The PlayStation TV: A 3DTV That Shows Different Images to Two Players

Whoa! A PlayStation TV. It’s a $500 24-inch 3D TV that Sony’s promising delivers “best in class” entertainment for way more people than are able to currently afford 3D. It looks like a giant PSP, sorta. Update: Hands on.

It’s, well, nice. Set up in the fake, entirely-too-clean dorm room Sony had on hand, the chair practically smashed against the set—which is exactly how I played videogames in my dorm, the screen foggy from my breath—the 24-inch set didn’t seem too small. So it’s perfect for exactly the scenarios Sony’s talking about, not so much a living room deal.

It’s hard to gauge how amazing (or not) the picture really is in this environment, but when you cram a 1080p display into 24 inches, the pixel density definitely works for the screen. The PlayStation display’s signature trick—re-appropriating the inherent powers of 3DTVs to show each player an entirely different 1080p image—works exactly as advertised, as you can see in the video. You switch between first and second player by pressing a button on top of the glasses, and the switch happens instantly. (Unfortunately, this means screen-watching isn’t quite dead, since you can just flip over to your friend’s video feed to see what they’re up to, and quickly switch back.)

https://gizmodo.com/giz-explains-how-3d-works-5717004

It’s a pretty set, but in a very Sony way. Like if I had to guess what a 24-inch PlayStation TV would look like, this is exactly what I’d mock up. Not that it’s a bad thing, it just is what it is. The real question is whether it’s gonna convince people who’d have passed over 3DTVs to take a look at this more affordable, but definitely smaller set for $500.

It uses the 3D in a pretty interesting way for multiplayer—it kills split-screen play by beaming entirely different images to two sets of glasses, so you and a friend can murder each other with no screen-watching. You both get the full 24-inch picture. Awesome.

The $500 bundle includes an HDMI cable, a pair of 3D glasses and Resistance 3, which isn’t bad, though Sony’s “affordable” PlayStation 3D glasses are still $70.