Toshiba has had a rough go of it in the past two years; dwindling share of the TV market, the demise of HD DVD, and the recent decision to back away from OLED technology. The HD DVD fight was a bitter one for the company (even though their machines were great...I still have two) and we're sure it was tough to release Blu-ray players after all the smoke cleared. Our own Rachel Cericola recently reviewed the flagship BDX2700 and had nothing but high praise for it. The reality is that Toshiba needed something "big" to make a splash and what they released at the CEATEC show today in Japan was more like a Tsunami: two 3D TV models that present the illusion of 3D without the need for 3D glasses. While not exactly the 50-inch+ models that will lead to a stampede at your local Best Buy, they are interesting enough to make us think that this 3D TV thing might have some legs to it.
Let's face it; the single most annoying thing about 3D TV is that you need to wear those insanely overpriced and uncomfortable glasses. I wore glasses as a kid. Hated every minute of it. I don't even like wearing sunglasses when I fish, so it's going to be a stretch for me to wear them at home for 120 minutes (or double that for a Cameron movie). I think a lot of people feel that way. The price is also a major barrier for consumers. $600 for a family of four in the middle of a recession -- and that's just for the glasses, mind you -- is not smart marketing. There is even a sizable segment of consumers who swear that they can't see images in 3D, so the technology is of no interest to them at all. Toss in a serious lack of content (Avatar isn't playing on anyone's system at home as far as we know), and some rather iffy 3D movies at your local MoviePlex (major thumbs down to my local AMC theater that had the balls to charge $14 recently for a 3D showing of the excellent The Legends of the Guardians), you quickly realize how tenuous this looks.
Toshiba's release today of the 20-inch 20GLI and 12-inch 12GLI LED-backlit 3D TVs that don't require glasses is a major step in the right direction. The $2,900 price tag for the 20GLI isn't going to go over well with consumers, but it is to be expected. The 12-inch 12GLI is going to be $1,450 (the equivalent in U.S. shekels). The 20GLI is a LED-backlit panel with 1,280 x 720 resolution, HDMI and USB ports, and LAN as well. Toshiba's Regza link is also included. The set is powered by Toshiba's cell processor.
The 12-inch 12GLI is also a LED-backlit set with 466 x 350 resolution, HDMI and USB ports, and is LAN and Regza-link enabled. Kudos to our buddies at Gizmodo who called this one the world's coolest digital photo album (can't wait to see my wrinkles in 3D).
Toshiba is utilizing multi-parallax technology to make the 3D work without those pesky glasses. One cool thing is that the TV doesn't have a viewing sweet spot because it has nine different perspectives for each 2D frame (and yes, 2D viewing is also possible on these sets). Toshiba did state at the press conference that 90cm (about 3 feet) from the 20-inch model and 65cm (about 26 inches) from the 12-inch model are the proper viewing distances.
Until we get our hands on one of these beauties, we won't know how well the technology works, but thumbs up to Toshiba for taking the plunge.
For more information:
