Don't Call LC LCD!

[P3D John W Roberts <roberts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

[The mailing list ate my last post on the topic, which was diplomatic and
elegantly worded, and I expect it will eat this one too, so I'm not going
to work as hard on making it polite.]

Hey people - all of a sudden everybody's calling LC shutter glasses
"LCD stereo". This is WRONG! Here on this list we like to sniff at
inappropriate use of the term "3D", and right before our eyes we're
generating a misnomer that's just as bad!

Liquid crystal shutter glasses are not *displays*, because they don't have
any imaging elements - they're just big on-off windows. The stereo viewing
systems which use liquid crystal shutter glasses could be called
"frame sequential", or "field sequential", or "time-multiplexed stereo",
or some term which describes what they really do.

"LCD stereo glasses" would be something like a VR headset, with actual
*displays* built into the glasses.

It may seem like it's not a very important distinction, because right now
computer displays make up a relatively small part of 3D in general. But
with so many people misusing the terminology this week, it looks like it's
well on the way to becoming common usage, and in years to come it could
easily be as much of a tribulation as the "3D computer graphics" business
is now.

I don't want to target any individual with this post. But please try to
use the terminology more carefully - before it's too late.

John R


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