Flat Screens
Go Deep
– and More
BY HANK HOGAN
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
The Duchess of Windsor was half right, at least as far as displays are concerned: They really never can be too thin, as evidenced by
the rise of flat screens of all va-
rieties and of displays that can be virtually
anywhere. But as for being too rich, she
was partially wrong. On the one hand,
displays can definitely be too expensive, in
either initial cost or ongoing energy con-
sumption. However, they can never do too
much, as shown by screens that accept
input via multifinger touch.
Recent advances promise to help displays on all of these fronts. Some of the
applications that will result from these
technological innovations will be fairly
standard, noted Paul Drzaic. He’s president of the Society for Information Display, the professional organization for
those in display research, design, manufacturing, applications and marketing.
But some of the new uses enabled by
the novel display technologies are anything but the norm, Drzaic said. “There
are new application areas, brand-new
things people haven’t seen before. 3-D
displays would fall into that category.”
A look reveals recent advances in display technology, as well as ongoing
trends. Together they show what may be
coming soon to a screen near you.
Soon in three dimensions
One of the biggest emerging trends involves something that promises to bring
displays into the real world. Despite what
can be seen on screens, the world isn’t
flat. Although attempts that date back
decades have been made to correct this,
the third dimension has been missing. Displays today present videos, still pictures
and everything else in 2-D.
That is about to change. Advances in
technology have made viewing and generation of 3-D content easier and less expensive than ever. That, in turn, is expected to
drive the deployment of 3-D movies,
games, photos and television. The arrival
sequence is expected to be in roughly that
order because of two intertwined requirements, according to Jennifer Colegrove,
director of display technologies at Dis-playSearch. The Austin, Texas-based firm
tracks flat panel display markets and technologies.
As she explained when talking about
the last category, “3-D TV relies on several factors. One, is the display technology
available? Another, is there 3-D content on
the TV or DVD?”
On the content side, she noted that 3-D
movies already exist, with perhaps a
dozen in the pipeline and expected to premiere over the next 12 to 18 months. Television broadcasts in 3-D, however, are so
