3D TVs are effectively dead — consequently, so is the race to deliver glasses-free 3D sets at home. But that doesn’t mean the technology is entirely useless. Sony’s new Spatial Reality Display (or SR Display), for example, uses eye-tracking technology to render believable 3D objects, without the need to wear 3D glasses or put on a VR headset. It’s something CG and VR artists could use to preview their work easily. And no, it’s not meant for consumers — not at its $5,000 price, anyway.
Sony first previewed the SR Display at CES this year, where it was called its “Eye-Sensing Light Field Display.” It’s made up of a 15.6-inch 4K LCD; a high-speed vision sensor that tracks eye movement, as well as your position as you walk around the display; and a micro-optical lens that’s layed over the LCD, and divides the screen for your left and right eyes to create a stereoscopic image. The SR Display requires a beefy PC, with at least a modern Intel Core i7 CPU and NVIDIA’s RTX 2070 Super GPU, to process its complex real-time rendering algorithm. That makes sense, since it’s producing two separate 2K images constantly to match your eye movement.