Posted By
Justin Davis
February 15, 2012 at 7:42am
3D televisions have reached the point of heavy market penetration in the last year, but consumers still aren't buying them in large quantities like manufacturers and movie studios had hoped. One of the reasons for this is the fact that so many sets require viewers to wear cumbersome glasses. Another is the lack of widely available 3D content. StreamTV has resolved to solve both of these issues with its real-time 3D technology that doesn't require glasses. UltraD combines a couple of innovative technologies to make 3D more accessible to the masses.
The most interesting part of UltraD is its ability to convert 2D video into 3D video. Source content only needs to be connected to an UltraD-enabled TV or an UltraD box, and the UltraD technology seamlessly makes 2D content viewable in 3D. It's similar to how some Blu-ray players and high-end DVD players can upconvert DVDs to HD resolution. While other technologies have tried to convert 2D to 3D, UltraD is different because of the superb job it does in converting. There's no loss of quality in the 3D images provided by UltraD.
Another aspect of UltraD's 3D conversion is the flexibility of the platform as a whole. It's not built to only work with DVDs or only work with cable television. UltraD can be implemented into any platform. This means that in addition to television and DVD content, unlikely sources such as laptops and mobile phones can also be converted to 3D. UltraD also works on any type of content, whether it's animated, live-action or computer generated imagery. This goes above and beyond what we've come to expect from providers of 2D conversion services. Between the high-quality conversions provided by UltraD, as well as the flexibility of the platform, there's no reason not to be excited for the potential that UltraD offers.
Of course, converting to 3D isn't the only exciting aspect of UltraD. As we mentioned, UltraD is also glasses-free, making it ideal for viewers who find glasses to be tedious or uncomfortable. This is nothing new, as we've seen glasses-free 3D displays start to pop up in every avenue over the last several months. Toshiba and other companies unveiled glasses-free displays at CES. Even outside of the television industry, companies such as Nintendo and HTC have included 3D displays on their products that don't require glasses. The drawback with these displays has been that they only work from a certain angle. In the case of the glasses-free televisions that were demonstrated at CES, cameras tracked viewer movement to adjust the angle at which 3D would work. For older glasses-free displays, the viewer had to be centered in front of the screen and at a certain distance.
UltraD avoids this pitfall entirely. Displays equipped with the technology employ what StreamTV referred to as "multiview watching," letting users view the screen from almost any angle without concern over whether the 3D effect will be present. This lets viewers experience full 3D without worrying about the quality of the picture and how noticeable it will be. The technology is also designed to work on displays of virtually any size. Even though the company showed off UltraD on large displays, it's able to function on screens as small as four inches.
UltraD was impressive at CES, and it has the potential to reshape the 3D television market if it's implemented properly. It removes the two biggest factors that have stunted the growth of the 3D industry to this point, and very well might turn out to be the catalyst that causes the 3D market to finally reach its potential. With all of this in mind, it's clear that the time to get excited for UltraD is now.