Would You Buy a 4D Television?
by Andy NeuenschwanderWatching TV in 3D? That's old news, man. Now, 4D...that's the future.
At the 2014 National Cable and Telecommunications Association gathering this week, tech companies have been touting news ways to push the boundaries of watching TV in your home.
One of the product concepts brought up was a "4D" experience, in the form of the "Buttkicker," a concept from the Guitammer Company. This piece of tech would install in your couch and provide "tacticle and haptic" feedback, i.e. vibrations, during key points in your programming. For instance, if an explosion happened on screen, your whole couch would shake.
If that's a bit much for you, one of the technologies closer to popularity in the market is Ultra HD, also known as 4K, which is four times the resolution of regular HD. Televisions equipped with this capability are already out there, but there's a lack of content in Ultra HD to be played on them.
In another indicator that Facebook might have made a good move in buying the virtual reality company Oculus Rift, a company by the name of Ateme revealed their LiveSphere, which would create a full, 360-degree viewing experience in your own home. By using multiple cameras at events and "stitching" the images together, viewers could get a full view as if they were actually at the event, and look wherever they wanted to.
Now, imagine watching "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" in that kind of environment. Kinda makes POV web-swinging in 3D seem like yesterday's news, huh?
Would you go for any of these innovations? Let us know in the comments!