Trumotion 480Hz LCD

LG Display has developed what it claims is the world’s first Trumotion 480Hz LCD TV panel, which has a 480 refresh rate per second, accelerating the advent of ultra high-speed images, without sacrificing picture quality.

The scanning backlight from LG Display is a technology that enables a backlight to be repeatedly turned on and off to reduce motion blur. When combined with the company’s 240Hz technology, the display can refresh 480 images per second.

In addition, the display has a lower motion picture response time (MPRT) of 4ms, eliminating motion blurring for fast moving images and enabling a realistic, clear picture. The display also makes dark images even darker and bright images far brighter, providing vivid picture quality. Moreover, it can reduce energy consumption by adjusting the backlight brightness.

The Trumotion 480Hz LCD TV panel is to be launched in the second half of 2009.

Optoma MPro110 teardown

Innenleben eines MPro110 von Optoma.

TechON hat sich einen MPro110 Mini-Projektor von Optoma geschnappt und in seine Bestandteile zerlegt.

Link TechON

HP and Arizona State University Demo Flexible, Unbreakable Displays

PALO ALTO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–HP (NYSE:HPQ) and the Flexible Display Center (FDC) at Arizona State University (ASU) today announced the first prototype of affordable, flexible electronic displays.

Flexible displays are paper-like computer displays made almost entirely of plastic. This technology enables displays to become easily portable and consumes less power than today’s computer displays. Popular applications for the technology could include electronic paper and signage.

The production feat is a milestone in the industry’s efforts to create a mass market for high-resolution flexible displays. Plus, from an environmental standpoint, the displays leapfrog conventional display processes by using up to 90 percent less materials by volume.

Mass production of such displays can enable production of notebook computers, smart phones and other electronic devices at much lower costs since the display is one of the more costly components.

The unbreakable displays were created by the FDC and HP using self-aligned imprint lithography (SAIL) technology invented in HP Labs, HP’s central research arm. SAIL is considered “self aligned” because the patterning information is imprinted on the substrate in such a way that perfect alignment is maintained regardless of process-induced distortion.

SAIL technology enables the fabrication of thin film transistor arrays on a flexible plastic material in a low-cost, roll-to-roll manufacturing process. This allows for more cost-effective continuous production, rather than batch sheet-to-sheet production.

“The display HP has created with the FDC proves the technology and demonstrates the remarkable innovation we’re bringing to the rapidly growing display market,” said Carl Taussig, director, Information Surfaces, HP Labs. “In addition to providing a lower-cost process, SAIL technology represents a more sustainable, environmentally sensitive approach to producing electronic displays.”

Production of flexible displays

The first practical demonstration of the flexible displays was achieved through collaborative efforts between the FDC and HP as well as other FDC partners including DuPont Teijin Films and E Ink. To create this display, the FDC produces stacks of semiconductor materials and metals on flexible Teonex® Polyethylene Naphthalate (PEN) substrates from DuPont Teijin Films.

HP then patterns the substrates using the SAIL process and subsequently integrates E Ink’s Vizplex™ imaging film to produce an actively addressed flexible display on plastic. E Ink’s Vizplex bi-stable electrophoretic imaging film enables images to persist without applied voltage, thereby greatly reducing power consumption for viewing text.

“Producing a photolithography-free, flexible active-matrix display is an excellent example of the Flexible Display Center’s world-class development and manufacturing infrastructure,” said Shawn O’Rourke, director, Engineering, Flexible Display Center at Arizona State University. “It demonstrates how multiple industry partners can collaborate on innovative solutions, including roll-to-roll compatible technology that addresses the rapidly growing market for flexible electronics.”

“Flexible electronic displays are playing an increasingly important role in the global high-tech industry, serving as the crucial enabling technology for a new generation of portable devices, including e-readers and similar products designed to combine mobility with compelling user interfaces,” said Vinita Jakhanwal, principal analyst, Small and Medium Displays, iSuppli. “We expect the flexible display market to grow from $80 million in 2007 to $2.8 billion by 2013. The Flexible Display Center at Arizona State University is a key participant in helping to develop the technology and manufacturing ecosystem to support this market.”

HP SAIL technology is one example of the technologies available for licensing from the HP Intellectual Property Licensing Group.

Further information about DuPont Teijin Films is available at www.dupontteijinfilms.com.

Review des NFL 3D-Testlaufs

As I headed to Mann’s Chinese 6 this afternoon to watch the anemic Oakland Raiders play the underachieving San Diego Chargers, I wondered, can good technology overcome bad entertainment? It’s a recurring theme here in Los Angeles, where tech companies continually pitch ways to add digital pizazz to tired forms of programming. In this instance, a potentially tedious edition of Thursday Night Football was made tantalizing — in theory — by the chance to see a game for the first time in digital 3D, live on a giant screen. The video production and distribution was by Burbank’s 3ality Digital, with Technicolor handling the satellite transmissions to three theaters in Hollywood, Boston and New York and Beverly Hills-based RealD projecting the 3D pictures.

The verdict? The experience wasn’t jaw-dropping, but it was noticeably better than a conventional broadcast. The game was drama-free, yet the novelty of 3D made it hard for me to take my eyes off the screen — at least until the Chargers’ lead stretched to 27 points with less than a minute to go before halftime. The effect was subtle at times, but just as compelling as in “U2 3D,” 3ality’s concert film of the Irish rockers. The most striking thing in both cases was how much more you could see in three dimensions than in two.

Just as David Modell, chairman of 3ality Digital, warned in an interview before the game, the broadcast was as much a training exercise as a technology showcase. Some shots were so tightly framed, the action quickly squirted out of the frame. Others were so wide, they were hard to distinguish from 2D images. But the field-level and ground-level shots were great. The added depth provided a real sense for what you’d see from the sidelines — how fast the action moves, how holes open and close, how big the players are. The closer the action moved to the end zones, the more the field opened up. Instead of crowded jumbles of players flattened against the screen, you’d see each of them distinctly, and the space around them. I found myself yearning for the tight, ground-level shots, even if it meant losing sight of the ball at times. That might be a function of the point of view’s novelty, but I don’t think so. Instead, I think the more realistic the viewpoint, the more interesting the game becomes. A good example: watching San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers from what seemed like the middle of the Raiders secondary, throwing a quick slant pass right at you before you have time to react. Very compelling.

There were no gimmicky shots, no footballs seemingly flying off the screen. But I didn’t miss them. And predictably, there were glitches. The most notable were two multi-minute blackouts caused by satellite problems. One was especially inopportune — the picture evaporated in the middle of a commercial for Technicolor, the company responsible for delivering the signal from the field to the theater. Ooops. On the plus side, the pictures were crisp through RealD’s polarized glasses, and easy on the eyes.

In an interview this week, Modell said there were many unanswered questions about how to shoot a football game in 3D. Where should the cameras be? How long should directors stay with each feed? How does the production team use the technology to the greatest advantage? Just as wide-screen HDTV presented games in more detail, Modell said, adding a third dimension can fundamentally change a viewer’s perspective: the action moves toward and away from you, not from left to right. “It gives you the impression as if you’re standing on the field, and it occurs right in front of your very eyes,” he said. “It’s going to bring you closer.”

That it did, at least in the Raiders-Chargers telecast. But there’s no telling whether 3D will draw people into theaters to watch a game, or any other live event.

Michael Lewis, CEO of RealD, offered an “If you build it, they will come” rationale. When RealD launched five years ago, the public was hardly clamoring for 3D movies. Today, Lewis said, the 3D version of a film generates three to four times as much revenue per screen as the 2D version. “When you show it to someone,” he said, “then they want it.”

Theater owners initially resisted the move to digital because the didn’t see a way to make a return on the required investment in new projectors and servers (which cost more than $75,000). Although the major Hollywood studios have agreed to subsidize the deployments, it’s not yet clear how multiplexes will be able to translate that spending into increased sales. Movies in 3D offer some hope because theater owners can charge $2 to $3 more per ticket. The next step, Lewis said, is “alternative content” in 3D, such as live sports and concerts. Exhibitors are already experimenting with concerts, boxing and other events in 2D, with mixed results. For RealD and 3ality, the hope is that the immersive power of 3D will draw bigger audiences for that programming. But as Lewis said, “I just don’t really know what people will show up for until we do it, so we’re just going to try something.” The company expects to do more sports in the coming months and to shift from private tests (as in today’s game) to public ones.

The main piece still missing from the 3D value chain is home video — a critical ingredient for sports with a huge TV audience, such as football. 3ality Digital CEO Sandy Climan predicted that 3D for the home will come “much sooner than people think.” Many digital projection sets on the market can display a 3D picture (with the help of special glasses, just like in the theater), and Climan said a new generation of flat-panel sets with 3D capabilities is on its way. Viewers will also need a Blu-ray disc player, a computer or a set-top box equipped with special software. One stumbling block for 3D movies and broadcasts in the home is the lack of a standard way to display the images — RealD’s approach competes with several others — but David Wertheimer, executive director of the Entertainment Technology Center at USC, said industry groups were trying to settle on one. Noting the demand that multiplexes have seen for recent 3D movies, Wertheimer said, “It’s pretty clear that there’s an opportunity. We’ve got to all work together to make it happen sooner rather than later.”

The image of 3ality Digital Systems CEO Steve Schklair on the sidelines at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego is courtesy of AP Photo/Denis Poroy

– Jon Healey

Telefonica testet 3D-TV in Brasilien.

Spanish telco giant Telefonica is testing a 3D television service over its Sao Paulo, Brazil, fibre-to-the-home system.

Telefonica owns shares in local TV company TVA and is using TVA for the tests. However, the scheme calls for 3D to be available over Telefonica’s IPTV-based services, which are now preparing to launch.

“We are preparing FTTH so that by the time 3D enters the market we do not need to change anything, that is, we build infrastructure on a future vision basis,” said Carlos Sena, of Telefonica’s R & D division.

Telefonica is also partnering locally with Philips for use of its 3D sets, which uses lenticular screens for its – still – expensively produced sets (about US$18,000 a unit).

© Rapid TV News 2008

NewSight bringt 180″ 3D Display

NewSight Corp of the US developed a 3D display using LEDs as pixels for the first time in the world.

Featuring a 180-inch screen with a width of 3.84m, the “3D LED Video Wall” is one of the world’s largest 3D displays. The company said that it is possible to combine four displays and make a 360-inch 3D display. The pricing will be determined based on individual order.

The new LED display realized 3D representation with the parallax barrier method as the company’s LCD 3D displays. Because most of the techniques, such as arraying the slits of parallax barriers at an angle, employed for the new display are the same as used in the LCD displays, it is possible to reuse 3D content made for the LCD displays, NewSight said.

The LEDs are made in China. Arranged at a pitch of 6mm, they work like the pixels of an LCD panel. The display is best watched from about 5m away, but the optimal distance can be adjusted. The warranty period of the LED is 20,000 hours. It is possible to use LEDs manufactured by other makers, NewSight said.

via: techOn

Inside Look at NFL 3D HD Production

Next week, the NFL, 3ality Digital, and Crosscreek Productions will broadcast a 3D HD version of the Dec. 4 game between the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders that will prove the validity of using existing 2D production vehicles and signal paths for 3D.

“From a league perspective, we could do big events using this technology,” says Glenn Adamo, NFL VP of Media Operations and Broadcasting. “This is a starting point, and, if successful, 3D HD will increase the fan’s entertainment experience.”

If all goes as planned, viewers in movie theaters in Los Angeles, New York, and Boston will feel as though they’re right on top of the action. Producer Steve Beim and director Bob Levy, as well as some of NFL Films’ top camera operators, will cut the seven-camera shoot in Crosscreek’s Voyager 8 2D truck. Camera rigs with two Sony HDC-1500 cameras with Fujinon 22x lenses will cover the action from six locations at field level, with a seventh located higher up on the 50-yard line to provide a sense of place (the longer shot flattens the 3D effect). Another rig will have a Sony HDC-950 portable camera, and a Cunima ultra-compact HD camera will also be tested.

“We spent a lot of time trying to ensure that each shot will make people watching the production go ‘wow’,” says Adamo.

3Ality Digital’s TS-4 rig with dual Sony HDC1500 cameras side-by-side

Cameras will be controlled through a stereoscopic platform controller that will allow convergence operators in the trucks to ensure compelling 3D images are captured and delivered, along with metadata, through Telecast SHEDs and fiber to Voyager 8. Camera signals then go into a proprietary 3ality stereoscopic image processor that automatically balances out the cameras and fixes minor errors.

“Vertical offset between the two camera images is what makes 3D difficult to watch,” says Steve Schklair, founder and CEO of 3ality Digital. “Our system uses auto alignment and image analysis to adjust the positions of the camera. It is accurate enough to allow shots captured using a long lens to vertically match up perfectly.”

WIGE Media’s Cunima microcameras as part of 3Ality’s TS-3 rig using beam splitters for close-ups

The two 720p/60-fps signals from the cameras on the rig are then muxed into a single 720p signal that can be cut in Crosscreek’s 2D truck without the need for 3D-capable production gear. “The multiplex turns the 3D signal into a 2D signal so that standard production switchers, routers, EVS units, and graphics can be used,” says Schklair. “We also don’t have to worry about having two transponders, satellites, and then reclocking the image at the theater, which is just not viable.”

The multiplexed signal is then encoded and sent via satellite to theaters where 3ality Digital decoders will then turn the 2D signal into a 720p/30-fps signal for viewing at the cinema. Because 3ality Digital’s technology removes the need for the production unit to be outfitted with 3D projection monitors and have everyone wearing glasses, the company believes 3D productions become much more viable and cost-effective. Even the convergence operators, who are in charge of controlling the 3D effect, will not watch on 3D monitors (although one will be available for quality control). “They will see metrics related to the depth on a 2D screen so they can keep the depth fairly consistent so that, when there is a camera cut, there isn’t a big change in depth,” explains Schklair.

“You always hear broadcasters and producers discuss putting the fan in the game,” says Adamo, “and that’s why I’m excited, because 3D will eventually allow the game to come into a viewer’s living room.”

A compelling 3D experience begins with proper camera placement. “Framing is critical to depth of field,” says Adamo. “You can’t be too close; otherwise, you lose the 3D effect.” Likewise, you can’t be too far away.

That’s why a sideline cart, with a camera on a platform about 15 feet off the ground, will play an important part in the production. It will be used for tight game coverage, with shots framed a little wider than usual from that position. Legendary camera operators Donnie Marks and Hank McElway will lend their expertise alongside two others from NFL Films and operate handheld cameras. “On the low-angle shots, the convergence operator will be more aggressive in driving the 3D effect,” says 3ality producer Ted Kenney.

The NFL Network’s existing Vizrt graphics package from Reality Check will be used during the game. “We don’t need things coming off the screen so the graphics will be less than 1% in front, or even behind, the screen,” says Kenney. “Our goal is to make the screen seem to fall away.”

Four years ago, the NFL did a 3D experiment during the Super Bowl, but the evolution of 3D equipment will make this production a much different experience. “The software aligns the lenses and carries the alignment through the whole zoom range,” says Kenney. “It maintains pixel-for-pixel accuracy and also allows for quicker setup and the ability to fit this production into a standard production unit.”

Kenney, who worked on 3ality’s production of the U2 3D movie, says that Levy’s experience as both a sports director and an entertainment director will help viewers feel as though they’re on the field. “We’ll be able to give the fans different perspectives, like putting them in the front row of the end zone,” he adds.

While this production will be completely separate from the NFL Network 2D broadcast, which uses 27 cameras, eventually, a 2D version could be derived from the 3D version. The challenge is that 2D viewers are used to seeing plays from a myriad of angles, whereas the 3D viewing experience requires fewer camera positions because the viewer needs a sense of place in the stands.

“We’ll see whether or not the 3D coverage can translate into 2D,” says Adamo. “It’s like the difference between a long-form feature and short vignette.”

There is little doubt in the potential of 3D, especially with 3D-capable consumer displays expected to be a major theme at this year’s consumer-electronics show. For now, though, 3D HD is a theater-only experience.

“Sports in 3D is more viable in theaters, but how well does it play on the big screen?” says Schklair. “And how do you buy a beer in a movie theater?”

By Ken Kerschbaumer, Sports Video Group