Details provided about the holographic display on RED's upcomming smartphone

The RED smartphone. (Source: RED)

The CEO of RED has put a press release post on their user forums detailing their partnership with Leia Inc, a holographic LCD technology company who specialize in 'Lightfield' holographic products.

Craig Ward, Published 09/08/2017

When RED, the maker of high-end camera equipment, announced that they were making a US$1200 smartphone, two key features stood out. The first was how their phone camera might compare to competitors, and the second was the holographic display that they planned to include.

Jim Jannard, CEO of RED, has said in a press release that they are working in partnership with Leia Inc., a company which developed out of HP Labs. Leia Inc. specializes in a type of LCD holographic technology known as a “Lightfield display” that uses multiple layers of LCD panels and directional backlights to create a holographic effect. ‘Lightfield’ is an autostereoscopic (3D without glasses) technology, but uses a different method than other well-known autostereoscopic examples such as the Nintendo 3DS.

The method employed by Nintendo is a simpler ‘parallax barrier’, which places a physical barrier in front of the screen that is imperceivable to the user, but blocks off pixels so that only one eye can see one set of pixels while the other eye can see the other set of pixels. This method frequently results in blurry images when viewed off center, but later versions of the 3DS incorporated eye tracking technology to avoid this issue.

However, Leia Inc’s proprietary ‘Lightfield’ uses the 'integral imaging' method where the multiple layers and micro lenses allow the eye to see a holographic image from multiple angles without introducing blurriness. It is also what allows holographic tricks like making images appear to project from the screen when viewed from an angle. In practice, this should allow holographic content while still having a high-quality screen for normal usage.

Jannard has said that content can be produced for the screen using four cameras or by converting 3D footage to a compatible 4D format.

Source(s)

Engadget

RED

+ Show Press Release

Press Release

Red Digital Cinema and Leia Inc. announce strategic partnership to bring disruptive Lightfield Holographic smartphone to the consumer market.

Menlo Park, California, Sep 7th 2017 -- Red Digital Cinema, the leading manufacturer of professional digital cinema cameras, and Leia Inc, the leading provider of lightfield holographic display solution for mobile, announced today a long-term exclusive partnership to bring the world’s first lightfield “holographic” smartphone -- the HYDROGEN ONE -- into the hands of consumers in the first half of 2018.
The strategic partnership will leverage RED’s expertise in digital content creation and deep connections in the film industry as well as Leia’s proprietary lightfield display technology and software platform to disrupt the world of mobile entertainment. The Hydrogen program will feature stunning holographic content and 3D sound for movie viewing, interactive gaming, social messaging and mixed reality.
RED was founded by Jim Jannard, with a mission to disrupt the cinema industry. In 2007 it introduced the “RED ONE”, the first 4K digital camera that forever changed the way cinematographers shoot motion pictures. Today RED cameras have been widely embraced by Hollywood and endorsed by acclaimed directors David Fincher, Ridley Scott, Peter Jackson and Jim Cameron. Now Jannard is doing it all over again, building on RED’s brand, extensive image capture technology and industrial design expertise to launch a new consumer product.
Leia leverages recent breakthroughs in Nano-Photonic design and manufacturing to provide a complete lightfield “holographic” display solution for mobile devices, through proprietary hardware and software. The Silicon Valley firm commercializes LCD-based mobile screens able to synthesize lightfield holographic content while preserving the normal operation of the display.
“This is an incredible opportunity for both companies and a perfect marriage.” says Jim Jannard, Founder and Chairman of RED. “Leia brings a very special piece of technology that blends seamlessly with our vision of a ground-breaking and disruptive consumer product. “
“We are thrilled to partner with Jim and the RED team on the Hydrogen program” says David Fattal, Leia Founder and CEO. “They have a bold vision and share our urge to disrupt the mobile industry with true innovation.” “Jim has had a marked influence on our team”, adds Fattal, “He is an amazing inventor and designer with a unique flair to create global consumer brands. We could not have found a better partner to enter the consumer realm.”
RED has made a strategic investment in Leia, and Jannard will be joining the Leia board of directors.

About Red Digital Cinema -- www.red.com
RED Digital Cinema continues to lead the world in innovation in the manufacture of professional digital cameras and accessories. RED began the revolution in 2006 with the 4K RED ONE digital cinema camera. RED then released the DSMC (Digital Stills and Motion Camera) system in 2008 that for the first time enabled the same camera to shoot feature films, television programs and elite still photography. What have the creators of "The Hobbit” trilogy and “The Martian”, the Emmy-winning "House of Cards”, and the cover editors of "Vogue" and "Harper's Bazaar” found in RED? Combined compact and lightweight design, superior image quality, incredible dynamic range, modularity, and cutting edge performance — including up to 8K resolution. The cameras of RED’s DSMC2 line — RED RAVEN, SCARLET-W, RED EPIC-W, and WEAPON — currently lead the industry. Now, in 2017, RED's newest 8K sensor, HELIUM, sets the new image quality standard with the highest DxO Mark score ever.

About Leia Inc. -- www.leiainc.com
Founded in 2014 by David Fattal, Zhen Peng and Pierre-Emmanuel Evreux, Leia Inc is a technology spin-off from Hewlett-Packard laboratories developing a lightfield display technology platform for mobile devices. Through Nanotechnology and Software innovation, the company empowers device manufacturers and content providers in various industries to create the next digital experience for consumer. The company is based in Menlo Park, CA with operations in Suzhou, China.

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Craig Ward - Tech Writer - 397 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2017

I grew up in a family surrounded by technology, starting with my father loading up games for me on a Commodore 64, and later on a 486. In the late 90's and early 00's I started learning how to tinker with Windows, while also playing around with Linux distributions, both of which gave me an interest for learning how to make software do what you want it to do, and modifying settings that aren't normally user accessible. After this I started building my own computers, and tearing laptops apart, which gave me an insight into hardware and how it works in a complete system. Now keeping up with the latest in hardware and software news is a passion of mine.

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