Toshiba to launch 3-D TVs that don't require glasses

The Yomiuri Shimbun

In what is likely to be a world first, Toshiba Corp. is planning to release before the end of 2010 a TV set that will enable viewers to enjoy 3-D images with the naked eye, company sources have said.

Conventional 3-D TVs require viewers to wear special glasses when viewing 3-D content. Toshiba's planned release of a set that will dispense with such glasses is likely to invigorate the market.

Toshiba plans to introduce three models, including one with a 21-inch screen, and will sell them for several hundred thousand yen, the sources said, adding the TVs' release likely will coincide with the year-end shopping season.

Toshiba has developed an integral imaging system that emits rays of light at different angles, allowing viewers' brains to recreate 3-D images without special glasses. The new technology also will enable viewers to enjoy 3-D content from numerous viewing positions, and the images will not strain the eyes, the sources said.

Usually, 3-D TVs project different images to viewers' right and left eyes at high speeds, and the 3-D images are reconstructed in the brain. Using 3-D glasses, a viewer cannot see an image intended for the right eye with the left eye and vice versa. When doing so, stereoscopic images are seen.

According to the sources, Toshiba plans to use high-definition panels so that three-dimensional images--fast-moving images being one example--can be seen with the naked eye. All existing 3-D content, including high-resolution digital images, will be playable on the new TVs, the sources said.

During spring, Panasonic Corp. was the first electronics manufacturer to launch a 3-D TV, with many domestic companies following suit. Many consider 3-D TVs the workhorse of their 2010 lineup and have positioned the year as the beginning of the 3-D TV era. However, sales have remained stagnant, mainly because the TV sets require special glasses.