Check Out This 16-Foot TV of Glasses-Free 3D Goodness

Originally posted on Gizmodo by Andrew Tarantola.

Sixteen feet. That's taller than Yao Ming standing on Shaq's shoulders, more than an average-sized giraffe, and yet slightly less than the diagonal measurement of this gargantuan display. The days of Back to the Future II-style 3D advertising are nearly upon us!

Developed by The Japanese National Institute of Information and Communications in conjunction with JVC Kenwood, this massive 200-inch auto-stereoscopic HD 3D prototype display boasts 57 distinct viewing angles. The effect is achieved with an array of 57 projectors, each tuned to maintain the image's brightness and color across the screen, while a diffusing film smoothes transitions between each angle and condenser lens keeps the image crisp.

Sure, the effective viewing angle is only 13 degrees wide—compared to a regular TV's 180 degrees—but, within that range, viewers can actually peer around the edges of on-screen objects simply by stepping left or right.

Check out footage of it here:

Creating content for this system remains a challenge. To capture the necessary number of parallel images for all those viewing angles, the recording array can't be spaced any wider than 2cm apart — not an easy feat for modern HD camera rigs. Luckily, CGI animation is capable of generating any number of viewable angles with as little as 1 nanometer of space between them.

If you're hoping to mount this on your living room wall someday soon, don't hold your breath. The NICT expects this technology to primarily serve as next-gen billboards and signage. Besides, at a hefty 1,100 pounds, you'll be hard pressed to find a wall strong enough to hold it.