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NEC to Introduce 3D Laptop Next Year?

Posted by michael on from the eyestrain dept.

Hoon Mihn Fao writes "For those of you for whom 2D laptops are not awesome enough, next year NEC is coming out with a 3D laptop. No, you don't have to wear those retro red and blue glasses, but the monitor is actually an LCD screen placed on top of a conventional monitor. The company is currently seeking gaming software companies to produce games for its technology. Each unit will cost an estimated $200 more than a conventional laptop."

28 of 103 comments (clear)

  1. Huh? by Empiric · · Score: 5, Interesting

    NEC Corp. plans to market a laptop computer next year that can display 3-D images without requiring special glasses... The new laptop will feature a special liquid crystal display panel that is placed on top of a conventional screen. Users will be able to view digital photos of [sic] play online games with the 3-D image display or use the standard panel for viewing Web sites, Nikkei said. ... Mercury3D, a software company in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, will also provide a program that converts standard 2-D images to 3-D on the new laptop, Nikkei said.

    How is this supposed to work? No glasses, a special LCD on top of a standard monitor. How do we get actual or simulated 3D out of this? If it doesn't provide two different perspectives to each eye (as shutter glasses do), presumably the LCD must project the 3D image into midair. And how does the software generate 3D from a 2D image? There isn't enough data in the source image to do this properly. I'm betting vaporware here.

    Anyone have an insight?

    --
    ~ Whence do you come, slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space?
    1. Re:Huh? by boesOne · · Score: 5, Informative

      I dunno the exact method used.. but found this on my fav dutch hardware site : "The monitor contains two TFT panels separated by a parallax barrier, which directs pixel images to two separate regions so that each eye receives a slightly different image. In the end, the brain formulates the signals so that the image appears to be a three-dimensional object, Nakagawa said." So it seems that it is possible to project 2 slightly different images to both eyes without shutterglasses.

    2. Re:Huh? by KH · · Score: 2, Informative

      I read the original japanese nikkei article. Looks like the special LCD is not on ``top'' of the regular monitor, but ``over,'' or covering the first one. I assume that those two screens can produce slightly different images producing 3D illusion.

      Couldn't find anything about this at NEC site

    3. Re:Huh? by watzinaneihm · · Score: 2

      This older slashdot story links to this story at news.com.com.com.com..... .
      At the bottom of that article there is some more information.
      BTW you dont need to project images Midair to get 3d effects. All you need is to get the left and right eye to see different images and your brain will be confused into thinking its 3d. Just make sure a pixel appears different from LHS and the RHS and problem solved.

      --
      .ACMD setaloiv siht gnidaeR
    4. Re:Huh? by PetoskeyGuy · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I've seen these before. The interesting thing is that they are putting them on laptops.

      It works by having 1 standard LCD monitors and one special LCD monitor, one on top of the other. The top one is designed so that the color white shows up as transparent. You need a video card capable of driving two monitors at once, and to take advantage of the effect, you will need software that knows how to display each image. The slight difference in distance between them can make for some interesting 3D displays because your can tell that it really is overlapping.

      Mouse control is a little weird because you have to tell the computer your using top monitor or bottom monitor since they are more or less dual displays. Once software knows how to handle this hardware that could be fixed.

      The projected use I saw was using Maya with your controls on the back monitor and your 3D rendered creation showing up on the "front" monitor, rendered in real time. That was a stand alone monitor, but I'm guessing it's the same technology.

      There is a company that sells desktop LCD monitors for this right now. See http://www.deepvideo.com/

  2. All I need is.. by Dynamoo · · Score: 3, Insightful
    All I need is to figure out a business justification for one now :)

    More impressive 3D spreadsheets? Awesome presentations? Hmmm...

    --
    Never email donotemail@WeAreSpammers.com
  3. Games... by Rumagent · · Score: 5, Funny

    Forget about games. This could usher in a new golden era of pr0n.

    1. Re:Games... by Oscar_Wilde · · Score: 4, Funny

      Forget about games. This could usher in a new golden era of pr0n.

      Too late. Its been done.

      (That isn't a work safe link by the way).

  4. Hope you've got a strong lap by Hieronymus+Howard · · Score: 5, Insightful

    but the monitor is actually an LCD screen placed on top of a conventional monitor.

    A laptop with an LCD screen and a conventional monitor! How big and heavy is this thing going to be?

    HH
    --

    1. Re:Hope you've got a strong lap by delphi125 · · Score: 2, Informative

      The original article says:

      special liquid crystal display panel that is placed on top of a conventional screen.

      A laptop conventionally has an LCD, not a CRT. I don't think they are talking about the Osborne 1.

  5. Ummm ... by BillsPetMonkey · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Will it be able to display hi-res jpg and mpeg images? Will they be better than these 3D jiggly pics?

    --
    "It's not your information. It's information about you" - John Ford, Vice President, Equifax
  6. Window$ by kamakot · · Score: 2, Funny

    So will I get to see Window$ crash in 3d?

  7. All this talk of a visual implementation... by CrackedButter · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And yet no images of the device...ironic some might say?

    --
    Jonathanjk.com
    1. Re:All this talk of a visual implementation... by jokell82 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Maybe for Alanis Morisette...

      --
      I dunno who it is
      but it prolly is fhqwhgads.
  8. I already have a 3D Laptop by Avian+visitor · · Score: 5, Funny
    next year NEC is coming out with a 3D laptop.

    As far as I can see, my laptop has height, width and depth. So it's 3D, right? Does that mean that we can expect thicker laptops in the future (that are of course more 3D than thin ultra portables we can see today?)

    actually an LCD screen placed on top of a conventional monitor.

    This is a really clever idea. Now I can see how they managed to get that real 3D feel. Using a conventional CRT monitor in a laptop certainly adds some third dimension.

    Now I can see what they are planning to do:

    1. Use CRT monitor in a laptop
    2. CRT monitors are cheaper than LCD panels, but laptop with CRT is more 3D, so it can be more expensive than conventional thin ones
    3. ...
    4. PROFIT!! :)
  9. Not a monitor - another LCD by danila · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's important to note that the extra LCD screen is placed on top of conventional LCD display (check the article), not a CRT monitor, as the blurb suggests.

    If it used a CRT monitor, it would hardly be a laptop, wouldn't it?

    --
    Future Wiki -- If you don't think about the future, you cannot have one.
  10. Good by dupper · · Score: 4, Funny
    Good, these 2D laptops are frigging impossible to use in my continuum. I mean, its kinda hard to type when you can't interract with the keyboard.

    What? Read the article? I didn't even read the post. Since when did have we slashdotters read past the title before posting?

  11. Oh, man by jcsehak · · Score: 5, Funny

    For once, I RTFA. And what do I get? About 5 more words than the Slashdot blurb. No pictures, no nothing. That's it -- it's hearsay and conjecture from now on.

    --

    c-hack.com |
  12. Target audience? by ThePyro · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So who are they targetting with this contraption? The hard-core gamers, who are the ones most likely to spend an extra $200 on a gimmick, would scoff at gaming on a laptop. The LCD is still universally acknoledged as inferior to the CRT as far as gaming goes.

  13. You've seen it before by miro2 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Lenticular images

    Remember those little stickers, covered with ridges, where you turn them and watch the image change to one of 5 or 6 possibilities? If a computer screen is covered with verticle ridges, you could control the flow of light to left and right eye from limited viewing angles.

    Such a monitor would only work if the person's head was in certain positions.

    Other technologies are possible which would allow the viewer to be in any position and orientation. Think tiny lenses instead of long ridges.

  14. New improved crash screen by RickyRay · · Score: 5, Funny

    So the famous Windows "blue screen of death" will become the "blue cube of death"? ;-)

  15. [Japanese] articles on this tech by Tx · · Score: 3, Informative

    Seems this page and this one have more info and piccies on this technology. In Japanese, but readable with babelfish.

    --
    Oh no... it's the future.
  16. NEW - Worlds First 3D EULA by falsemover · · Score: 4, Funny

    Introducing the NEW Microsoft 3D EULA; a list box of EULA text with a couple of buttons, oh, and picture of Bill reaching out to grab your nads.

    3D Windows will be a whole new release packed with new features such as the
    - 3D blue screen of death
    - the 3D EULA (previously mentioned)
    - the 3D Microsoft Wallet; reaches right into your pocket and actually installs itself!

    --
    consider coffee a lubricant that helps one penetrate the coding zone
  17. RTFA by aardwolf64 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The new laptop will feature a special liquid crystal display panel that is placed on top of a conventional screen.

    It's not a conventional monitor... We're talking about a laptop here. It's a conventional LCD screen. (In case you're wondering the difference, a monitor is a free-standing device, while a screen is attached to something.)

  18. this technology is being used already by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Check here: http://www.lenticular.biz/3dlcd.html for 3-D monitors for your desktop. I would imagine the laptop is just an extrapolation of this technology. However, I am sure it will be thicker than normal. but for people with "gaming laptops" such as the alienware area-51m, the extra thickness probably won't even be noticeable. it's still easier to lug a thick laptop to a lan party than even a micro desktop.

  19. Layered screens by achurch · · Score: 4, Informative

    Basically, this is correct. Here in Japan, Sharp (at least) has been doing these for a while; my current keitai even has one! I don't know the grisly details offhand, but from what I can tell, there are two layers, each of which are angled towards one of the two eyes; displaying stereoscopic images, one eye's worth on each layer then gives you essentially the same result as those old red+blue+purple displays with the red-and-blue glasses. It's certainly not perfect, but it's an acceptable imitation.

  20. Oh great! by gunix · · Score: 2, Insightful

    this means that laptops will be even more expensive... why isn't anyone interested in creating a linuxable laptop that is not so damn expensive?

    --
    Evolution of Language Through The Ages: 6000 BC : ungh, grrf, booga 2000 AD : grep, awk, sed
  21. Wow. by boola-boola · · Score: 2, Funny
    but the monitor is actually an LCD screen placed on top of a conventional monitor

    ...sounds like portable vertigo, to me! _Exactly_ what I need at 40,000 feet in the air with my ears popping and my stomach ill with air-sickness.