and that consumers want to have 3D in the home without glasses, then all three are aligned for 2012/2013 to be a breakthrough year for 3D in the home on tablets.”

Mobile Phone Congress starts February 27th and runs through to March 1st. For more information about Masterimage 3D click here.

FREE WEEKLY 3D NEWS BULLETIN –