CES: DLP strikes back

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As TV screens have gotten more and more anorexic -– with plasma and LCD flat panels so svelte they can hang on the wall -– the relatively hefty DLP has suffered in popularity.

But DLP is showing some new moxie at CES. Texas Instruments, which invented the technology, gave The Times a preview of new features while its booth was still under construction on the show floor that officially opens tomorrow.

And what’s the big new feature up their sleeve? 3D.

This usually produces a big yawn. At just about every CES in recent years, some company has hyped 3-D television technology. But the 3-D images produced in the new DLP TVs –- bright, sharp and with deep contrast –- might have come the closest yet to making it worth donning the weird glasses needed for 3-D.

Actually, a couple of TV companies –- Samsung and Mitsubishi -– quietly started turning out DLPs with this 3-D capability months ago.

You might have one without knowing it.

‘There are about a half-million televisions out there that have the technology built into them,’ said Adam Kunzman, business manager for DLP products at TI.

The only way to tell whether you have one of these TVs is to check that it says in small letters ‘3D Ready’ on the front. Kunzman said consumers paid nothing extra for the TVs for this technology.

But the glasses will not be free. They will cost about $50 a pair.

The glasses use a shutter technology, which alternately blocks the views of the right and the left eye. This happens too fast for the normal eye to see, but the result is the illusion of stereographic sight.

With CES, TI has finally come out of the closet with its 3-D technology. But there is not much content available for the format -– only about a dozen DVDs that have been released in 3-D. Most of them are animated features.

It’s doubtful the technology will much catch on unless more 3-D DVDs roll out in far greater numbers. They don’t have to be new films shot in 3-D -– older movies can be reconfigured to show more depth (visual, not intellectual) too.

The technology has other applications. TI showed a screen that was displaying two different sets of images, simultaneously. Put on one set of shutter glasses, and one of the animations showed up clearly. Put on a differently configured set of glasses, and the other program showed through.

‘You could have a husband watching ‘Sports Center’ while his wife watched ‘Oprah,’ ‘ said spokesman David Henderson, ‘on the same set.’

‘Could be a marriage saver,’ Kunzman said.

-- David Colker

Update: The blog was updated Jan. 9 to re-insert missing content.