Toshiba auto-s3D TVs Will Be Available in Japan by December

[Silversurfer]

After we heard Toshiba would be showcasing glasses-less 3DTVs before the year's end, we started looking forward to the beginning of the end for cumbersome glasses. Japan's got 'em first, but at $2,900 for a 20-incher I don't mind.

Pictured above is the 20-inch 20GL1, which appears to have a bottom-heavy bezel area and fairly large stand. It's an LED-backlit panel with 1,280 x 720 resolution, and has HDMI ports alongside a USB, and can handle LAN and Tosh's Regza Link for single-remote usage. Inside, Toshiba's cell processor is ticking away

The 12-inch 12GL1 is LED-backlit with a 466 x 350 resolution, and unlike the 20GL1 it's not powered using the cell processor. It does however have the same HDMI and USB ports and is LAN and Regza Link-compatible. It sounds almost like a glorified digital photo album at that size, with the SD card slot perfect for sliding memory cards in with photo files.

We'd previously heard that Toshiba was using multi-parallax technology to make the 3D work without glasses. It works similarly to Sharp's parallax barrier tech, only doesn't have a "sweet spot" because it has nine different perspectives for each 2D frame, as opposed to the two for Sharp's displays. While there's no perfect medium for viewing the 3D, Toshiba does say that 90cm from the 20-incher and 65cm away from the 12-incher are the ideal distances to view from.

No locales outside of Japan have been mentioned for these TVs yet, so I guess we've just got to wait and see how the Japanese respond to this low-res, but sans-glasses 3DTV that costs more than a 50-inch plasma. It'll cost the equivalent of $2,900 for the 20GL1 and $1,450 for the 12GL1. Yes, I'm glad Japan will be roadtesting these models first.

In case you're still wondering—yes, 2D viewing is also possible on these panels. And nope, glasses aren't required for that either—unless you're a four-eyed monster like yours truly. [CrunchGear]



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[cybereality]

That has got to be the biggest bezel I have ever seen. This TV better look banging with a case like that.