XPAND’s YOUniversal active shutter 3D glasses and accompanying iPhone or Android app provide a new level of comfort and customization to your 3D viewing experience. Three innovations distinguish these glasses from previous active shutter gear; ergonomics, a built-in micro-USB connector, and an app for customizing the viewing experience.

Ergonomics: these glasses are exceptionally light weight, and fit comfortable. At their highest setting, the transition speeds of the shutter lenses are extremely fast; 1.5 milliseconds to transition from black to clear, and 0.3 milliseconds to transition from clear to black. This reduces the likelihood of crosstalk and can result in a more comfortable long-term viewing experience.

The micro-USB port accepts Bluetooth, RF, IR, an additional battery, and other peripherals. The port is on the end of the ear piece behind the right ear, so any additional weight is barely perceptible on the wearer’s ear and counters the weight of the glasses on the wearer’s nose bridge.

The app takes advantage of the fact that there are electronics in the glasses. The consumer inputs a number of factors into the app, including their TV brand/model number, their viewing distance from the TV, whether or not they are wearing prescription glasses, whether they like an aggressive 3D experience or not, and whether they are in a brightly lit or dimly lit room. The app adjusts the glasses’ shutter on/off trigger times so the viewing experience can range from a bright, aggressive 3D experience to a dim, more relaxing 3D experience. The 3D effect on the screen in not changed; only the timing and duration of the light reaching each eye. A clear benefit of this feature is that the viewer has a tool to manually eliminate crosstalk any time it becomes perceptible.

XPAND is positioning these glasses as a high-end consumer product. Pricing will be in the $200/pair range.

At the other end of the product spectrum, XPAND is planning to soon announce a “family pack” containing four non-upgradeable active shutter 3D glasses at “an affordable price.”