Head-Tracking 3DTV

Another I-Zone innovation was demonstrated by PolarScreens. The system relies on a head-tracking system to drive a no-glasses 3D display that uses a regular 120 Hz LCD panel plus a patterned active shutter panel to steer the separate images to the viewer’s two eyes. According to the company, the system can deliver the full resolution to each eye.

The system is also designed to “fail” gracefully. If you turn your head sideways to the point where the stereoscopic effect cannot be maintained, the display automatically switches to 2D mode. The head-tracking system can see when your eyes are close enough to horizontal again, and it will turn the 3d mode back on automatically.

Information Display’s own Steve Atwood took the system for a test drive, as seen in the photograph below. A demonstration screen displayed what the system camera saw, and how it was able to identify the major features on Steve’s face, such as his eyes (in spite of his substantial beard).

The system is intended for a single viewer, and is aimed at high end applications where the user may be moving around but still needs to see a high-resolution 3D auto-stereoscopic image. This design could be well suited for people who edit 3D movie and video content, and have to move around or look back and forth at other screens while working.--Alfred Poor, HDTV