ETC equipment donor Vuzix will be showing off its latest 3D-augmented reality glasses and applications at CES, as well as its 3D movie viewing and motion-sensor gaming glasses. The ETC and LA-based IMTech (immersion technology) are working to involve the LA artist community in creating augmented reality pieces that can be used to demo HMD hardware. ETC equipment donor Zeiss is working to improve the perceived resolution in their HMDs. Other HMD vendors include Myvu, exGear, and I-O Display Systems.

Autostereoscopic (glasses-free) 3D displays are also expected to have a presence at CES. Large autostereoscopic displays are excellent for advertising and other public space uses. They easily capture the attention of passers-by. Recent examples of implementations are in an Hungarian movie theatre and the Bahrain International Airport. Hyundai announced a 138-inch, 3×3 screen matrixed display for exhibition centers, museums, bus stops, and subways.

Autostereoscopic displays are also excellent for small handheld devices like phones and the Nintendo 3DS, because these are single-user devices and the user will hold the phone in the best position for the 3D effect.

There have been recent announcements by Toshiba and others touting new enhancements to the well established technologies (example, lenticular and barrier). Toshiba’s glasses-free set has a very wide sweet spot for the 3D viewing experience. The Sunny Ocean Studios autostereo display has 64 sweet spots. However, large autostereo screens being marketed to consumers for group viewing have two critical problems: 1) the left-eye/right-eye images from two zones mix and you get a distorted viewing experience when you are in-between sweet spots, and 2) the autostereo overlay on the screen cannot be turned off, so the screen cannot display 2D video without distorting it.

There is much R&D currently underway to address these two problems. New approaches to autostereo displays that work for many people regardless of where they are positioned may reach the consumer market in 5-10 years.