The current crop of 3D TVs that are on the market all use glasses to allow the viewer to see the 3D content. Most of the 3D TVs on the market use active rather than passive glasses and the glasses can cost $150 per set or more.

The cost of the glasses and the fact that many find 3D glasses of any type uncomfortable are a couple of the major issues that are keeping users from adopting 3D TVs right now. Thankfully there is a lot of action going on in the 3D TV market with screens that don’t require glasses to view the 3D images.

The Nintendo 3DS may well be one of the hottest upcoming consumer products using a screen that needs no glasses to provide 3D images. Sharp is also working on 3D screens that need no glasses and its screen tech may well be what Nintendo has chosen for its 3DS portable console.

Toshiba Mobile Display (TMD) has announced its own 3D screen that doesn't require glasses. The screen is a 21-inch autostereoscopic HD display that uses multi-parallax technology. The screen uses a "light field" display to produce real 3D images that can be viewed across a wide range of viewing angles. The wide viewing angle is important in a produce like a TV where users will not always be directly in front of the set.

The imaging system used in the TMD screen promises to reduce eye fatigue during extended viewing and uses a multi-parallax design allowing for motion parallax that sets needing glasses can’t provide. TMD reports that using the multi-parallax method allows the production of 3D images that change depending on the viewer's position.

TMD's multi-parallax technology has also overcome previous issues with parallax displays that result in the loss of screen resolution. TMD was able to overcome the screen resolution issue by using low-temperature poly-silicon technology. The screen also has a lens sheet that controls reductions in surface luminance intensity to provide a panel that is as bright as normal 2D screens.