Philips WOWvx 3D Display Technology

The 1950’s saw a rush of 3D technology productions to the big screen. Warner Bros released House of Wax in 1953 which coincidently was also one of the first features to have stereophonic sound. A later legendary SciFi hit, Creature from the Black Lagoon, was successful enough to spawn two sequels. The 3D star burnt bright for a time but, faded due to shortcomings such as; the requirement for two prints, difficult synchronization requirements and a limited field of view (due to angular darkening). 3D has had a long absence from cinema screens but, has recently made it back with releases such as Meet the Robinsons.

Philips WOWvx 3D Display

Common to all the 1950’s 3D feature films was the necessity for audiences to wear red and green lens glasses. Even then, they were not considered attractive or convenient. Is it possible to have a 3D display technology without glasses? A number of manufacturers have been working on such a 3D solution including Philips which has its’ WOWvx technology.

Philips’ WOWvx 3D technology enables many viewers to see a display’s 3D effect simultaneously. The technology has generally been known as autostereoscopic 3D and has been characterized as requiring the trade off of image resolution to create a suitably large number of viewing zones over a wide field in front of the display. We will have a look at Philips improvements to the technology.

3D Viewing

It is the separation distance between our eyes and the slightly different perspective of images from the left and right retinas that allows the human brain to perceive depth or the three dimensional quality to our vision that we are all familiar with. So, all 3D display technologies must in some way provide different images to the left and right eyes.

One thing to remember with 3D display technologies is that although they provide depth perception, you are stuck with what the cameras which recorded the scene have been focused upon. Unlike real life, you cannot use your own eyes to refocus on something elsewhere in the field of view that is blurred because it is at a different depth to the focal point.

Philips Multi-view Lenticular Lens Technology

Lectilinear Display

Philips 3D display technology relies on covering an active matrix display, such as and LCD, with a transparent lenticular sheet. If one was to look closely at the lenticular sheet, one would see continuous vertically aligned waves of partial cylinder shaped lenses. The sheet is fixed so that the image plane of the LCD is at the focal plane of the lenses. If a viewer looks at the display they will see the LCD pixels directly under a lens with one eye and pixels off to one side of the lens centerline with the other eye. This allows a different image to be supplied to each eye which, as discussed, is the basis for producing 3D vision. The repetitions of the lenses across the screen allow entire frames can be projected in different directions in front of the screen.

Thinking about this 3D display technique, one can see how, as in all 3D displays, resolution has been traded off to provide depth as pixels which would provide higher 2D resolution are providing the depth perception instead. However, Philips maintain their technique minimizes the reduction and maintains a more balanced pixel shape.

Lectilinear Display

Importantly, due to limited 3D source video, a Philips WOWvx 3D technology display has the flexibility to also show 2D video. A switch from 3D to 2D video source is automatically detected and the switch to 2D mode made by a patented process of applying an electrical charge to the liquid crystals. Application of the electrical charge alters the liquid crystals refractive index and, in effect, makes the lenticular layer become non-refractive stopping the supply of separate images at different angles required for 3D display.

Philips’ BlueBox - Producing 3D Content

Obviously acknowledging the current lack of 3D source video, Philips have developed The BlueBox software suite. The suite is an interactive 3D software tool set for 3D content creation and conversion of 2D video into a format compatible with Philips 3D WOWxv displays.

WOWvx Community Website

To foster a community around their 3D technology, Philips have developed the WOWvx 3D community website as an online meeting place for the members of the WOWvx industry. At the site visitors can learn about the WOWvx 3D technology, view and download WOWvx content and source WOWxv video.

Philips WOWvx 3D Technology Display Products

Because the present high cost of the WOWvx technology, Philips have been targeting their marketing towards advertisers emphasizing the attention grabbing power of 3D displays. WOWvx displays currently available from Philips include;

a 20-inch 3D WOWvx display for point-of-sale (frame-mount and desktop version) and
a 42-inch 3D WOWvx display for exciting out-of-screen advertising

According to Philips, displays within financial reach of the home viewers will likely be available within two to three years. The first segment of the consumer market likely to be targeted will be the characteristically early adopter gaming community. No wonder then why Philips WOWvx technology will be at the Global Gaming Expo 2007 November 13-15 in Las Vegas.