The 2011 IFA - the world's largest trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances held in early September each year - saw the first public demonstration of Toshiba's stunning new no glasses 3D TV. Labelled in Europe as the 55ZL2, it's known in Japan as the 55X3.
The 55 inch LED backlit, lenticular screen TV works with Full Quad HD (FQHD) resolution
displaying 3840 x 2160 pixels. Amazingly that's four times as many pixels as a 1920 x 1080p 3D TV. Don't expect too much though. The maximum resolution supported currently by the 3D movies themselves is 'just' 1820 x 720, so 4k is a bit of overkill.
The 3D effect is delivered via lenticular lenses which create nine different perspectives or views of each single 3D frame - a sheet of convex lenses on top of the display controls how light emits from it and delivers the images at an angle to each eye - thus creating the difference in images our brain needs to 'see' in 3D. Lenticular lenses have another benefit in that they make it possible to see multiple different images from multiple angles, in effect allowing more than one person to view at the same time.
Early reports suggest it doesn't quite deliver the same immersive experience you get with active shutter 3D sets or even some of the passive sets, although 2D is expected to be of ultra high quality thanks to the Full Quad HD. Having said that, the model is the best yet seen using a without glasses solution.
Toshiba are attempting to solve the problem of viewing positions by use of the TVs CEVO-ENGINE which uses a face tracking solution to detect positions of the viewers. This uses a camera positioned below the display which recognises how many people are watching and where they're seated in order to deliver the 3D images so everyone gets the same effect. The face tracking feature is enabled by a button on the remote control.
Aside from it's 3D imaging capability, the 55ZL2 3D TV also offers full Smart TV functions via connection to the Toshiba online solution, known as Toshiba Places. The model also offers control over backlit LED screen to allow for accurate colors and strong black levels, along with networking capability and a USB HDD that gives the option of recording two programs at the same time. REGZA tablets can also be connected as another content source.
Japanese consumers are going to be the first to find out just how good it really is, with an expected sales release in Japan around mid December 2011.
The 55ZL2 is expected to sell for around $11000 or roughly £7400, a price tag that makes it look unbuyable. However Toshiba will have studied their potential market, and there will be buyers. In fact they're targetting sales of around 1000 per month initially, with that figure growing when consumers outside Japan get the chance to buy. There's no current news on availability dates outside Japan, though the CES show early in 2012 should give us come concrete news.