Ten different movies projected onto one screen at the same time would allow you to fill theaters more efficiently. The customer simply buys a ticket with a pair of glasses with built in headphones configured to filter out the other 9 movies and play the appropriate soundtrack. How would it do this? Ahdunno. All I can offer at this point is having shutter glasses that open only when your chosen movie frame is playing. This means you'd only view about 2 frames a second and then only for 1/24th of a second. (depending on the frame rate) This would not be enjoyable and might actually cause brain damage but that's nothing new for Hollywood. It does show that the idea is feasible though. Sort of.-- doctorremulac3, May 19 2013 [+]
LCD lenses would make your shutter glasses totally silent and eliminate moving parts. A limited spectrum photocell on the glasses coupled with a tiny 'selective' pixel at the corner of the screen would tell the glasses which movie to show. The tech already exists in the form of auto- darkening welding shields. Even the cheap ones activate in 1/20,000th of a second; my top-of-the-line Miller hood responds at ten times that speed.-- Alterother, May 19 2013 This could work depending only on just how good is the "persistence of vision" effect. That is, we normally play a movie at 24 frames per second because each image is "held" by the retinal system such that we normally don't see the flicker in- between the frames.
So, imagine playing a movie at 24 frames per second, but only SHOWING each frame-image for 1/240 of a second instead of 1/24 of a second. Can the eye still record and persist the image during the other during the next 9/240 of a second? (The brightness of the image may be a factor here.)
IF so, then you have 9 time-slots (1/240 second each) in which to play 9 other movies, as described in the main text of this Idea. Your shutter glasses, of course, need to open for 1/240 of a second, and stay closed for the other 9/240 out of each 10/240 (or 1/24) of a second.-- Vernon, May 19 2013 Has it been done? I'm not saying it hasn't, I just couldn't find anything. If you have links that would be appreciated.-- doctorremulac3, May 19 2013 Ok, guess Sony did it.-- doctorremulac3, May 19 2013 Actually, since Sony's patent uses alternating shutters, the technology is limited to two movies at once (unless you enjoy watching your films in the round), so coming up with a way to 'add' eight more _would_ be quite original. I call unbaked.
Also, nobody seems to have come up with my LCD/spectral ID concept. I can't think why it shouldn't work, and it would create completely silent shutter glasses (even the very best ones currently available make a high-pitched whine that my wife can hear).-- Alterother, May 19 2013 Eh, I'm gonna leave it up.
Possible solutions might be glasses that enhance persistant image retention, stuff like that.
I'll think about it and invite other HBers to brain up a solution.-- doctorremulac3, May 19 2013 // But he hasn't. //
But he has, at the very least to the Halfbakery definition of originality, since his idea is not similar to the Sony patent in design or application, only in premise. It just needs a little fleshing out, which seems to be progressing nicely despite your protestations.
With the advances in LCD technology, the inner lenses could retain a lo-res capture of the current image for the 9/240ths of each frame in which the glasses are opaque. My automatic welding shield just 'displays' a selectable degree of shade on its transparent screen, but there's no reason why a suped-up version of it couldn't project an indirectly-lit image rather than just blackness.
Also, once the technology is established, we could speed up the filming framerate to compensate for the blackouts. High- end digital cameras can easily record at 240 fps, restoring the individual movies to the perceived equivalent of 24 fps when viewed at 1:10 interval.-- Alterother, May 19 2013 random, halfbakery