XpanD is offering a solution to the frustration of having to potentially purchase numerous sets of brand-specific glasses in order to enjoy 3D content on different televisions and 3D-enabled devices. Its X103 active shutter glasses are said to work on almost all new 3D-ready TVs, no matter the brand.
This year is being hailed as the year of 3D. And with it comes yet another chance for manufacturers to make proprietary peripherals essential for three-dimensional viewing enjoying. Many of the recent 3D television announcements were accompanied by news that the pair of glasses buyers will need to watch content will be brand specific, so your Samsung glasses won't work when you visit friends to watch the game on their Panasonic set.
In the XpanD X103 there is promise of a solution. The company claims to "deliver unparalleled freedom by offering the universal 3D viewing technology in any environment, on any device!" Unlike passive polarized solutions which use filters to feed eye specific images to the brain, the active shutter glasses utilize a fast-switching, liquid crystal technology known as "Pi-Cell" which rapidly blocks alternate eyes in refresh sync with the separate left and right eye images being shown on the screen, thus creating the illusion of stereoscopic vision and depth perception.
XpanD claims that its technology offers "the fastest shutter speed in the market today" which should give users "optimal Stereoscopic 3D images without any ghosting, minimal light loss and no visual distortion". The batteries are said to last around 250 hours and are user replaceable and the X103 glasses use various methods to communicate with "a very wide range of stereoscopic applications from the Cinema to the PC".
XpanD's Ami Dror said of the development: "The main problem with display-linked active glasses lies within the incapability to use these glasses with a 3D TV that is manufactured by another brand. While we support TV manufacturers by manufacturing glasses for them, we are also requested by the same manufacturers to sell universal active glasses that will work with all the modern 3D TVs. TV retailers cannot maintain 15 different models of glasses to support 15 different TV brands, rental AV companies cannot do it, and even 3D broadcasters ask for a universal pair of glasses that they can provide their 3D channel subscribers."
The company claims that users will even be able to take their XpanD X103's to the cinema with them when going to see a 3D movie. The X103's should be available in the summer, pricing is yet to be finalized.