Glasses-Less 3DTVs From Toshiba Will Be Available in Japan by December

After we heard Toshiba would be showcasing glasses-less 3DTVs before the year's end, we started looking forward to the beginning of the end for cumbersome glasses. Japan's got 'em first, but at $2,900 for a 20-incher I don't mind.

Pictured above is the 20-inch 20GL1, which appears to have a bottom-heavy bezel area and fairly large stand. It's an LED-backlit panel with 1,280 x 720 resolution, and has HDMI ports alongside a USB, and can handle LAN and Tosh's Regza Link for single-remote usage. Inside, Toshiba's cell processor is ticking away

[AliTheBrit19]

A very early start yes, but THIS is why its absolutely ridiculous that people are buying 3D-TV's right now

It still makes me laugh knowing some fools are willing to wear those glasses all the time, enjoy a crappy experience :)

[imvix]

Lol true, i am personally waiting on 3d monitors without the glasses. The early adopters always get shafted.

[MR LOOKINGBILL]

SO TRUE....the early adopters are going to be butt hurt next year when they find out you can watch 3d tv without glasses. Thats why i never buy new tech on the market.

[frjoethesecond]

To be fair, it's the early adopters investing in the tech that allows it to develop in the first place.
If no-one bought 3dtv's then people would have dismissed the tech as a non starter and it'd be thrown out before a glasses free solution was developed.

[SilentNegotiator]

"It still makes me laugh knowing some fools are willing to wear those glasses all the time, enjoy a crappy experience :)"

Enjoy having a more expensive TV with a 2-degree viewing angle in your livingroom.

[InTheKnow]

This is not new but it's finally getting some air time. There are a couple of manufactuers talking about releasing glasses-less 3DTVs but you have to feel for these guys who ran out and paid $3-5000 for a 3Dtv and $150 for glasses when everyone said these types of TV's were coming and the WHOLE family could watch 3D tv, not just those with glasses...STILL...It's early and there is alot of work to be done but it's a start. I like the idea of 2d as well as 3D...thats HUGE right there. This has been around for a while now...Here's another company coming out soon with similar tech...

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[jukins]

how are early adopters getting shafted? they are enjoying the tech now on big screens with the family in a living room. yea no glasses is good but $2000 for a 20" screen? i spent the $300 less for my panasonic tv that came with 2 pairs of glasses.

[Super-Brad]

And I don't like 3D TV's right now for the fact that you have to be directly level with the TV to experience the 3D effect, any other angle and you can notice the two layers.

[anh_duong]

glassles 3d tv have been out since last jan 2009 .. some demo models were even on display at ces 2009..

"That said, some manufacturers claim they have developed technology that doesn't require glasses. Phillips uses a technology it calls WOWvx. 3M and Toshiba also showed off glassless 3D screens at CES. 3M has created a thin film technology that can be used to beam light selectively to the viewer's right and left eyes."

http://edition.cnn.com/2009...

however there are still fundamental unresolved issues regarding 3d TV..

"Glassless 3D is available today for digital signage and advertising," Park explained. "But the technology is not ready for TVs, because it would hurt people's eyes or give them a headache to look at today's 3D displays for any length of time. It will be at least a decade before we can get the technology to make glassless TV a reality." - LG chief research engineer which makes 3D GLASSLESS display monitors for advertising and digital signage

"Glassless 3D would be ideal," he said. "But it's just not possible to do that now and get the same quality experience. You would need at least 50 times more pixels to get a display to provide the same 3D experience that we provide with our TV. We are still 10 years away from that kind of technology." - Panasonic Suetsugi

http://ces.cnet.com/8301-19...

the narrow viewing angle is still a problem with glassless 3D tv... the whole principle of glassless tv works around small screen sizes and narrow viewing angle - that is why the toshiba screen is so small..

if you want to wait for glassless tv to reach the current 3d quality and size we have today with glasses 3d then prepare for a very long wait...

[boodybandit]

You will be waiting a LOOOONG time for one with a wide viewing cone. Glass(less) 3D technology can only be viewed sitting directly in front of it. The field of view is next to nothing. Do you remember how poor the viewing cone was for LCD's when they were first released? 3D glassless technology is far worse.

We are talking several years. Not a couple and definitely not this year.

@anh_duong
Guess I should have read more respones before giving my own opinion but I guess it doesn't matter anyway. People here don't want to hear reality. They just want to bash 3D with glasses.

I don't have a 3D display but I have been researching them like mad and know what you posted and I said is 110% reality of the glassless tech at this time and will be that way for a long time to come.

[Ares84PS3]

Laugh all you want but I'm enjoying 3D games and movies right now and you don't. As soon as galss-free 3DTV's will be available I will trade in. That's how simple it is.

Without people like me, you would never get glass-less 3D.

[Sprudling]

Perhaps in 10 years will you haters of glasses get the same 3D quality as todays early adopters. I wonder how long you'll keep thinking it's just around the corner...

Also, in 10 years the 3D tech with glasses will be improved significantly from today too.

[nickjkl]

$2,900 20-inch 20GL1,

1,280 x 720

multi-parallax technology-same technology used in 3ds

nine different perspectives for each 2D frame

90cm 35in 3ft from the 20-inch is the ideal distances to view

still need to sit in a predefined space in order for it to work

the main reason i support dtvs with glassess is because you can have the possibility to have non 3d split screen over the entire image instead of just half

by having both glassess refresh both eyes at the same time every other frame

so you have frames 1a2b3c
and one player will see frames 123
and the other player will see frames abc

but you will need a powerful processor to out put 2 different games running 1080p 60 framers per second

[snp]

Yep, it's basically a pc monitor based on sweet spot tech, designed to be viewed from pretty close and for one person - and costing thousands (with very 'meh' versions of all the conventional specs, eg. resolution).

Anyone going 'see, i knew it!!', as if this somehow obsoletes 40"+, multiple users 178" view angle 3dtv's designed for lounge rooms - or proves that they are just around the corner - isn't very bright (i'm sure they'll find a way, but this doesn't show them any closer to it). This is a tech that's designed to fit to a very particular use (and if it's as bad as others at it, will be shaky at best), and solves none of the 'sweet spot approach' problems of a larger screen, with multiple viewers, and 178" viewing angles (any, rather than a specific, distance from the screen).

[imvix]

Yea but some of us only game on PC. A 24inch 3D monitor reasonablly priced without glasses would be a day one purchase from me.

[anh_duong]

yes predefined viewings angles + multiple parrallax views => massive costs, 50x more pixels, terrible viewing angle..

we are talking about $3000 for a 20 inch display with poor viewing angle..

glassless tv is coming but it might take a while to be up to scratch..

[jden28]

I openely admit that I'm in the glasses free corner, however that does not mean that I can't appreciate the glasses based tech. For right now the glasses based tech is the only affordable option. It's just not an option for me. I have children and family would want to watch the new t.v. together and the need to pay $150 per pair of glasses and keeping up with them all when the remote disappears daily would not be something I'd be willing to do. I would be willing to buy a smaller personnal glasses based t.v. just for me and my gaming, but I relish the day when glasses free 3D t.v. becomes main streem and it looks as if toshiba is on the way to make this happen. 9 different perspectives so its vieable at my angles and "hard-wired" sweet spot just a recommended viewing distance just like any other tv. I can't even imagine what would happen if they chose to use multiple cell chips in this new design.

[a08andan]

Sony is probably gonna include this in the Ps4 when it is launched. They have filed a patent for stereoscopic split-screen so I think we can expect that :)

[The_Claw]

this is exactly why i got a 3dtv a few weeks ago. im going to enjoy playing gt5, kz3, crysis 2 and so on in 3d RIGHT NOW. If you want to wait 5 years for glassless tv's thats your decision.

[Baka-akaB]

@AliTheBrit19

I had no hdtv till now (big pc monitor in the past for consoles) and that great samsung 46" 3dtv was only about 200 $ more expensive than its regular hd counterpart .

Bottom line is right now i can already enjoy 3d on ps3 and pc .

By the time glassless 3d becomes as performant (far from it right now and with that upcoming toshiba set) and well tweaked , i'll simply buy a cheap set just like the rest of us .

Byut yeah keep laughing and believing that every adopter is some rich moron burning cash for no reason .

[rekonizakilla]

"We'd previously heard that Toshiba was using multi-parallax technology to make the 3D work without glasses. It works similarly to Sharp's parallax barrier tech, only doesn't have a "sweet spot" because it has nine different perspectives for each 2D frame, as opposed to the two for Sharp's displays. While there's no perfect medium for viewing the 3D, Toshiba does say that 90cm from the 20-incher and 65cm away from the 12-incher are the ideal distances to view from"

With those restrictions people might be using glasses for a little while yet

oops- nickjkl beat me to it

[chanskie]

@AliTheBrit19

I do enjoy my 3D TV. Yes it might be soon the new technology will come and replace this technology. But i can tell you now, i have no regret. Is all about personal preference.

[GiggMan]

I'm enjoying my 3D TV right now and when the glasses-less TV's come out I will pick one of those up too (that's the beauty of having more than one room lol)

[40cal]

It will still take a long while before glasses-less 3D TVs are ready, though I am very happy to see that Toshiba is using the Cell to power this bad boy.

[MNicholas]

but what else is there? Once you experience the 3rd dimension for movie watching (I'm not much of a gamer) 2D is just not satisfying.

All glasses-free 3D shown so far have serious problems, most notably, low resolution and compromised brightness/contrast. I wouldn't be surprised if the reason for the massive bezel in the sharp is to house enormous arrays of LED lights. At least the viewing angle issue appears to have been solved.

Still, until OLED or similar technology becomes viable for high volume manufacturing, we won't see a 100% satisfactory solution.

I'm still holding out for the polarized home projector.

[Anon1974]

Well, this is what the other companies that make these glasses-less 3d screes were saying. They aren't practical for the home theater market.

At the CES show this year, 3 companies showed off their glasses-less 3D screens, but there were huge problems with them. The TV's were prohibitively expensive, you had to sit in the exact right spot for the 3D effect to be noticeable, the 3D "depth" wasn't even close to being as pronounced as on glasses based 3D tech and anything that could be displayed in 3D on these screens had to be specifically shot for these screens - ruling out pretty much every movie being made in 3D today. And, here's the kicker. They couldn't do regular 2D imaging.

Now these company's said at the time that these glasses-less 3D screens weren't meant for home theater, that these were just demo units. The real applications - because they know roughly were a viewers head is going to be at any given time - was in computer monitors and monitors on medical imaging devices. They weren't even planning on making these screens for home theater setups.

So it surprised me to hear that Toshiba was making glasses-less 3D given everything that the other company's had said about the technology. Now I know why. Because Toshiba AREN'T making glasses-less 3dtv's. They've made a monitor - which you have to sit about a foot away from, just like all the other company's have made - but it'll run you 3 grand and good luck finding anything to watch on it.

This technology isn't meant for home theaters. If you want 3D at home, glasses are the only way to go at the moment and probably will be for a decade, if not more. I, for one, don't plan on holding my breath waiting for glasses-less 3D. 3DTV's are here now. As soon as they get a reasonable priced, 3D projector on the market to replace my 1080p home theater projector I'll be there in a heartbeat, and you be too. Do some research on the glasses-less 3d tech and you'll see exactly why this simply ain't gonna happen.

[cliffbo]

yeah wait for the 3D without glasses then you can enjoy an inferior 3D experience if you dont believe me then check out the info on the 3D without glasses tech it works but not anywhere near as good as the shutter glasses 3D.

[DoucheVader]

This is 2001 technology. I am very happy with the performance of 3D with the glasses at my home.

Those that don't have it hate on it, but that's because you don't have it! :)

[Cloudberry]

.
Wondering how the performance would be...

Good thing I haven't bought 3D TV yet.

[DoucheVader]

It's old technology pioneered by Sharp. It requires that you sit in certain places to see the 3D effect. It's not designed with a large audience in mind. This will not be any competition for the 3D sets we have in America today. At least not until they can make the viewers unlimited from any angle.

The only way to achieve that is via glasses.

3D TVs do not cost that much more than non-3D TVs.

[FriedGoat]

We'll see what happens. The quality, depth, popout and viewing angle are the main factors. If you have a 3DTV in your lounge with one optimal viewing position and everyone else gets crap, bring back the glasses.

[qface64]

3d tv without glasses is what has the potential to make 3D tv mainstream but the only problem is the price $2900 for a 20 incher? sweet jesus

3d tv wont really become the next big step in tv until they have glasses free 3d tv's at a reasonable price
when that day comes that's when ill jump in and get me one

[Substance101]

3DTVs are simply too costly at the moment and 3D games on consoles are very limited.

The better option is to get a 300usd 24inch 3D monitor, use rest of the money on a PC gaming rig. Even a 1000usd by todays account will make a beastly gaming rig that will run 3D in 1080p. Also the fact there are atleast 300 3D enabled games on PC.

[Baka-akaB]

True , there are also a few fair priced tv set . wich you can always use on pc as well

[Omega4]

Finally they are starting to release these, which means in a couple years they will be priced at the normal price points.

And the fact that they can have screens the size of 20" is great unlike glasses 3D which requires 40"+ for 3D. This is the REAL way 3D should be done, and the only publisher who has sees that so far is Nintendo.

[SexyPrawns]

No. That's not true at all.

You should play with a 3DS. It's not what you think.

If 3D without glasses looks as good as 3D with glasses, I'm excited. The 3DS doesn't have anywhere near the quality of 3D that a 3DTV does.

[bananlol]

Correction: This is the way to do 3d on small screens designed to be held relatively close to ones eyes. Seriously, google 3ds functionalety or something and take a look how the technology actually works. It doesnt take a genius to figure out its limitations.

[CREESH]

I was looking at the £1000 samsung's recently, Glad I didn't.

[Cogan1]

I really dont understand why people cant realise that a glasses free 3D tv will never produce the same 3d effect that one will glasses will! Yes, wearing the glasses is not the most comfortable thing to do when watching tv, but the reason why its a better effect is because its your brain creating the 3D effect not the tv! the tv is just giving you 2 images, split with the glasses. Your brain is the thing creating the effect. No fancy processor in the world is ever gonna be as good as the one inside my head! Glasses free tv might be good in a few years to come, but i guaranty you, wait for the reviews, you'll get better 3d effect from using the glasses. And the glasses-3d from sony and panasonic is only going to get better.

p.s. Seen both top of the range Panasonic and Sony 3D Tv's, and for price and performance panasonic is the better.

[R_aVe_N]

Finally somebody around here with a brain in their head. I have never understood people and their no glasses thing.

[jukins]

exactly panasonics are the only 3d tvs that i've tried (and eventually bought) that didnt have ghosting. maybe it has to do with it being a plasma but all the lcds/led had crazy blur and angle issues.

[Rhythmattic]

Cogan1

Actually your point brings up a question I have not had answered..

Does Glassless 3D system images jump out from the Screen, Or does the closest point of depth only start from the First layer of the screen, just like looking through a window.

I think its a Fair question, and hope someone thats seen a 3DS, or any other non-glasses system can confirm if this is the case.

If it is, Glasses still for the win.

[Hideo_Kojima]

You need to learn how 3D works...

what would effect what your are talking about is whether the screen is big enough, close enough and what the people who recorded the 3D videos wanted you to see.

If it is recorded in any way where the object is touching the side of the screen your brain will imediatly place it as an object behind the screen.

If it is something flying towards you like a mini UFO than it could seem like its between you and the TV (inside your room) yet still within the sides of your screen (it obviously wont seem like it is flying everywhere in your room like to the left and right of the screen likea hologram)

Basically if a TV cant do both those effects its not a 3DTV simple.

[Rhythmattic]

That doesn't answer my question...

For glasses , isnt the actual perceived depth is from the lens to beyond the Screen ? , as for glassless panels, the panels are made up of a layers arent they ?

I'm just guessing the brain interpolates the image with shutter glasses, thus giving a more "out of the screen" image.

Not saying I'm right, but no one has told me what the 3DS VS Shutter glasses difference is, if there is..

[Eamon]

Now all those who already bought a 3DTV are pissed.

[Baka-akaB]

Far from it . They know glassless isnt as good with the 3d effects , and not everyone paid 3-5k like a fool for ta 3dtv .

Even so , they can comfortably enjoy it for the 3-4 (min) it would probably take glassless to become cheap and as good .

[Malice-Flare]

to step their game up. if not, Toshiba gets their revenge for HD-DVD...

then again, if this hits. 3D is no longer a fad...

i just realised that it uses the Cell processor, a bit of that price goes to Sony and IBM...

[rekof]

yes now make 50 inch one for half a price,..and so more than one person can watch it,.. with a big enough sweet spot,..

glasses are here to stay,.. for a long time,.. and that sucks for people who already wear glasses,..

[comp_ali]

I am all for it

[WIIIS1]

That's just such a dumb invention, everyone knows people like to watch their 3D with goggles on, who on earth would prefer watching tv without the comfort of glasses???

[stonecold3]

thinking of getting 3dtv but ive made up my mind im going to skip the current 3d tv and wait for this one to arrive i wont need to wear the 3d glasses at all im all for it

[hoops]

We all knew this was coming.
3d WON'T BE BIG UNTIL THE NEXT ROUND OF CONSOLES.
This will coincide with these new 3D TV's that do not need glasses.

[Lord_Doggington]

interesting how adamant people are about future tech like bluray but are totally against glasses-less 3d. c'mon, it's inevitable. within the next 2-3 years, the race will make them mainstream on the market.

no one likes wearing this glasses, this fact is preventing 3D sales from exploding on the market...and sales are little less then stagnant

[rwarner174]

I am not against it. Its just it has alot of technological hurdles. They are not as effective at creating the 3D effects and the viewing angles are horrible. If you are not 2 degrees and like a foot from the sweet spot you don't see the desired effect.

This kind of stuff can work great on a portiable like the DS, but I think for in the home glasses will be the future for a long time. Honestly, knowing what I know about optics it is doubtful they ever make this technology acceptable for the home.

[Newtype]

Toshiba's TV's suck ass though.

[pinkyxyz]

the "cell" ticking inside? i wonder if the cell is an important part of maintaining the 3d effect without glasses? Because if it is then that's good for the technology as a whole

[DoucheVader]

Sounds an awful lot like this article from April.

http://www.thinkdigit.com/T...

[Eddy223]

that tv doesnt have a sleek look at all.
looks like an outdated 2001 Television
its not very attractive