MIT scientists work on 3D TV via stacked LCDs

You know, it's funny. Back in the day when Samsung launched the first consumer 3D TV, in 2010, I thought it would actually catch on for one principle reason. That reason is that unlike Betamax vs. VHS or Blu-ray vs. HD DVD, this was a universal format. It was like the transition from standard definition to high definition. No one questioned it. Boy, was I wrong, and MIT is the latest organization to prove it.

University researchers are developing a new standard for glasses-free 3D TV that actually works by stacking three LCD layers on top of one another. The technology incorporates an algorithm in which patterns on the different displays circulate to create the illusion of depth. Admittedly, this is similar to the kind of tech used in Nintendo's 3DS and the very few glasses-free 3D TVs that have been released, but it is a much more effective use of the technology.

So with the glasses-free 3D movement on the rise, there is yet another competing standard in this battle to advance the TV market. The other standards are passive 3D, which is what movie theaters use and has a lower cost of entry, and active 3D which requires battery-operated glasses and more expensive hardware but creates the most realistic 3D experience in the consumer electronics market.

[via MIT]