Sony Demo'ing 360 Degree 3-D Tabletop Display

JoshuaInNippon writes "Sony announced via a Japanese press release that they will be showing off a prototype of a tabletop 360 degree 3-D display that can be seen in any direction without special glasses at the Digital Content Expo 2009 in Tokyo, from October 22-25. The device is quite small, at just over 10 inches tall and 5 inches in diameter. The display, using LEDs, currently supports an image that is 96 pixels wide by 128 pixels tall, with 24-bit full color. Sony also says it could have a number of applications, such as a digital sign, a digital frame, a medical display, or a virtual pet. Looking at the product image, who else wants to bet on the latter?)"

Comments

Hmm...

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

How about an application that, using the webcam, grabs an image of the user's face and then wraps it onto a 3d model of a little head on this display.

Your own tiny, somewhat distorted face would stare at you for a while, and then begin a high, thin, tormented wailing, smashing itself against the confines of the display tube. It's like a screensaver; but with more sanity damage.

Re:Hmm...

[Sponge Bath]

Your own tiny, somewhat distorted face would stare at you for a while, and then begin a high, thin, tormented wailing, smashing itself against the confines of the display tube.

Just like the old days of reading /. with a reflective CRT screen.

96 pixels wide by 128 pixels tall

[oldspewey]

96 pixels wide by 128 pixels tall

If this thing is a 3D display, shouldn't there be another pixel dimension quoted here?

Re:96 pixels wide by 128 pixels tall

[spun]

96 pixels wide by 128 pixels tall

If this thing is a 3D display, shouldn't there be another pixel dimension quoted here?

I'd settle for an explanation of how the thing works.

Re:96 pixels wide by 128 pixels tall

[OzPeter]

96 pixels wide by 128 pixels tall

If this thing is a 3D display, shouldn't there be another pixel dimension quoted here?

It is probably one of the spinning mirror type displays. They project different 96 x 128 pixel images onto a spinning mirror depending on the angular position of the mirror. So the 3rd dimension that is probably missing is the minimum angular feature within the 360 degrees.

Re:96 pixels wide by 128 pixels tall

[RocketRocketship]

I'd guess it uses a spinning mirror. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FiR2rGv7i4

Needs to be bigger

[lymond01]

Fun, but kind of useless at that size, unless you're R2D2 and have a vital message for an older Jedi warrior. I can envision floor and ceiling mounted projection units mounted flush that will do this sort of thing to display mannequins, advertisements, and battle station blueprints. I would think with a large enough angle from the floor and ceiling you wouldn't need any side projectors.

From FTA:

[amicusNYCL]

If you had such a 360 degree 3d display, what would you use it for?

I don't know about anyone else, but I would use mine to project a 3d representation of a crudely drawn penis.

Re:From FTA:

[ArsonSmith]

I'd use mine to plan an assault on a partially completed Deathstar.