Toshiba introduced a new HD DVD player geared for automotive
industries at this year's Automotive Engineering Exposition 2007". The
unit is being developed in conjunction with Alpine Electronics and is
scheduled for a 2008 release. The show demo consisted of a real
streamed video from the player to the connected LCD screen.
Speaking of the LCD screen, it was also a new development.
This prototype by Toshiba Matsushita Display Co., Ltd (say that ten
times fast…) featured a unique touchscreen technology that functioned
in 2 modes – one for day and one for night. Day mode utilizes an
optical sensor to measures the shadow from a finger and the nighttime
mode works in conjunction with the backlight to grab the information it
requires. It's a bit overly complex, as the day mode and night modes
each utilize their own software to perform their duties and the unit
has to sense when to switch modes. The advantage (and seemingly the
reason for going down this path) is that this methodology removes the
typical film coating common on touchscreen – enabling better contrast
ratio and less components.
A future iteration (hopefully prior to actual release) may
involve the utilization of IR technology which would function with the
backlight to eliminate the need for dual touch-recognition modes for
day and nighttime use.
