Dimenco no-glasses 3D TV offer goes live on Kickstarter

Eindhoven, Netherlands-based Dimenco has launched a Kickstarter campaign for their glasses-free 3D TV, selling for under $1,250 via a Kickstarter campaign. The company has a manufacturing site in The Netherlands, but is ramping up manufacturing at new facilities in the Far East, targeted for this month. After test runs of their new production facility, they are to start manufacturing in August to deliver their first products in September, and the bulk in November. "Having to use 3D glasses hampers social interaction and is simply uncomfortable," they said, and they have worked to develop a TV that can improve on the viewing experience. They are a small team, with years of experience in 3D technology. Maarten Tobias, Jan van der Horst, Pieter de Jong and Bas Böggemann are the four founders of Dimenco. They worked together at a former venture of Philips that focused on 3D technology. Dimenco was founded in 2010. The Kickstarter campaign offer is a 39" glasses-free 3D TV with Full HD quality in 3D and 2D.

They said that "we can offer you a fantastic 3D experience for e.g. 3D Blu-ray, YouTube 3D and 3D games on PC or consoles. In other words, we add a new dimension to watching TV, movies and playing games." They added that "if you would still want to watch normal television, that is possible in Full HD quality."

They established a track record in the professional monitor market, as they rolled out several projects involving digital signage monitors. Their vision now is to bring their technology knowhow to the home environment. Speaking about their vision on the campaign page, they said they developed the required technology in past years and successfully brought professional monitors on the market. "Developing a full blown TV product is still a step up."

A TV, 2D or 3D, has a lot more options, especially in connectivity—such as audio connection, speakers and cable/settop box connection. "We have to design those features into the TV," they said, and they will "integrate a standard TV board into the set to support these features. This minimizes the risk of having to design own [sic] electronics." To make the project a success, they are looking toward support from their entire supply chain; they said they had a full commitment, enabling them to bring out the product at a competitive price.

They discussed their technology approach. "Current TVs get different images in your eyes by using glasses. The way we get different information in each eye is by laminating an optical layer on an LCD, similar as a lenticular card… the lenticular overlay on an LCD directs the light of different sub-pixels (each pixel is build up out of a red, green and blue sub-pixel) into different directions. As a result of that different images can be projected into both eyes of the viewers. Now, if correct processing of the image is done, the spectators get to see 3D."

The no-glasses 3D TV is priced at $1246. The package includes a 39" TV based on a 4K panel. Estimated delivery is November.

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