NICT, Victor Develop 72-inch 3D Display Viewable with Naked Eye

Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) and Victor Company of Japan Ltd jointly developed a 72-inch 3D display that can be viewed with the naked eye and exhibited it at CEATEC JAPAN 2008.

The display has a resolution of 1920 x 1080p (full HD) and allows users to view 3D images corresponding to the horizontal angle from which it is watched (within ±20° to right and left).

The display uses multiple projectors that project images on the screen from the back to enable the 3D representation. Each projector reportedly has a resolution of 1920 x 1080p (full HD), providing a pixel count of 100 million or higher in total.

By optimizing the conditions of the optical system, such as the alignment of the projectors, the light emitted from the screen is controlled so that it looks similar to the light reflected off of real objects.

Images displayed on existing 3D displays that can be viewed with the naked eye can only be seen from a limited number of viewpoints. And those displays have lower resolutions because they use a parallax barrier or a lenticular lens to reproduce images for right and left eyes.

NICT plans to develop a prototype in view of commercialization by 2011. Based on the latest display technology, it is possible to develop a 200- to 300-inch 3D display that can be viewed with the naked eyes, according to the institute.

By Shinya Saeki, Nikkei Electronics