WSJ: Google X Display Team Works Toward Bezel-Free Modular Displays

The Wall Street Journal reports in a paywalled article that a team under Pixel Qi founder and OLPC co-founder Mary Lou Jepsen at Google's skunkwork labs Google X is working on modular video displays that could be expanded by snapping them together "like Lego." Ars Technica, TechSpot, The Verge, and several others summarize the claims made by "three people familiar with the project"; here's a snippet from TechSpot's version: Even in the home and office, the use of multiple displays isn’t uncommon but just like with larger implementations often used for advertising purposes, screen bezels are always a problem. Bezels are less visible from a distance but up close, they pretty much ruin the experience. The scope and target audience for the project is unclear at this hour as we are told the project is currently in an early stage. One of the biggest challenges is figuring out how to stitch images together across screens, both electronically and through software.

Comments

Desperate Times?

[danknight48]

Posting for a paywall article? Budget must be low at Slashdot to advertise for wallstreet journal.
You getting 20% of the signup costs?

Great article i bet, shame i'am too fucking tight to give you 20p to read it.

Re:Desperate Times?

[aardvarkjoe]

This has been going on forever -- it used to be back in the early 2000s that every other article was a link to the New York Times with a "subscription required" warning.

People frequently used to request an option to get rid of postings that linked to pay sites, but we never got it. Although at least we eventually got the "Shut Up JonKatz" option.

Re:Desperate Times?

[icejai]

Too tight or too lazy.

Just copy/paste the WSJ article title into google, and click the link.

You kids...

One of the biggest challenges?

[wisnoskij]

One of the biggest challenges is figuring out how to stitch images together across screens, both electronically and through software.

Umm, Every OS on the market already does this when you hook multiple monitors up to it.

Re:wait for a few more gens of Oculus Rift

[maynard]

Carmack's keynote at the 2014 Oculus Connect conference said it would take several more generations before Samsung would have panels that could support seamless 120 fps. Apparently there's a problem with peripheral vision noticing 60fps with a significant number of people. Basically, Samsung is focused on developing panels for the phone market and Oculus piggypacks on that development line. They don't have the market penetration to drive display research.

The most interesting part of his discussion was proposing interlaced formats and variable refresh rates with G-sync to up the perceived refresh rate around peripheral vision.

The talk is about 90 minutes and - ironically - audio is not synced with video. Still, he doesn't talk much bullshit and it's an interesting listen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Ya know what's harder than lining up the pixels?

[waferbuster]

You know what's harder than lining up the pixels perfectly on adjacent panels? Getting the brightness, contrast, color, and gamma matched. It's not as noticable when screens are separated on your desk, but put them side by side and all those little hot and cold spots are going to create a very noticable demarcation line at the seam.

Re:Skeptical of seamless images / Ars Project

[ihtoit]

I reckon it'd be like Lego. A 4-stud panel (that's 4-stud wide, standard height) would have a 16:10 aspect, a 2-stud 8:10. Tile a row of 4s, then the next row would consist of a 2, then 4s and a 2 at the other end - just like building a Lego brick wall. The panels would necessarily need to sport the same dot pitch, and the studs form part of the electronics to align the panels. Because the interlocks are in the same positions relative to the vertical edge on all the panels, they align themselves and you get a seamless horizontal join. The vertical seams would probably require some sort of coating to prevent abrasion as you connect the panels, and the whole kit can be controlled via a single stud unit (or even a 2 or 4 stud as part of a stand?) which feeds from a single output unit (like say, an UHD output from an SLI rig) and would probably have the ability to sense and count the number, type/s and relative positions of the connected panels and send outputs accordingly. Yes, it's like screen spanning in Windows (done it with a 4-screen setup by hacking cases, the result was pretty nice with only a 1/8" join which you barely, and I mean barely noticed from four feet away. The bugbear I had with that was the EIGHT cables the setup needed just for the screens and the fact that I had to set up the panels manually! Some sort of positional sensor would make that a lot less of an issue)

The other question would be one of intended use. For a wraparound, the wall would need to be curved to account for the proximity of the player otherwise you lose a lot in perspective. This can (and does) ruin it for gamers. For a video wall, this can be flat as you'll be viewing it from a distance.

Through all of that though, I think anything more than 48" diagonal and you're really looking at a projector otherwise you're spending obscene amounts of money on lots of heavy glass. A 48" wall built with 16" monitors is nine monitors.