Toshiba 3D Notebook Details Revealed!

[PressBot]

While we are starting to see stories about Toshiba's upcoming stereoscopic 3D laptops, we know that MTBS members deserve MORE!  So here it is.



We had the benefit of a private demo of the Toshiba 15.6" 3D notebook computer prototype last week, and it's the same one we had photographed in 3D at CES 2011.

This unit is based on glasses-free lenticular technology.  What makes Toshiba's display competitively advantageous is that it's full resolution in 2D, and 50% resolution in 3D.  It's a similar idea to an interlaced polarized display, except instead of the vertical resolution being cut in half in 3D, it's the horizontal resolution that gets impacted.  Another benefit is that this notebook is capable of showing stereoscopic 3D in a window while it is surrounded by a full resolution 2D screen - all without glasses!
Read full article...

[cybereality]

This sounds interesting. So it is actually using a dynamic lenticular layer, as some people here suspected. This could turn out to be a nice solution, especially in combination with the head-tracking. Really like to see this for myself.

[Neil]

Just a quick update. I got the go-ahead to tell you that this notebook will have 1080P resolution in 2D mode.

Regards,
Neil

[cybereality]

Can you reveal any other specs: CPU, GPU?

[Neil]

This I can't do...yet.

Regards,
Neil

[Fredz]

Can't wait to see this, although there should still be some unsolved problems. The camera should be able to track the eyes at least at 120 Hz to not produce incorrect stereo or pseudo stereo when the head moves, so it won't work on recent games that can barely attain 60 fps. Another problem is the fact that even at 120Hz there will be some lag between the eyes position measurement and the rendering of the images, so I guess it'll be better to not move that much while watching the screen. Also 120Hz might not be enough if the head moves faster than the time needed to render to consecutive images (8,33 ms). But I'd like to see this in person anyway, should be a lot better than to have the head still, and the perceived resolution will be much higher than with multi-view displays that are able to handle motion parallax in a better way.

[mgb]

You don't need to track the eyes at 120Hz
These screens have a 2nd LCD layer over the top of the main which creates alternate black vertical stripes - these act as barriers so the left and right eye see odd/even columns on the main screen.
By having an LCD you can turn this barrier off and so get a full res 2D screen.

The head tracking just means that if you are sitting straight in front compared to off to one side it can shift the pattern of barrier lines in the 2nd LCD. But since it only has a choice of a 2-3 discrete angles it just needs to know front/left side/right side - it doesn't need to track you to high presicion or at high speed.

[Fredz]

You don't need to track the eyes at 120Hz

If you want to have motion parallax as is provided by multi-view displays, then yes you'll need 120Hz eye tracking, else you'll see a distorted 3D image when you move your head.

And if you don't mind motion parallax, you'll need eye tracking that works at least at the same speed that your head moves and with no lag, else you'll have inverted images.

These screens have a 2nd LCD layer over the top of the main which creates alternate black vertical stripes - these act as barriers so the left and right eye see odd/even columns on the main screen. By having an LCD you can turn this barrier off and so get a full res 2D screen.

The article says that these screens use lenticular screens, not parallax barriers. If that's right, they should be based on a polarized material whose refractive index can be modified by applying an electric current to simulate half cylinders made of glass.