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System Integration for the Connected Home

Not all 3D is On the Screen: ZCam

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A  new 3D camera, the ZCam, developed by the Israeli company 3DV Systems, could be a big advance on the motion-sensing technology currently being used to play video games by gestures rather than punching a controller.

Combined with a regular camera imaging chip, a user can pivot his or her face into a 3D colour profile and replace the black background with a movie of a palm-fringed beach or New York skyline, the same way TV weather presenters change their green-screen backgrounds.

3DV expects cameras to appear for less than $100 in the second half 2008 and be used as video game peripherals.

Sure, theres video conferencing, automotive, security and robotics applications for the camera, but video gamers will benefit first from the total immersion and intuitive movements it makes possible.

3DV will show ZCam in action at CES and in the Games Developers Conference, 20-22 February 2008, San Francisco.

Go ZCam