Alongside an enormous 145in television sporting 8k resolution, Panasonic used its booth at the IFA tech show in Berlin to show off the world's largest glasses-free 3D television.

Panasonic 103in tv
Reuters

Measuring in at 103in, the TV is probably not going to fit in the corner of your living room, but the feat of producing such a large 3D image without using glasses is certainly something to get excited about.

IBTimes UK parked ourselves in front of the massive screen to take a look for ourselves; at first we were impressed with the depth of images produced - that is, the background of shots looked to be a long way behind the screen, something we prefer to having objects hurled outwards, although film directors still haven't got over this.

But on closer inspection the image isn't clear and sharp enough to watch comfortably, and staying in one of the screen's sweetspots was difficult.

For this glasses-free technology to work, you need to stand in one of half a dozen specific places, indicated to us by footprints drawn on the floor - stand on these and the image is fairly good, but move just a few inches to either side and the image drops out of focus.

The difficulty for screen manufacturers like Panasonic is making screens that can offer up a sharp 3D image at more angles than the five or six offered by the 103in display at IFA; before this problem is solved there's no way such a television could be sold to the public - although being used in museums and similar environments could be a possibility.

While the image isn't yet good enough to go on sale, the colours produced - especially the blacks - are excellent, thanks to Panasonic using the same plasma technology as featured in its commercially available televisions.

Glasses-free 3D is always seen as the holy grail of television and cinema, and it's certainly come a long way in recent years, but the 103in screen at IFA serves as little more than an update to remind us that the technology is still being researched - it's better than ever, but it's still not yet ready.

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