Panasonic Demonstrates 3D Full HD Plasma Theater System

It would really seem that the latest trend in display technologies is to allow users to enjoy 3D images in the comfort of their own homes, by using either 3D glasses or the naked eye. You've been able to read about the attempts from Philips to create such a display system, and now Panasonic has come up with such a product of its own, which employs several high-end components, plus a rather vaguely-described video streaming technology in order to allow users to view 3D images while relaxing on their couch.

According to Panasonic's own statement, this innovative system is formed of a 103-inch plasma HDTV set, a Blu-ray player and a pair of 3D goggles (specially designed, not those cheap ones you can find just about anywhere these days).

Although the system's setup is not exactly easy to describe (Google's Japanese translation engine is a bit "rusty"), here's the basic principle: the Blu-ray player transmits two video streams at 1080i towards the plasma display. The users (who are wearing the special XpanD glasses) will be able to view the images in 3D due to the fact that the glasses will be automatically synchronized (via an infrared signal) to the images displayed on the screen, creating the "illusion" of 3D by very rapidly closing and opening their built-in shutters.

There's no solid info on the type of streaming process we're dealing with, but, apparently, Panasonic is using one of the video formats employed by major movie studios from Hollywood (no hint on the actual name of the format, though).

Of course, no pricing (or availability) details for this very innovative display system have been provided for the time being. However, given just how innovative this technology is, you can be pretty sure that it's going to sell for a huge amount of money and it will be several years before it will actually make its way to a few people's homes (not counting Bill Gates or other billionaires here).


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