Sharp, Japan's largest maker of liquid-crystal displays, said Friday its researchers in Britain have developed a flat-panel display for either two- or three-dimensional viewing that does not require special glasses.
The company added it aimed to set up a consortium with major high-tech companies such as Sony and Microsoft to promote the new technology.
"In the same way that black-and-white TVs switched to color, we really think displays are going to switch to 3D,'' Stephen Bold, managing director of Sharp Laboratories of Europe, said after a news conference.
He expects the displays will initially draw interest largely for use in game machines but will eventually be used widely in products from PCs to TVs.
Mikio Katayama, general manager of Sharp's mobile LCD group, said volume production of the screens will start within the next few months and the first products using them will hit the market early next year.
Three-dimensional displays that need no special glasses have been around for some time, Bold said. But the main challenge was making it possible to switch between the ordinary 2D mode and 3D with the push of a button, while providing the same image resolution in the 2D mode as in a standard display without 3D capability.
News source: ZDNet
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