• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, April 21, 2016

Are you already tiring of virtual reality stuff? Time to move on to holography.

Dancing and talking images in front of your bare eyes will be the new thing. Or perhaps just the latest thing that might go nowhere?

Earlier this week, HBO and Discovery Communications announced they have taken separate equity stakes in a company called OTOY. The investment will look to advance OTOY's holographic or augmented reality technology.

With VR, you still need a screen or goggles/eyewear that lets you into a 360-degree virtual reality space. But holography goes one better.

An OTOY executive said on CNBC: “The screen itself is going away.” The company says it is developing technology that would allow viewers to see images “without needing additional VR headsets or even a desktop computer.”

Most recently, in November, Jon Stewart, ex-host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” and HBO, had signed a four-year production deal with OTOY.

Two years ago, Google invested $542 million in Magic Leap, a digital visual technology company that would allow people to see holographic images in real-world settings. But that needed eyeglasses.

Entertainment research and investment are still important to big media companies. One never knows where the next big thing comes from.

Always the question is: Is there enough scalable interest to truly get things moving?

For example, DirecTV keeps upping its stake in 4KTV technology-- as well as a select few content providers such as Netflix. TV set manufacturers are rapidly getting 4KTV into the marketplace, expected to be 50% of the TV set market in four years.

Is that enough to get things moving -- for content makers and all TV-video distributors on board? And more importantly, are consumers interested in what seemingly is even more personal, touchy-feely entertainment?

Know anyone with a functioning 3D TV, with 3D glasses nowhere to be found?<