Two years after the release of the Sony ELF-SR1, Sony released a new Spatial Reality Display series glasses-free 3D screen this week: the ELF-SR2, which is expected to be released in May.
Compared with the previous generation ELF-SR1, the main upgrade of ELF-SR2 is that the size has been expanded from 15 inches to 27 inches, while the resolution is still 4K, and the price remains at $5,000, with no price increase for additional quantities. In addition, other highlights of ELF-SR2 include: improved vision sensor, image quality enhancement technology, more flexible installation mechanism, and compatibility with more applications and development standards to better meet the needs of professional 3D design and visualization.
Several Solutions For Naked-Eye 3D Screens
At present, there are not many naked-eye 3D/holographic screen solutions on the market, but each has a variety of colors and applies to different scenarios. Some focus on immersion and depth simulation, while others focus on multiple people watching at the same time, or portability. , personal use, etc. The following are several representative glasses-free 3D screens, and their characteristics are as follows:
1. Looking Glass
Looking Glass: Based on the principle of parallax barriers based on liquid crystal layer and polarization mode, there are a variety of size options, the smallest is 7.9 inches (desktop version), the largest is 65 inches, the resolution is 2K-8K, and it supports 45-100 people to watch at the same time (according to Screen size changes), a wide range of application scenarios, such as art creation, design visualization, game development, display, marketing, entertainment, collaboration, etc.;
2. Lume Pad
Lume Pad: Based on DLB diffractive backlight light field technology (add DLB layer between LCD and backlight, can switch between 2D/3D), size is 10.8 inches -12.4 inches, resolution 2560×1600, based on Android mobile system, application scenarios Focus on personal use, such as games, design creation, art display, etc.;
3. Brelyon
Brelyon: Based on conical light field extension technology (SLET), it can provide better deep 3D effect than binocular parallax (monocular depth information display), adopts surround design, better immersion, and the visual size of the screen can reach 122 inches, target application scenarios include: financial data visualization, remote collaboration, games, etc.;
4. ELF-SR2
ELF-SR2: Renders binocular parallax through eye tracking and micro-lenses, with a size of 15 inches to 27 inches and a resolution of 4K. The feature is that it only supports one person to watch, but the switching speed of the viewing angle is sensitive, which is more powerful than multi-person 3D display devices High relative resolution, the target user group is mainly professionals and developers in the fields of film, animation, product design, architecture, retail exhibitions, medical care, AR/VR, etc.
Comparison Among These Several Solutions
In the above solutions, Lume Pad, ELF-SR2, and Brelyon also focus on personal applications, but due to different features and advantages, their uses are also different. For example, Lume Pad is mainly for personal entertainment, Brelyon is for personal office or entertainment, and ELF-SR2 It is for professionals and can be used to show 3D design or 3D game scenes to customers. Although ELF-SR2 achieves a fairly large size, it is not suitable for multiple people to watch like Looking Glass, and only one person can watch the 3D effect at a time.
Rich Ventura, vice president of Sony’s professional screen solutions, pointed out that the reason for launching the ELF-SR2 is that customers want a larger size, so they decided to upgrade the naked-eye 3D screen to 27 inches. Although it is not suitable for large-scale display, it can have better results when displaying more complex and detailed content such as city models. However, in the product display scene, although the ELF-SR2 has excellent clarity, viewers can only queue up to experience it one by one, and cannot preview the same effect with multiple people, so it is not suitable for real-time visual collaboration.
Compared with ELF-SR1
Generally speaking, the working principle of ELF-SR2 is the same as that of ELF-SR1. They are both based on the LCD panel + micro-optical lens solution, providing different images for the left and right eyes of the user. The field of view of the previous generation remains the same, 25° left and right, 20° upward and 40° downward. Both products have a 4K resolution, but the ELF-SR2’s brightness has been reduced from 500 nits to 400 nits, while the contrast ratio has been reduced from 1400:1 to 1000:1.
Due to the size upgrade, the optimal viewing distance of the ELF-SR2 has also become farther, from 29-75 cm before, to 50-100 cm now, beyond an arm’s length.
In addition to being larger in size, the ELF-SR2 is equipped with a second-generation high-speed vision sensor and more image quality enhancement technologies. The improved vision sensor improves face recognition and tracking performance, and features high-speed processing and low latency to reduce motion blur. And interference, the screen switching angle only takes 14 milliseconds, and the response speed is fast. Moreover, human eyes can be accurately tracked in low-light conditions.
And to maintain 4K resolution on a larger screen, the ELF-SR2 utilizes immersive depth of field and detail to enhance clarity, and uses a super-resolution engine to upscale 2K images to 4K. In addition, a color moiré correction function has been added to better handle details, patterns and lines.
ELF-SR2 also optimizes user experience and compatibility. For example, it has one more DP1.2 interface and USB A audio output interface than ELF-SR1, and uses a USB C interface that supports DP alternative mode to replace the original 5Gbps USB C interface. In addition, ELF-SR2 comes with a detachable bracket, which is convenient for installation and flexible for installation. It is also compatible with VESA brackets, which can be installed and used like traditional monitors. It is more flexible to install. Unlike the previous generation, it can only be placed on the desktop, and can also be hung on the wall or on a cantilever.
Versatile Applications and Features
In terms of software, ELF-SR2 also brings a series of upgrades, not only supporting mainstream engines such as Unity and Unreal, but also allowing developers to use development standards such as Open GL, DirectX11/12 and OpenXR. In other words, developers can use ELF-SR2 to preview AR/VR game scenes without using a headset.
In order to meet the needs of more industries, ELF-SR2 also supports the use of a variety of professional applications, such as: 3D medical visualization application “3DICOM MD”, MR and live experience production, creative application “Digital Nation Entertainment (DNE)” (can be used to preview volumetric video), volumetric video editing and distribution application “HoloSuite”, AR virtual try-on and visualization application “KiksAR”, remote controllable 3D model display application “SHoP Architects”, 3D model trading platform “Sketchfab” (directly through API download 3D models) and more.
In addition, Sony will also launch the 3D application platform Spatial Reality Display App Select, and the 3D model player Spatial Reality Display Player. Display Player is an intuitive 3D player, which is characterized by supporting various 3D file formats such as FBX, OBJ, GLTF, STL, etc., and can quickly demonstrate and view 3D content. The Spatial Reality Display App Select is a web portal that helps ELF-SR2 users find compatible apps and refer to other users’ use cases. For example, Magnopus and Pixomondo combined ELF-SR2 with the virtual production of film and television dramas, and independent game studio WhiteMoon Dreams used ELF-SR2 to evaluate 3D characters and visual effects such as texture, lighting, and color, eliminating the previous 3D printing process.
