In a special session on glasses-free 3D at NAB, we had a chance to hear a presentation from China-based Global 3D Media and see some of its handheld products. While it is a Chinese company, it now has R&D groups in the US as well as Germany that have developed a patent portfolio of over 100 patents, glasses-free products and a cloud-based open source media platform. The company has invested over $100M in R&D.
So far, the company says it has developed 3D mobile devices, indoor and outdoor advertising screens, retail screens and 3D cinema screens – all glasses-free. To support commercialization, it also offers media services such as 2D-to-3D conversion, film production, 3D audio services and engineering and consulting.
The company feels that millennials are the best target audience for 3D. To support delivering AS-3D content to this audience, it has developed the XSTR33M streaming platform. This is based on WebM codec and a proprietary format that allows any 3D capable device to play the content at up to 720p per eye without a plug-in, codec or media player. It will also allow sharing of 3D videos, images and CGI models using WebGL standards to render 3D content in a browser.
The key technology for its screens is a “new thin multilayer composite optical element.” We don’t know what that means, but it was on a slide that was titled “the barrier difference”, so we would assume it is based on this technology. This is notorious for creating reversed 3D images, which the company says it has mitigated.
The company has just set up an office in New York and is now developing plans to try to bring its AS-3D products and services to the likes of T-Mobile, AT&T and Best Buy. The company also noted it is having success in China and showed a number of distribution partners.
After the presentation, we had a chance to see the two mobile phones with a 7” or 6” AS-3D display. This is a fully featured smartphones (photo). There is also a fully-featured tablet with a 10” AS-3D display. These devices were OK, but without eye tracking, the “waviness” is apparent with any movement.
The company also has a 55” TV using a 4K panel as well as 55” FHD video wall panels with a 7mm bezel width.
