Are they serious? It's NOT A HOLOGRAM!

[Aractus]

Ok, first I want you to watch this:

http://youtu.be/jDRTghGZ7XU

Then read this.

"Executives of the company behind the Michael Jackson hologram performance have filed a lawsuit against the entrepreneur who claims to own the technology."

It's not a goddamn hologram, no one can patent the technology because its a century-old trick just using updated modern technology. They may as well have been watching a cinema screen. God people are dumb.

To put it simply, there is a huge mirror that covers the entire upper section of the stage at a 45 degree angle that faces the ceiling behind the curtain. Notice the first curtain that covers everything is black in order to reduce the reflection on the mirror as it is raised. Notice all the stage lights are pointing AWAY from the mirror. You can even see the mirror clearly several times as it contorts and flexes. No one is on the upper section of the stage, everything behind the curtain and the two pillars is just a movie projected by a dcp projector, no one is on the stage except for those in front of the movie (ie on the lower section of the stage). Also, it wasn't a 3D projection, that technology doesn't exist yet (it's called compressive light field projection which one day might replace 2d projection if the technology is improved). It's just a 2D movie.

Hologram USA Inc is just a scam company, they don't make holograms. Here are the two patents they think they own...

1. US Patent 5865519 - "Device for displaying moving images in the background of a stage"

"An article such as for example a motor vehicle at a publicity function is to be represented in front of different viewers (38) in the background of a stage (28) in the form of a virtual image (26). A presenter (40) is to stand in the image and give explanations. Disposed above the stage (28) is an image source (12, 14). It projects an image, a film, on to a reflecting surface (18) on the floor (30) of the stage (28). Behind that reflecting surface (18) a transparent smooth foil (20) extends at 45.degree. from the ceiling (32) to the floor (30). The image produced by the image source (12, 14) appears to the viewers (38) as a virtual image (26) behind the foil (20). The presenter (40) stands behind the foil (20) and in the middle of the image."

Oh you mean a MIRROR? God, how did that get approved as a patent?? The idea isn't original, it's been done for over a century, just not with a DCP. FYI, NO ONE is standing on the stage, the mirror they used in the MJ video is opaque and everything on that part of the stage is a movie, no one is standing behind the mirror.

2. US Patent 7883212 - "Projection apparatus and method for pepper's ghost illusion"

You cannot patent something you didn't invent. So what is their claim, that they used this exact apparatus?

"An image projection apparatus (100) comprises a projector (106), a frame (108), and a partially transparent screen (110). The frame (108) retains the screen (110) under tension, such that the screen (110) is inclined at an angle with respect to a plane of emission of light from the projector (106). The screen (110) has a front surface arranged such that light emitted from the projector (106) is reflected therefrom. The projector (106) projects an image such that light forming the image impinges upon the screen (11) such that a virtual image is created from light reflected from the screen (110), the virtual image appearing to be located behind the screen (110)."

Well should have been easy to prove in court if it was the case. And there you have it, their "hologram patents" - a mirror, and a DCP apparatus.

[Anomalocaris]

Hologram is nothing more than an image that captures the phases as well as the intensity and colors of the light field around the real thing. A mirror reflected image of the real thing fits the definition of a hologram.

So a mirror reflected image of a projection of Michael Jackson is a hologram. Technically it is not a hologram of Michael Jackson, because the projected image itself probably does not have the same phases as the light field around Michael Jackson. But it is the hologram of the projected image of Michael Jackson. It captures the phases, intensity, and color of the projected image of Michael Jackson.

[Minimalist]

God people are dumb.

Amen.

[Anomalocaris]

And self righteous about views formed upon hazy definitions.

[vorlon13]

Unfortunately, our courts seem to be a total crapshoot these days. I'd wager Hologram USA need only file 2 or 3 cases, none of which have any merit whatsoever, and they'll win big at least once.

[Cyberman]

The same thing was done last year for ITV's Les Dawson: An Audience With That Never Was to bring the man himself to life. That too was touted as a hologram. I agree with Aractus that the use of the term 'hologram' is inaccurate and misleading. It's on the lines of selling those old comicbook advertised "X-ray specs" as genuine medical and surveillance equipment. A hologram is an interference pattern in a medium such as film generated by the arrival time difference at the medium's surface between two coherent laser beams, one reflected off a target object and the other a reference beam. Sufficient information is recorded to exhibit parallax, giving a realistic three-dimensional photographic image of the object viewable from various angles. The technique used for these stage presentations is an updated form of Pepper's Ghost and predates holography as we know it by over three centuries. The technology involved in creating the modern iteration of the illusion is undoubtedly impressive, but not holography.

[Anomalocaris]

The same thing was done last year for ITV's Les Dawson: An Audience With That Never Was to bring the man himself to life. That too was touted as a hologram. I agree with Aractus that the use of the term 'hologram' is inaccurate and misleading. It's on the lines of selling those old comicbook advertised "X-ray specs" as genuine medical and surveillance equipment. A hologram is an interference pattern in a medium such as film generated by the arrival time difference at the medium's surface between two coherent laser beams, one reflected off a target object and the other a reference beam. Sufficient information is recorded to exhibit parallax, giving a realistic three-dimensional photographic image of the object viewable from various angles. The technique used for these stage presentations is an updated form of Pepper's Ghost and predates holography as we know it by over three centuries. The technology involved in creating the modern iteration of the illusion is undoubtedly impressive, but not holography.

Not quite. A holographic image is one which captures all information contained in the light field of the object being examined, including, phase, intensity and frequency of the light field. It is the phase information which allows the image to exhibit proper parallax. How that is achieved, what medium is used, is besides the point. In physics there is referred a holographic principle. It has nothing to do with any laser beams and any interference pattern.

A mirror reflected image meets the basic criteria of a holographic Image, in fact better than most holographic images recorded with laser beams and stored on a medium.

The fact that mirror reflected image existed long before modern methods to store holograms was invented, indeed before the concept of holograph could even have been conceived of, does not change the fact it is a hologram.

If is no different from calling the little spark you get from walking on carpets and then touching door knobs startic electricity even though the spark was produced in this manner long before anyone has heard of static electricity.

[Exian]

But if I moved to the side of the stage wouldn't I see a distorted and foreshortened version of the image viewed from the front, instead of a proper representation of his side image? Doesn't that mean 3-dimensional information is lost; not captured?

[Anomalocaris]

Most laser generated holographic images do not present full information needed to allow it to be viewed at any angle. There would only be a very narrow range of view angles from which the hologram would capture a high fidelity representation of the original. Try it. Shift you hear a little and the holograph begin to discolor, and shift a little more, and the image disappears.

[Exian]

So, would an image created from a theater projector be considered a hologram?