Harrods Sells Holographic TV

beuh_dave writes "Harrods is selling a holographic TV, CLARO, for £15,000. The Holoscreen is a revolutionary holographic film which displays any image fed through a projector at a specific angle on to a transparent display. All other light is ignored. The result is a remarkably bright and sharp image quality - even in brightly lit environments."

Comments

Layers

[EdZ]

If it could me modified to only accept projected light from a given angle (grating or a very highly polarised filter perhaps?), sevaral projectors could be used to 'layer' screens into a 3d block display. Expensive, but for people who NEED high quality 3d displays then money is most likely not an object.

Re:Layers

[JohnFluxx]

A grating was my first thought. It only needs to be very very thin. Basically the idea is to have a micrometer thick layer that looks like this:

\ \ \ \ \ \

You can image the \ is a gap, and the white space is some material. Only light with the correct angle will fit perfectly into the gap and be bounced back.

This is roughly how holograms work, and is called a diffraction grating. (A grating produced from the diffraction between the object light and some reference light)

Another thought is that they use the brusters angle somehow. If the light is polarised, it would appear brightest (or dimmest, depending on which way is polarised) at exactly 34 degrees to the plate. (For glass that is anyway).

DIY version?

[angryflute]

Pardon my ignorance, but can't something like this be done with any LCD projector and piece of glass (covered with a one-way reflective material)?

Re:DIY version?

[polyp2000]

I've seen it done - I've seen a few banks and building societies with them dangling in front of the windows. First time i saw one I thought some crazy but amazing display technology had appeared without me hearing about it. When I realised how it was done I thought it was a cool idea but its hardly the height of tech, Its basically a sheet of glass with a "Frosted" panel in the middle. an ordinary common or garden projector displaying the image. I cant say the image was as bright and sharp as they are making these claro things out to be though.

Re:Cool

[Bertie]

Like this?

Re:This isn't really "holographic"

[CodeRx]

Hide the projector in the wall / ceiling and this would be a much better trick - just a sheet of glass with a "magic" image on it.

Re:Claro tv link

[Inda]

Looks good.

I'm wondering how much of the picture will be displayed on the ceiling after it's passed through the glass? That would not look good.

Two years selling them

[Anonymous Coward]

My company, Venue Telecom has been selling this kind of screens for two years now. (We are located in Spain but sell worldwide)

It's very good, with a good contrast and bright, but it's only for inside. Sun light makes image almost imposible to view.

Indeed, we have another screen of this kind that is just a slim film. You can stick it to a shop window and it simply rocks.

If you are interested in buying one, just e-mail me: pgquiles@SPAMPROTECTIONvenuetelecom.com.

HelioDisplay

[bitrex]

Not holographic, but I think something like the Heliodisplay http://www.io2technology.com/dojo/178/v.jsp is a lot more impressive, considering it can display images in free space "Help me Obi-Wan" style, without any screen whatsoever. Now if only something could be done about its $19,000 price tag...

So?

[KiroDude]

What would be the main difference from projecting the image into a wall instead of that plastic thing in the middle of your living room??
You save space!
This is another one of those "must haves" that you really do not need...

Re:This isn't really "holographic"

[idobi]

Not only that, but:

In a standard instillation the projector sits on the floor about 5 feet behind the screen, so while the bulkiness of rear projection screens has literally vanished, it actually occupies a greater amount of space.

It takes up way more space than a regular projection tv, but let's market it in a way that makes it sound really cool!

Seen it, appreciated it, eh.

[maggard]

Last year a shop in downtown Montreal had this in their window. It was interesting for novelty value, mebbe designers would go gaga over it. I could imagine some uses for it.

The hook was it being video, apparently floating in the shop window. No wires, no frame, in was creepily like Picture-In-Picture for the real world.

In the brightly lit shop window the image was equally bright, whatever in the ceiling driving it was pretty powerful. The only evidence there was anything 'going on' at all, beyond a block of video floating in space, was two, nearly invisible, mono-filament lines holding up the sheet of plastic. Also from the sides of the shop window one could spot the edges of the plastic if one looked carefully at the edge of the bright moving distracting video (in short - not obvious at all.)

Uses aside from novelty value?

Well as many folks have noted this is just an improvement on the old frosted-sheet-of-plastic trick so anywhere that goes this can can too. Places where you want a display with the only accessible part being a bit of plastic, like in public venues. Also spots where you don't want a lot of hardware 'hanging around' but want a cleaner look.

I could see this being popular for indoor stadiums, hanging off the edge of the deck above. Those fans are woefully under-served with TV during games (sarcasm).

Airports are gonna love this. Many have gone from banks of big CRTs squatting over folks to frames of flat panels, this will be the next step in their search for sleek 22nd century tax-paid coolness.

Designers, heck yeah! The mantra has been "thin is in", but they've still been vexed by cables and how to handle that awkward screen when it's not in use. Here is something that can mounted in the ceiling ($$$), the screen put in a convenient corner, and (with the house cleaner dusting it regularly) won't spoil the elegant lines of the room with evidence of proletarian TV tastes. I bet HGTV just ordered a shipping container of 'em.

For the rest of us? Unless you've got a real desire for 'floating TV' I bet most /.'ers would rather spend their money on more features & toys then just 'look it *floats*!'.

YMMV.

Re:This isn't really "holographic"

[tod_miller]

I have actually seen a home brew on of these in a local store, basically rear projection onto a carefully planned or hacked refraction grid (I cannot wait for make your own sites to be out there)

The point is, if it gives a good picture I would use a 45 angled mirror to reflect a projector from the ceiling onto this surface.

Not a transparent solution (because of a mirror) but takes up only about 1 meter behind, and the mirror can fold up into the tv to just be a free standing mirror.

Add a small motor to the wires holding it and it can go up and down auto matically and the projector can start.

child safety is an issue, all that glass seems more scarey that even a large CRT with a vacuum inside.