Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Toshiba's Glasses-Free 3D TVs a Flop in Japan

Toshiba Glasses-Free 3D TV3D is spreading faster than an illegal substance at Woodstock these days as every major display company seems to be jumping on board the hype train. But if you ask me, 3D is more of an inconvenience than the next ground-breaking technology. Think about it. Whenever you go to see a movie in 3D or to watch something on a 3D TV, you have to put on a pair of glasses. Now I can watch a movie here or there in 3D but to consistently watch TV wearing 3D glasses would be unbearable.

I thought maybe the new invention of this glasses-free 3D TV stuff would change my mind, turn me around but that doesn't seem too likely, especially after a recent report from Toshiba. According to the technological giant, their glasses-free 3D TVs have been flopping so far.

The company has only sold about half of what they expected to sell in Japan with their glasses-free 3D TVs according to President of Toshiba's Visual Products Company Masaaki Osumi. Only a measly 500 of the 20-inch, $2,490 devices were sold in the first month and the less expensive 12-inch model sold even less than that. Toshiba expected to move 1,000 units of each model during their first month of sales.

Osumi went on to say that the company needs to offer larger sizes of their glasses-free 3D TVs in order to boost their sales. Technical challenges also need to be overcome first before Toshiba can increase sales in the second half of 2011.

I have always been curious as to how a glasses-free 3D TV would work. In order to create the 3D image for Toshiba's models without the need for glasses, Toshiba uses a sheet in the TV screen which angles images toward the user's eyes. Sitting off to the side of the screen, especially if it is a larger one, will diminish the effect, which sucks if you have a lot of people trying to watch one TV at the same time.

I thought this new form of 3D television would help change my mind about the technology but with such harsh sales reports, especially from Japan, I am still, if not more, hesitant about jumping on the bandwagon. For me, I am going to need a lot more convincing and some seriously better tech before I throw down for anything 3D.

Source: Electronista - Toshiba says glasses-free 3D TVs flopping so far
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1 comment:

Jalaluddin said...

Ever asked yourself which is the front and which is the back of a wireframe model? - CAD should get glasses-less monitors off the ground. Also single viewer suggests small format and computer monitor application.

Apart from CAD, is the industry ready for 3D (but Say's Law applies)? Furthermore there is a dearth of 3D video and what is available is expensive.