Technology to the Rescue!

July 14, 2005 3:34 PM

Sharp's Dual View LCD Picture in picture isn't new but, by using a parallax barrier superimposed on the LCD, the Sharp Dual View LCD displays two full screen images (Yahoo jpg) simultaneously, you see one or the other depending on your viewing angle.
This could be the end of the battle for the remote control. And no word on the conniptions something like this would give to a PVR.
posted by fenriq (33 comments total)

Audio issue aside, that's a very cool idea.
posted by ktoad at 3:46 PM on July 14, 2005

I want one. I like my bioluminescent LCD screen just fine but this would be substantially cooler.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 3:47 PM on July 14, 2005

All jokes aside:

ktoad, that's right and it would be a killer feature if they provided a channel-switchable headphone distributor with it, like the ones you get on airplanes.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 3:49 PM on July 14, 2005

PVRs don't record off of the television, they record off of the video source upstream of the television. So the PVR won't know or care what the TV is displaying.
posted by George_Spiggott at 3:49 PM on July 14, 2005

George, yes, I know how they work, I was sort of joking but it does raise some new issues. With two signals, how would it know which to record?

And I just had this thought, think how totally cool this could be for two up gaming! You could game head to head and still not be able to see the other guy and you'd both have full screen action! That would be really cool!
posted by fenriq at 4:03 PM on July 14, 2005

fenriq, that's the best possible use of this screen. Now gaming consoles need to support dual video outs.
posted by pmbuko at 4:08 PM on July 14, 2005

Sounds like a solution in search of a problem to me. Very cool, but, er, why...?
posted by salmacis at 4:08 PM on July 14, 2005

Mod note: fixed formatting blip
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:10 PM on July 14, 2005

So I can watch what I want, and the guy sitting next to me on the plane can watch what he wants, and we both have a big screen.
posted by danny the boy at 4:12 PM on July 14, 2005

I wonder if you couldn't just build one yourself by overlaying a lenticular over your monitor and writing a driver that interlaced a vertically split resolution. Seems pretty much what they are doing with the "parallax barrier".
posted by CG at 4:19 PM on July 14, 2005

The application for this for one's computer at the workplace is stunning. You can be goofing off all day but from the cubicle entrance where the boss peers in he sees the TPS report.
posted by birdherder at 4:28 PM on July 14, 2005

The airline idea has limited application because it would have to span two seats... otherwise the middle seat in whose headrest it's mounted would have a matching seat behind where the occupant is force-fed an eye-mashing mixture of two images.
I'm thinking for saving the cost of what will eventually be a very cheap 10" display panel, you get two video monitors that can only be viewed at a crappy angle.

Perhaps along highways or moving walkways, you could have billboards with two simutaneous advertisments viewable based on the direction you were travelling.
posted by CynicalKnight at 4:34 PM on July 14, 2005

fenriq -- I assume it has two video inputs, and any given PVR would only be connected to one of them. Either that or its tuner allows you to view two different channnels off of a cable feed (not a good way to do it, since one of the applications for this would be the ability to view other sources), but your PVR would still only view one signal.
posted by George_Spiggott at 4:36 PM on July 14, 2005

When Granma follows the mass on the right, you watch pr0n on the
right. Classy, especially if the audio is just a mix.
posted by NewBornHippy at 4:51 PM on July 14, 2005

When Granma follows the mass on the right, you watch pr0n on the
left. Classy, especially if the audio is just a mix.
posted by NewBornHippy at 4:51 PM on July 14, 2005

The only problem with this is that it only shows two programs. We need one that shows 4 or 5, so Mom, Dad, Junior and Little Sister can all tune each other out and ignore each other even though they're all in the same room. That would be so perfect.
posted by Western Infidels at 4:53 PM on July 14, 2005

NBH, I like your first iteration of your dual-programming schedule, not just because it mixes hypersex with hyperworship in the same video feed, but because Gammie and I get to share a seat while we indulge in it.
posted by CynicalKnight at 5:03 PM on July 14, 2005

The cool thing about this would be the possibility for full 3-D displays, without having to wear special glasses. It may be possible to position the screen so that the left eye sees one image, and the right eye sees another. If both images are of the same subject, but with a slight offset, this would trick your eyes into thinking you're seeing a fully 3-dimensional object.

This type of thing is done now, using special glasses, where the left and right eyes are blanked out ~60 times a second, in sync with two different images being displayed on the screen. Persistence of vision gives you illusion of 3-D. The glasses can also give you a headache.
posted by mach at 5:06 PM on July 14, 2005

> but because Gammie and I get to share a seat while we indulge in it.

If both of you guys are on the right, you're doing Ganma while watching the Mass. That's all Mass and no pr0n and that's wrong.

Wait, this is derailling...
posted by NewBornHippy at 5:14 PM on July 14, 2005

There is another solution for families that have one television but want to watch two shows at once.
posted by brain_drain at 5:17 PM on July 14, 2005

I also remember learning about a similar product in a history of television book I read in college. Basically, by sitting at a wide angle from the TV, viewers could see two different shows---soap opera for the wife, and the big game for the man in the gray flannel suit. There was some commentary in my class about what this said about television being a way to bring people together vs. putting them in the same room, but turning off actual communication.

Here's the book--I think. I don't own it anymore.
posted by sdrawkcab at 5:19 PM on July 14, 2005

George, yeah, you're right. I guess it wouldn't be much of a problem on the PVR front. I had this mental image of my Tivo mashing two programs together and making one Frankenshow out of it.

Might be interesting but I bet it would give any viewer a tremendous headache pretty quickly.
posted by fenriq at 5:21 PM on July 14, 2005

I don't get it. Isn't the best viewing angle supposedly in front of the screen? And if one of the viewers just moves a little bit on the left and on the right to get some peanuts then that person is forced to switch channels? Looks like technology for the sake of it. Engineers gone wild!
posted by elgilito at 5:22 PM on July 14, 2005

Of course, if they outfit the system with hypersonic directional sound, that solves the audio problem.
posted by fungible at 6:54 PM on July 14, 2005

So, this is the same concept as those little "movie cards" that come in happy meals... the kind with the plastic ripples on them?
That's called lenticular printing.

Audio issue aside, that's a very cool idea.
Audio issues have been solved already.

on preview: Fungible beat me to the audio issues.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 6:55 PM on July 14, 2005

The cool thing about this would be the possibility for full 3-D displays, without having to wear special glasses.

Yep, there was just an article about it in the New York Times the other day. Unfortunately it's in the archives now.

Here's the company they were talking about, though:

One exciting new feature of the deepLight 3D Display is called SideBySide viewing. Several viewers seated side-by-side can simultaneously watch different 3D programs on the same screen, without any interference from what the other viewers are watching.
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 7:08 PM on July 14, 2005

fenriq - I can just see these two teenagers playing Halo 3 - almost jumping into eachother's laps trying to get a glimpse of their opponent's view. Makes for more fun gaming, I say.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:14 PM on July 14, 2005

Who else seeing the demo picture thinks that this device is perfect for 'proving' the existence of vampires? : it shows the picture of the alleged vampire in the side view, but the image of the vampire doesn't appear in the mirror.
posted by birdsquared at 7:14 PM on July 14, 2005

This technology is virtually useless.
posted by angry modem at 9:29 PM on July 14, 2005

Great! With this technology, we don't have to learn how to compromise and share, AND we can watch more TV!

(To be fair, there may be interesting applications for this technology, but I doubt it will show up in your living room.)
posted by sriracha at 5:16 AM on July 15, 2005

Seems fairly practical: kids play video games with the sound off, adults watch TV. Adults can keep an eye on the kids and see if they are drooling or convulsing.
posted by StickyCarpet at 10:43 AM on July 15, 2005

Great! With this technology, we don't have to learn how to compromise and share, AND we can watch more TV!

Bullshit. What if my kids AND my wife want to watch different programming? Probably have to get 2 of these damn things.
posted by gagglezoomer at 12:29 PM on July 15, 2005

Cool! Now we can watch the Wizard of Oz and the Dark Side of the Moon documentary at the same time.
posted by grateful at 12:46 PM on July 15, 2005