Wednesday, April 17, 2013

The curved monitor is back - on a diet

My post from several years ago on the Alienware Curved Monitor is - by far - the most visited page on this blog. Many people were excited at a combination of cool design, high resolution at that time and a feeling of immersion from the curved display. Unfortunately, the product never made it into production. Apparently, it was difficult to perform geometric and color matching of the individual displays that made the curved monitor.

Interestingly, another curved monitor is back. LG has recently announced the EA9800 curved monitor. It is a 55" HD1080 OLED monitor. Other than looking cool, the idea behind the curved design is that the distance between the eye and the center of the screen is the same as the distance between the eye and the edge of the screen. Thus, there are fewer distortions. The monitor is designed for TV viewing distances, so the curvature is not too big. Unlike the curved monitor of 5 years ago, this is is very thin.

Imagine if LG designed a smaller curved monitor that was designed for desktop or gaming use. The curvature on the screen would such that it would form a semi-circle around a user sitting less than a meter away from the screen. You could envision an immersive experience and a wide field of view - may 120 or 150 degrees - that is nearly impossible to achieve with a flat monitor.

When can I get one?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Given that they are starting to demo flexible OLEDs for cell phones, it would seem only a matter of time before you can curve your monitor if you want. Assuming those displays get bigger - not sure what their cost to manufacture is.

VRGuy said...

That's a good point. I'd love to be able to use a small flex OLED for an HMD. The curvature can assist in creating the desired feeling of immersion and could make optical design easier for wide field-of-view products