3-D Glasses Here for the Long Haul

High-tech viewing will require low-tech eyewear for at least another decade
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 7, 2010 1:36 PM CST
3-D Glasses Here for the Long Haul
Reporters wear 3D glasses as they watch movie clips at the Panasonic 3D full HD plasma theater at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Jan. 7, 2009.   (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, FILE)

3-D television is a reality: LG, Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony will be selling sets by the end of the year. But they'll all require viewers to wear 3-D glasses to get the full effect. 3-D for the naked eye is under intense development that's expected to take at least another decade. "Don't expect 3-D TVs without glasses anytime soon," one expert tells Scientific American.

The most promising technology is a film that projects 3-D images, which can be seen without glasses. The polymer already exists, but there are technical hurdles to making one big enough and with a fast enough refresh rate to serve as a TV. Other possibilities include a holographic display that's stuck in the R&D stage and technologies that require precise alignment of displays and light. "It is hard to imagine that glasses-free displays will match glasses-based displays in terms of resolution, quality and frame rate anytime soon, says another expert."
(More Samsung stories.)

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