Glasses free 3D TV needs radical rethink says Futuresource

If auto-stereo displays are to reach mass market, a radical new approach to display design is required beyond that of current parallax barrier or lenticular lens technologies writes Adrian Pennington

This article is brought to you in association with 3D specialists Presteigne Charter.

That’s the view of analyst Futuresource Consulting which predicts that the first displays featuring these new technologies will hit the market in 2015.

What’s more, several major consumer electronics manufacturers including Samsung and Apple are believed to be carrying out research into this area.

Most pundits would agree that glasses-free technology is a major part of the answer to bringing stereo 3D into the mass market.

Attempts to do this to date have focussed on two types of display technology. Parallax barrier technologies, which work best where there is one sweet spot and hence are most suited to single-viewer applications like smartphones; and lenticular lenses which provide multiple views and are most common in larger sized displays.

However the resulting images from both forms suffer from light and resolution loss.

In addition, the experience of watching 3D via lenticular devices can suffer depending on your viewing position. Most lenticular displays are capable of generating 9 views (some up to 28) but the gap between each view is not yet seamless.

Each view in a multi-view screen divides the original screen resolution – so a four times HD panel (4K 3840×2160 pixels) with 9 views are able to achieve a picture roughly equivalent to HD 1280×720.

“Yet 4K displays will push the price up,” says Jim Bottoms, Director & Co-founder of  Futuresource  Consulting. “It’s potentially achievable in 2013 but to get mass market prices we are probably looking at 2015 at the earliest.” He continues “ “Not only must manufacturing costs be reduced to a level where the displays can be sold at a mass-market price , the sets must also be able to deliver a 3D experience equivalent to, or ideally exceeding, the quality of today’s active shutter 3D displays… There is no doubt that all the major CE manufactures perceive the benefit of launching auto-stereo displays that can deliver a picture of acceptable quality for the general consumer at an affordable price point.”

While each technology is being refined pricing remains an issue. Toshiba’s 56-inch glasses free TV can be bought today for £7000.

“Not only must manufacturing costs be reduced to a level where the displays can be sold at a mass-market price , the sets must also be able to deliver a 3D experience equivalent to, or ideally exceeding, the quality of today’s active shutter 3D displays,” says Bottoms. “There is no doubt that all the major CE manufactures perceive the benefit of launching auto-stereo displays that can deliver a picture of acceptable quality for the general consumer at an affordable price point.”

Apple, for example, has patented several 3D technologies as speculation grows that it will include an auto-stereo screen on its rumoured entry into the smart TV market.

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