Sony is showcasing the future of 3D in a series of technology prototypes on the show floor. These include what it claims to be the world’s first double full 1920×1080 HD camcorder.

The $1500 Handycam HDR-TD10 boasts 10x optical zoom in 3D and viewing on an integrated 3.5-inch LCD autostereoscopic screen. It incorporates double image sensors and dual processors and uses sequential framing so that the left eye and right eye are encoded separately 200 times a second so that Sony can claim full 1920×1080 resolution for each eye. It records to a 64GB flash card.

Could it be used for professional production? Certainly says Tim Page, senior manager, technology marketing, Europe. “We are seeing DSLRs being used to shoot professional features and there’s no reason why technologies such as this could not be adopted by filmmakers perhaps for run and gun shots.”

He acknowledged that imaging from the camcorder would not be as good as the professional twin lens 3 CMOS sensor single bodied shoulder mounted camera capable of shooting 240 fps and previously announced at IBC last year. It is shown as a prototype here.

Also on display is a head-mounted viewing device which wraps around the eyes and features two 3-inch OLED screens “for full immersive viewing experience,” said Page. “Since we are delivering left and right eye views separately there is no crosstalk or ghosting familiar to some LCDs.” There are no plans to launch and no pricing.

Sony also revealed prototypes of a 24.5-inch OLED glasses-free screen in 1920×1080 resolution and 46-inch and 56-inch 4k x 2k LCD autostereoscopic screens. These employ a lenticular screen. Again there are no launch plans and no pricing.

“The glasses free area is one we are very interested in, but it’s too early to launch now since the technology has not evolved enough to bring to it to market at a reasonable price,” added Page. “It’s just to show we are working on the technology, that it can be done.”

“CES is a celebration of optimism.” – Gary Shapiro

Kicking off the largest Consumer Electronics Show ever, Gary Shapiro, CEA’s CEO, opened the event to a packed convention center crowd, citing the theme of Innovation – the “engine driving the US and global economy” – as the theme of this year’s Vegas soiree.

The expected record crowd of 126,000 includes 25,000 from outside the US, with 2,700 companies represented in 1.6 million square feet of exhibit space – the ‘best of the best’ of new consumer devices and services from around the world. Gary’s remarks covered the waterfront, from upbeat commentary on the criticality of innovation in reviving our economy and improving our standard of living to political commentary on the need for Washington to remove barriers to innovation, more thoroughly detailed on the CEA supported website, The Innovation Movement.

Being practical, Gary also invited CES-goers to buy his new book on innovation, “The Comeback: How Innovation Will Restore the American Dream,” released this week (it’s a good read).

Gary cited steady growth in consumer electronics this past year (up 3.5 percent worldwide in 2010), driven in part by the acceleration of change with mobile technology, Internet TV, tablet computing, home automation and 3D. He also noted the rise of the user-created app marketplace, a rapidly changing landscape which helps fuel the fulfillment of the long-heralded ‘anywhere, anytime’ promise for content, news, information, sports and education. He predicts CE sales to rise 3.5 percent to $186 billion in 2011.

Gary turned over the opener to co-keynoters Ivan Seidenberg, CEO of Verizon; Jeff Bewkes of Time Warner; Motorola co-CEO Dr. Sanjay K. Jha, and executives from Google.

Building on Shapiro’s exuberance of the “unique American sauce which fuels our growth,” Bewkes and Seidenberg painted a landscape where network services and platforms provide an “extra hard drive for the brain, a second skin” with which to sense the world.  Bewkes hawked the “second golden age of television,” citing the surprising-to-some increases this year in viewership, ad revenues and program options.

Verizon, Google and Motorola followed up by unveiling several practical examples in the mobile space, notably the new Android Honeycomb platform running on an also-new Motorola XOOM LTE tablet and the Droid Bionic smartphone. The Honeycomb/XOOM combination aims squarely at the iPad and tablet computing market with Android’s refreshingly thoughtful user interface, growing range of applications and high-speed LTE-based wireless connectivity. This demo can be found at the Android Community site and includes good examples of the coming generation of capabilities, including fully 2-way videoconferencing on wireless handheld devices, new e-book options, 3D building and terrain mapping under multi-touch control, 3D multiplayer games and other capabilities not previously seen in a tablet or handheld.

Shapiro and Seidenberg noted the developments shown were the result of the “expanding circle of collaboration” between companies and industries. They alluded to massive scale changes in the telecom landscape, where double-every-18-months-volume of wireless video/data is becoming a new corollary to Moore’s law slamming existing business models and igniting consumer expectations. Seidenberg wrapped up with a resonant message on “even more disruptive social models are in our future.”