Sony Shows Prototypes of a Planned 3-D VAIO Laptop

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A laptop Relevant Products/Services computer with 3-D video and games. Sony, hoping that could be the Next Big Thing, showed prototypes Wednesday of an upcoming VAIO 3-D laptop at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin, Germany, and announced plans to launch a 3-D TV channel.

The laptop, with a 3-D button and active-shutter glasses, will formally debut in the spring, according to Sony CEO Howard Stinger. The prototypes use a frame-sequential technology that alternates between left- and right-eye views, with blank screens between them to keep them separate enough for the mind to create good-quality three dimensions. The video is displayed at 240 frames per second to create 60 fps video.

A 'Long Ways to Go'

Sony is moving forward quickly on 3-D across its product line, in addition to TVs. It also announced at IFA that existing Blu-ray HD DVD players and the PlayStation 3 game console will be updated with firmware so they can play 3-D. Stringer demonstrated a variety of 3-D titles, including Major League Baseball, Mortal Kombat, Virtual Tennis 4, Killzone 3, and others.

The company also announced a 3-D video projector and said its 3-D TV channel will focus on natural history, children's programs, science and movies. New 3-D feature films in the works from Sony include The Green Hornet, Resident Evil Afterlife, and new sequels in the Spider-Man and Men in Black franchises.

Richard Shim, an analyst with industry research firm IDC, said the market for 3-D laptops at the moment is restricted to aficionados, and this kind of product -- and 3-D in general -- "has a long ways to go before it will be mainstream."

The presence of 3-D display technology on a laptop raises the possibility of third-party development of 3-D applications. Shim noted that this "chicken and egg problem," where developers will be reluctant to develop for a nonexistent or small installed base, might be resolved by "seeding" 3-D-based software. Sony has begun to do this with games, and Shim suggested other companies that are similarly interested in advancing this platform might also begin such development.

'A Physical Inconvenience'

Shim also pointed out that 3-D is much easier to implement on a notebook Relevant Products/Services or laptop than on a desktop Relevant Products/Services machine, where the monitor has to be 3-D-capable, as well as the computer. He predicted we will also see all-in-one PCs appearing with 3-D.

Al Hilwa, program director for application development at IDC, is less sanguine about the prospect for 3D technology to gain widespread popularity as long as there are glasses involved. For laptops in particular, he said, it's "a physical inconvenience to have to carry one more thing, the glasses, with you."

He said it appears that "Sony is testing the waters" to see if 3-D is viable outside of a family-viewing experience like a TV, and that 3D-capable applications will not get going until TV-based applications, a nascent market at present, are under way. "We'll have to see applications come to TV in a serious way first," he said.