After being somewhat late to the game with its first line of stereoscopic 3D TVs, Sony is gunning to be proactive in the 3D laptop market, planning a computer with full 3D capabilities for release next year.
Cnet has a report of a prototype for the device being shown off at this week’s IFA conference in Berlin, one of the biggest technology events in Europe.
The laptop, to be sold under Sony’s Vaio brand, has a 3D button that would assumedly be able to transform a 2D picture into 3D. It will come packed with a pair of active shutter glasses, but it’s not known if these will be different than the ones that Sony Bravia TVs use. Current 3D computers require special proprietary glasses from the maker of the computer graphics chip.
Company CEO Sir Howard Stringer confirmed in a press conference that 3D Vaio PCs would be available in retail next spring.
The market for 3D TVs is just barely getting off the ground, so the extremely vast majority of consumers can’t even care about 3D computers at this point. However, unfettered Internet access is already promising to make 3D content more accessible on computers than on TVs, where viewers are beholden to their specific TV manufacturer and service provider.
Sony is also reportedly showing off the WV-90, a 3D video projector. That’s for those consumers who just aren’t happy enough with the 60+ inch 3D TV sets available on the market. The projector will use the same active shutter glasses as all of Sony’s 3D Bravia TVs.
Sony would like you to think of its name whenever you think of 3D. From the PS3 to TVs to Blu-ray players to computers, it’s the only company that promises to bring 3D to every one of your visual entertainment technologies. It’s even thinking of launching its own 3D TV channel.
