Up until recently, 3D displays were regarded at somewhat of a technological curiosity, with a very restricted area of use (mostly advertising) and selling for some pretty prohibitive sums. While the cost of this technology has remained at a very high level, its range of possible uses and applications has diversified quite a lot, several companies getting involved in this field that promises to be huge in the future.

And as Jose Fermoso reports for Wired, in order to maintain its status as the leading innovator in this particular field, Philips has decided that it was about time to shed some more light on its very impressive 3D technology. So, at a 3D event (Biz-Ex conference) held in Hollywood (where else?), the company unveiled its Quad Full Autosteroscopic 3D HD TV, a 56-inch device capable of outputting an amazing 3840x2160 (or 8.29 million pixels), four times the number of pixels of the highest HDTV standard.

One of the main advantages provided by autosteroscopic screens is their capacity to create good depth perception without the use of special glasses. Furthermore, since it's capable of delivering such a huge number of pixels at very high speeds (way faster than anything the human eye can actually perceive), the device is able to “trick” the human eye into believing that it's actually seeing images in 3 dimensions, while in reality the left and right eyes see the exact same image, transmitted at different speeds.

Currently, Philips' widest 3D-enabled display available on the market, the 42-inch 3D WOWvx (42-3D6W02), retails for around 13,000 US dollars, but the industry estimates for the future 57 incher say something about a $25,000 price tag, which will make it way, way too expensive for the large majority of users out there.


We are just a few, but there are many of you, Softpedia users, out there. That's why we thought it would be a good idea to create an email address for you to help us a little in finding gadgets we missed. Interesting links are bound to be posted with recognition going mainly to those who submit. The address is .