Spectral Edge has unveiled a smart HDMI adapter that's designed to enhance the TV viewing experience for colorblind users, without significantly impacting what "color normals" see. The company is hoping to bring the product to market via a crowdfunding effort.
Spectral Edge first announced the Eyeteq image enhancement technology that's at the heart of the Eye2TV back in December 2014. Based on research from the University of East Anglia, the idea is fairly simple – selectively replacing certain colors on a frame-by-frame basis to allow colorblind viewers to more clearly see the difference between red and green.
What's more, the method reportedly doesn't negatively impact the viewing experience for those who aren't colorblind. To those viewers, the effect of the device is barely perceptible, with the resulting image appearing as normal.
The Eye2TV adapter is designed to bring the Eyeteq technology to market, working with any HDMI video source, including set top boxes and games consoles. The device will plug into any TV or monitor HDMI port, but also requires a spare USB port for power, similar to Google's Chromecast dongle.
The device comes with a small remote that can be used to adjust the intensity of the color correction to suit the needs of the user, and the company plans to launch an Android and iOS app which can also be used to control the adapter.
Spectral Edge claims that the benefits of the product will be particularly evident when viewing certain types of content, such as team sports and video games, where it's important to be able to easily differentiate between teams or on-screen characters.
The adapter recently hit Kickstarter, aiming to raised US$150,000. If you're interested in owning the product, you can pledge US$74 to secure a single unit. Providing the funding target is met, the company plans to send out units to backers in March 2016.
Sources: Spectral Edge, Kickstarter