So I just had this weird idea that I'd like to share with you guys.
It's a tv that 3 (or any number for that mater-discussed later) people could use and all watch different things on.
You could sit there and play your Ps3 while your sister watches Twilight and your Dad watches the news, all on the same tv without interrupting each other.

Normal tvs run at around 30 fps or something like that. The way this would work is that the tv would run at 90 fps (for triple viewing capability) and cycle one frame of each different show or tv input in the time a normal tv would just show one. So now your tv is showing 90 frames per second and three different shows all modulated together. There needs to be a way to only view your frames though.

So you get to wear glasses.
They'd be set to block and unblock your vision at 30 fps (or whatever the tv is set to) coinciding each flash of vision with when your frame is shown on the tv.
As for sound, each pair of glasses has headphones that pick up the audio from your selected tv input.

What do you think? I'm keen to hear of any flaws or anything too if anyone here is into physics and stuff. (Or anything practical that I've missed)

tl;dr A tv that three people can watch three different things on at the same time without disruption. Now that you're curious, go to the top and start reading.

..Why don't you just buy 3 TVs and headphones, I think that would be less expensive than your idea..

Well, if they would invent this TV certainly it would cost 10 normal TVs, so I think we would earn by staying with 3 normal TVs.

The part I'm concerned about is the glasses part. You're saying it would block your vision for two out of three frames? That sounds like it would have a negative effect on your vision elsewhere, sort of like 3d televisions that you don't need special glasses for mess with your vision and in extreme cases cause psychotic outbreaks.

The glasses seem like they would do harm to the user.

Also, what would happen when one person grows tired of playing a game, or watching a television show, and turns it off while the other 2 people are playing? Does the tv automatically switch to 60fps and the glasses recalibrate to block out every other frame?

Sounds very awesome but doesn't sound realistic.
These glasses- they block out 60 of the 90 frames? I don't get how someone could get glasses to block out a frame. Even if, when the tv's playing at 90fps and only showing 30fps, no matter how fast the flicker is, the eye can read that the tv's playing at 90fps and that means there'll always be those super quick flashes of light...which could be damaging.
What I was thinking was:
The non-colored 3D glasses work by having you look at the tv, and the light is polarized (I think that was the word). Polarized meaning many horizontal lines of light and vertical lines. The glasses are also like this; except one lens blocks out the vertical light while the other lens blocks out horizontal light giving it that 3d effect. Maybe your idea could work using this feature. One show is shown with horizontal light only while the other is only shown with vertical. Each person can get glasses that allows them to see their shows respective light direction. This would also mean only 2 shows would work like this, or maybe even a game and a show at the same time.

Or an even more realistic/ more reasonable idea such as splitscreen. Up to 4 shows at a time, User can customize the size of their screen (example- You bought the tv so you want the bigger screen, and 2 other people are watching. So you can split the screens into 60% 20% 20%). Put 4 headphone slots on the tv labeled show1, show2, show3, show4. Whoever watching show1 puts headphones in that slot. Finally, a 'show' button that when you press it, all actions on the remote apply to the show highlighted. Press it twice, and remote actions shift to show3. 2 more times and it shifts back to show1(the numbers loop).

^ that idea seems plausible enough to maybe work. But what happens when nobody is wearing glasses and you see both horizontal and vertical light? That screen would look fucked up.

How would pixels react to it? Whereas 3d movies are showing the same screen, thus the pixels are displaying the same color which creates the image. With the idea of watching 2 separate shows comes the problem of how the pixels would display both pictures at once, while the glasses filter the images given.

While it may seem more plausible than the original idea, I think this one is impossible.

Silly Solax, that's what Picture in Picture is for!

Sony had previewed a tv that did something similar to your idea (Instead of actual tv shows - games, and instead of 3 people - 2 people), I don't know if the actual tv was released though. It was designed to be used with the Ps3 for games that include split screen coop. Instead of splitting the screen in half, the tv allows for a special viewing mode where the two players can view their own screen simultaneously on one tv set by wearing the glasses dedicated to the player's view.

Dunno if what I said made sense, but I'll try and find an article about it.

EDIT: Instead of an article, I found a video that explains how the co-op feature works. Its called SimulView*.



Oh, and the tv is out already.

Makes sense and I've also heard something about that TV.

It'd be a peculiar sight to watch this television without the proper eyewear.