55" 4K Glasses-Free 3D Regza LCD TV #DigInfo

Toshiba has unveiled its flagship model in the Regza series. This new model features a 4K 2D display with four times the resolution of Full HD, as well as supporting glasses-free 3D. This will usher in the era of 4k TVs in the consumer market, and it'll be released in Japan in mid-December 2011.

"This TV has a 55-inch screen, so compared with the previous 20-inch glasses-free 3D model, it's impressively large. With the glasses-free 3D, even if several people are watching side-by-side, everyone sees a 3D picture. So with this model, you don't need glasses to enjoy 3D."

To produce a natural 3D picture, the 55X3 has a built-in face detection camera. This determines a suitable viewing range from the positions of people's faces in front of the TV, and makes the required adjustments.

"Toshiba's glasses-free 3D system produces nine pictures, so easy-to-see zones alternate with hard-to-see zones. What the face tracking does is, it moves the picture left and right on the screen, so people's field of view coincides with the easy-to-see zones."

As opposed to 3D, where there are nine "parallax" pictures with 1,280 x 720 pixels, in 2D mode, the picture has four times the resolution, at 3,830 x 2,160 pixels. To input 4K pictures like that, you need to use an adapter, which is available separately, and connect it to a PC. In this demo, video and photos taken with a 4K camera were displayed in this mode.

"We also use ultra-resolution technology for current Full HD content, like TV broadcasts and Blu-ray, to get more vivid colors. So this feature is effective even if you're only watching the content you've had so far."

"This model will be released in mid December. We expect it'll be priced around 900,000 yen."