“In order to make a TV screen be seen as something people see in-person, at least 32 different angles of shots are needed to make just one picture.”/
IMID is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. For IMID, aside from its anniversary, there is another special meaning to this exhibition. It hopes this year to be a turning point to a whole new direction.
“We are now putting much more weight on the growth of quality rather than the quantitative expansion,” said Kwon Oh-kyong, Ph. D, general chair of IMID and president of the Korean Information Display Society.
Kwon added, “Japan, and the U.S have been traditional strong players in research for fundamental technologies, but now Korea needs to be able to develop its own fundamental technology and get abreast of them.”
He also suggested, “Fundamental technologies are known to be somewhat riskier to rush into than manufacturing technology. Outsourcing the research part to the academic world making investments in laboratories of university research facilities will sprout the pods and strengthen the foundation of fundamental technology research.” Kwon hopes the Korean Information Display Society would play the role as a bridge between corporations and universities.
“The ultimate goal of ours is to develop displays that are interactive with humans,” said Lee Sin-doo, Ph. D, executive chair of IMID.
Lee Sin-doo, Ph. D, executive chair of IMID
“Touch panels have made interactive displays possible. Either portable devices such as cell phones, or home appliances such as TVs has become far closer to humans these days thanks to touch panels,” Lee explained.
He added, “Software had been driven by hardware until iPhone came out. Before the iPhone, software was no more than some components to be purveyed for the cell phone companies. These days, however, people actually select hardware considering which software it carries and performs. Hardware has become more of a carrier, and software has become equal with content which you define to be.”
According to Lee, TVs are also transforming into VODs (Video On Demand) as well. Now we are facing the advent of ‘Smart TV’, a TV that provides you a program you want to watch right when you want to watch it.
We all know that computers can do a lot of things in an extremely short amount of time. They, however, needs ‘input’ to start anything. Here comes the human imagination to the rescue.
CEO of Media Display Industry of Samsung, Yoon Boo-gun, addressed the similar idea today at the IMID keynote speech. “The paradigm of TV was never expected to change this much. We are now debating how we can maximize the convenience and advantages we will provide consumers with through smart TV.” He added, “TVs in the future will evolve into as close as virtual reality through the imagination of human and technologies interacting with each other.”
Now Lee explains how to get there, virtual reality. “In order to make a TV screen be seen as something people see in-person, at least 32 different angles of shots are needed to make just one picture. Combining 32 different angles in one frame at the same time makes a 3D image. It means tremendous amount of data (240Hz) should be shot to the broadcasting system in super hi-speed.”
Lee’s concern is that Korea is still on its way to develop the hardware technology enough to support the system. He said, “In order to make Korea the No.1 country in this field, we can take every strong point of Europe, Japan, and the U.S as a benchmark and draw a ‘road map’ of our own. Korea’s research capacity, however, is slightly behind to follow the map.” He then pointed out the need to focus on the uniqueness only Korea has, what Korea is good at.
So, what is the most important thing about displays technology, no, any technology?
Yoon Boo-gun, CEO of Media Display Industry of Samsung
Lee gives us an interesting example. “Let’s say there is a Mercedes-Benz that is just irresistible even looking at it. Suppose, I do not purchasing the car. Why would it be? It is not because the performance of the car is unsatisfying, but because I simply cannot afford it.” Like he said, what would be the point of impeccable technology that is not affordable by most consumers? He highlights the marketability of technology.
“The first thing of TV manufacturing should be to provide proper-value products in a reasonable price. When the new technology is applied to a product and so the higher price, at least 60% of consumers should be willing to buy to keep manufacturing the product.” CEO Yoon’s point is, the only thing that comes before the speed of technology advancement is the benefit of consumers.
“IMID 2010 is not just a one-time event to boast our new gadgets and gizmos. We want to provide a new perspective to prepare for the next ten years, and a place to foster fundamental technologies,” Lee concluded with confidence.
original link: http://www.koreaittimes.com/story/11007/beginning-interactive-displays-era