A TV with no screen? Sounds crazy, but Chad Dyner at MIT's MediaLab thought of it and created the Heliodisplay a couple of years back. Made by IO2 Technology, the Heliodisplay actually forms floating 2D images in midair from regular video inputs — essentially a virtual 30-inch video screen. It's not holography; it works by affecting the properties of the ambient air above the "projector" (about the size of a desktop PC turned on its side). While the images can't actually be touched, the display can respond to the movement of your hand, making it a virtual touchscreen.
Now the technology's getting an upgrade. The new version, called the Heliodisplay H3, can display video with 1,024 x 768 "pixels" (good enough for your basic HD signals) and uses an improved system to make the image more stable, uniform, and bright. The tech has a long way to go before it can really compete with the flat panel in your living room, but progress is progress. And, yeah, the $18,400 starting price is mighty steep, though it wasn't too long ago that plasma sets cost about the same.
Check out some video of the new Heliodisplay H3 in action after the jump. If, in fact, you have a Heliodisplay, let us know how watching a video of a virtual TV on a virtual TV looks.
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