3D image display technology: different standards and unique features

According to DisplaySearch's forecast for the future 3D display device market, global 3D TV shipments will reach 64 million units in 2018, with a market share of about 20% and sales of US$17 billion.

Seeing this set of data, the reporter of "Electrical Appliances" was as amazed as many people - in another 8 years, 3D TVs will be popular? However, the reporter's doubts disappeared after watching the 3D version of "Avatar" in the cinema. Because the 3D version of "Avatar" was not only sold out, but some young people also brought their parents and even grandparents to the cinema to experience the 3D effect. 3D movies are so popular, and the future of 3D TVs can also be seen. How will 3D TVs develop and what will the technology trend be?

At present, there are two main viewing methods for 3D image display technology: wearing professional glasses and watching with naked eyes. However, a TV technology expert told the reporter of "Electrical Appliances" that it may not be possible to apply 3D image display technology for naked eye viewing to TV sets and mass production within 10 years. Therefore, for a long time, 3D TV programs on the market must be watched with professional glasses.

3D technology that requires professional glasses to watch also has many forms. The long-standing color-division 3D technology has a simple imaging principle and low implementation cost, but the 3D picture effect is very poor. There are fewer and fewer cinemas using this technology, and future 3D TVs will naturally not use this technology. Reporters learned from different exhibitions that there are two main types of 3D technology that will be used for TV sets in the future, one is time-division and the other is light-division.

Time-division 3D technology mainly achieves 3D effect by increasing the fast refresh rate of the picture (at least 120Hz), which is an active 3D technology. When the 3D signal is input to the display device (such as a monitor, TV, etc.), the 120Hz image is generated alternately in the format of left and right frames in the form of a frame sequence. These frame signals are transmitted through an infrared transmitter, and the 3D glasses responsible for receiving them refresh the images synchronously to realize the left and right eye viewing, and maintain the same frame number as the 2D video. The audience's two eyes see different pictures that switch rapidly, which creates an illusion in the brain (an effect that the camera cannot capture), and then they feel a three-dimensional image.

The technicians of STMicroelectronics told the reporter of "Electrical Appliances" that the manufacturing cost of time-division 3D TV is not high. TV manufacturers only need to purchase ordinary 120Hz LCD panels and then use STMicroelectronics' 3D chips to achieve it. Currently, Samsung Electronics has launched 3D display products using STMicroelectronics chips, and STMicroelectronics has also developed 3D chip samples for TVs. It is expected that this series of chips will be put on the market in batches by the end of 2010.

However, the high price of glasses has become a major constraint on time-division 3D technology. Since they are active glasses, the cost and price are relatively high. Currently, a pair of such 3D glasses costs about a thousand yuan, which many consumers may find difficult to afford.

Optical 3D technology is a passive 3D technology. Compared with time-division 3D technology, the biggest advantage of this technology is that the glasses are very cheap, only 2 to 3 US dollars per pair, which is very suitable for multiple people to watch at the same time. Currently, most 3D cinemas use optical 3D technology. However, the disadvantage of optical 3D technology is also obvious, that is, TV manufacturers must purchase expensive optical panels (also called polarized panels).

Recently, the reporter of "Electrical Appliances" saw some optical splitting 3D TV panels at various exhibitions. When playing 3D images, the pixels were only 1920×540, and the clarity of the 3D images was not high. This is because the TV sets using this technology split the 3D signal into a 1920×540 screen for the left and right eyes, and then output the two screens in an overlapping manner, and use polarizing filters to focus, resulting in a difference in the depth of field of the left and right eye pictures.

It is reported that AUO will mass produce 65-inch split-beam full HD 3D TV panels in the second half of this year, which will be the largest size 3D TV panel commercialized so far
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