A conference for the exchange of information about the trends of stereoscopic image display technologies and its market was organized jointly with the English/Irish branch of the Society for Information Display (SiD). The event in Europe was organized by the 3D Consortium after two years' interval. With an advance announcement to the members of SiD and the 3D Consortium, more than 70 persons participated, mainly from European countries. Including the keynote lecture by Mr. Kakimoto of Japan SGI, Ltd., which is an executive company of the Consortium, lectures by nine lecturers and active Q&A sessions were held. Demonstrations and exhibitions were held in a separate room.

Report on the current status of the 3D Consortium (Sharp)

First, Mr. Ian Thompson of Sharp Laboratories of Europe reported about the activities of the 3D Consortium, and explained about its activity policy for 2005.
In addition to the reports on various activities which had been done, he explained that the Consortium was going to strengthen its cooperation with related organizations to stabilize and expand its activities, and this joint project with SiD was a part of such a policy.
As one of the requirements for the expansion of the market learned through its past activities, he mentioned that the detailed handling of hardware, software and contents per market was important.

Mr. Chris Yewdall, Dynamic Digital Depth

Mr. Chris Yewdall from Dynamic Digital Depth (DDD), which is a member company of the 3D Consortium, made a presentation related to the company's commitment about establishment of businesses for the consumer market and the professional market from the standpoint of a professional of contents production. He spoke about the fact that the movie studios in Hollywood are paying attention to stereoscopic contents again, and it has attracted expectation as a business model with added value.

Mr. Ian Bickerstaff, BAE Systems

BAE is a company engaged in the development, delivery and support of advanced defense and aerospace systems in the air. The company is involved in taking stereoscopic photographs and their display for special professional uses. He referred to advanced technical know-how related to stereoscopic photography, and made a presentation on how fine the display (stereoscopic views) would be depending on the accuracy of shooting.
Demonstrations of the 3D video the company created were made with the 3D notebook computer developed by Sharp.

Mr. Erik Nielsen, SeeReal Technologies

SeeReal Technologies is a member company of the 3D Consortium, which is located in Germany, and sells PC monitors for stereoscopic display mainly in Europe and the United States. After the introduction of the company, Mr. Nielsen referred to promising markets in the field of 3D. He made a remark that the company's clients included companies in the fields of computer graphics, games, R&D, the oil industry, GIS, as well as defense and medical industries. He also made a presentation about the comparison of various stereoscopic display methods including multi-view, head tracking, and fixed single view.

Mr. Dieter Just, Fraunhofer PST

Fraunhofer PST is a German incorporated association which provides support to the development of advanced technologies and their commercialization. Mr. Just is developing the stereoscopic display device based on the time division technique, and made a presentation about the device. He made an appeal that the method had advantages, including the flexibility of view points, as compared to other methods. A system using the Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) by Texas Instruments and F-LCOS (Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal On Silicon) by CRL Opto was exhibited for demonstrations.

Professor Siegbert Hentschke, Kassel University

The Institute of Peripheral Microelectronics of Kassel University is involved in 3D displays from various standpoints. Professor Hentschke introduced the contents of research. He made a presentation about the method to change the stereo coding depending on the use.
A prototype display device was exhibited for demonstrations.

Mr. Oscar Willemsen, Philips

As a representative of the R&D department of the company, Mr. Willemsen made a technical presentation related to the 3D display which provides nine separate stereoscopic views based on its lenticular lens technology which does not require special glasses. He explained about the whole flow of the development including the technical background of why they used nine separate stereoscopic views, as well as an outline of their new 2D to 3D conversion based on their lenticular lens technology. He made an appeal that the method had advantages including its high practicality compared to other methods. A 20-inch monitor was exhibited for demonstrations, however, the period for its commercialization has not yet been decided.

Mr. Ibgo Relke, X3D Technologies GmbH

Mr. Relke explained about the company's commitment to the 3D display device that can be used for observation by multiple spectators simultaneously without the aid of special glasses for business purposes. He stated that their 3D monitors made significant sales for such usages as point-of-sale advertising, and that the company was focusing on super-jumbo monitors around 100 inches. As an actual example, their 189-inch rear projection monitor which is now exhibited for the "EXPO 2005 AICHI, JAPAN" was introduced.

Professor Phil Surman, De Monfort University

He made a presentation on research and development related to the advanced stereoscopic and autostereoscopic display systems that have been made at the Imaging and Displays Research Group, De Monfort University in Leicester, England. The group is involved, with investment from Philips, in the activities for the goal of creating the first 3D-TV broadcast system. Their current focus is on multiple viewer head-racked TV systems. Now they are at the stage of creating their second generation prototype. He estimated that the 3D-TV market would be established at full-scale in about 10 years.

Mr. Andrew Murray, iSuppli Corporation

Mr. Murray who is in charge of displays in the European market of iSuppli, which is a market research company, made a presentation about the marketability of 3D displays and their future possibilities.

Mr. Kakimoto, Japan SGI

Finally, Mr. Kakimoto from Japan SGI gave a lecture as a representative of the 3D Consortium from Japan. He explained about the characteristics of the Interactive Stereo Library which Japan SGI developed and was promoting as well as the merits of its adoption. Detailed examples including actual implementations were introduced, and demonstrations on the 3D notebook PC by Sharp were held. The Q&A session after these demonstrations was most active, which showed the high interest among participants.

Demonstrations Corner

Demonstrations by applicants among the participants, including lecturers, were held in a separate room.