For This 3D Monitor, You Gotta Wear Shades

Three-dimensional monitors may sound like toys of the future, but they're also life-saving tools today. "With the tsunami, they used this [3D] technology to find a safe place to land aircraft loaded with food and supplies," says Scott Robinson, Research Scientist at monitor maker Planar.

Planar's SD1710 17-inch LCD monitor, announced today and shown below, replaces clunky CRT-based 3D setups.



The SD1710 consists of two LCDs at a 110-degree angle and a semitransparent mirror set between them. Wearing special glasses with polarized lenses, a person can view 3D images at the panels' full 1280 by 1024 resolution.

The included glasses--which Robinson likens to sunglasses--enable the viewer to move about normally, instead of staying rooted to a sweet spot. In fact, if everyone had the glasses, a few people could look at the same monitor at the same time. This is a big departure from the sweet-spot nature of a previously reviewed 3D LCD, Sharp's 15-inch LL-151-3D.

Planar designed the SD1710 for geoscientists and cartographers, says Robinson, but the company hopes this 3D monitor and its StereoMirror technology could open new vistas in medical imaging, architecture, and molecular modeling. Gaming is on the list, too, although that seems like a long shot at the current price of $3995 for an SD1710. If the monitor takes off, prices may drop to more approachable levels, says Robinson.