Soon, Your In-Flight Movie Could Be in 3D

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Crying babies, recycled air, inedible food… but do you know what would instantly make air travel much better? 3D movies. Or, at least, that’s the hope of MasterImage 3D, which is apparently close to sealing deals to put glasses-free 3D on planes and in cars.

MasterImage EVP Roy Taylor is playing coy about which airlines are in discussions with the company, but admitted that the interest came as a surprise: “We weren’t looking at (airlines and car makers) initially. We were focusing on smartphones and tablets, but there turned out to be strong interest.”

Taylor said that airlines could install the MasterImage technology in new planes, and also upgrade its existing fleet, to offer 3D programming without the need for special glasses (This, admittedly, surprises me: Airlines would willingly give up the opportunity to rent glasses to passengers for a ridiculously exorbitant fee? Really?). Similarly, luxury car makers are considering adding the technology to screens in the back of some vehicles, he said. But MasterImage hasn’t forgotten about its mobile market; the technology has already been licensed to Hitachi, and Taylor expects other manufacturers to be signing up and using their technology in devices that will be available by the end of the year.

Thankfully, 3D airline movies remain a little further away; because of the length of design cycles in aircraft construction, Taylor said, we may be more than two years away from glasses free 3D in-flight movies. Maybe by then, someone could have come up with something that makes your seating appear far less cramped, as well.

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