3-D TV will let you watch, sniff and feel the big game

[emad]

August 22, 2005

3-D TV will let you watch, sniff and feel the big game
From Leo Lewis in Tokyo



IT SOUNDS like the stuff of science fiction, but the Japanese Government is quietly throwing huge financial and technical weight into the development of three-dimensional, virtual reality television.

If the Communications Ministry succeeds in its ambitions, sports fans throughout the nation will be able to enjoy the 2018 World Cup final as if they were on the pitch itself, surrounded by the sights, smells and sounds of the real action. The ministry, fondly pretending that the final will feature Japan and Brazil, has even drawn up artist’s impressions of how fans will be celebrating goals in their living rooms — cartwheeling with joy in the midst of life-sized, live holographic images of the real players doing much the same thing.

The idea is to replace the traditional box in the corner with virtual reality projectors that will be placed on the floor and fill Japanese living rooms with high-definition, three- dimensional images that can be viewed from any angle. The Japanese Government is collaborating on this vision with leading academic researchers and some of Japan’s most advanced technology companies, and The Times has obtained an interim report from the Communications Ministry’s “ Universal Communications” study group detailing the work in progress.

Three-dimensional images apart, the ministry wants to develop the ability to send thousands of different odours through the new television to enhance the sense of reality.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1745292,00.html

[Tesha]

1. Does anyone actually think the target market will be sports? (NT)

[moggie]

2. Shh!

With government funding, they can't say what it'll really be used for!

[greyl]

3. I can't wait to sniff a 4th quarter huddle in Miami.

:)