Philips' 56" HDTV Does 3D without the Funky Glasses
Autostereoscopic. Ever heard that term before? Philips hopes you'll be hearing a lot more of it, and yesterday announced a line of Quad Full Autostereoscopic 3D HDTVs during a 3D event in Hollywood.
A Quad-HDTV means it's screen resolution checks in at 3840x2160 (8.29 million pixels), or four times that of the highest HDTV standard, and otherwise known as 2160P. Combined with autostereoscopic technology, the end result is that 3D images can be made to look believable without having to wear those funky glasses or other specialized headgear. Instead, images target a specific eye, but rather than require a strict viewing angle, Philips says its 56-inch HD 3D display has a generous 160-degree viewing angle.
As expected, first-run products won't come cheap with early rumblings putting this TV in the $25,000 ballpark. But Philips isn't the only one pushing 3D technology - Toshiba and Sanyo have both said they're working on competing autostereoscopic displays, which could drive down the price if this technology takes off.
Anyone yearning to own a 3D TV?

Image Credit: Philips
![]()
NAYRhyno
October 02, 2008 at 11:01am
Yeah, twice the vert and twice the horiz means 4x total...
Also, I don't understand how they can do this? 160 deg viewing angle and still tagert different eyes?? How far away can you/how close do you have to sit? The only way that makes sense to target different eyes is with parallax effects.. Seems like they will have to restrict angle or viewing distance.. i just dont see how it will work in the maintstream..
![]()
billysundays
October 02, 2008 at 10:49am
i'm confused, isn't 3840x2160 actually twice the resolution of the highest HDTV standard of 1920 × 1080?
![]()
Andrew Perkins
October 02, 2008 at 11:02am
3840x2160 produces four times the pixels of 1080p:
3840 x 2160 = 8,294,400 pixels
1920 x 1080 = 2,073,600 pixels
8,294,400/2,073,600 = 4
![]()
billysundays
October 02, 2008 at 11:23am
well i get how the math works out, it just odd how twice the resolution turns out to be 4 times the pixels. i mean if you add up the pixels of two 1080 hdtvs, you get 4147200. they cram double the resolution in this 3D monitor and use some sort of parallex effect so that each eyeball sees its own seperate 1080 image, so why would they need four times the pixels?
and, with 4147200 pixels at a 16:9 aspect ratio, what resolution does that come out to be?
![]()
sasquatchua
October 02, 2008 at 2:25pm
My impression from the article is that the 3D effect and the resolution doubling are two completely seperate features. It has 2 times the resolution resulting in what is effectively 2160p, which has the same aspect ratio and 4 times the pixels as 1080p, and also does this 3D whatsit. Which I would definitely need to see to believe it.
![]()
Tekzel
October 02, 2008 at 11:44am
Its 4 times the pixels because its twice as many in 2 directions, twice as many high and twice as many wide. So 2+2 = 4. :)
![]()
billysundays
October 02, 2008 at 3:03pm
I knew that. I did! I just hadn't had breakfast is all. Anyway thanks for clearing that up Tekzel. And sasquatchua, how dare you question my leaps in technological understanding. My assumptions are entirely plausible. I'm back baby , I'm back! Goddamn this is strong coffee.















