PC MAG.com - The Three Kinds of 3D Displays 18-June-2009

PC MAG.com

Thursday June 18, 2009 The Three Kinds of 3D Displays Categories:   Displays Tags:   3D, LCD, LG Display

Lately I have been thinking a lot about 3D displays.  Many people in the display world think that 3D is the next big thing, but there are lots of choices.   I saw a number of these displays at Computex recently, and talked to a number of the panel makers about such displays on a recent trip to Asia. One thing to understand is that there are three different kinds of 3D displays that are getting attention these days, and their uses are very different.  It's always hard to show these displays with 2D pictures, but here's a shot of the three kinds I saw recently atLG Display's factory in Paju, South Korea: In some respects, the easiest kind of display is one that uses polarized glasses. (This is similar to the glasses with red and blue lenses that were behind the first wave of 3D, but without the color distortions.) In this case, you typically have a 120Hz display that uses polarizing filters both on the display and on the glasses, and the result is an image that gives the appearance of 3D.  Typically such images aren't as bright as normal images, because of the filters, but they can look pretty good and this is improving.  This involves a change to the display manufacturing process by inserting the different polarization, but the personal glasses are inexpensive.  (Essentially the same type of glasses are used in 3D theaters today, but on images produced dual digital projectors.) This can result in large 3D TVs; however, they aren't as good at producing 2D images as a normal similar TV.  Typically, these have had lower resolution, but that seems to be changing.   An alternative is to take a normal 120Hz display monitor and then use "active shutter" glasses.  The advantage here is that existing TVs and monitors can work, and they can switch between 2D and 3D very easily.  The glasses are more expensive, but pretty much all you need is a modern graphics card and the right drivers. This is what we see most often in the gaming area, and Nvidia has been pushing it very hard, especially at Computex.  There are a number of 20 to 23 inch wide monitors currently being marketed with these features, and I believe we'll see this in a lot, especially in gaming applications but also for 3D movies. This could be a very interesting part of the gaming sector in the near future. Finally, there are "autostereoscopic" displays aimed the digital signage market that require no special glasses at all: they use lenticular lenses built into the front panel of the display, similar in concept to those "3D postcards" you probably remember.  The idea is that the images move to different facets of the glass. It's quite interesting, but at least for now, it seems to have lower resolution than normal displays, and the viewing area is somewhat limited.  While the demos are interesting, these just don't seem ready for broader adoption quite yet. Part of the problem with bringing TV to the home, of course, is content.  Animated movies account for a lot of the content today, although there are some other movies out now, and a number of new professional cameras that will capture 3D video.  One good sign is that the Blu-Ray Disc Association recently set up a task force to create a standard for 3D content, something that will be needed if 3D movies are ever to be really delivered to the home.   I'm also a bit concerned that I've found the 3D glasses to be inconvenient, and sometimes tiring on the eyes.    My guess is that 3D in the home starts with gaming, and then gradually becomes important to animation and other kinds of content.  But whether it will ever be a mainstream use is a big question.