Toshiba is releasing two no-glasses 3D televisions at the end of the year in Japan . . . http://www.goodgearguide.com.au/article/363113/toshiba_launch_no-glasses_3d_tv_year_japan/ but don’t get your hopes up too much . . . while they are saying 3D TV they sound more like monitors to me . . . as they’re small (12-inch and 20 inch models which at least to me aren’t really something you sit and watch with much of a group).

Lorraine and I were chatting the other day about this as we just don’t get why it’s taken so long for autostereoscopic displays to finally get released in the market (autostereoscopic means no-glasses). Well over a decade ago we saw glassesless displays at a 3D convention. Yes, the glasses displays from fifteen and twenty years ago got sidelined when CRT monitors went the way of the dinosaur (although I still have a CRT monitor in my office at the university which I kept my old PS2 3D rig for) and it’s taken a while to figure out the LCD and Plasma alternative technologies (we lost light guns for console games at the same time the 3D got nipped in the bud – yes, I still have my old Vampire Nights game and light guns but rarely play them anymore).

Well, in any case, glassesless is not a real solution to all the folks who are frightened of wearing glasses to enjoy 3D (well, not just fear of looking dorky, the shutter active systems are expensive to get multiple pairs for and some manufacturers oddly have designs that do NOT accommodate those of us who wear glasses already).

While the sweet spot is narrow compared to active systems, I still prefer passive polarized for personal viewing. Of course, we will have to see if the Toshiba has multiple sweet spots for solid 3D viewing or if it’s going to be limited to one to three viewers as in old systems or the smaller autostereoscopic displays on other gadgets (my Fuji Real 3D W1 camera has autostereoscopic no-glasses display in 3D but the sweet spot’s very limited and many folks don’t know how to view – even though it’s supposed to be a no-brainer).

My guess is that autostereoscopic will be perfected just around the time they start getting really serious about holographic displays which make the whole thing mute. Yes, there are a number of companies working on that right now but it is a ways away.

– Brian