If you think the current 3D TV technology is cool, and you should because it is, then you’ll be completely gobsmacked and in absolute awe at the thought of holographic TVs. They are the ultimate in 3D because the films or sporting events are beamed directly into your room as a holographic display. It may sound like something out of Star Wars because, quite frankly, it is basically in Star Wars but it’s also getting closer and closer to becoming reality.
University of Arizona scientists have managed to put together holographic scenes that refresh every 2 seconds and while this is obviously some way short of representing true home TV they also claim that the advances in holographic technology are such that we should have consumer versions available in 7 to 10 years. The progression is almost certainly being fuelled by the incredible take-up that 3D TV has enjoyed since the technology erupted onto the scene.
Holographic TV is one of those science fiction technologies that we sit and say “not in our lifetime” and yet it appears we’d be quite wrong to say so.
The technology doesn’t sound quite as cool as we imagine though, because Pierre Alexandre Blanche, one of the brains behind the emerging science says that we will still need a screen to support the picture. All illusions of having our favourite films projected into the middle of the lounge are now officially gone.
The team use 16 different cameras to record a single object and the 3D rendering is then beamed on to a plastic screen. This reacts chemically with the laser and the image is stored on the plastic. It is this latest innovation in plastic, of all things, that is considered to be the big step forward.
