TOKYO: Japan is to spend millions of pounds developing the world’s first 3D virtual reality TV, hoping to change the way films and major sporting events are seen by viewers at home. Working with leading hi-tech firms, the government hopes that the system will use a series of projectors to beam a 3D image which may also have thousands of different odours.

The country’s communications industry says it plans to make this virtual reality revolution a reality by 2020 with the help of the best brains from business and academia.

“Can you imagine hovering over your TV to watch Japan versus Brazil in the finals of the World Cup as if you are really there?” Yoshiaki Takeuchi, director of research and development at the communications ministry, said to Reuters. The government’s universal communications study group, which includes staff from Sony, Matsushita and other top firms, said in an interim report that, 3D imagery apart, it hoped to produce a TV capable of emitting thousands of different smells. The TV should also prove a hit among touchy-feely viewers, who will be able to reach out and “feel” what they are seeing in 3D on screen, be it an item on a TV shopping channel or the clothes of a favourite footballer. The government admits, however, the hardware has yet to be developed or is still at a very early stage. Ultrasound, electrical simulation and wind pressure are all being considered in the search for a convincing method of simulating touch.

Progress has been made on reproducing 3D images on the small screen, but finding a way to emit odours is thought to be the toughest challenge for researchers. The ministry said it would request about 1bn yen (£5m) for 2006 to begin research that will include detailed studies of the workings of all five human senses. —Dawn/The Guardian News Service