Firm develops two-way viewing LCD.

news.yahoo.com...

TOKYO - At last, a way to end squabbles over which TV channel to watch — without buying a second set. Sharp Corp. has developed a liquid-crystal display that shows totally different images to people viewing the screen from the left and the right.

One person can be surfing the Internet, using the display as a PC screen, while another watches a downloaded movie or TV broadcast. It also works for watching two TV channels: One person can watch baseball while another watches a soap opera.

The "two-way viewing-angle LCD," announced by the Japanese consumer electronics maker Thursday, will go into mass production this month and will cost roughly twice as much as a standard display.

Sharp will offer the product for worldwide sale, but the Osaka-based company will also supply other manufacturers with the displays for various products expected later this year, said spokeswoman Miyuki Nakayama.

Sharp says the technology offers many possibilities.

It could be used in cars so drivers can look at a map while the passenger watches a movie. Or at a store, sales clerks and clients can view different data on the same display simultaneously.

Another possible use is for billboards that display two kinds of advertisements depending on where viewers stand. The display will also work in the regular way and show a single image to all viewers.

pretty cool tech, dont have to buy two tv sets wen just one is enough of course the both of us have to sit from the left or right of the tv just to see different channels, instead of sitting in the center, i hope they will deal with that as well.

if they can make the angle of the two distinct views smaller, say different image for each eye of a human, then it will be a 3d tv, but I guess they have done that. too.

edit: to the end of the article it already mentions that it is derrived from a 3d lcd, so nevermind.

[edit on 15-7-2005 by xu]

Nice find. It's amazing how clear it looks. I would think there would be some overlap. I bet it is hard to make out when looking at the screen directly in the middle. I think I would prefer a large screen that displays both channels or more at the same time. You would probably need to wear headphones so you only hear the channel you want.

Who wants to buy me one?

Nice find! I'll have to tell the people at work about this one. I'm quite impressed. Good job Sharp.

Awesome piece of kit, however just wait, they will find some medical problem that will be associated with it :S and then they will take it off the market or something.

How about sound??
Gonna have one sound coming from the left and another from the right? or some other ingenius design lol

nope probally be something like, use headphones, unless they give you micro implants

Originally posted by racos
nope probally be something like, use headphones, unless they give you micro implants

Or just two sets of speakers, one at the left, one at the right. or behind seats in say the head rest parts straight to the ears or somethin?!

Originally posted by xu
if they can make the angle of the two distinct views smaller, say different image for each eye of a human, then it will be a 3d tv, but I guess they have done that. too.

edit: to the end of the article it already mentions that it is derrived from a 3d lcd, so nevermind.

[edit on 15-7-2005 by xu]

I like xu's idea. 3D TV sounds much more interesting than 2 completely different programs at the same time ...

If Sharp's had 3D laptop displays out for over 3 years now, I wonder why it hasn't been extended to TV, as well.

[edit on 7/18/2005 by netbound]

who knows, could they see it is not profitable or something like that. That is usually the reason that something gets held back.

I have seen tvs coming that can be rolled up and carried like a poster.

Originally posted by Questioneverything
I have seen tvs coming that can be rolled up and carried like a poster.

Thats probably 15 years away yet.

Whats the point of this dual screen tech???

The only purpose I can see it serving is in laptops only, so people sitting beside you cant see you screen.

Wired magazine had an article on a machine that created directional sound. The inventor had 2 paddle type things and when he pointed it at people walking past they could hear what was being transmitted but no one else could.

This would marry together with this TV really well.