Vela Technologies - Re: VELA Stream Log - Glasses-free 3D TV finally gets...

Glasses-free 3D TV finally gets real LAS VEGAS — Consumers never really took to 3D TV. Perhaps it was the need for glasses (passive and active), the lack of quality content or the overall cost. Whatever the case, rarely has anyone been heard saying, "Why don't you come over to my house to watch some 3D football." At least one of those hurdles, though, is about to fade away as StreamTV Networks finally starts to deliver practical, consumer- and retail-grade glasses-free 3D displays called Ultra-D. The company announced on Tuesday at CES that it has finally begun production and shipping of a wide array of glasses-free 3D displays for home, business and mobile. StreamTV Networks CEO Mathu Rajan is confident the new technology will be a game changer. “This will be the breakout year for glasses-free,” he said. The company is not the first to attempt glasses-free 3D. A few years ago, Toshiba showed off a glasses-free HDTV, but the technology, which needed to track viewers to present a 3D image, was clunky and inconsistent. More recently, Amazon's ill-fated Fire Phone's Dynamic Display used eye-tracking to create fairly convincing glasses-free 3D. Raja told Mashable that, in the case of Toshiba, they used head tracking technology to create its 3D imagery, which meant it was difficult for multiple people in different spots to see quality 3D. StreamTV Networks, by contrast, uses light fields and defractive indexes, something Rajan described to us as "like early stages of hologram technologies." As a result, there is no tracking and there are no viewing angles or zones. The company showed off a par of Ultra-D displays at their CES press conference: a 4K PC monitor and a 65-inch UHD TV. When looking at the TV, I was able to move around in front of it without losing the 3D effect. It's not as immersive as, say, what you'll see at the movies while wearing a pair of polarized glasses, but it was still pretty impressive. Even if the effect is somewhat more subtle than the immersive content we see on the big screen, Rajan is convinced that this is the only path for success not only for 3D but for virtual reality and holograms as well. What about the content? Early 3D HDTVs were hobbled by a dearth of content. Rajan said his technology won't suffer the same fate. "Existing content can be transformed by our algorithms," he said. This year, StreamTV Networks will also add support for a number of 3D imagery technologies including OpenGL and DirectX 12. Since Ultra-D doesn't need glasses, it's applicable to virtually any screen type, including more commercial uses like digital signage. "The minute that panel was turned on and the content started to play, I was in love," recalled Inception Visual President Eric Sherman, who was on hand to announce plans to bring retail and wrestling content to these Ultra-D displays. StreamTV Networks partner Pegatron is actually building the panels and is already delivering HDTVs in 55-inches and 65-inches and PC monitors in 27-inches and 32-inches. Ultra-D sets should arrive in retail outlets soon. Rajan wouldn't share pricing, but did say that it would be competitive.