Toshiba this week introduced two new 3D LCD TVs that can be viewed without the need for 3D glasses. The Japanese consumer electronics giant made the announcement in advance of CEATEC, the country’s largest consumer electronics show.
The new “Glasses-less 3D REGZA-GL1” series will hit the market in Japan by the end of the year and will be available in 12-inch and 20 inch models. A 56-inch prototype was also shown at the Toshiba CEATEC press conference on Monday, although that model is not expected to be marketed commercially, according to CNET, which also revealed prices of 120,000 yen, (USD$1,500) for the 12-inch and 240,000 yen (USD $2,900) for the 20-incher.
The sets employ an integral imaging system and a perpendicular lenticular sheet to display natural, smooth images and Toshiba’s image processing technology to create nine parallax images from the original content to create the 3D images, according to the company. This allows consumers to view 3D content at any angle. The 20GL1 integrates an HD LED backlit LCD panel specially designed for 3D without the need for glasses that offers approximately 4x the pixels of a standard full HD panel. It also integrates the Cell REGZA Engine designed for 3D capability, based on Toshiba’s Cell Broadband Engine, which was developed by a consortium of IBM, Sony and Toshiba, and previewed at the International 2010 CES in January.
Toshiba expects to deliver larger screen glasses-free models in the future.
