# Holy Crap! Sci-Fi TV Technology is Apparently Here! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 15, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-sci-fi-tv-technology-is-apparently-here/234325 "2004-03-15T00:19:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-sci-fi-tv-technology-is-apparently-here/234325/21 "2004-03-15T23:22:55Z")
I was thinking maybe it sets up a layer of chilled air adjacent to a layer of warmed air… ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-sci-fi-tv-technology-is-apparently-here/234325/22 "2004-03-16T00:19:14Z")
[This](http://news.com.com/2100-1041_3-5129111.html) article has a little more information on it. > [@](#): > > Pressed for more detail on the nature of the conversion, Dyner referred to it as electronic and thermodynamic. After air is drawn into the machine, he said, it “moves through a dozen metal plates and then comes out again.” No moving parts are involved, he added. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-sci-fi-tv-technology-is-apparently-here/234325/23 "2004-03-16T00:55:34Z")
Clearly (if the thing is even real) they have changed the optical propeties of the air, but the odd thing is that the stream on which the ‘dark’ parts of the image is (actually _isn’t_) projected appears almost entirely transparent. The image is projected from behind, as far as I can tell and I’m skeptical of their claim that they are projecting it with lasers - it looks more like a conventional video projection to me (albeit on a rather unconventional screen). ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-sci-fi-tv-technology-is-apparently-here/234325/24 "2004-03-16T01:39:36Z")
Okay, how about this: it ionises the air, and then raster-shines a laser on the ionised part to kick the ions up an enegy level or two, then when they come back down, they give off light? The laser might not be visible for this. The metal plates could make a nice laminar flow pattern above the machine. The question is, if you ionise unmodified air, what are the energy states of the resulting ions? And are any of them amenable to being kicked up some more by a laser, then bouncing back down with a nice healthy glow? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-sci-fi-tv-technology-is-apparently-here/234325/25 "2004-03-16T01:42:19Z")
I think it most unlikely they would get a decent colour display that way. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-sci-fi-tv-technology-is-apparently-here/234325/26 "2004-03-16T01:49:47Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > Women are so doomed if this catches on… > kidding Women nuttin… If that thing was 17,956 dollars cheaper I’d never thing about a man again. That thing is way too cool. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-sci-fi-tv-technology-is-apparently-here/234325/27 "2004-03-16T01:55:39Z")
Hmmmm… they are also selling it, even though it is apparently not yet in production - they have a number of working prototypes. I’m being too cautious, I know. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-sci-fi-tv-technology-is-apparently-here/234325/28 "2004-03-16T03:21:20Z")
I thought this was a variation of [FogScreen](http://www.dvd-recordable.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1184&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0), but the more I read about it, the higher my BS detector goes. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-sci-fi-tv-technology-is-apparently-here/234325/29 "2004-03-16T03:41:55Z")
I’ll believe it when I see it, up close and personal, in a store. Until then, with absolutely NO real information about how it’s supposed to work, I don’t buy it. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-sci-fi-tv-technology-is-apparently-here/234325/30 "2004-03-16T19:09:06Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I thought this was a variation of [FogScreen](http://www.dvd-recordable.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1184&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0), but the more I read about it, the higher my BS detector goes. From your link: > [@](#): > > Promising a similar interactive experience without the fog is Heliodisplay from IO2Technology, a tabletop device about the size of a breadbox that projects smaller two-dimensional images into the air above it. It can be plugged into most video sources, including computers, DVD players and video game consoles. > > Heliodisplay, the invention of M.I.T. grad student Chad Dyner, uses lasers to track the motion of hands or objects that approach its display, the company says. It translates those motions into commands without the need for special gloves or pointers. > > “If you just want to watch TV, hang a plasma on the wall,” said IO2Technology spokesman Bob Ely. “With the Heliodisplay, you can walk around, over or through the image. You can reach through the image. With your hands, you can grab, drag, manipulate and mold the image.” > > The Lake Forest, Ill.-based company has patents pending and is secretive about how Heliodisplay works. The company will only say that air ejected and illuminated by the device is modified in some fashion without the addition of any other chemicals or substances. Chad Dyner does have two patent applications involving this sort of image display technology. One is available online, go to the [USPTO website](http://appft1.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.html) and enter 20040001182. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-sci-fi-tv-technology-is-apparently-here/234325/31 "2004-03-16T19:54:05Z")
Looks like he’s not ionising anything. My guess now is that, if it works, he’s chilling the incoming air past the dew point and using the resulting suspended water droplets. This implies a certain required humidity for the thing to work. Would it be possible to get droplets that can’t be seen, yet can reflect/refract light like a rainbow? If he ever gives a demo here, I’m gonna ask whether the thing would work in a desert. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-sci-fi-tv-technology-is-apparently-here/234325/32 "2004-03-16T20:47:20Z")
Poor quality image that has lines in it. The american public will never settle for that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-sci-fi-tv-technology-is-apparently-here/234325.md?page=1)