The company is initially releasing two new models, the 12GL1, equipped with a small 12” display and the 20GL1, featuring a larger 20” display. The 20” TV will have a 720p resolution while the 12” will feature a 466 x 350 display. These may not sound like much when compared to today's huge HD TV's, but limiting factors in technology are still restricting the screen size of no-glasses 3D displays.

 

To achieve the no-glasses 3D effect, Toshiba's engineers used multi-parallax technology to provide nine different perspectives to each 2D frame which the viewer's brain then superimposes to create fully 3-dimensional images. The Nintendo 3DS also uses parallax barrier technology to achieve no-glasses 3D.

 

Toshiba engineers developed a powerful engine and algorithm to extrapolate these perspectives out of the 2D frame and used a perpendicular lenticular sheet (also found on the no-glasses FinePix REAL 3D W3 camera) and an array of lenses to enable the viewer's brain to correctly process the images.

 

Toshiba claims this new technology will help to remove the discomfort some users experience when viewing no-glasses 3D displays, but didn't expand on how exactly this would be done. The company says viewers will be able to move their eyes and head around when watching the TV without the image being disrupted.

 

These new TV's will also still work perfectly well when watching normal 2D images. Sasha Lange, head of marketing and visual products at Toshiba Europe commented on the matter saying, “with its new 3D TV's without glasses Toshiba once again aims to offer the highest possible picture quality. The new TV's do not compromise on the 2D experience, they switch between 3D and 2D mode in a few seconds.”

 

Toshiba's new 3D TV's will be available in Japan in December 2010, let's just hope the rest of the world won't have to wait too long to join in.